Now Ye're Talking - to a Professional Poker Player

doke

keane2097 wrote: »

Tell the Bowie story!

http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2016/01/a-beautiful-exit.html

doke

tevey08 wrote: »

Do you tip on all cashes from a tournament and what % or do you not tip at all?

I almost always tip, generally about 3%, unless it's automatically taken out, or I'm advised by my dealer friends that the tips don't get passed on to them (which sadly sometimes happens).

Thank you for the questions

doke

diomed wrote: »

Without reading down the thread I'm going to say his worst was when late in the Deepstack (about 11 players left) he was all in with AA, called by 72 offsuit and the other player hit a flush on the river with the 2 to eliminate him.
Besides my own bad beat stories I can tell bad beat stories for other players.

I'd actually forgotten that one, and I guess it is the worst

I generally don't dwell on bad beats I give or receive: they're just part of the game.

scudzilla

doke wrote: »

http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2016/01/a-beautiful-exit.html

Wow, that's something else, nice one

Gloomtastic!

Got to say this has been one of the most thought provoking AMAs for me. You have a great mind doke, pretty unique in many respects and i’m glad you’ve been able to profit from it and still lead a relatively normal existence.

Do you ever question why you have the mind you do? Are you an only child or do you have siblings with equally unique gifts or are they just normal?

They say everyone is created equal with the same capacity for genius but due to environmental factors growing up we end up the way we are. Do your parents realise, by putting you down they were in fact building you up!

Good luck to you and yours and well done so far. Maybe you should try teaching next, I reckon you’d be great.

Jobs OXO

Jobs OXO wrote: »

Always thought sitting at an online table could leave you exposed to 2 (or more) of the table working together. Any thoughts on this ?

Think you missed my Q above

doke

diomed wrote: »

Yes. The real story is the market makers take a percentage to run the game and the participants divvy up the remainder. No reason why some can't win long term if they identify good bets.

What gave you the idea for the thread?

Sean Kilroy, who you know, as you are

Are you running in the Dublin marathon on the weekend?

Sadly not. I hope to go back to running competitively at some point, but for now poker remains the priority.

When I start talking at the table do you lose the will to live?

No. I genuinely enoy your company.

You are unfailingly polite. Is that an act?

No, it's just how I am by default. I can be irked out of it by something like sexism, racism or bullying but other than that...

What do you do on a Wednesday afternoon?

That's generally long run afternoon. Before Vegas I was up to 32 miles, but I lost a lot of shape in Vegas and have been travelling a fair bit since. Hopefully I'll get back to peak fitness before next summer.

You are known for your small stack play. Why? Is it knowing the odds: your all-in getting called; chance of being ahead if called; chance of winning if called and behind? Or is it being willing to fight it out even when small stacked?

It's just maths. I had a eureka moment reading Dan Harrington when he talked about the profitability of going all in with a short stack was a combination of how much you made when everyone folded and how often you won when called. I realised that if you wrote down every hand each opponent would likely call you with, you could work out
(1) what percentage of hands that was (and therefore work out how often they folded)
(2) how often you would lose with any given hand against that range of hands
(3) how often you would win

By combining the three scenarios it was possible to work out what hands could be profitably shoved in every given scenario. I spent months working this out by hand and developed detailed charts that were among the first of their kind.

Nowadays though there is software that can do all those calculations at the click of a button, and apps with detailed hand lists, so my edge is nothing like it was.

Having done the maths was a big help to me in short stacked situations. Having the confidence to know I could play perfectly meant not getting flustered.

Very disappoint you got your worst bad beat question wrong. :mad:

kincsem

I'm surprised too as I remember how much it hurt at the time.

Thanks for your questions Sean.

doke

Former Great wrote: »

Dara do u bet on Sports at all ? If so how big would your stakes be?
Iv never played poker in my life , im in my 30s and would think its to late to learn the game at my age , although u were a latecomer to the game aswell were u?

I don't bet sports these days. I stick to what I know best when it comes to gambling.

It's never too late. I learned the game at the age of 42.

