Q&A with nicnicnic

Ste05

nicnicnic has agreed to do a Q&A session.

So thanks Nicky and I'll get the ball rolling with a few simple and standard Q's:

1) What games are you currently playing online? Stakes/sites?

2) How good is your bankroll management?

3) How could the poker forum be improved?

4) If you could ban one person from the forum who would it be?

5) Are you Busto?

6) Will Valor ever win a tournament?

7) Would HJ be able to sustain a good MTT record if he was so inclined.

8) What is the story with yourself and Valor, you coach him how to be a donk and he coaches you how to play Poker??

9) Tell us a story from the old days.... it doesn't have to be Poker related, it could even be how you had to walk 27 miles through broken glass to get to school with no shoes or socks everyday, or a rant about the youth of today.

Thanks again Nicky, and good luck in your "Well" as goodluck2me says "old people have loads of stories" and I'm looking to hearing a few of them.

Flipper

Fair play for doing this Nicky. We've known each other well for a good few years now so I don't think I have much to ask but here's what I can come up with:

1) What do you think of my game? What improvements could I make?

2) Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

3) What is your biggest leak?

4) What has been your biggest mistake in your poker life so far?

Ste05

I have another one for you actually, it's a hypothetical:

It's day 1 of the WSOP ME, and you are at the table and the tournament hasn't started yet. All the other players at the table are chatting and they decide that they are all going to push in on the first hand and the winner of the monster stack will split any winnings between them. But for some reason they don't like you and so you are not allowed to enter the deal. (even if you wanted to)

So it's your BB and they have all pushed in as per the agreement. You look down and see AA. Do you call??

The Improver

Ste05 wrote: »

I have another one for you actually, it's a hypothetical:

It's day 1 of the WSOP ME, and you are at the table and the tournament hasn't started yet. All the other players at the table are chatting and they decide that they are all going to push in on the first hand and the winner of the monster stack will split any winnings between them. But for some reason they don't like you and so you are not allowed to enter the deal. (even if you wanted to)

So it's your BB and they have all pushed in as per the agreement. You look down and see AA. Do you call??

LoL very good.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Should be an interesting Q&A Nic,

1. Who's game do you most admire in ireland both cash & tourney
2. Do you play PLO if so how good are you or are you still learning
3. How have you found adjusting from the 9-5 grind to turning a full time poker pro
4. Whats the biggest pot won/lost
5. Whats your VPIP playing STT's
6. Do you have any long term goals outside of poker you want to achieve

Good luck

ditpoker

nicnicnic wrote:

in the early stages of a long structured tournament 78 suited has more value than AA

i like this, care to elaborate?
whats your range in the early stages of tournaments?
can you give a thought on early, middle and late stages of tourneys?

and for fun, lets say you win approx €100,000 in 2007 at some tournament, whats the first thing you buy!?!?!!?

CaptainNemo

• How do you keep your patience and discipline on the tournament circuit in the face of all the terrible play / suckouts / unfair results?
• Similar to above, how do you control tilt?
• How do you play in the early stages of a tournament with a decent structure - loose and aggressive and trying to build a big stack, or supertight and patient? Or does it depend on the table?
• Why tournaments?
• Do you like being a professional poker player or would you quit if you made a certain amount of money, and how much would that have to be?

Thanks in advance for the answers and thanks for doing this.

con_leche

1. What was your best moment in poker?

2. Do you think any of the Irish on-line specialists, e.g. R4AD, Green_Rizzla, AllInStevie, can book a big live score this year?

3. Most underrated player?

Flushdraw

Hi Nicky...couple of questions for you

1. How many tables do you play at a time when playing STTs and are they all the same buyin?

2. Around bubble time, do you consciously try to make it into the money by playing solid, or will you still take chances/flips and make moves in order to build a bigger stack?

3. Whats the longest winning streak you've had in STTs?

4. If you could look into the future and you saw that if you stopped playing STTs and MTTs and played cash games exclusively , you'd make 10% more in your lifetime from poker, would you make the change?

5. Whats your poker expectation from 2008?

Cheers Nicky and good luck

Ollieboy

Hi Nicky,

Do you think you can support a family and make a long term living from playing poker?

Whats your plans for the future as a poker player?

Do you set yourself a monthly, yearly target?

Do you count rake in your profit/loss for the year?

Whats your high point in Poker?

Whats your low point in Poker?

Who's your favourite Irish Pro Player and why?

Describe your style?

Whats the most important skills required for MTT online?

Whats the most important skills required for MTT Live?

Gl with this.

Taxipete29

1, What would you say has been the biggest help to you in developing your game over the years e.g books, forums or just playing alot??

2, Do you ever think that you would make the switch to becoming a predominantly cash player or do you just prefer tourneys?

3, At what point during your playing time did you feel you were good enough to turn pro?

4, If someone felt that in time they had the skills to turn pro, playing mostly tourneys, would you have any advice for them?

