Q&A with RoundTower

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 10:38AM

Jam-Fly wrote:

I'll throw in a few questions...

1. What events do you plan on playing at the WSOP this year?

2. Will you be in for 100% of yourself (also mention whether or not you won at ticket).

3. Will it be primarily cash games or tournaments you will be playing?

4. What date are you planning on arriving/leaving Vegas (I'll be there for the middle/end of the ME)?

Hey Jamie,
it seems you didn't read the rest of this thread where I answered some of these.

I expect to have 90% or so of myself in the ME. I'll probably swap a few % around the time, and the onepercent charity has 1%. I haven't won a ticket yet but have spent a few hundred on sats and will probably spend a grand or two more.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 11:10AM

Hi Rounders

rounders123 wrote:

1.) Did you ever get beat or come close to getting beat by a student you tutoured at chess?.
Yes, several players I helped in school have beaten me and some are possibly better than me. No one I was in a formal tutoring relationship with is anywhere close, either I have been picking the wrong students or they picked the wrong teacher.

2.) Do you view Michelle De Bruin as a bit of a cheat after what came out in the wash and what do you think in general about drugs in sport?.
Yes I do. I think drugs are killing certain sports (cycling) as contests.

3.) Which scenario would you least like to have to carry out and you cant argue with either person you have to do one.
A) Your mother or auntie is doing a sponsored run and gives you a sponsorship card to go get some sponsorship from your friends and colleagues
or
Your at a pub in a 'rounds' situation and one friend on their round keeps giving you the money to go get the drinks in?.
I don't like doing A at all, I would choose B easily.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 11:25AM

eggie wrote:

Do you believe that your tournament life has value? Would you fold a marginal hand with a slight positive EV to enable you to pick better +EV spots in future hands where you are not risking your tournament? Why?

Of course I think it has value, it is better to be still in the tournament than out of it. However doubling up also has a lot of value. The players who talk about folding in a marginal spot such as this because of the value of their "tournament life", are usually unable to put a figure on that value, and usually neglect to consider the value of doubling up. This indicates they haven't thought the matter through properly and are using "tournament life" as an excuse to make a play that may get criticised.

There are definitely some spots in tournaments where chip EV is not equal to dollar EV. These are obvious in multiple-payout SNGs and satellites, less so in normal MTTs.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 11:46AM

BIG-SLICK-POKER wrote:

Great read dave .....

Heres my 2 Questions mate

1. DO U READ BOOKS ?
2.HAVE U READ MINGE????:D .....

Hi Neill, as you've probably guessed yes to both.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 01:28PM

Hi Sean,

kincsem wrote:

Dave,

Are you heading for a normal 9 to 5 career, or a poker career?
Hopefully neither, though at some stage I expect to do both. I'd like to end up in a less routine job or maybe have my own business some time.

Do you think it is possible to consistently make money gambling (non-poker)?
Yes, unquestionably. In the 2000s I think poker is/has been the easiest.

Where do want to live long-term?
I don't really know. I haven't found anywhere on this trip where I'd really like to settle down, so probably Ireland.

Do you have any plans, or do you just let it happen?
For the long term? No, I have some ideas but no plan.

Good luck at the WSOP.

Thanks and good luck too.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 01:35PM

cardshark202 wrote:

I want you to extend your answer to my question earlier to all limit games (ie all the HORSE games).

Did I miss something in the earlier questions? I don't see anything that says you can't bet, just you can't raise, which would change things. Also, do the other players know you can't raise on those streets? If they don't know it could take them a while to figure out.

I have to think about this anyway. I think my answer for draw games (triple draw, badugi etc) is going to be the river. But in all of these games you are going to be a serious loser (not just you, but even me), it will just be a question of losing the minimum.

RoundTower · 04-06-2007 01:54PM

Vamos wrote:

Not at all related to poker...

If given a choice of one country to live in for the rest of your life which would you pick?
Ireland, if I really wanted to live somewhere else I would make it happen.

If an alien race offered you to take you away, to show you the universe and any secrets it holds, on the conditions that it was only you that went, and you could never return to earth, would you agree?
I don't think so, the universe might be very boring.

Best alcoholic beverage in the world?
In Brazil the national drink is caipirinha. It's made from of cachaca (liquor made from sugar cane, not really like rum though), sugar, crushed ice and fresh limes. Not the classiest drink in the world but it's really easy to drink and certainly has its uses.