Thanks for your questions.

doke

Dub13 wrote: »

Are you still running...? If so how does this fit in with (or not) the poker..?

Poker was supposed to be the long term replacement competitively for running. I learned it at the age of 42 thinking my ultrarunning career would last another 7 or 8 years, and if I worked hard at the poker in the mean time I might get good enough to be competitive by the time I was 50. What actually happened was poker success came much faster than expected (I was a big winner online right from the start, and won my first big live tournament 9 months after learning the game), but that success came at a cost: I found it impossible to give running the level of commitment required and my running career ended. I therefore retired but went on jogging a few times a week, but a couple of years ago felt like I had lost a lot of the stamina that I used to have which I felt was an advantage in poker, so I decided to increase my running training again. I went from doing about 20 miles a week to 60, about half of which is typically a long run every Wednesday afternoon, and I started doing more intensive speed training again. Still a long way short of the 120 miles a week I did as a competitive runner, but enough to make me feel fit and improve my stamina.

So these days the running is basically part of my overall training for poker.

Thanks for your question

doke

hgfj wrote: »

As a professional player are you liable for tax in Ireland? If so how much does anyone need to earn before they are offically classed as a pro player?

Not liable. It's classified as gambling winnings. Some foreign pros move here to take advantage of this.

Thanks for your question.

doke

Jay Cuddly Hiker wrote: »

This subject of ‘legitimacy’ probably would require it’s own thread (and could include FOBTs and all other online casinos, games, bingo and the like).

Think there is way too many variables involved, to even slightly consider any of the above, poker in particular has added variance due to the small risk of ‘collusion’, particularly as stakes increase (both event and online environments).

As well as (unknown and unseen) source code, based around a ‘random(); function’ (RNG) that selects each card, there are other considerations:

i) As mentioned: RNG scripts (the source code for these are said to be independently verified, but who watches the watchers?).

ii) Admin key access, there was some historical news incidents from certain smaller vendor(s) whereby certain people had admin level ability to view all live hands played, and act accordingly.

iii) Funds holding, again historical news stories reported on improper funds holding by certain vendors. This presented issues with larger cash-outs.

iv) Virtual bots, probably only really exist in demo modes, again hard to verify (table chat may be useful). But what about presence of software testers, player profilers or other 'admin' staff?

v) The house/vendor takes a percent of each play, so the table is never really a level playing field with 100% of pot. Profit or simply just break-even-point, therefore requires either exceptional skill, or luck over other players.

Separately (but similarly), shop FOBT’s are said to run around 97.2%. Anyone that considers these shop machines needs basic help with math…

Essentially it’s like putting 5l of water in a bucket with a small hole in the bottom, then trying to retrieve back all 5l of the water. These physical shop machines have fees that need paid for: licensing, electricity, hardware, vending costs/fees. So (by their very nature) aren’t ever, ever going to be the cash-cow that some imagine they are.

Personally only ever consider 'real-world' events, whereby insight, knowledge and big data can be used to an advantage. Anything in the ‘virtual space’ gets a very, very big miss from me.

Very well argued post.

I may be biased since 90% of my lifetime profit from poker has been made online, but I feel more confident about online being fair than live. There are certain countries I just won't play live poker in, and even in countries where the overall culture is honest, I'm wary any time I go into a small casino or cardroom with regulars. Online sites have entire departments dedicated to looking for collusion and other cheating: this doesn't happen live. Even if cardroom staff don't turn a blind eye to obvious cheating, it's hard to spot and they are strongly incentivised to keep their regular customers happy.

Without going into specifics, I was playing in a Dublin cardroom where the supervisor was called to make a ruling in a dispute between two players. It was one of those situations where local rules differ, so the ruling could easily go either way. After asking who the two players were, the supervisor ruled in favour of a regular customer.

A few weeks later, the exact same situation arose again. The regular was involved again, but on the opposite side. I was surprised when he called for the ruling as I assumed he remembered the previous incident. Again, the supervisor asked who was involved, and again ruled in the regular's favour. When I expressed surprise later at the apparent inconsistency to the supervisor, I was told: "There's no inconsistency. If I don't keep the regulars happy the game dies".

