The Well:nosup4u (mark Swartz)

[nowandlater 0]

never ever ever would I drive up or down that cliff. ever.

[trussdude 0]

How's the internet access at Moab?Are professional poker players able to get a loan from a bank?

[theinvestor 0]

Are professional poker players able to get a loan from a bank?

Why wouldnt they? Are salesmen that work on commission able to get loans from a bank? Banks dont care what you do for a living as long as you show you are able to pay back funds and have a good credit score.

[Dratj 0]

Oddly enough, I can confirm this. I took a picture of that dry board knowing someday I would use it for evil and embarass the crap out of Mark. Sadly, he beat me to my own bad intentions. Curses sir! Still funny as hell, imo [x] obv.

lol. Your wife seems like a riot.

[NoSup4U 0]

How's the internet access at Moab?Are professional poker players able to get a loan from a bank?

Phone's work ok in Moab, but not well outside the city. If you stay in any of the hotels or rental communities there is wireless. (Mostly we camp up there but once we stayed with some friends in a house we rented just outside Moab and there was free wireless for the little community)Um, I dunno. I'm kind of an anomoly because for my occupation on anything where poker might look weird I just put self employed consultant. But in general they just care that you have a stead stream of income so as long as you can show you're depositing regularly into your account, you shouldn't have a problem. There are a lot of people out there that have 'non standard' jobs.Mark

[yourboygsarida 0]

please tell how much you despise the fact the suns traded for shaq. as a semi suns fan, it made me want to throw up. also, best screenname you have seen on ftp?

[terradawg 0]

can you identify a defining moment in your poker career where you finally grasped a concept, etc. that made you see the game in a different way?

[NoSup4U 0]

please tell how much you despise the fact the suns traded for shaq. as a semi suns fan, it made me want to throw up. also, best screenname you have seen on ftp?

Marion was my favorite player and Shaq is my least favorite player in the NBA, so yeah, I am not too happy about it. The Suns have a way of screwing me like that. When they traded for Barkley, he was my least favorite player and Hornacek was my favorite Sun. Barkely grew on me though and I love him now of course.But I dunno with Shaq. He is the embodiment of everything I hate about the NBA. We were season ticket holders. Growing up here in Phoenix we didn't have any hockey, nfl, or mlb. We just had the Suns, so I'm a long time fan. I quit watching the NBA finally because I just couldn't stand the horrible officiating. If you watched games with Shaq from his heydey with LA, it was just so gross. He would catch the ball in the key, put his elbows out, and just windmill around whacking guys in the face, and then the officals would call fouls on whoever Shaq hit. I couldn't stand it. So its going to be hard for me to like the guy. Plus, I don't see the logic in the trade. Shaq doesn't give us more rebounding (Marion was one of the best rebounders in the NBA, and best for his size by far). Shaq doesn't fit with our offense, etc. I think it was just a rash move. People say, well you can't win a championship the way the team was, you need a big guy. But we had it locked up last year except the crooked ref that got booted, plus the stupid nba front office, combined to collectively screw us out of the San Antonio series.Um, I can't think of any good sn's offhand, but my two favorite ever are OMGClayAiken and OMGLindseyLohan.Mark

[Suited_Up 2]

Make sure to read the end of page 3.

[terradawg 0]

Marion was my favorite player and Shaq is my least favorite player in the NBA, so yeah, I am not too happy about it. The Suns have a way of screwing me like that. When they traded for Barkley, he was my least favorite player and Hornacek was my favorite Sun. Barkely grew on me though and I love him now of course.But I dunno with Shaq. He is the embodiment of everything I hate about the NBA. We were season ticket holders. Growing up here in Phoenix we didn't have any hockey, nfl, or mlb. We just had the Suns, so I'm a long time fan. I quit watching the NBA finally because I just couldn't stand the horrible officiating. If you watched games with Shaq from his heydey with LA, it was just so gross. He would catch the ball in the key, put his elbows out, and just windmill around whacking guys in the face, and then the officals would call fouls on whoever Shaq hit. I couldn't stand it. So its going to be hard for me to like the guy. Plus, I don't see the logic in the trade. Shaq doesn't give us more rebounding (Marion was one of the best rebounders in the NBA, and best for his size by far). Shaq doesn't fit with our offense, etc. I think it was just a rash move. People say, well you can't win a championship the way the team was, you need a big guy. But we had it locked up last year except the crooked ref that got booted, plus the stupid nba front office, combined to collectively screw us out of the San Antonio series.Um, I can't think of any good sn's offhand, but my two favorite ever are OMGClayAiken and OMGLindseyLohan.Mark

QFT. every year after the playoffs i say i will never watch the NBA again because of how the officials decided the games. so gross. my team has won 22 in a row and i'm still bitter about the NBA. stars go to the hole and somebody breathes on them it's a foul, but if a rookie goes to the hole shaq can elbow him in the face and it's not a foul.

