The Well: El Diablo

[Blot-Sven]

El Diablo,

Thanks for doing this!

When learning the game, would you recommend playing as many tables as you can, or just one or two tables? Obviously by playing fewer tables you're not maximizing the amound of money you can make short term but is it really worth it? I have been playing 6-8 tables since I started playing NL and I'm getting pretty much nowhere in terms of ability. I don't know if I had a question here, I'm just interested to hear what you have to say about 1-2 tabling vs 6+ tabling, especially when learning the game.

[DeathbySuckout]

El D,

This thread was a great read.

Thanks

[flubsy]

Did I miss out?

My question:

Im a girl. We have a bigger emotion threshhold, and I think I tilt at a whole other level then most men I know.

I play so well at times! There are players in town who openly admit they are scared to play at the same table with me (although, its also because I am female). Other times, my play is so bad I can't read my own hand histories, or look at myself in the mirror.

I go on tilt and blow through my whole bankroll- FOUR TIMES faster than it takes to build that roll. It doesn't take much either- I'll be multitabling and have just 2 consecutive two outters wipe out two buy -ins (or more if Im dubl stacked) and the other 6 buy-ins go right behind.

How do you stop tilting BEFORE you've blown multiple buy-ins? How do I keep my A game on the table? What can you suggest? What do you do besides play tighter?

other questions:

How do you suppose Jeff Madsen did it? Im inclined to believe he cheated- but am open to other ideas.

Really now, you ever think maybe everyone really DOES have the smarts to play the poker they want to play? Maybe we all ARE are capable of high levels of comprehension and creativity?

kthx~

[flubsy]

oh, and-

I really enjoyed this thread, even if you dont get to my tardy questions.

Good stuff- thank you for that.

[goofyballer]

El D,

How does one go about asking out a waitress? I'm home with my family for the summer and was eating with my sister/parents/dad's 5 siblings+in-laws, and our waitress was very attractive in an eyes+smile way that generally I tend to see more than most people; however, with the crowd of people I wasn't really sure what to do. In addition, my mom thought the waitress liked me, and she generally has very good insight into such things. I feel very confident that you can educate me in this matter.

[flubsy]

Did I miss out?

My question:

Im a girl. We have a bigger emotion threshhold, and I think I tilt at a whole other level then most men I know.

How do you stop tilting BEFORE you've blown multiple buy-ins? How do I keep my A game on the table? What can you suggest? What do you do besides play tighter?

other questions:

:How do you suppose Jeff Madsen did it? Im inclined to believe he cheated- but am open to other ideas.

and,:Really now, you ever think maybe everyone really DOES have the smarts to play the poker they want to play? Maybe we all ARE are capable of high levels of comprehension and creativity?

kthx~

[Go_Blue88]

1) In your experience at NL600 how much would you stress the importance of having a wide reraising range? I feel like most players try to do too much.
2) At the higher levels, what does having a tricky or wide reraising range do for you (other than maybe allowing to you stack ppl more often when you have AA, KK). Prolly gonna be an obvious answer, but that's a concept that I don't fully understand.
3) Have you ever read The Fountainhead? If so, did you like it? I just read it and I think it's my favorite book of all time.

[stewcrew]

how come everyone sucks but me? also how come i suck at poker? thirdly whats the best way to stop sucking? and a follow up to that question how come I can't beat a 1/2 nl 6 max game on stars and I can pown every the same game at any other site?

thanks,
stew

[El Diablo]

tannen:

"could you comment on your sleep schedule?"

I go to sleep between 1 and 4 and get up between 8 and 9 on weeknights. 1 to 8 is pretty optimal. On weekends I often stay up very late and sleep very late.


aces:

"Do you feel HUDs are good / bad for the health of internet poker?"

Eh, ambivalent.

"You mention the best high stakes have a lot of gambool in them. Is this mainly a matter of experience and confidence (ie superior hand reading)? How can I improve my abililty to determine good spots to gambool?"

No, I mean they are gamblers who love gambling.

"Will more experience help w confidence in reads and ability to make moves? Or are the better players born w more cajones?"

Both.

Tick:

"If you had to start from scratch with $2,000 bankroll, and wanted to climb the ladder into the $10/$20NL games as soon as you could, what bankroll plan would you take to get there? What level would you start at and when would you suggest to move up etc?"