Thanks for your post.

doke

Neon_Lights wrote: »

But sites especially in cash games have the incentive with their algorithms to optimise hands to generate the most action at any given point maximise Rake etc

Possibly, although I think the way sites look at it is more macro level than how much they make per hand. Essentially, the money online comes from deposits by losing players, and gets split between the winning players and the site (traditionally the sites have taken about 85%). Recently, some sites like Stars have started trying ways of cutting the share the winning players take, but they can do that without rigging the game (by disincentivising winning players from playing on the site, or by introducing new high luck low skill formats that are impossible to beat long term). Ultimately they want the losing players not to lose their money too quickly. If someone loses their deposit too quickly they quickly stop depositing.

doke

Jobs OXO wrote: »

Always thought sitting at an online table could leave you exposed to 2 (or more) of the table working together. Any thoughts on this ?

This is definitely a problem (collusion). Thankfully all the legitimate sites are aware of it and dedicate resources to rooting it out. The bigger sites have entire departments and software running to detect it based on players who seem to sit at the same table more frequently than normal, unusual betting patterns and plays. Most sites won't allow two players from the same IP address to sit at the same table, or two players who are known to know each other (or for example have transferred money to each other in the past). They also ban you from running certain software while playing.

One employee of a site told me their client software "knows who you are talking to on Skype or whatever when you are playing, and what you are saying".

As I suggested before, I think this may be a bigger problem live. In most cardrooms, you see the same regs playing the same table every night.

Thanks for your question

doke

howardmarks wrote: »

I have a non typical question if I may.
I also don't want you to consider it as a would you have done anything different as you made your choices and I don't personally believe theres any positives in regretting past decisions.
Anyway considering the time sunk costs into getting where you are now with conservative estimates of (60 hrs per week x say 50 weeks a year) so approx 3000 hrs per year by a 10 year career. Say conservatively 30k hours.
Now consider a baseline of the 10k hour rule to master something.
You could have mastered 3 skills in this time.
Q1. What 3 skills would you choose to learn?

Writing is the only one that springs to mind. I think if I'd really wanted to master something else I'd have tried it by now.

Q2. Would you think you could have been considerably wealthier devoting said time to master say programming, finance?

I was a programmer in a former life. I'm not sure if I'd be wealthier: maybe, maybe not. Probably not as I wouldn't have the same passion for finance or business. I feel very lucky that I'm able to play a game I genuinely love for a living, and a very good one at that, but money is not my primary motivation.

I can't really think of anything I'd change.

Thanks for your questions.

doke

the_galway_fry wrote: »

do you play all of your hands online at normal speed and what is your general thoughts on turbo etc?
im presuming you play at normal speed at 9 plus tables given you said you play 20plus at a time?

I play a mix of both. Mostly normal speed.

Thanks for your question.

doke

tedpan wrote: »

I ended up playing the 125e side event on the Friday. Split it for 1k, so freerolling with profit.

Nice one, well done!

Played the main even Saturday, got through to Sunday with 180 remaining, ended up bubbling with 3BB. Disappointing , but there's always next time..

How did Brighton go, any decent stories?

No poker success but had a great time.

I wrote a blog about the trip here:

http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2017/10/incompetent-travellers.html

doke

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Got to say this has been one of the most thought provoking AMAs for me. You have a great mind doke, pretty unique in many respects and i’m glad you’ve been able to profit from it and still lead a relatively normal existence.

Thank you.

Do you ever question why you have the mind you do? Are you an only child or do you have siblings with equally unique gifts or are they just normal?

I have a brother and sister. My brother has a very high IQ similar to mine and an aptitude for games . My sister seems more average in these regards.

They say everyone is created equal with the same capacity for genius but due to environmental factors growing up we end up the way we are. Do your parents realise, by putting you down they were in fact building you up!

