VanDice is In the Well

gl in the well Van Dice, I'll try to think of some questions for you.

Good luck in the well, Van.

1. Would you take a coinflip for all your chips early in a tournament? Late?
2. Do you play mainly tournaments or cash, and if both, which do you enjoy most?
3. Have you ever coached? It seems like you'd make a great one.
4. What do you feel your biggest strengths and weaknesses as a player are?
5. What's your biggest success to date?
6. What's your long term poker ambition?
7. Donkaments - pure luck or not?
8. Lucie in the Fitz or Kasia in the Emporium?
9. Five best players you've ever played against.
10. Five worst.

Jim, cheers for doing the well. Will be a very good one I think.

Do you think poker affects your overall health positively or negatively? I know in my case, and in some others that it was extremely negative but interested to hear how it affected you.

Which "named and famous" live pro do you rate and why?

Which one do you think is no good and overhyped?

How come you and your Bro have the same dodgy first touch on a football pitch?

Whats your favourite Cheese?

Craziest vegas Story? I dont want any of that.... too crazy to print **** cos thats a cop out. Your nor a cop out now, are you Jim?

Imo, Conor has improved immeasurably in the last year or two, if you could give him one bit of advice regarding his game, what would it be?

Cheers Jim,

Steven
West Wicklow House Regular

BigCityBanker wrote: »

1. your poker story? when did you start playing.

Nothing original here, my first games were home games with friends. None of us had any clue what we were doing, but the games were great. Everyone tried to bluff everyone! I remember one of the first times I was able to guess what someone had (ranges lol), and then I thought, hmmm, maybe there is something to this game.

I was/am a huge fan of pretty much all sports, and I opened a betfair account in college at some stage. I'm very nerdy about numbers and created a basic model for estimating horse's chances to be placed in races. The place markets back then were extremely inefficient, and I was making a ridiculous ROI on them. At the time betfair had a sports lounge underneath what used to be the Merrion casino, and I used to go in there infrequently to trade. They had launched their poker site a while before that, and one day I saw someone else playing online, so I thought that looked great, so gave it a go. I just played SNGs, and I shudder to think how bad I was. Everyone else was worse though

I was still much more interested in sports betting as a way of making spare money as a college student, so never really took poker too seriously. Then I got Super System and read it, and realised that there was a strategy. The first online cash game I played was .5/1 in 2005, still had no clue what I was doing, but just raising and c-betting 100% was enough to win.
I only started playing poker as a form of income last year though, and since then I've played it for a living.

BigCityBanker wrote: »

2. what games/stakes do you play now?

I've played most hands at 5/10 over the last 3 months, but still a lot of 2/5, and increasing amounts of 10/20. I don't really have any ego issues so have no problem with closing a 10/20 table that looks too tough and opening a 2/5 one.

BigCityBanker wrote: »

3. Was there a poker epihany for you.

I'm sure there are lots, if they come to mind I'll post them later. Two I definitely remember - I used to play on Crypto, and then opened a Full Tilt account (early-mid 2007 I think), and the difference was frightening. There was literally no 3-betting going on at Crypto, and if you did get 3-bet, you could set-mine with QQ. On Full Tilt I think I got 3-bet 5 times in the first 3 orbits and I had no clue wtf was going on. That was when I first started using 2p2, and discovered the idea of hand ranges (the games were so soft back then, considering i had been still winning up to that point!!)

The second was before c-betting, deciding how many turn cards I'd continue to barrel. That line of thought really opened my eyes to having a plan for the hand, rather than autopilot c-bet/check/fold. If I couldn't barrel often enough, then I'd adjust my opening range against that opponent.

Actually a third one was to stop defending hands in the blinds that I didn't think I could play aggressively post-flop. If a good player raises the CO, calling with AJ in the BB and check-calling an A high flop is a pretty huge leak imo. If I'm calling in the blinds now, it's never with the intention of check-calling flops. (although that can obviously still happen, it's something I look to avoid)

BigCityBanker wrote: »

4. Do you/Did you ever play live?

I used to play the small MTTs in the Fitz when I was in college, and the same for the 1/2 games. I was the biggest nit of all time, current me would hate past me so much.
Since then, I've played live in Dublin around 3am when there is a queue for taxis, and I've been out for the night. i'd imagine that most Dublin players see me as a huge fish I have played sober/seriously in Dublin a few times, but very infrequently. It's just not worth it when I can play lots of tables online. Although I did go in to play a tournament with my brother in the Fitz last week, €270. KK no good obviously!
I've played live a few times in Vegas at 5/10+

BigCityBanker wrote: »

5. Best adive you have received?

I've never received adive

Best advice I received wasn't directly related to poker, but it's applicable there. It's to look beyond what you're doing, or what your opponents are doing, and try to understand why you/they are doing it. Seeing what they did helps for one specific instance, but if you understand why they did it, that's a goldmine of information.