Thank you in advance.

nicnicnic

right I'll have a start on these. Its the first time I've seen daylight in over two weeks Boogeyman rang me at 11.18 i misread my clock/phone as 16.18 and jumped up as I'm playing in cork tonight. As it was after 8 when I went to bed dont expect the answers to be to coherent

i apologize now for all my spelling and grammatical errors that will follow in the tread

jbravado

First of all nicicnic thanks a million for doing this.
We have played together once in a lively cash game In Waterford fwiw.Gentleman.

Anywho q.

Have you ever wished that you never started playing poker?

What do you think you would be doing if you hadnt?

Do you have a mortgage/ property? It always amazes me amount of poker players who have all this loot but no real possesions or assets.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years-pokerwise?

strewelpeter

Thanks for doing this Nicky.
I still think the funniest thing I ever saw at a poker table was a couple of years ago was out in citywest with you acting about five times drunker than you actually were and putting this English 'pro' on monkey tilt and him calling for a ruling on you for playing with a dirty stack, he got the ruling after which your stack kept getting accidentally knocked over, You probably had to be there but I still laugh every time I think of it and I see you putting on your cheeky monkey face and yer man turning redder than a tomato.

Anyway a couple of questions to start off:
In a large buy in Tourney are you willing to take a race for all your chips in the early levels?
What do you think of the proposition that even for very well bankrolled pros regularly playing $5000 + events that the only way to level the variance is to satellite into them?

bops

good morning nicholas and gl with this

you played a small 50 quid tourney last night, from the 32 runners, at a guess, how many of them knew the basic fundamentals of NLHE?

where did you finish?

you then choose to play snooker for $$$ against an unknown opponent, how did that fair out?

you then turned your attention to a cash game, from the 10 players at the table, how many of them knew the basics of NLHE?

3 limpers to you in the cutoff and you look down at 9c2s, you forget yourself for a minute and think you're playin blackjack, or you remember reading something about position and you raise it to 11 and get 3 callers

Flop comes Js 8h 3s (pot 47)

The 3 callers check to you and you bet 25

Fold Fold and the final player anounces allin for 48 ie 23 more

what do you do and why??


What was the end result in the cash game?

a) get felted in some riduculous hand and leave? or
b) trebble up in one/two riduculous hands and leave? or
c) the 1st part of b) followed by a)?

And finally, my mini-challange starts today, do you think i will be playing in the IO this year? are you playing?

cya later in cork buddy

bops!

nicnicnic

Ste05 wrote: »

nicnicnic has agreed to do a Q&A session.

So thanks Nicky and I'll get the ball rolling with a few simple and standard Q's:

1) What games are you currently playing online? Stakes/sites?
.

Since last may the volume I've played online was very little basically recreational. I've just started back playing stts online about 10 days ago I'm running a small deposit, €150 up tp €4000 at $30 stts I'll then play $100s. Its at €2000 atm. I had a fair few k online but took it all off last October as i wasn't playing and it was dollar account. I've grinded up very small deposits before and wanted to do it this way again for a number of reasons.

Ste05 wrote: »

2) How good is your bankroll management?
.

online surprisingly good, live its nonexistent I generally just have chunks of cash lying around when going well when there getting smaller I just play better

Ste05 wrote: »

3) How could the poker forum be improved?
.

I don't really know there's a few posters I'd like to see post more

Ste05 wrote: »

4) If you could ban one person from the forum who would it be?
.

probably me I contribute very little and spend to much time on boards

Ste05 wrote: »

5) Are you Busto?
.

No, I've come close on two occasions since I gave up work in Dec 05 but I've always seemed to be able to up my game when I need to. My bankroll isn't great ATM but I don't think I can go totally bust ever as I have very little overheads/liferake and know how to grind when needs must

Ste05 wrote: »

6) Will Valor ever win a tournament?
.

yes but he has to work a little on his temperament, disposition towards them

Ste05 wrote: »

7) Would HJ be able to sustain a good MTT record if he was so inclined.
.

Live I think no doubt, online I don't know. I think to make your living as an online tournament (MTTS) player is very difficult I dont think I could, tbh I think anyone who does has a masochistic streak. To play 20+ mtts a day would destroy me anyhow.
I saw in HJs blog that he was selling a bit of his action in the GJP deepstack game I've been meaning to contact him since I've read it to take a peice of it so I guess that says a lot.

Ste05 wrote: »

8) What is the story with yourself and Valor, you coach him how to be a donk and he coaches you how to play Poker??
.

myself and Valor have struck up a very good friendship in a short time. Its probably surprising as were from totally different spectrum in so many things. We don't actually discuss poker that much allthough I will sometimes ask him his thoughts on a hand or situation and he is always right in his answers, the guy has a vast knowledge of the game. If I ever go at cash seriously I will take advantage of our friendship and totally pester him

Ste05 wrote: »

9) Tell us a story from the old days.... it doesn't have to be Poker related, it could even be how you had to walk 27 miles through broken glass to get to school with no shoes or socks everyday, or a rant about the youth of today.
.

my birthday is the 31st of Aug and on my 14th birthday I had left school and started an apprenticeship in a butchers. However for the full previous year I had mitched school ( now I mean I didn't attend any day for the full year ). The schools attendance inspector called to my parents house about this. As my mum used to drive and collect me from the school each day ( I used to jump in and out of the school walls and enter exit the main gate ) she basically told him to fcuk away from the house as this couldn't be her nicholas and he was mixing me up with someone else..