[trussdude 0]

Barkely grew on me though and I would love to play poker with him now of course.

fyp.

[NoSup4U 0]

real question: what, in your opinion, are the three most important metagame (in the sense of a play not being about one specific hand exclusively) concerns in NLHE cash play? do these differ between live and online?

I'm definitely not the metagame master that I need to be, but I'm getting there slowly and I think working with Samo is really helping a lot. I play at levels also that are really transitional, and I'll try and explain what I mean by that, then give my metagame stuff:I'm just going to generalize here, I know there are exceptions to everything.At low limits (say up to 1/2NL) you don't have any good high level thinking players. (again, just generalizing, don't post and tell me yeah there are because I know there are some ) For the most part players play their hands. So there isn't a lot of metagame here. Players ship it in, and mostly you can determine if they are donks or not. If they are, I'll stack off super light. If not, I won't.At high limiits, (say 10/20NL and up) you have all good high level thinking players, who also have the balls to bluff big. So a lot of the game is metagame. Stinger recently told a story where Ansky 5bet shoved on him with Q4s because he knew Stinger was likely to be 4betting him light. Stinger folded and Ansky showed. So metagame obv very important here.At the middle limits where I live (2/4NL to 5/10NL) you have a wide range of players. Most of them are good high level thinking players. But not many of them are ballsy enough to follow through for stacks like Ansky did in the previous example. I recently went through my PT database for the last 3 months where I got all my money in pf vs someone with a full stack. I don't stack off pf very lightly. For being a lag, I'm actually very nitty when it comes to shipping it. So its not like the sample size was enormous. But only in two instances did villian show up with anything other than AA/KK/AK. Once QQ, and once 44. So while at these mid limits villians are really aggro and will 3bet super lightly, its much less likely that they are 4bet bluffing, and almost never that they are 5bet bluffing. (imo) Again, all very player dependant. I remember a hand where DrGiggy 4bet shoved on me with A9s. But in general, you have solid thinking opponents, but ones who not yet are seasoned/strong enough to follow through for stacks with their reads. So they can THINK on higher levels, but not always ACT on what they think.So lets take all that to metagame now.As a tight player, you have much less metagame to worry about imo. These players are not getting out of line as much. They are showing up with strong hands more often. They are always likely to have outs when putting money in the pot. So players are playing back at them based more on their hands as well, and not as much as metagame. (not that metagame doesn't matter, just less than with a LAG)So as a loose player, you're in more pots, you're raising people more, you're generally more a nusiance. So players take this personally and their emotions start to come into play in hands much more. If you 3bet them and they call and flop middle pair, there are many times they won't want to fold it even for stacks, etc.So taking the combination of 3 levels of plays and two major playing styles into account, here is what metagame stuff is most important to me:How well does my opponent know me? At the mid stakes the player pool is just the right size so there are a bunch of regs who know each other well, and a bunch of people who I've never seen. (at the lower stakes you're much less likely for the player to know you AND remember your tendancies, and at the higher stakes they are much more likely to all know each other well). So the first thing in my mind is, does this player know me well enough to know my tendancies. Does he know that I will shove almost any draw in a 3bet pot? Does he know I like to call with my straight draws but semi bluff with my flush draws? Has he ever seen me make a bluff for stacks on the turn with almost no outs? Basically, can he see past whatever poker tracker stats he has on me. And, do I think he's smart enough to have recognized these tendancies in me. (if he's a 12 tabler, I don't care if he has 2000 hands on me, all he can see is that I'm loose, he isn't going to know how I play hands post flop)If a decision is close, I will get my money in. I think this is a pretty common and important metagame consideration. Like, if you find yourself in a spot where its probably pretty close if you can bluff shove someone off a hand given the pot odds, then I'll do it. If he folds good, and if not it will get you paid off later. I routinely have villians call me down light, which is part of why I've had to stop semi bluff shoving lately, because they always put me on a draw. (ones that know me) This also will keep some villians who otherwise might value bet you light to stop, because they fear getting bluff shoved on and not wanting to make that call.How is my image ACROSS tables vs this villian. I think this is something that is important but harder to keep track of if you multi table. If you're raising a bunch at one table and a villian sees this and you 3bet him light at another table, it doesn't matter if you're running 12/10 at the other table, villian will think you're a crazy lunatic.Firing a second barrel: There are a lot of villians now a days that understand how to float a flop, or that they can call you with mid pair on the flop. Most will take the line to call one bet and fold to any more aggression. So I think firing that second barrel as a bluff is something more players need to be doing. Again it means keeping track of what your opponent knows about you and what he is capable of. A good low stakes player is probably going to be more likely to fold to a second barrel because he knows enough to call one bet then fold to any more aggression. A good high stakes player is going to be more likely to call the second barrel because he knows you can fire twice. A bad low stakes player is going to be more likely to call a second barrel because they have a pair. A bad high stakes player is going to be more likely to fold to a second barrel because they know enough to call one bet and fold to any more aggression. That make sense? The metagame in all this not only depends on your relationship with the villian, but what levels of thinking they play at.That was probably a lot of rambling, but hopefully some of it actually is reasonable. I might come back and edit later.Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

MarkAny advice for the young "aspiring pros" on the site?

