My first Viewer Mail segment...


Q: when have you started playing? 

A: I started maybe when I was 11 or 12.  The local kids and my brother would all get together and play cards (when we weren't breaking the neighbors' windows playing stickball).  I wasn't good, but I wasn't terrible either. Mostly we played 5 card draw and 7 card stud.  I went a long time without playing poker from junior high until I went to business school.  I played every few months with the guys from school and later coworkers.  I wasn't very good, but I was better than most of them so I was a regular winner.

Q: how long it took for you to become that successful?
A: Still waiting...  If Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey are "10"s, I think I'm a "3."  I see no reason why I can't do at least as well eventually, so there's plenty of upside.  And I still have a ton of things I'm looking to work on.  For the first year of playing online poker, I really had no idea how poorly I was playing.  I was still making decent money, but it was mostly thru the kindness of worse players. 

Q: what were the moments when you feel you improved the most (most groundbreaking concepts, realisations)?
A: I started playing better last summer.  I finally "correctly" started incorporating 3/4/5 betting to my game.  Earlier in the year, I had been doing something incredibly dumb which caused me to lose money in that area for months.  Towards the end of last year, I started looking at hand ranges more and fold equity in various situations and it's still a work in progress.

Q: what do you feel are the most important things to do to keep improving (ex. session reviews, studyng literature,videos., studying particular opponents)
A: In order of importance:
1a) Videos are my main source of new poker ideas.  It's always good to see how your opponents may play and what your opponents are thinking.  When I watch a video, I always ask myself what I would be thinking if I were the villain.  I try to watch at least 1-2 videos a week. When I start working out next month, I'll probably be able to watch 3-4 a week.
1b)  I do most of my session review as the session is going on.  I may highlight certain hands for further analysis later, but for the most part I like thinking about the hands right after they happen (assuming there's nothing pressing going on). 
2) There's plenty of literature for beginners, but once you get to an intermediate level, I think print books are useless.  I hear some of the $700-$3K ebooks are good, but I'm not sure if they are worth the money.  I also like trying to figure things out for myself, which is why I don't have a coach. 
3) I spend virtually no time studying opponents.  Partly because I know a lot of the regs from 2+2 and am not really looking to go crazy vs them.  But mostly it's because there are enough randoms to go around that I haven't felt the need to analyze the regs that carefully.  Of course, when I start playing more 5/10+, I will have to do that, as the games get more reg-filled.

Q: do you mix poker and booze?
A: Every day.  I always have a glass or two of wine (later post).  Sometimes I'll have a beer, hard lemonade or port instead, depending on my mood.  But I never have more than 2 glasses a session, so it has no effect on my judgement.
 
Q: what music do you listen to whilst grinding?

I have over 600 CDs - 90+% of it is a time capsule of horrifically bad pop/dance music from the 80s and early 90s.  Over half my collection is what I call "bimbo pop" (Madonna, Belinda Carlisle, Bangles, Celine Dion, Abba, etc).  I really prefer the sound of women's voices to men's.  A quarter is basically "eurotrash" dance music (New Order, Depeche Mode, Modern Talking, Yaz, etc).  The rest is classical, jazz, sountracks, and other music to try and make the bulk of my music more acceptable (Rolling Stones, U2, Springsteen, etc).  But I like all kinds of music - I've been using itunes to round out my selection (heavy metal, R&B, country, etc). 

I used to watch TV while playing, but that was terrible for my concentration.  I find that my concentration is better when I have music on than off.  That's obviously going to vary from person to person.  When I was in college, I had a hard time studying in the library because it was so quiet that I found it distracting whenever someone turned a page or moved a chair.  But obviously tons of people find the library a good place to study.