BigCityBanker wrote: »

thanks for agreeing to do this.

TommyGunne wrote: »

Do you sell luckboxes? Mine has been broke and in need of repair for the last 6 months.

I'm running ~1k above EV over the last 6 months. ha

TommyGunne wrote: »

How come every time you play live tourneys you get owned by some random live donk?

i can't beat level 0 thinking
actually one of the reasons I don't really like live play is that I ALWAYS get berated by someone. I think I need to look more menacing or something so everyone will just stfu. Maybe gold knuckledusters, a baseball bat and an I Limerick t-shirt will do the trick

TommyGunne wrote: »

IIRC you got owned in the West Wicklow House a couple times. Do you feel you have improved to have an edge in that field now?

I really don't like the inference that I would need to have improved my game to have an edge!

TommyGunne wrote: »

You also seem to be a long run losing player live. Does this affect your mentality? You seem to be unable to beat live 1/2 and seem to struggle. Do you feel that this reflects the difference in standard between live and online?

results don't lie, live standard >>> online!! (pretty sure I'm not a lifetime losing player at live 1/2 though, cos in my bad nit days people handed me money. so ha again.)

TommyGunne wrote: »

Why do you not do more coaching?

I do too much, work with 9 people which cuts my free time to zero. I haven't played MarioKart Wii in weeks. So I'm not doing any more until 2009 at the very earliest, because by then a few of them won't need any more. (One is better than me already anyway )

TommyGunne wrote: »

Do you feel you can/should take shots more aggressively?

It comes down to factors like Kelly Criterion/variance/happiness. I have played a few very soft games at 25/50, I know I can play higher when soft games come up, but I've very few regrets at not taking shots at 50/100 or something. Conversely, I know a good few people who have a lot of regrets at taking shots under-rolled. I think a -10BI day at 25/50 would tilt me beyond measure

smcb wrote: »

as a child did you often ponder that your ballbag looked like a satsuma?

fraid not. you obviously did though. do you eat fruit or is the psychological trauma too much?

doke wrote: »

Good luck in the well, Van.

ty looks like i'll need it!

doke wrote: »

1. Would you take a coinflip for all your chips early in a tournament? Late?

tricky one to answer. probably not a pure 50/50, but i think that's more a hypothetical question than reality, like the AK v QQ first hand of the WSOP. imo people don't realise that by the stage where they're in a coinflip, there is a lot of money already in the pot, and the overlay makes these 'coinflip' calls mandatory. To be getting ~ evens on your money someone has to make a huge overbet shove, in which case they're probably lobotomised.
If I think a hand is call against someone's range early in a tournament, I'm calling. If it's very borderline, I'll fold. In my admittedly very limited experience, I think people are far too timid to get chips in early in tournaments though

late in a tournament, I have a vague idea of ICM at the table so those constraints apply. Generally I like to give myself a margin of error against someone's shoving range - so if I think it's a borderline call against their range, I'll probably fold unless I have tons of chips.

doke wrote: »

2. Do you play mainly tournaments or cash, and if both, which do you enjoy most?

Almost exclusively cash now. I used to play a lot of MTTs and SNGs, but I find cash games are much more lucrative for me. I play a couple of MTTs every few weeks for a change of pace

doke wrote: »

3. Have you ever coached? It seems like you'd make a great one.

yes, and ty.

doke wrote: »

4. What do you feel your biggest strengths and weaknesses as a player are?

I don't tilt very much at all, and I put work in away from the table analysing how my most regular opponents play. Nothing psychic

Weaknesses: I think I'm too dismissive of fish, and try to play pots with them with too wide a range - isolating too wide, calling flops too wide etc. Basically I seem to think that just because they're fish I should win every pot, which is obviously not true.
More specifically, I know for sure that my range for calling a 3bet and then a c-bet is way too weak. Working on that though.
Also I wish I had more motivation to grind 60k+ hands a month.