Ste05 wrote: »

Thanks again Nicky, and good luck in your "Well" as goodluck2me says "old people have loads of stories" and I'm looking to hearing a few of them.

NP

nicnicnic

Ste05 wrote: »

I have another one for you actually, it's a hypothetical:

It's day 1 of the WSOP ME, and you are at the table and the tournament hasn't started yet. All the other players at the table are chatting and they decide that they are all going to push in on the first hand and the winner of the monster stack will split any winnings between them. But for some reason they don't like you and so you are not allowed to enter the deal. (even if you wanted to)

So it's your BB and they have all pushed in as per the agreement. You look down and see AA. Do you call??

Snap 100% yes, the bastards don't like me have none of my action and I've got AA

Ste05

nicnicnic wrote: »

Snap 100% yes, the bastards don't like me have none of my action and I've got AA

Nice, and it'd look great for the ESPN cameras too....

The poor old dude who was left out by the young degen gamblers and then having the ultimate sh1te question answered. Especially if you lose, it'd just fan the flames of retardness that you shoulda folded...

Good work Nicky, thanks again for taking the time to do this.

nicnicnic

Flipper wrote: »

Fair play for doing this Nicky. We've known each other well for a good few years now so I don't think I have much to ask but here's what I can come up with:

Flipper wrote: »

1) What do you think of my game? What improvements could I make?

TBH although we go back a fair while we haven't played that much together. Like me your actually tighter then people perceive. If I could point to a leak its more to do with your attitude. I think you should be more pragmatic about the wins and loses, when your hot you think your better then you are when your running bad you doubt your game to much. I do respect you as a player and person.

Flipper wrote: »

2) Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

fcuk knows Flipper I've always just wondered through life aimlessly. my only ever goal is contentment with myself which I am ATM so I'd settle for that in 10 years time

Flipper wrote: »

3) What is your biggest leak?

I'm way to aggro in the blinds, I get knocked out of 80/85% of tournaments I play from the blinds

Flipper wrote: »

4) What has been your biggest mistake in your poker life so far?

Just howlers in hands I've played, my exit hand from the macau summer festival was a shocker also a tournament in the venetian this summer, the prize money on offer was near exact the payout for the sunday million. I made a squeeze play with about 12 left and a guy took 5 minutes to call. With the right speech play I could of gotten him to fold ( there was history ) but I messed up. I should of got a big pay day here there was two complete muppets with the chip lead.

TheRock

Fair play Nicky, Few for you here;

1. I know you are comfortable playing SNGs and can consistently beat and make a nice wage from them. However, do you feel that these can only take you so far and the real good money is in cash games? Would your time be better spent learning to beat these consistently?

2. Do you think the cost of major live events are gone too expensive (IO, EPT, IPC etc)?

3. Are there too many €1000plus tournaments in Ireland?

4. Have the structures now gone over the top? (I.e. 20k/50k starting stacks, 1hr plus levels, everything’s a 3 day event).

5. Do you get fed up playing poker?

6. Do you think your better off spending your time playing online or live?

7. Any opinions on the way Blazin Aces in progressing as club?

nicnicnic

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

Should be an interesting Q&A Nic,

1. Who's game do you most admire in ireland both cash & tourney

Tourneys Dave O' Callaghan and Parkinson, cash well I don't know suppose halibut as I watched him killing the big game this time last year.

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

2. Do you play PLO if so how good are you or are you still learning

probably played 60k lifetime hands and would be ahead through good card sense although atm I have no intention of playing that much of it

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

3. How have you found adjusting from the 9-5 grind to turning a full time
poker pro

I've always tried to avoid work poker is just the current means I've found so there wasn't that much adjusting really

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

4. Whats the biggest pot won/lost

biggest cash pot was over €12000 two years ago in clonmel from a €300 spin up on the night.

however two pots won me €25000 without even being involved in them. In last years IO when 8th and 7th were knocked out, that was the money jump.

biggest pot I lost was my exit hand in that tournament

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

5. Whats your VPIP playing STT's

no idea totally irrelevant stat for stts

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

6. Do you have any long term goals outside of poker you want to achieve

I have never been a goal oriented person, the only constructive thing I ever did was go to college as a mature student and finish a degree and masters of which I'm fairly proud. I have no life goals except contentment for myself and those I care for

Kalani Dazzling Tyrant wrote: »