I don't think so. I think it was a happy coincidence that the combination of their "tough hate" parenting and my own natural mindset and stubborn personality ended up giving me a certain mental toughness and ability to deal with adversity and determination to succeed that I might not have developed had I had more traditional loving parents. I feel very lucky in this regard as the same style of parenting ruined my brother's life and completely destroyed the possibility of my sister having a fulfilled or even normal life. I'm also very lucky to have had great friends along the way: in particular, my first girlfriend Julie and my wife Mireille who helped me get past the scars of an unhappy childhood.

Good luck to you and yours and well done so far. Maybe you should try teaching next, I reckon you’d be great.

Thank you

doke

scudzilla wrote: »

Wow, that's something else, nice one

Thank you.

And now a shameless plug: that Bowie blog written on the day he died is included in this book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1532030118/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i1?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=1532030118&pd_rd_r=a428ab98-bebb-11e7-8c37-3da6d9ea9702&pd_rd_w=w8o27&pd_rd_wg=kaspQ&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=AS7X8VBEBHQV4KZYFSTF&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=187bec3b-0822-4044-bbe9-441718232b3f&pf_rd_i=desktop

So if you know any Bowie fans and are trying to think of something to buy them for Christmas or birthday.....hint hint....

bucketybuck

doke wrote: »

Nowadays though there is software that can do all those calculations at the click of a button, and apps with detailed hand lists, so my edge is nothing like it was.

What are your thoughts on all the tracking software available? Do you feel you would have a bigger edge online had it never been developed, or did you embrace it and master it enough that it gave you that edge and was a net benefit over the years?

I stopped any regular play around the time this software was just getting started so I'm not sure how advanced they are today, I can't imagine they have gotten any less sophisticated, and honestly they were a big part of why I stopped bothering with poker.

doke

bucketybuck wrote: »

What are your thoughts on all the tracking software available? Do you feel you would have a bigger edge online had it never been developed, or did you embrace it and master it enough that it gave you that edge and was a net benefit over the years?

I stopped any regular play around the time this software was just getting started so I'm not sure how advanced they are today, I can't imagine they have gotten any less sophisticated, and honestly they were a big part of why I stopped bothering with poker.

That's a really great question, and one I often asked myself.

At the start, I was a huge fan of the software, not just because I'm a stats nerd and this opened up a whole new area of the game, but also as a study tool. My poker friends have told me they believe I'm one of the most sophisticated users of the software in the world, so I believe it helped my edge greatly at the start. However, this levelled off over time as others caught up (or the ones who didn't dropped out), so long term I suspect I might have been better if the software had never been developed.

Some sites ban all such software, my current sponsor Unibet included, so I've played on sites where I don't use software. This forces me to pay closer attention rather than using the statistical software as a crutch and my edge (as measured by my ROI) actually goes up rather than down.

Thank you for your question.

hufpc8w3adnk65

How many big blinds would you class as short stacked and start looking at making a move?

What’s your favorite hand? I don’t mean “a winning one” I mean kind of romantically when it’s delt your happy looking at it or do you have one? For me it’s allways been J10 suited.

When playing live would you allways check in the same manner or vary it?

diomed

When you were the first Irish player to reach 100 cashes on the Hendon Mob website in bricks and mortar tournaments did it make a difference?

diomed

Describe your playing setup in detail.
Is it laptop or PC? A bog standard PC or a games machine?
How many monitors and their size?
Desk size?
Keyboard? I like Filco keyboards with switch dampeners fitted. Yours?
Any real luxuries like a Herman Miller swivel chair?
Do you have two or more broadbands in case one stops working?
A blankie to hug when you get a bad beat?

doke

MrMac84 wrote: »

How many big blinds would you class as short stacked and start looking at making a move?

Most people say 10, some go up to 20. For me the distinction doesn't really matter: for any given number of big blinds and position there are hands I know I can profitably shove. Above ten big blinds I don't shove my entire range so I throwing in some raise folds, raise calls, limp folds, limp calls and limp reshoves, based on the mathematical work I've done away from the table. I guess 8 big blinds is the point at which I generally start shoving my entire range.