My advice is to have at least 6 months worth of living expenses saved up OUTSIDE of your poker bankroll. Its just not even negotiable that you'll need it at some point, and it will make playing poker for a living. I just can't stress this enough to people thinking of going pro. Being a good player is one thing, but bankroll mgt is something people suck at so bad. There is a reason so many good players go busto once/twice/many times.Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

Actually, I thought of a question: I am having a hard time adjusting my game to live play. I don't go often but I can't remember the last time I won at Commerce. I have started trying to go more but I feel like maybe I haven't adjusted in ways that I should have cause as we know Commerce players are pretty horrid. I have only been playing in the 3/5 game at Commerce cause I want to win there consistently before I start playing 5/10. Any advice on going from games online to live donks?

I am probably not the greatest to give advice since I don't play a ton live. Live players are generally more donkeyish of course. Your table will probably have a few old guys at it who won't ever want to fold to some young kid pushing them around. It will have some young guys who think they are all that and a bag of chips, it will have some decent players. prtpsux told me once that its so much easier to semi bluff live players, because online people will call you light because they just hit the reload button if they are wrong. But live players have to actually pull money out of their pockets which is much harder psychologically.But I also find that live players stack off lighter because they are donks, so its a two edged sword. Most I'd say to focus on knowing your own tells when you play live. For instance, when I play live and I bluff, the vein in my neck goes absolutely nuts and there isn't anything I can do about it. Stuff like that. Mostly just try to be the quiet kid at the table who nobody notices until you're comfortable playing live I think is the best way to get used to it.The players at Commerce really are bad Rdog. From what I've seen of your posts, you should play the 5/10NL game there and understand the implications the short buyin has on the game. You basically don't bluff, don't cont bet much, etc. Just make a hand and get your money in and double up. Players can't and won't fold tp ever. Speculative hands go way down in value. I think you can beat that game, you've just been on the bad side of variance. (unless you played poorly given the short buy structure there)Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

would you accept allin without to see teh floop without AA, AK?

I don't fold KK pf ever, and same goes with QQ. But often because of the style that I play, I don't get my money in pf regardless of my hand. If I have QQ or KK and get 3bet, I'll generally call pf. And normally if I 3bet someone with either of those hands, its because I'm happy to felt them pf if they shove. If some nit raises utg and I have QQ, I'll just call and play him post flop.(I have folded KK pf once and was correct, and two other times I was really sure I should fold it but didn't and was against AA both times)Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

What did you learn from S7S training?

Three biggest things: How important having confidence at the table is (especially when playing live!)How important bankroll management isHow important properly assessing your play at the table and not playing when you aren't +EV, whether that be from tilt, or because better players sit down, etc.Also that is where I met Jeet who taught me how to play NLHE and not be a super donk :)Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

What limits did you play back then? One can easily lose 500 in a month.

I played anywhere up to 2/4NL. For sure. I had months where I'd win a few thousand, then months I'd lose a few thousand. The $500 rule didn't really get enforced since it kinda seemed like I was making money, and when I'd lose more I'd just say, well, I made $2K last month so it just evens out honey... Basically it was a bad way to go about it all around.

Mark what do you consider the strongest part of your game? Weakest?You always say youre a very good at game selection. Can you tell us what things you look for?When you coming back out to Chicago? We'll get some Cubs tickets

Strongest part of my game: I am fearless at the limits I play at and will always ship in money if I think it will win me the pot.Weakest: I have historically been a poor hand reader compared to the really good players at my limits, although that is really what I'm focused on right now so hopefully that gets better.Game selection is sooooo key imo. Increases your win rate by a ton. I have a donkey list of players that I look for first of all. If any of them are playing I immed get on the lists at their tables. I group them by vpip. So 50+ vpip donks, 40+ vpip donks, 30+ vpip donks, and then just lower vpip but poor post flop play donks. I don't really look at table stats either. I find the biggest tell on tables where all players are unknown to me is how much of a full buyin do they have. I love players with from 40% to 80% of a buyin because in my mind, that means they aren't good enough/smart enough to buy in full. I also prefer to have the donks on my left and good players on my right if possible, which is opposite from a lot of good players. I find donks to be exploitable from any position, but good players on my left make my life much harder.Chris (wax120) is getting married this summer so I'll be in Chicago for that in early August. A cubs game and poker definitely is in order for his last week of being single. I'll post in the challenge thread when I'm heading out. Its likely I'll be out once before that too so I'll let you know.Mark

[NoSup4U 0]

Don't want to contridict Mark here in his own well.but no socks is the new black

If you're Crockett and Tubbs maybe.Mark

[El Guapo 10]

So how'd that bench press work out for you? How much?