Good luck

ty gl2u2

Goodluck2me

1. Why do you keep using my phrases, you dont see me calling myself jojojo....
2. Will Gavin ever find love outside the felt?
3. Do you still wish you were the pool player in the hustler?
4. Apart from NPT and Derek dangermouse, who is your favourite young player?
5. If you made 100K a year at 2-4 or you made 80K a year at 25-50 which woudl you choose?
6. DO you think you will ever be a winning tournament player?
7. Do you think you would have played any games over €200 if Pat Storan didnt win you all that money?
8. On a scale from 8.5-10 how good do you think I am?
9. Will you continue to spread rumours about Straddle4six being gay, just because he wouldnt buy you dinner in Vegas?
10. Do you find it hard to stay up past 10pm since you turned 50 last year?

Thanks for doing this, i know its hard for you to read and say stuff, so I appreciate the effort it will haev taken for someone your age to follow through with it.

nicnicnic

goodluck2me wrote: »

1. Why do you keep using my phrases, you dont see me calling myself jojojo....
2. Will Gavin ever find love outside the felt?
3. Do you still wish you were the pool player in the hustler?
4. Apart from NPT and Derek dangermouse, who is your favourite young player?
5. If you made 100K a year at 2-4 or you made 80K a year at 25-50 which woudl you choose?
6. DO you think you will ever be a winning tournament player?
7. Do you think you would have played any games over €200 if Pat Storan didnt win you all that money?
8. On a scale from 8.5-10 how good do you think I am?
9. Will you continue to spread rumours about Straddle4six being gay, just because he wouldnt buy you dinner in Vegas?
10. Do you find it hard to stay up past 10pm since you turned 50 last year?

Thanks for doing this, i know its hard for you to read and say stuff, so I appreciate the effort it will haev taken for someone your age to follow through with it.

I'll answers these as they wont get much thought, then do the rest chronologically from tomorrow as I've some stuff to do before I go to cork.

1. because your a little ****head.
2. Donno he seems a bit of a slapper
3. I am in many ways
4. Me
5. Doh 2/4
6. I suppose there's always hope look at jamie gold
7. No I get a mass said for Pat at least once a month
8. Very good lol its a trick question isn't it
9. I think that whole incident he was caught up in was a misunderstanding
10. I do find it hard to get up before 10 pm

goodluck2me wrote: »

Thanks for doing this, i know its hard for you to read and say stuff, so I appreciate the effort it will haev taken for someone your age to follow through with it.

gl2me

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

goodluck2me wrote: »

1. Why do you keep using my phrases, you dont see me calling myself jojojo....
2. Will Gavin ever find love outside the felt?
3. Do you still wish you were the pool player in the hustler?
4. Apart from NPT and Derek dangermouse, who is your favourite young player?
5. If you made 100K a year at 2-4 or you made 80K a year at 25-50 which woudl you choose?
6. DO you think you will ever be a winning tournament player?
7. Do you think you would have played any games over €200 if Pat Storan didnt win you all that money?
8. On a scale from 8.5-10 how good do you think I am?
9. Will you continue to spread rumours about Straddle4six being gay, just because he wouldnt buy you dinner in Vegas?
10. Do you find it hard to stay up past 10pm since you turned 50 last year?

Thanks for doing this, i know its hard for you to read and say stuff, so I appreciate the effort it will haev taken for someone your age to follow through with it.

LOL Joe just LOL

Goodluck2me

nicnicnic wrote: »

I'll answers these as I`ll probably fall asleep as Im very tired having not got to sleep until 10:30 last night...gl2me

Very honest of you nicky...i said VERY HONEST OF YOU NICKY.

The Al Lad

Hi Nicky thanks for doing this, it's probably my fault as I started the "Can we have ... " thread

1. Do you go on tilt ???

2. If so, whats your best way of controlling it ???

3.What do you find is the best way of getting through a spell where absoloutely nothing is going right for you ???

4. Do you get bored playing so much poker, especially when your card dead for hours ???

5. How good has Pat Storan become over the last year ???

6. Do have any regrets about shipping with 2 2 against de Wolfe in the IO last year ???

7. Will you ever try the no cards trick again or would it be just too much for your ageing heart ??? ( Joe told me to say that "ageing" bit)

8. If you had a gun with just one bullet left would you prefer to shoot

a) Roland De Wolfe
or
b) goodluck2me

9. Thanks for doing this, Cheers

poorbarman

Keep up the good work nic.No questions,just keep it up.Just one....what site you playing those STTs on?(for obsverational purposes only)

And another,boxing match HJ V R4AD..who wins?

connie147

Hi Nicky,
Well done on your well so far. Cant sopend too much tiome on it this week as I've the snooker in the Glen to attend to. Couple of questions before I go though

1)... My belief is that a 15,000 stack with a 1 hr clock is virtually the ideal game for a 3 day tourney. Maybe 1 every 6 weeks in different locations by various good operators and then maybe 2 or 3 majors (ie IO IPO etc etc). Do you feel the buy-ins are getting too big generally?