One way I always differed in short stack play from what was orthodox thinking was I never thought in terms of "I now have only X big blinds so have to make a move and shove any 2". I thought more in terms of "I have X big blinds: this is the list of hands that I can now profitably shove". This is now orthodox thinking but was considered bad by most of my pro peers back in the day.

What’s your favorite hand? I don’t mean “a winning one” I mean kind of romantically when it’s delt your happy looking at it or do you have one? For me it’s allways been J10 suited.

Pocket threes. I've hit some sets in huge spots with that hand that are engraved in my memory.

When playing live would you allways check in the same manner or vary it?

I try to standardise everything. For example, a common tell is when three of the same suit flop, people who are unsure whether they have one of that suit recheck their cards, thereby telling you they don't have the flush already. To avoid this, I make a conscious effort to remember both suits in unsuited hands so I know without checking back.

Thank you for your questions.

dinorebel

Not sure if you're able to answer this but what are the better online sites I play on 888 but would like to try some others. Not a question but I won £190 online last week winning a tournament with
300 players and was absolutely delighted I'd probably explode if I won the amounts you play for.

peterswellman

Hi Dara.

What player have you walked away from playing with and thought, “Jesus, they are something else?” If so who was it? Or if not, who has been the most impressive player you’ve played with and why?

Throughout your career, who are your Top 10 tournament players that you’ve played against?

Ever have a “Eureka” moment in poker when something hits you or you understand a particular aspect that changed your game considerably? What was it?

Costliest misclick you’ve ever made online?

You can make the exact same money from running as poker as a profession. Would you choose the running?

Do you think PokerStars will still be around in 5 years?

I hire you for some consultancy regarding a new online poker site, I have unlimited budget and plenty of time to develop the brand. What advice would you give me?

Last time you walked away from the poker table genuinely gutted?

You travel a lot, if you could choose to live anywhere outside of Ireland, where would it be and why?

You’ve spoken in the past about the difficulty of basically have to let your son go, have you, your wife and him now adjusted to the situation? How’s he doing? Apologise if this is a bit personal.

I don’t know if you remember playing with me (David Connors), we played a few times against each one that sticks out would be UKIPT Cork good few years ago where we both went reasonably deep. Did you have any thoughts on my game if you happen to remember anything in particular? I understand this is unlikely. Don’t mind if it’s negative. Was always curious of better players impressions of me.

Sorry, more questions than I thought when I started typing this post.

Thanks a million.

doke

diomed wrote: »

When you were the first Irish player to reach 100 cashes on the Hendon Mob website in bricks and mortar tournaments did it make a difference?

That was something I took pride in (to the point I even wrote a blog about it http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2015/12/the-doke-challenge.html).

While the primary objective in poker is to make the most money, I've always regarded consistency as a truer benchmark of performance than any one outlier result. When I realised the 100 cashes hadn't been done by an Irish player yet and that I was closing in on it I went for it. I travelled to Edinburgh on 98 so I figured there was a good chance I could make the century there. I bubbled a preliminary event, and then not only cashed but went deep in the main event. In fact for a long time it looked like I was finally going to make my first UKIPT main event final table, but I ended up busting in 10th. I was pretty devastated to have gone so close before falling short, but after a consolation ice cream with my friend Willie (whose brother Dode had busted me from the main event) I remembered that I was now on 99 cashes and there was one side event left on the schedule. So I played and cashed that, bringing up the ton.

I was proud of the achievement as it showed consistency over my career, I'm primarily an online player rather than a live one but still got there first ahead of many highly regarded live pros who have played many more years and events than I have.

Thanks for your question.

doke

diomed wrote: »

Describe your playing setup in detail.
Is it laptop or PC? A bog standard PC or a games machine?

PC, custom built.

How many monitors and their size?

Three 18 inch monitors.

Desk size?

Big enough for the monitors and my laptop

Keyboard? I like Filco keyboards with switch dampeners fitted. Yours?

Lenovo.

Any real luxuries like a Herman Miller swivel chair?

Coffee machine, TV on wall, fridge, microwave, stereo system.

Do you have two or more broadbands in case one stops working?

