Full Ring No Limit Poker Forums

For my 1000th post on DC, I offer myself up to whatever questions you guys want to throw at me.

Some basic info that might fuel some questions -

*Worked for 5 years in banking software, doing database management and troubleshooting of bank software systems. Got to spend long hours talking to bank employees from all over the world - south africa, jamaica, caymans, abu dhabi, it was the one cool thing about the job (that and I used to sleep under my desk like George Costanza when working the overnight shift). Quit to play SNGs for a living in 2006 (lol).

*I've now played for a living for 5 years, switched to cash games full-time in 2008. I still make my living grinding online despite Black Friday and losing my primary bankroll (FTP).

*DC coach for 3.5 years, I've made around 20 videos. Have coached over 50 students from all over the world.

*Used to play guitar moderately seriously, wrote a few songs and had a low budget bedroom studio. Tried out for a few bands but nothing worked out.

*Used to DJ house and dance music in general, never got too far with it but played out at clubs a few times (didn't get paid). Went to a lot of shows over the years though, met some moderately famous DJs and producers.

*Currently back in college at 30 for Health Services Administration. I'm almost 2 years completed.

Best player you have ever played vs ?

Why are you back in college, when you grind for a living ? Also why HSA ?

Biggest aha moment in poker ?

Best advice to someone that wants to learn, but does not know where to start ?

Since your back in college, you still goto partys ?

Best way to get better at poker?

If the state of the cash games went back to 2008 level in terms of softness, what limit could a present day you beat?

What stake did you start cash games at?

What stake did you have the most problems with?
(as in moving up to which stake was the hardest)

What would you do different regarding learning the game than how you did it if you had to start again?

What are the pros and cons of becoming a professional grinder vs. putting your efforts into a job/school?

What do you expect for the FR games in the future?

How many hours do you put in per months?

How do you balance playing less tables to improve and playing more tables to get in some volume?

When you need to get a full time job, what are you going to tell your new employer what you did for the past 5 years?

How do pros continue to develop their game?

Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?

Blondes or brunettes?

Coke or Pepsi?

Do you play live cash at all and if so, what's the biggest adjustment that you make (if any) when doing so?

What is your favorite suit?

Do you regret quitting your banking job? Did you quit overestimating the amount you could reliably make p/a from poker?

Why the handle 'goldseraph'?

Best player you have ever played vs ?

Cole South probably, played him a little at 10/20 HU when I was tilted one time. I've also played Phil Laak a bit on the cake network and he donked off some money to me.

Why are you back in college, when you grind for a living ? Also why HSA ?

Because I'm 30 and poker is not a good living anymore for most Americans. Who knows if/when legalization is coming, if Merge will shut down etc. If I was making 100k+ a year consistently and had a positive poker outlook I wouldn't bother with school but neither of those things is true right now. I picked HSA because I wanted a career in the medical field that doesn't involve being a doctor. HSA jobs are high-paying, don't require taking advanced math or science classes, and it's an in demand career. Time magazine named it #22 in their list of best careers going forward. It rated all careers in five categories from F to A, HSA had an A in all categories except a 'D' in stress.

Biggest aha moment in poker ?

I think poker is a lot more gradual improvement than aha moments, but I suppose it was when I got better at hand reading and combinatorics. I remember at first I would just have a vague 'read' of what kind of hand my opponent had - weak or strong, slowplaying or fastplaying, but I wasn't able to quickly think of actual hand combinations and put the player on a pretty accurate range of ACTUAL HANDS not just a rough guesstimate of their strength.

Best advice to someone that wants to learn, but does not know where to start ?

Start out playing really low stakes like 5 or 10nl, get HEM and a HUD going and learn how to use it. Watch videos from reputable coaches. Join a study group. Post HH's on the forums.

Since your back in college, you still goto partys ?

Nah I am way older than most of the kids in my school, it's all 18-22 year olds and they seem SO young to me now. They are invariably saying or doing something stupid, and they always seem to be sick with runny noses, and have acne. 18 year olds are just gross and immature imo. The only partying I do anymore is at home with a cold beer and my vaporizer. The past though, is another story as far as partying..

Maybe I'm getting greedy with my questions, but what helped you the most making your range guesstimates more accurate?

Best way to get better at poker?

If the state of the cash games went back to 2008 level in terms of softness, what limit could a present day you beat?

Best way to get better at poker is honestly to just put in quality time. Play more, study more, interact more with other people at or above your level. Post HHs for review, post videos for review. watch videos from really good coaches. Remember not only do you need to put in a lot of poker time, you have to put in QUALITY poker time. Try to maximize your efforts to a specific goal and work efficiently.

As far as 2008 cash games, they were def softer than but I think 2006 and back were the SUPER easy days where I could prob now beat 25/50 if I had the roll. Around 2008-2009 the games started getting significantly tougher. So I'd say like in 2005-2007 party poker days I could prob beat any stake of cash game. By 2008-present I'd prob be a winner up to 5/10.

What stake did you start cash games at?

What stake did you have the most problems with?
(as in moving up to which stake was the hardest)

What would you do different regarding learning the game than how you did it if you had to start again?

I started out at 100nl full ring when I switched to cash. Moved up to 200 pretty quickly and was 3 ptbb my first year (yeah the games were pretty easy)

Moving up to 400nl has always been my huge roadblock. Several times I've tried to move up, got beat up right away and lost a few k, moved back down and decided I needed an even bigger roll. Then I was about to move to 400nl RUSH full time in early 2011, but then BF happened and I lost my roll. Had to rebuild on Merge from $500, which I've now grown to over 20k in about six months.

As far as doing things differently over again, I def would have worked MUCH harder. I think I got spoiled by how easy the games used to be, and figured the opportunity would always be there, so I would make my 3-5k for the month and then turn into a slacker, playing video games and going out to clubs and stuff. I wish I had been more ambitious, paid for coaching from a crusher, and tried to take full advantage of the great opportunity that was 2006-2010 cash games. I also would have gotten tilt coaching because getting tilted and depressed has probably caused me to miss so much volume I shoulda put in.