[PrtyPSux 0]

Three biggest things: How important having confidence at the table is (especially when playing live!)How important bankroll management isHow important properly assessing your play at the table and not playing when you aren't +EV, whether that be from tilt, or because better players sit down, etc.Also that is where I met Jeet who taught me how to play NLHE and not be a super donk :)Mark

The bad thing about being the first student, is that this wasn't a part of the syllabus when I was there . Can you explain to me what bankroll management is? Thx.

[NoSup4U 0]

So how'd that bench press work out for you? How much?

I'm all set to try it out tomorrow. I do sets of 12 on the bench press equivalent on the Nautulis (sp?) machines at 80 lbs. What do you think I should be able to bench? I really have no idea where to even start.Mark

[The Lobster 0]

I'm all set to try it out tomorrow. I do sets of 12 on the bench press equivalent on the Nautulis (sp?) machines at 80 lbs. What do you think I should be able to bench? I really have no idea where to even start.Mark

start at about 350 lbs and work up.

[El Guapo 10]

I'm all set to try it out tomorrow. I do sets of 12 on the bench press equivalent on the Nautulis (sp?) machines at 80 lbs. What do you think I should be able to bench? I really have no idea where to even start.Mark

OK I will really feel bad if you hurt your self so do this.Start with 25 lb plates and warm up - that is 95 lbsgo to 35lb plates - that is 115 - do 5go 45lb plates - that is 135 - do 3after you have done that make an educated guess on how difficult that was, then go up to say155 lbs do oneif that is easy jump to 175if that is pretty hard but doable jump to 180, and so on and so on.Please, please have a GOOD spotter who knows what they are doing. Last thing we need is for you to have a cracked rib cage. I don't think Professional Poker players get disability, it may make it hard for you to quickly 3 bet your QQ and then they will totally know what you have.

[NoSup4U 0]

Any chance you'd do a writeup highlighting the main points of what you've learned about LAG play? (Not necessarily in this thread, could be in challenge or wherever.. or just in my email, lol.)Basically for me, anything LAG related, has been self taught, and I generally just revert back to TAG because I have no idea if anything I'm doing LAG wise is good or completely terrible. I definitely have never had the BR cushion to give it much of a shot as far as testing it out.... So it would be great to get some sort of direction in that sense.

Well, the main theory behind playing LAG instead of tag is that you play more hands so you're in more pots vs players that are worse than you, thus putting you in more +EV situations. Also LAG players are able to get their big hands paid off more often, and for more money. If you have AK and flop is K83 rainbow and you bet flop and a solid nit raises you, you might as well fold. But if a lagtard guy with this crazy image raises you, there is no way you fold.So if you're thinking about being a more laggy player, remember that you're developing this crazy image when the pot is small and its cheap, or when you have a lot of outs. You're 3betting in position preflop with random hands. You're floating the flop and betting when checked too on the turn. You're check raising the flop with air when the board looks unlikely to have helped villian. One of the most important things about being a laggy players is having a good understanding of how 'the majority' of players play, and then observing villians to see if they play hands differently. Exploiting tendencies is one of the key things lags need to be able to do. You will be going into a lot of pots with the worst hand, so you need to be really good at picking up pots where nobody has much, and taking pots from villians when you know they can't stand the heat.For instance: The 'standard' way a lot of villians play AA is to bet the flop, check the turn for pot control, and bet the river. So if you flop a draw vs a villian like this, and they bet the flop, you can just call with your draws because you know you'll get to see two more streets for free. Or, if you see a villian who you know uses this standard line all of a sudden betting the turn, then you can call him with middle pair because he's likely to be two barrel bluffing. Being a GREAT post flop player is really important if you're going to lag it up because you get to the flop with the worst hand much of the time.Mark

[RDog 0]

I recently went through my PT database for the last 3 months where I got all my money in pf vs someone with a full stack. I don't stack off pf very lightly. For being a lag, I'm actually very nitty when it comes to shipping it. So its not like the sample size was enormous. But only in two instances did villian show up with anything other than AA/KK/AK. Once QQ, and once 44.

Ummmm.....are you serious? That just doesn't seem even possible to me. I dunno, maybe 1/2 plays more aggro preflop but I see QQ, JJ ALL the time and daily I see worse. Hell I have put it in with 88 and AQ in the last few days. Once it was against AK and the other time it was against A10. At least at 200, I think if you aren't willing to make moves light pre, you are gonna get run over.