Yes.

A blankie to hug when you get a bad beat?

LOL no. I generally don't notice bad beats as once I've decided the correct decision is to go all in and have done so, my eyes and attention are drawn away to the next table requiring a decision. If I bust I generally don't know whether it's because my kings (or whatever) ran into aces, or got cracked by ace two. All I know is that tournament is gone and I should register another one to fill the space left on my screen.

Thanks for your questions.

doke

dinorebel wrote: »

Not sure if you're able to answer this but what are the better online sites I play on 888 but would like to try some others. Not a question but I won £190 online last week winning a tournament with
300 players and was absolutely delighted I'd probably explode if I won the amounts you play for.

The best one to play on right now is Unibet. I'm not just saying that because I'm a brand ambassador for them: I genuinely believe that. Unfortunately players from the Republic can't play there yet, but that will change soon.

Of the sites I currently play, my rankings are:
(1) America's Cardroom (comes with a warning though: good chance the Feds shut it as they did Full Tilt at some point)
(2) 32 Red (MPN Network)
(3) Party
(4) 888
(5) Ipoker
(6) Stars

Thanks for your questions.

doke

peterswellman wrote: »

Hi Dara.

What player have you walked away from playing with and thought, “Jesus, they are something else?” If so who was it? Or if not, who has been the most impressive player you’ve played with and why?

I guess the player I had the strongest reaction to was Michael Tureniac. I didn't think he was particularly brilliant technically, in fact it was pretty obvious he was technically exploitable, but he was utterly fearless. I think he opened 37 hands in a row and he bet or raised every single flop. That type of player impressed back in the day but now they are too easily exploited. The actual best players in the world these days are a lot more nuanced.

Throughout your career, who are your Top 10 tournament players that you’ve played against?

In no particular order, Niall Farrell, Calvin Anderson, Artem "veeea" Vezhenkov, Samuel '€urop€an' Vousde, OTBRedBaron, Doug Polk, DPeters, Chris Moorman, Tom Hall and Stevie Chidwick.

Ever have a “Eureka” moment in poker when something hits you or you understand a particular aspect that changed your game considerably? What was it?

I've had a few. The one that jumps out is that it was possible to mathematically solve optimal push/fold for different stack sizes.

Costliest misclick you’ve ever made online?

I misclick regged a 1k Omaha HiLo event once.

You can make the exact same money from running as poker as a profession. Would you choose the running?

Yes. As much as I love poker, running was better. I was talking to a friend running the New York marathon today and realised I got more pride from winning the New York ultra than I ever could from poker.

Do you think PokerStars will still be around in 5 years?

Yes, but it may no longer be the industry leader.

I hire you for some consultancy regarding a new online poker site, I have unlimited budget and plenty of time to develop the brand. What advice would you give me?

Focus on player experience and keeping them happy rather than trying to squeeze every last cent of rake out of them in the short term. You can milk a cow for life but you can bleed it dry only once.

Last time you walked away from the poker table genuinely gutted?

I don't think I've been gutted for a long time. I'm pretty unemotional when it comes to variance and bad beats: they are just part of the game and I focus on the long term.

You travel a lot, if you could choose to live anywhere outside of Ireland, where would it be and why?

New York. I love the city and the people.

You’ve spoken in the past about the difficulty of basically have to let your son go, have you, your wife and him now adjusted to the situation? How’s he doing? Apologise if this is a bit personal.

He's much better and settled since I wrote a blog about him and the situation a few years ago (http://dokearney.blogspot.ie/2014/08/the-son-i-never-had.html thank you, which means we are a lot happier too.

I don’t know if you remember playing with me (David Connors), we played a few times against each one that sticks out would be UKIPT Cork good few years ago where we both went reasonably deep. Did you have any thoughts on my game if you happen to remember anything in particular? I understand this is unlikely. Don’t mind if it’s negative. Was always curious of better players impressions of me.

I do remember that. I remember being impressed by your game and composure. If I remember correctly, Kieran Furey was there too and I was similarly impressed with him.

Thanks for your questions.