Q+A with Marty Smyth

marty smyth

RichieLawlor wrote: »

Lol not me, but im sure you wouldnt have trouble gettin 100k for it over on 2+2

well, if u want to try to broker a deal for me u can have a nice commission. someone told me mine was actually worth $28k. if that's really true i wish they'd made me a cheap one and gave me an extra 25k...

marty smyth

NewApproach wrote: »

Hi Marty, congrats on your poker exploits and also many thanks for taking the time to answer this thread, Ive enjoyed reading it!

Just two questions,

1) Is the atmosphere at a live table much different in Ireland than elsewhere, mainly Vegas?

2) Do you notice people act/play differently on a TV table than normally?

Thanks a million again!

1. the amosphere the night i won the bracelet was great, but generally people take it much more seriously in vegas, so there isn't as much craic with the other players at the table. maybe its because at events in ireland, the fields mainly irish and ur always likely to know a few players at the table, whereas in EPTs there are lots of players from different countries and not as many know eachother.

2. yeah, well at the TV events that i play at u have to play differently because of the structure, and the fact that in the heats it's usually winner takes all. i think some players new to TV might tend to either bluff too much to try to show off, or else play too tight for fear of doing something that looks silly.

marty smyth

rounders123 wrote: »

Great Well Marty thanks for doing it, a few questions of my own.....

1. During or after your wsop bracelet tournament were you approached by any Full Tilt or any other poker company rep to sell out on Boylesports and did they look anything like slugworth?(When watching the clip above replace the word slugworth for full tilt). If so what were they offering you to sell out?.

2. As a cash player do you think it’s generally a leak to be playing tournaments?

3. How much and what kind of research do you do before having a sizeable sportsbet.

4. Whats the biggest amount of money you lent to someone in the poker world and never got repaid on or got repaid only after a lot of hassle.

5. Were you ever witness to any sectarianism during the troubles in the north and if so describe some of the incidents. Did you ever feel threatened or feel a need to lie or conceal your religion in order to avoid potential trouble.

6. When Back To The Future came out did you feel a kinship with Marty mcFly or feel cool on account of you having the same name as Marty?.

1. i was approached by an individual agent who offered me a deal to wear FTP or stars at the final. as far as i know the same deal was offered to all the finalists and it was worth anything from 16k to 50k depending on where u came. i was also offered a little bit to wear that "smiley dental" hat that kido pham was wearing, which boyles were ok with actually, since it wasnt another site, but i turned that down too as it looked ridiculous.

2. not at all. i think the standard in tournaments is much lower than a mid-stakes cash game online. however there is obv much more variance with tournaments, so u need to have a big enough BR to play a lot of them for your edge to kick in.

3. not that much tbo. a lot of the big bets that i do are when i find a freeroll somewhere by using betfair, which u used to get a lot with firms in the north, or when i think that a price is seriously out of line, or if i get good information from someone whose opinion i trust.

4. i'm not gonna answer that, as i'd be very embarrassed to admit how much it was.

5. yeah.. u can't live up here and never encounter any sectarianism. personally i don't believe in god so i don't consider myself protestant or catholic and haven't done since i was old enough to think for myself. nor do i have strong political views either way. however this explanation wouldn't quite cut it with a group of kids from a rival school who were looking for an excuse to beat someone up.
if u lived in a mainly protestant area or wore the uniform of a mainly protestant school, u were labeled protestant and there was a fair chance u'd be beaten up if u found urself stuck on your own with kids from a strongly catholic school - and visa versa of course. my school was mixed though so the couple of times i did get into sticky situations i was able to bluff my way out.
i think things are much better these days though. there's much more integration, and people have wised up a lot.

6. personally i didn't find marty mcfly that cool... certainly a lot less so than someone like daniel from the karate kid.

Conbro

Hi Marty,
Thanks for the well so far great read. Just a few quickies

1.As an online omaha player how could you give your views on the key attributes of a successful player?
2.Do you play mostly 6max or full ring? Why? What do you see as being the main differences?
3. How many tables do you play simultaeously?
4. How disciplined and regimentented are you in your approach to playing online? Describe briefly a typical day in terms of starting times, breaks etc

marty smyth

Conbro wrote: »

Hi Marty,
Thanks for the well so far great read. Just a few quickies

1.As an online omaha player how could you give your views on the key attributes of a successful player?
2.Do you play mostly 6max or full ring? Why? What do you see as being the main differences?
3. How many tables do you play simultaeously?
4. How disciplined and regimentented are you in your approach to playing online? Describe briefly a typical day in terms of starting times, breaks etc

1. this is a question that i've been thinking about a lot over the last while.
i'm not sure what i was doing right when i was doing well, but really the bottom line is that when i was pissing up in internet cash games for the first 5 years, i was one of the best players on the tables i was playing and there were loads of bad players. however for the last year and a half i've been little more than a break even player on the levels that i had been playing, and similarly, i think that is because there are a lot more good players on the higher levels and fewer bad ones.
i'm just starting to play online again after a break of a few months and i'm gonna be concentrating on finding a level that i can beat consistently, and identifying who the winners and losers are in the games that i play so that i can get better at table selection. i think these 2 points are a good place to start and then u can look to improve ur game by reading books, training videos, and basically just learning from the game as u play it.

2. i play both, and to be honest i'm not sure which i do better at. i basically just jump in whatever table has a free seat on the site that i'm playing, unless one of the tables looks easier, in which case i'll get myself onto the list whether its 6 max or full ring. obviously the main difference is that everyone generally plays tighter in a ring game, and because of this u have to be more selective with your starting hands and not play too many that can get u into trouble if u catch a piece of the flop. i think 6 seaters are much better if u have 1 or 2 bad players at the table as it is easier to isolate them.

3. it depends. probably 5 at the very most, but this would be if they were all ring games or tournaments where i don't play a lot of hands. if i was playing 6 seaters then it would be 2 or maybe 3.

4. i couldn't be less regimented or less disciplined in terms of working hours. i basically play when i happen to be in the house and have nothing else to do and feel like playing.
since 12am today... i've played until about 3am, then went to bed. just woke up now at 12pm, checked emails and answered this question. i'm playing golf at 3pm so i might play for an hour or so now. i'll come home later and maybe a couple of friends will come round for a few games of pool, in which case i won't play any more today... if that doesn't happen, i'll probably spend a few hours with karen and then maybe play another session late on once she goes to bed if i'm not too tired. that's a fairly typical day for me...
i know it doesn't sound like much but i used to play 50 hours a week like this - just basically playing when i'd nothing else to do. now i just seem to be a lot busier and i spend loads of time away from home, so i'd imagine i'll probably be playing closer to 20 hours per week now.
i've never really had to structure in breaks as i get quite bored after a while and i rarely play really long sessions.

CHD

Great read thanks Marty.

Wish you all the success.

marty smyth

right... the questions seem to be drying up now, so i think this might be a good time to wrap this up. thanks for all the questions - i've very much enjoyed answering some of them. boyles are having 2 bounty tournaments this week with small entry fees - NLH on wed and a PLO on thurs. check the site for details if u's feel like playing. hope to see some of u there.

thanks again

KevIRL

Marty thanks very much for doing the well, it was very interesting. I'll lock up the thread now to avoid a any more questions, people can use the 'thanks' button to show their appreciations.

I'll also add the link for this well into the sticky at the top of the page for prosperity:D.