Asssuming NL only. I would play $200 NL. If I dropped to $1000 I would drop to $100NL. At $5,000 I would move to $400NL. At $9,000 600NL. At $15,000 1000NL. At $30,000 2000NL. Something like that. For someone who is moving up the levels for the first time, you should probably be a little more conservative than this.

LFS:

"- Where do you see yourself (career, life, poker) in 5 years? 10 years? What's your ultimate goal, if you have one?"

Poker's sort of irrelevant to that question; it doesn't play any part in my life goals. I hope to have had a successful business or two in that time period. Hopefully I'm involved in things of bigger scope - whether that mean bigger businesses, nonprofits, investing, who knows. In terms of goals, I just like to make an impact where I can, the bigger the footprint the better. Not a requirement, but it would be nice to do well enough to be part of a pro sports ownership group. Along the way I'd like to get married and have some kids at some point.

"- When you became an entrepeneur, did you use your own money or other people's money?"

Mine, then other people's.

"- Do you think anyone who's smart enough can become good enough to thrive at NL at the say, 5/10 NL level, or do you need to be born with some instinct that some have and some don't?"

I think some players just suck at poker, oftentimes because they do not have enough gamble in them, other times because they are good at logic but not good at quick decisions or pattern matching. So, yeah, I think there are some very smart people who will never be good at poker.

"- Do you know anyone at Merlin Securities in SF? An old friend of mine is there and something tells me you might know each other."

No, never even heard of the firm. Took a quick look and don't know any of those people, but looking at their bios I know a lot of their colleagues.

EN:

"Have you ever played with LirarErik (Erik Friberg, who final tabled at the WSOP ME) and if so, what are your opinions about him?"

Yes. When I played him (at 5/10 to 25/50) he wasn't that great, but he was super aggro. I've heard he's much better now. I've also played with Michael Binger a fair amount. He sucks at cash but is a solid tourney player. I've also played w/ Thorsson and Thuritz and Friedman, who all went deep, and they are all very tough.

MDMA:

"Don't know if this have been asked, but name your top 10 movies! "

Eh, I like lots of movies and watch tons of them. This would take forever to think about.

jjb:

"If you could have one superpower (this assumes you don't already have one) what would it be?"

Already done!

"Worst river ever"

When the board paired for 25 or 30k suckout.

"Best river ever"

I've never had a good river.

"Triple Draw Fun/Suck?"

Fun.

Blot:

"When learning the game, would you recommend playing as many tables as you can, or just one or two tables?"

One or two.

flub:

"Im a girl. We have a bigger emotion threshhold, and I think I tilt at a whole other level then most men I know."

No. Well, maybe at a different level, but male tilt at poker is way, way worse than female tilt.

"How do you stop tilting BEFORE you've blown multiple buy-ins? How do I keep my A game on the table? What can you suggest? What do you do besides play tighter?"

I think about every hand after I play it and whether I made any mistakes in the hand. If I make a mistake, I focus and concentrate on fixing it and not making any more mistakes. If I still make mistakes, I stop playing.

"How do you suppose Jeff Madsen did it? Im inclined to believe he cheated- but am open to other ideas."

Very lucky.

"Really now, you ever think maybe everyone really DOES have the smarts to play the poker they want to play? Maybe we all ARE are capable of high levels of comprehension and creativity?"

No, I think a lot of people are really dumb.

goofy:

"How does one go about asking out a waitress?"

I am very bad at doing this cold. I have had good success asking out bartenders and waitresses at places where I've become a regular. However, the following seems to work pretty well. Finish the meal, pay, leave, all as usual. Then, head straight back inside, head straight to the waitress, and say "hey, sorry, but I just had to come back and <however you want to ask her out, get her number, etc.>" It's fast, direct, and all the awkwardness is concentrated right there and boom it's over, either yes or no.

GB:

"1) In your experience at NL600 how much would you stress the importance of having a wide reraising range? I feel like most players try to do too much."

Not important at all at this level.

"2) At the higher levels, what does having a tricky or wide reraising range do for you (other than maybe allowing to you stack ppl more often when you have AA, KK). Prolly gonna be an obvious answer, but that's a concept that I don't fully understand."

It just makes it tougher to read your hands. Good players at these levels can define hands very well from players who are too straightforward. If they know what you have better than you know what they have, they have a big advantage.

"3) Have you ever read The Fountainhead? If so, did you like it? I just read it and I think it's my favorite book of all time."

Yeah, long, long time ago. I thought it was OK.

[El Diablo]

stew,

Sounds like you suck pretty hard.