doke wrote: »

5. What's your biggest success to date?

this is the real inherent weakness of cash games as opposed to tournaments, nothing I've won to brag about! I've had a couple of 5 figure days, I guess that's the best. Or I could say something gay like I'm just happy to be able to hold my own against good opponents at 10/20.

doke wrote: »

6. What's your long term poker ambition?

I'd like to make seven figures from online cash, and also win a tournament so I can have a gigantic victory party and a trophy.

doke wrote: »

7. Donkaments - pure luck or not?

of course not. in any form of poker, some people have an edge, some don't.

but compared to cash games, variance can take a very very very long time to even itself out.
Bad live MTT players can be winning over a 5 year sample, and vice versa. So people's opinions on who are good or bad live MTT players can be extremely wrong. If you played 2 hours of cash/tournaments, I would say it's much more likely that you can tell who are winning players in the cash games. idk if that's what you meant.

doke wrote: »

8. Lucie in the Fitz or Kasia in the Emporium?

i don't know Lucie in the Fitz. But from the couple of times I've been in the Emporium, I'm certain I'd have said Kasia anyway.

doke wrote: »

9. Five best players you've ever played against.

these are all online names. 5 people that I either felt out of my comfort zone against or were just generally very very good in no particular order are DrGiggy, iRockhoes, zero2lose, aejones (full tilt) dpommo (betfair)
game selection ftw though, I haven't played very much with any of them in a while.

doke wrote: »

10. Five worst.

it would be too unfair on a lot of people if i narrowed this down to five.

I've just one question for now.

very first hand of the wsop you know nobody on your table, its folded around to the small blind,your on the bb,as he lifts his hand up he doesnt protect his hand very well and you see it and he is holding ak, your on the bb with kk, he open shoves, call or fold?

Thanks for the answers.

Van Dice wrote: »

but compared to cash games, variance can take a very very very long time to even itself out.
Bad live MTT players can be winning over a 5 year sample, and vice versa.

Or even longer. Jamie Gold will be a winning player over a lifetime sample, but he'll never be a great MTT player in my opinion.

So people's opinions on who are good or bad live MTT players can be extremely wrong. If you played 2 hours of cash/tournaments, I would say it's much more likely that you can tell who are winning players in the cash games.

Agreed. I don't think that's necessarily completely down to the cash game being a purer form of the game though: there's also the dynamics added in tournaments by rising blinds, stepped payout structure etc. etc. A lot of very good (cash game) poker players are quite appalling tournament players because while they have all the poker skills in the world, they have no concept of some of the most basic aspects of tournament theory. In my opinion, you couldn't assess whether someone is a good tournament player in 2 hours or 2 tournaments: you'd need to see them over the entire course of several tournaments. A guy might play the early part well when stacks are deep but be unable to adjust as the blinds rise, as the bubble approaches, as the FT shrinks etc. etc.

When I started playing live tournaments 3 or 4 nights a week in the Fitz, after a while I noticed that on any given night, half the final table would be drawn from a relatively small pool of regulars. The other half would be playing their first FT. Some of the regulars seemed like terrible poker players (in the sense that they made basic poker errors over and over), while there were other players who seemed better and played there every night yet never made an FT. At first I thought it might just be luck but as I got a better grasp of tournament theory myself, I realised that whatever about their poker skills, the regular FT players were adhering to a clearly superior tournament strategy.

Gl in the well Van Dice,
1. I see BCB hero worships you to a degree, does this unsettle you at all
2. tell us some of your observed online tells.
3. How do you manage tilt control ?
4. How much from your bankroll do you require to live each month.
5. You are playing near the bubble of the WSOP, you look down at AA, some guy raises you , suddenly a guy falls to the ground choking purple faced on a nearby table and you are the only one who seems to know that he needs the Heimlich Manoeuvre, Do you reraise or flat call in this position ?
6. Have you ever swallowed a spider ?
7. Name yer three
fav chicks
fav tunes
fav movies
Fav quotes

8. If online poker was banned tomorrow what would you do? (for da monies)
9. If you could be any movie star for a day, who would you pick and why?
10. If you saw you mammy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe, would you wake daddy and watch the carnage unfold, or would you wait until you got over the christmas to break the news to the ol fellow.