2).. Are you a better live or online player?

3).. Why are you so reluctant to become more of a cash game player? (selfishly,I'm asking this because I find myself in the same boat)

4)..Oh just enjoy your well,I'll be back on Monday for more

Connie

nicnicnic

Just back from the macau 97 runners for the 250+25 new structures monthly which is great to see. Finished 21st with 18 paid and to aggressive from the SB as usual lol, I'll give a couple a bash before I hit the hay and get stuck in tomorrow if I don't go on the lash.

ditpoker wrote: »

i like this, care to elaborate?

Re, 78s and AA in first levels of tourneys, well when Im out for a smoke during the first levels of a deep stack and you talk to players who have just busted out the general first sentence begins with I had AA and ...... a lot of the time you win a small pot and lose big ones with premium starters in the early stages, where playing your suited connectors is a bit like set mining


whats your range in the early stages of tournaments?
can you give a thought on early, middle and late stages of tourneys?

I'm not copping out on this question but TBH i don't enter a tournament with a set strategy or have set ranges. I play my table as i see it and constantly adapt my game to how a table is playing and to the players. I used to play a very loose small ball game then over time changed to a TAG game but these days I feel my game is totally interchangeable and situation dependent. heres two pieces I wrote in my blog re my thoughts on strategy and philosophy for MTTs recently

http://nicnicnicnic.blogspot.com/2007/11/soom-of-my-tournament-philosophy.html

http://nicnicnicnic.blogspot.com/2007/09/changing-strategy-in-mtts.html


and for fun, lets say you win approx €100,000 in 2007 at some tournament, whats the first thing you buy!?!?!!?


20 benson&hedges and a ticket to Vegas

nicnicnic

CaptainNemo wrote: »

• How do you keep your patience and discipline on the tournament circuit in the face of all the terrible play / suckouts / unfair results?
  
  
  take advantage of the terrible play, deal with the suck outs, there part of the game if your having a problem with them play 5000 stts you'll soon become immune. A10 will beat Ak 3 times in ten all in preflop its a fact of life deal with it. Unfair results hmm, don't feel sorry for yourself and whinge at the poker table I always try and think positive at the table, self for-filling prophecy and all that.
  
  
  
• Similar to above, how do you control tilt?
  
  I do tilt but not often, I can actually feel it physically hitting me like an intense pressure pushing on my skull. Online I stop playing as soon as I can, Live I leave the table for a while or just don't play a pot for ages
  
  
• How do you play in the early stages of a tournament with a decent structure - loose and aggressive and trying to build a big stack, or supertight and patient? Or does it depend on the table?
  
  Think I answered this in the last post, these days its totally table defendant but I generally start tight for a few rounds of the table anyway
  
• Why tournaments?
  
  Its what I started playing and was successful right form the word go at them. After winning consistently for two months I thought I was lucky at them; after six months I thought I was good at them; after 21 months with only one losing month I knew I was good at them
  
  
  
• Do you like being a professional poker player or would you quit if you made a certain amount of money, and how much would that have to be?

I have really enjoyed the last two years of my life and I love playing the game and can never see myself giving it up no matter what money I had.

Thanks in advance for the answers and thanks for doing this.

np tks for the ?s

nicnicnic

con_leche wrote: »

1. What was your best moment in poker?

First big result I had winning the Macau winter festival in Dec 2005 at the time people in the club in Waterford thought I was off my game paying a grand into the event, the following summer between 8/10 of them played the festival.

2. Do you think any of the Irish on-line specialists, e.g. R4AD, Green_Rizzla, AllInStevie, can book a big live score this year?

of course and I'll be surprised if they don't. Derek rizla is a very good mate of mine but its extremely hard to get him out to play live the lazy fcuker

3. Most underrated player?

9 months ago I'd of said Pat Storen but he has put that right, Danny Guiney and Jimmy MaCsweeney are two great players that are probably not as highly recognized as such on a national level yet but its only a matter of time.

..

nicnicnic

Flushdraw wrote: »

Hi Nicky...couple of questions for you

Hows Tricks Tony

1. How many tables do you play at a time when playing STTs and are they all the same buyin?

I really only back playing them after about 8/9 months now that i think of it not the 7 i said. I don't play over six but between 4/6 depending on how I feel I'm playing how I'm running and whats on TV. When I used to play the Sterling ones on crypto I used to mix 20s/30s/50s depending on the traffic. I once tried 12 tabling turbos for a 90 minute session it was a disaster


2. Around bubble time, do you consciously try to make it into the money by playing solid, or will you still take chances/flips and make moves in order to build a bigger stack?