Right now I'd be happy with a really good pint of Smithwicks.

I'm really not sure about the alien question.

LuckyLloyd · 04-06-2007 02:14PM

This post has been deleted.

Lazare · 04-06-2007 03:03PM

You're playing a full ring game of blind man's bluff hold'em, you can see everyones hole cards but your own. The game is being played serious, for serious stakes.

What is the best position to be in pre-flop and why?
What kind of strategy could you employ to beat this game?

con_leche · 04-06-2007 08:52PM

Thank you for doing this, und good luck in the WSOP.

1. You seem reasonably intelligent. Do you think a large amount of emotional intelligence/awareness is needed to be a top class player?

2. Is imagination necessary in poker? If so, give an example.

3. Who is your favourite author?

Goodluck2me · 05-06-2007 12:23AM

RoundTower wrote:

Lloyd should spend less time moaning.
Mr Flibble and Fatboydim are both sneaky spammers.
I'm constantly surprised that DeVore has a maths degree.
Nicky still thinks he is better than the table every time he sits down, despite evidence to the contrary. Also for someone who ran a poker room he knows remarkably little about rules, etc.

That's enough for now, I'm sure I could go on all day.

go on...

Jam-Fly · 05-06-2007 12:27AM

RoundTower wrote:

Hey Jamie,
it seems you didn't read the rest of this thread where I answered some of these.

I expect to have 90% or so of myself in the ME. I'll probably swap a few % around the time, and the onepercent charity has 1%. I haven't won a ticket yet but have spent a few hundred on sats and will probably spend a grand or two more.

yeah, I read the thread after I posted my questions, a bad habit of mine.
I'll ask some dif questions so:

Would you ever take serious stakers (ie having 50% of yourself or less) for cash games or tournaments?

What would you do if you won the main event?

What's your favourite colour?

bell_boy · 05-06-2007 08:02AM

What are the most important adjustments to make in one's PLO game when going from 9 handed to 6 or 4 handed?

What's a good strategy to counter a PLO maniac?

RoundTower · 05-06-2007 09:26AM

Lazare wrote:

You're playing a full ring game of blind man's bluff hold'em, you can see everyones hole cards but your own. The game is being played serious, for serious stakes.

What is the best position to be in pre-flop and why?
What kind of strategy could you employ to beat this game?

Being in position is still good in this game, you get to see what everyone else does before you have to act.

I never do very well in this game so I'm not a good person to ask for advice. I think people play quite predictably here though, they tend to bluff in the same kind of spots, so I would try to pay attention to this.

If it's headsup the game becomes just like hold'em for low, I don't think this is a very interesting game though. If everyone folds to you in late position though, one of you probably has a monster.

RoundTower · 05-06-2007 10:01AM

Hi,

con_leche wrote:

Thank you for doing this, und good luck in the WSOP.

1. You seem reasonably intelligent. Do you think a large amount of emotional intelligence/awareness is needed to be a top class player?
I think you can go a very long way by being a cold calculating machine. But at any level, it will improve your results if you can understand how your opponents think, empathise with them, I think this is what you probably mean by emotional intelligence/awareness.

Think of it as like a detective trying to catch a criminal. By analysing his movements the detective might find some patterns to help predict what he will do next. But he will do even better if he understands the way the criminal thinks. Sorry if this analogy is a bit cheesy, I just came up with it but I think it works quite well.

2. Is imagination necessary in poker? If so, give an example.
I don't think it is necessary, I think you could write a formula to beat many poker games. In fact I'm almost 100% sure it has been done online. However, again it is something that will improve your results and beat bigger games.

3. Who is your favourite author?
I never manage to answer questions like this well, in a day or two I will think "Oh why didn't I put xxx instead, I much prefer his books". I recently bought some PG Wodehouse who is awesome.

Iago · 05-06-2007 10:43AM

1. What % of boards players do you think are long term winners?
2. What % of boards players do you think believe they are long term winners?
3. Do you think the explosion of poker has led to a lot of young people believing that this is "easy money" and negatively affecting their college or career work as a result of playing too much poker?
4. If you were asked to speak to a class of young people on the subject of poker would you do it? If so, what would your main advice be?
5. Do you believe that anybody can be taught to beat the lower levels of NLHE on a regular basis? If so at what point does the level become unbeatable by this person?
6. Do you believe in corporal punishment and the death penalty? Explain your thinking on both regardless of your answer.

best of luck in Vegas, and thanks for doing this.