I'm very aggro on the bubble

3. Whats the longest winning streak you've had in STTs?

I had a streak of 11/12 6 wins a no cash and then five win, I had five wins in a row maybe 3 times apart from this I think. I think 13 without a cash is my worst run I'll check sharkscope later for it, I know that the longest winning streak on scope is 9 wins by any player

4. If you could look into the future and you saw that if you stopped playing STTs and MTTs and played cash games exclusively , you'd make 10% more in your lifetime from poker, would you make the change?

for 10% I don't think I'd bother. I'm under no illusions that at some stage I'm gonna have to move to cash unless I can get a huge live touch. I've made a few half hearted attempts the most recent when I played 16000 hands after 5000 my ptbb/100 was 15/100 after 16000 I was down 4 buy ins although poker ev had me up 12 on sklansky bucks. I don't know what it is with me but I just don't like cash. I'm sure that I could train myself to grow to put up with grinding cash, I just don't have the motivation ATM. I have no doubt that if I moved to cash I could beat it at a decent level as my knowledge would give me a great start, I'm also sure that I could identify any leaks pretty quickly. If I do move I know straight away that online my biggest leak would be calling when I know I'm beat. When I started playing I played a fair bit of live cash and didn't mind and quiet enjoyed it but that isn't the case today



5. Whats your poker expectation from 2008?

This is a hard question to answer Tony, I expect I'll be profitable and will make more then I would If I was working. A satisfying fact from last year is that the profit I made in the IO ( I had 50% of my action out because of a deal in blazing aces and swapping percentages ) was only about half of the profit I recorded for 2007. This is going to open me up to a bit for abuse but I actually feel that I didnt run very well in 2007. Having said that because the variance is so much in mtts i wouldn't be surprised if I didn't say have any results that register for all of 2008 on the hendonmobo data base on the other hand i wouldn't be surprised to have ten results on it in 2008, thats the nature of being a live tournament player


Cheers Nicky and good luck

TKS Tony

...

The Improver

Hey Nicky, good stuff so far, just a few quick ones for you.
1.in the last Waterford fest when i doubled you up on the buble do you think i should have folded considering the stack i had and espeicially when i picked up info on you earlier when you showed AAs KKs a couple of times?

2.when you sit down and play on line do you play only stts and how many hours do you put in?, or do play sats and mtt aswell.

3.We have been on the same table quite a few times, what do you think of me as a player?

Best of luck Keith.

rag2gar

Nicky you are considered one of the top players in the country thanks to some very impressive results in Irish tournaments. What do you believe is key to making the step up from an average run of the mill tourney player to a top succesful tournament winner?

Having played countless hours of live poker over the last few years what is the most impressive attributes eg good stategy and worst flaws eg going on tilt you see in quality/poorer players?

If you were to rate yourself as a poker player today on a scale of 1-10 where would you be and why?

Is it correct to never do deals in tourneys under normal stuctures/payouts in your opinion?

What percentage of your attitude to playing poker is considered working or entertainment? (EG 60% for work ie making money element, 40% for entertainment)

Your blog seems pretty well received with 14 comments on your last post. Do you plan on keeping it up in the future and to what extent? As in a post a week/month after a big tourney etc?

Who's your tip for next months deepstack game? Are you playing and if so how do you rate your chances in what shall be a truly unique tourney?

Thanks a mill

Van Dice

good thread nicnic

dacman

Hi nicky good read so far

Here are some questions of mine.

1.If you are chatting up some really nice bird in a pub/club and she is really interested and then she asks you what do you do for a living what would you say.

2. Say you had 200k in the bank would you find it hard to take a 100 freeze out in waterford seriously.

3. Whats your favourite/least favourite site to play online and why.

4. Whats your biggest online tourney win besides the prague ept.

5. Do you think young people aged between 18-22 who make say 40k a year at poker and have given up there jobs/college career goals are making a wrong move in the long term.

6. Do you get a weird reaction of non poker people when you tell them what you do for a living.


thanks nicky

eagle eye

Fair play Nicky for doing this, just a couple of easy ones for you.

1. Whats your preferred structure for a freezeout with a €500+ buyin?
2. Who is the player you find it most difficult to play against?
3. Whats your best piece of advice for someone starting out at poker?
4. What is your biggest goal in life pokerwise?
5. Who is your favourite golfer of all time and present time if different?
6. You find an old dusty lamp and rub it and a genie pops out and gives you three wishes, what are they?
7. Who is your favourite poker player of all time and present time if different?
8. Who is your least favourite poker player of all time and present time
if different?

Brayruit

Just two questions Nicky...

(1)

Folded round to you and you hold J2o in the cut off.

You respect the play of the BB but you think that the button and SB are weak.

Fold, call or raise?

(2)

How long do you remember the way a player played certain hands / situations?

Rossibaby

great thread nic thanks for doing it!

1.whats the best advice you would give to a young poker player at low stakes?

2.when i have a bad run or make a stupid decision i tend to dwell on it as i dont play really often[once/twice a week],do you expiefrence similar feelings?