BigCityBanker · 05-06-2007 11:19AM

What makes you uncomfotable at a table? another specific player having position on you etc?

What is the biggest mistake you see people making in PLO? What is the biggest mistake you make in PLO?

What is your biggest online pot win/loss?

What players at your limits do you respect/fear? Networks?

Who on here gives bad advice?

What is your reaction to the news that Luke Ivory has left the Fitz?

BigCityBanker · 05-06-2007 11:19AM

What makes you uncomfotable at a table? another specific player having position on you etc?

What is the biggest mistake you see people making in PLO? What is the biggest mistake you make in PLO?

What is your biggest online pot win/loss?

What players at your limits do you respect/fear? Networks?

Who on here gives bad advice?

What is your reaction to the news that Luke Ivory has left the Fitz?

ocallagh · 05-06-2007 12:03PM

Good well dave, some good questions and answers so far.

Do you think travelling has improved your poker?

A few people have mentioned they ran better while they were away. Do you think this is because people are generally less stressed and happier while they are on holidays or is it just coincidence?

Have you enjoyed this well more than the last?

What's more likely to happen this year in Vegas, and if you have time give reasons for your answer:

A) Reggie goes broke and marq pays for dinner.

Reggie goes broke and your exit hand in the ME is not all-in preflop.
C) Reggie goes broke and the Rio gets attacked by Bin Laden.
D) Reggie wins in vegas but loses it playing pacman in the airport.

Killme00 · 05-06-2007 12:50PM

Hi RT,

Interesting reading so far

Whats the best and worst piece of advice you have ever received, both poker related and non?

What is the biggest leak in your game?

If you were just starting out again in terms of learning the game and building up your bankroll and knowledge, would you do anything differently, would you bother at all?

Marq · 05-06-2007 03:26PM

ocallagh wrote:

A) Reggie goes broke and marq pays for dinner.

I'm not going to vegas so I'll be avoiding paying for dinner over here! I'm sending whelan in my stead with advice on how to slip out of the restaurant just as the bill is arriving.

RoundTower · 06-06-2007 09:07AM

goodluck2me wrote:

go on...

just look through my posting history, I'm sure you'll find plenty of spots where I abuse other posters.

RoundTower · 06-06-2007 09:11AM

Hi Jamie,

Jam-Fly wrote:

Would you ever take serious stakers (ie having 50% of yourself or less) for cash games or tournaments?
yes, if I want to play a game I can't afford, and think I would be profitable in. I rarely do this though.

What would you do if you won the main event?
I'd buy a pair of sunglasses and come back here to Sydney for a while, I'm not really planning to change much.

What's your favourite colour?
Yellow, there are a lot of nice Asian girls over here.

RoundTower · 06-06-2007 10:04AM

Hi Iago,

Iago wrote:

1. What % of boards players do you think are long term winners?
There are 154 players in the HU thread, I don't recognise the names but I'm going to guess about 50 of them will end up for the year, and 25 of them will be up more than 1000 euro.

2. What % of boards players do you think believe they are long term winners?
judging by the proportion of "I know I'm a fish but..." to "I know I can outplay these guys so..." I think around 80%.

3. Do you think the explosion of poker has led to a lot of young people believing that this is "easy money" and negatively affecting their college or career work as a result of playing too much poker?
yes, unquestionably.

4. If you were asked to speak to a class of young people on the subject of poker would you do it? If so, what would your main advice be?
Depends who asked. In principle I'd be happy to do it. I think I would tell them to be careful with their money and to play games they could afford, I certainly wouldn't be giving strategy advice.

5. Do you believe that anybody can be taught to beat the lower levels of NLHE on a regular basis? If so at what point does the level become unbeatable by this person?
No, there are some retards out there. I think 80% of people could probably learn to beat $50NL within 2 months with the right teaching.

6. Do you believe in corporal punishment and the death penalty? Explain your thinking on both regardless of your answer.
I don't think I would beat my kids, I don't think it is the most effective form of punishment. 50 lashes might be a better punishment than prison for some crimes though.

I don't strongly oppose the death penalty in principle, in practice (e.g in the US or in China) I think it is so badly and inconsistently applied that it would be better to abolish it.

best of luck in Vegas, and thanks for doing this.

thank you.

therealzuppy · 06-06-2007 10:22AM

Have you played in the main event saturday games in the Pokerdome in Sydney RT? What do ya think?

ntlbell · 06-06-2007 12:04PM

Hey RT excellent read so far.