3.sometimes i kind of know im behind but find it hard to let a good hand go,say hitting something on the flop then danger cards on turn and river.i almost call out of stubborness...ne advice

4.do you think tight players ultimately do better in tourny's,i find that aggro ones often bow out needlessly,as you say that pot where 2 guys were knocked out got you 25k.tight players can get a little stick but i find the respect you get can lead you to pull of bluffs better and consistently win pots playing premium hands with the odd suited connecters thrown it

5.do you think players often think they are better than they are?i mean local club players,often they say '' oo you should have folded there'' etc i find them a bit idiotic to claim suc things`after a hand

6.how did you learn?and what do you think are your main attributes

nicnicnic

I know I haven't being answering loads on this yet but promise to get round to everyone

nicnicnic

I said I'll do these chronologically and received the following ones by Pm on Thursday morning

Right Nicnicnicnicnicnicnicnic, My name is Michael McGumshious.

1. You have to recast series 4 of Fr. Ted. and two of your stars are Hector Jelly and Requiem 4a dream. ..What roles would you give them.. NOTE Not the bastard name calling couple John and Mary, that's two obvious.




Hmm probably come up with to new roles for them HJ as the Holy goest and R4d as bishop Casey



2. Who would win between you and Pat Storan in the following. A) Singing competition. Welly throwing C) Heads up for Caravans in Dungarvan D) General all round culchiness...

A. ME B. Pat I don't have any wellies C. dead heat I'd say D. you do know that Waterford was the capital of Ireland before Dublin


3. The absolute funniest thing you've heard at the poker table

cant really of one but will get back to it, I'd imagine I said it though. I once saw a guy call an allin Vs top set with no pair no draw, 6 high actually and hit a RR st flush.


4. Waterford hurlers are known bottlers , to what do you attribute Waterfords lack of all Ireland success considering their obvious talent......

Ive never been a gaa man but I guess its because there bottlers

5. Who (IYO) is the rudest player in... A) Dublin Ireland

not gonna answer this type of Question on a public forum

6. If you had to give up poker tomorrow........would you take it up agian the next day? er sorry I mean what would you do?

probably bank jobs

7. Who is the most overrated player in Ireland

not gonna answer this type of Question on a public forum

8. Annette-15 has surprisingly got one or two admirers, are you one of them. I'm not talking about poker here....ie would ya? *cough *cough

No way but I've done worse

9 Predict something for this year, choose anything , any subject, but make it interesting and not obvious. IE Kilkenny winning the all-Ireland.

that black dude running for president will be assassinated if he gets the democratic nomination

10. Name 6 players for entertainment purposes only, you'd like to spend an evening playing cards with. (ie money is irrelevant)

Parkinson, Jessy May, Unger, Hellmuth, HJ & R4d

Only Aces

nicky,if ur brother gary hdad kept playing do you think he would have developed into as good a player as yourself?

if you keep playing until ur 65 do you think you could become as good a player as butch?

cheers m8;)

nicnicnic

Ollieboy wrote: »

Hi Nicky,

Do you think you can support a family and make a long term living from playing poker?

It can be done I'm sure but I'm sure that if I had a family I would have another source of income as back up. I'd imagine unless you were at the very top of the game the pressures would be enormous

Whats your plans for the future as a poker player?

World domination would suffice, Its kinda like Tonys expectations ? for 2008, It would be great to play all the top events but just continuing to be a winning profitable player is whats important.

Do you set yourself a monthly, yearly target?

No but if I didn't make X amount over the coming year I would have to look at doing something else

Do you count rake in your profit/loss for the year?

If you mean rakeback yes, for stts its a huge part of what you make

Whats your high point in Poker?

well I said my first big tournament win but last years IO was very significant to me aswell, A 100k cash is huge for any tournament player my profile as a poker player was increased hugely by the event also. It will also be important when I get another really big score

Whats your low point in Poker?

the IO last year I was pretty upset for a few days after the event, I knew how close I had come to a life changing win.


Who's your favourite Irish Pro Player and why?

You are Ollie your just so nice and cuddly i want to hug you every time I see you

Describe your style?

Tag with gears and lots of them

Whats the most important skills required for MTT online?

I really not much of an online mtt player I'm a life winner but don't play that many. Patience and not tilting are importing online but for me I have trouble concentrating consistently. Basically paying attention, I get distracted to easily when playing online mtts


Whats the most important skills required for MTT Live?

Its playing the player without doubt, its a basic point but there's no point pulling elaborate moves against people that only see there own two cards

Gl with this.

Tks Ollie

nicnicnic

Taxipete29 wrote: »

1, What would you say has been the biggest help to you in developing your game over the years e.g books, forums or just playing alot??

the only poker book I've read is stotblooms Omaha one. For me playing a lot and I talk a lot about the game with others. The biggest influence on how my game has developed would how much i think about the game and mistakes I've made, reading forums are more prevalent lately with me also.


2, Do you ever think that you would make the switch to becoming a predominantly cash player or do you just prefer tourneys?