I got bored of sydney very quickly, what about it do you like so much?

If you were offered work placement coding what langauge would you choose and why?

Bar the math's do you think anything you learned on your CS course has helped you in poker?

Have you ever considered a crash course in psycology? do you think it would be of benifit to your game?

You seem like a very well balanced happpy guy, do you think your overall outlook on life has an affect on your game?

Do you think egotistical walls hinder a person's ability to become a better player? If so are the posters on boards who suffer from this? (no need to name names unless you want to

)

I think it's dutch boyd who suffers badly with bi-polar, do you think this is a handicap or an edge?

What's your opinion on "betting for information"

do you follow a strict diet? do you regularly use "Super Foods"? do you think a healthy diet is important to a profesional poker player?

besides maybe books or music have you any collections of anything? old stamps? model trains?

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

RoundTower · 07-06-2007 08:58AM

Hi Noel,

BigCityBanker wrote:

What makes you uncomfotable at a table? another specific player having position on you etc?
yes, generally having too many good players at the table. Especially good loose players who have position on me.

What is the biggest mistake you see people making in PLO? What is the biggest mistake you make in PLO?
For most people their biggest mistake is playing too many hands out of position. I think my biggest mistake is I pay people off too much, I don't fold enough big hands.

What is your biggest online pot win/loss?
I've won and lost a few 10k pots, none over 15k I think.

What players at your limits do you respect/fear? Networks?
On iPoker Mercedez1 (well known player, won't post his new sn) is a good tough player at the higher limits. Also I think Auremaa24 is a good LAG at 2 4 to 5 10, he has been around for a long time which is reason enough to respect him. He does some funny things though.

Who on here gives bad advice?
A lot of people. I think among "respected" posters DeVore and NickyOD are probably near the top of the list.

What is your reaction to the news that Luke Ivory has left the Fitz?
Fitz was my favourite place to play, when I come back to Ireland I will probably follow Luke if he is still running a Dublin cardroom. It's a sad day for Dublin poker but I'm sure Luke will land on his feet.

RoundTower · 07-06-2007 09:06AM

Hi Lawrence, I think I missed this post

bell_boy wrote:

What are the most important adjustments to make in one's PLO game when going from 9 handed to 6 or 4 handed?
The players are more aggressive, this means you have to fight more for pots, call down a bit looser, value bet lighter.

What's a good strategy to counter a PLO maniac?
Get position on him and try to build big pots when you have a good hand, this is what I would do. You don't have to wait for the nuts: if he is willing to get his stack in with weak hands, you will have him crushed a lot of the time when you have big hands or draws.

Alternatively sit on his right with a short stack, and limp/reraise him or checkraise him a lot.

RoundTower · 07-06-2007 10:45AM

Hi Niall

ocallagh wrote:

Good well dave, some good questions and answers so far.

Do you think travelling has improved your poker?

A few people have mentioned they ran better while they were away. Do you think this is because people are generally less stressed and happier while they are on holidays or is it just coincidence?
I'm going to answer both of these questions together. I think a change of scene is always good for you, though I wasn't exactly highly stressed before I came away. I expect people run better immediately after a holiday, too.

Have you enjoyed this well more than the last?
About the same, I think. Some interesting questions in both.

What's more likely to happen this year in Vegas, and if you have time give reasons for your answer:

A) Reggie goes broke and marq pays for dinner.
Reggie goes broke and your exit hand in the ME is not all-in preflop.
C) Reggie goes broke and the Rio gets attacked by Bin Laden.
D) Reggie wins in vegas but loses it playing pacman in the airport.
B is most likely. I'm not quite sure how Reggie can "go" broke, though.

I know I owe you money, Mike is trying to sort it out for me.

RoundTower · 07-06-2007 12:03PM

Killme00 wrote:

Hi RT,

Interesting reading so far

Whats the best and worst piece of advice you have ever received, both poker related and non?
This is a very difficult question that I might come back to.

What is the biggest leak in your game?
I think this is answered above, it involves paying people off too much.

If you were just starting out again in terms of learning the game and building up your bankroll and knowledge, would you do anything differently, would you bother at all?
I would have played more online and tried to move up the limits faster there, got PT, multitabled more, etc.

Remind me later if I don't get round to answering #1.

Q&A with RoundTower

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