I've touched on this in a ? from flushdraw, I just prefer tournaments but I think that its inevitable that at some stage in the future I will play cash. I know I'm stupid for not having done so already but just keep putting it off but the cash will be in support of my tournaments when I do rather then instead.


3, At what point during your playing time did you feel you were good enough to turn pro?

Well I had made nice profit each month for the nine months before I gave up my job. The day after I got a €20,000 touch I jacked the job. It was more about jacking a job I hated then becoming a poker pro. I was totally naive if I'm honest and without a plan, I just wanted out of what I was doing.

4, If someone felt that in time they had the skills to turn pro, playing mostly tourneys, would you have any advice for them?

Have A back up whether its consistently beating cash stts whatever. I know I will win over the coming year playing mtts but the variance is big and you just cant rely on a consistent income, you just dont know when your next score is coming and without a backup a bad run can destroy your confidence and bankroll. I play much smaller online then live, these days a €200 entry is about the smallest game I'll bother with live but I'm quiet happy to grind a few 1000 low stakes stts or play small satellites online. I can guarantee myself €2500/€4000 a month to keep me in smokes petrol and pay the bills, the liferake. Your live tournament roll should be maintained separately. A mistake I make when I'm well rolled is I stop the grind and probably don't play as well either live simply because I'm flush, very amateurish but something I will sort, as I said in my last answer I've gotten into this in a very Ad hoc manner and I'm learning all the time, If I'm honest its probably blind luck that I didn't go bust at some stage

Thank you in advance.

pleasure

.

Shortstack

Nicky, well done for doing this.

1: When was the first time you ever played a hand of poker and what were you initial thoughts on the game?

2: If you were asked to compile a top 20 Irish Live MTT players where would you put yourself in the list. What about Pat?

3: What is about your game that has made you so consistent?

4: Why are you so offended about being labelled as a "character" on the Irish poker scene. Do you feel it detracts from your image as a successful player? Would you rather be a money making "character" or a losing "He's a great player"?

5: If you were to live your life again from the age of 11 and were allowed to make only one different choice down the route of your life what would it be?

nicnicnic

Shortstack wrote: »

Nicky, well done for doing this.

1: When was the first time you ever played a hand of poker and what were you initial thoughts on the game?

2: If you were asked to compile a top 20 Irish Live MTT players where would you put yourself in the list. What about Pat?


lol first two names on the list, ill get to the rest in time

3: What is about your game that has made you so consistent?

4: Why are you so offended about being labelled as a "character" on the Irish poker scene. Do you feel it detracts from your image as a successful player? Would you rather be a money making "character" or a losing "He's a great player"?

5: If you were to live your life again from the age of 11 and were allowed to make only one different choice down the route of your life what would it be?

.

Flushdraw

Cheers Nicky...great read so far...

Oh and the questions from Michael McGumshious..obv for the purposes of a bet with Ste05, technically MrMcGumshious didnt post on boards....

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

Hectorjelly

Describe some of your most interesting experiences from Henrys

Do you still listen to house music?

Give a broad explanation of some of your Speech Play tactics

9 handed tournament, you have about 50 blinds. Would you prefer kk on the button or AA utg?

Where was that stooped and mealy-colored old man I used to call poppa when the merry-go-round broke down?

nicnicnic

jbravado wrote: »

First of all nicicnic thanks a million for doing this.
We have played together once in a lively cash game In Waterford fwiw.Gentleman.

NP & TY

Anywho q.

Have you ever wished that you never started playing poker?

god no

What do you think you would be doing if you hadnt?

I either be working in accounting which really isnt me, or lecturing which would be ok as the holidays are great.


Do you have a mortgage/ property? It always amazes me amount of poker players who have all this loot but no real possesions or assets.

beyond the scope of what I'm prepared to answer but I don't have any rent/debts worries



Where do you see yourself in 5 years-pokerwise?

think I've covered this one

..

nicnicnic

strewelpeter wrote: »

Thanks for doing this Nicky.
I still think the funniest thing I ever saw at a poker table was a couple of years ago was out in citywest with you acting about five times drunker than you actually were and putting this English 'pro' on monkey tilt and him calling for a ruling on you for playing with a dirty stack, he got the ruling after which your stack kept getting accidentally knocked over, You probably had to be there but I still laugh every time I think of it and I see you putting on your cheeky monkey face and yer man turning redder than a tomato.

I dont think I was acting, I was that drunk. Was it the long one out of that hit squad crew. I don't drink anymore when playing after I misread my hand at the first GJP festival main event.

Anyway a couple of questions to start off:

In a large buy in Tourney are you willing to take a race for all your chips in the early levels?

I am at all levels really



What do you think of the proposition that even for very well bankrolled pros regularly playing $5000 + events that the only way to level the variance is to satellite into them?


Colclough was saying this in a recent interview about the EPT buyins I read.
Totally agree sponsorship/staking or satellites are the only realistic option

..