Q&A with MrPillowtalk

MrPillowTalk

RasTa wrote:

Was it Mr Hughes or Mr Hipwell who thought you maths?

I was tought by both briefly but thankfully I had MrEvans for my senior cycle. Both Hughes and Hipwell were equally entertaining in entirely different ways.

MrPillowTalk

kincsem wrote:

As a Spurs fan I'm saddened by the 0-4 result, but as Ronaldo now ties Drogba at 15 goals in the top-goalscorer market I might collect €2,600 (20/1).

Hes our regular peno taker now so could be a good bet.

RoundTower

MrPillowTalk wrote:

1) Most common mistake is people playing at all, most people just shouldnt play.

El Stuntman

excellent stuff Mr PT so far...

you got slagged a lot about your "retirement", what drove you to retire?

even more pertinently, what drove you to come back?

do you consider yourself to have an addictive personality?

willietherock

"He understands the value of setting up river bluffs on the flop”
“he puts people to a decision for their stack without putting all his stack in jeopardy.”


Pillowtalker, could you maybe expand a bit on these two concepts that you rate highly?

El Stuntman

MrPillowTalk wrote:

Ronaldo is the business this year, I will be inconsolable if we let him go to Madrid, it pisses me right off that he is only on £70k per week .

yikes, I know top poker players are supposed to be indifferent to the value of money but this is ludicrous!!!

'only' 70k a week for having a girly haircut, kicking a ball of air around and faking injury constantly, LOL...

Dr_Colossus

Hi Eoin,
Great material here so far.
As per your last blog entry can you please elaborate on the importance of confidence and how it affects your play. Can anything be done to improve it during a severe downturn that affects not only your bankroll but more drastically your confidence?
I'm going through a horrendous spell for the past two months and it’s destroying my confidence making me question every move. I also think it’s affecting my play as I’m starting to assume the worst in most hands resulting in me easing off on the aggressive pedal when ahead. I don’t play near the levels you do but it is still pretty sole destroying to see every big hand and pot I’m involved in getting outdrawn on against the odds. I’ve dropped down two levels and have very good bankroll management but can you advise how you handle the variance from an emotional and psychological perspective?
Do you advocate taking shots at higher levels with a small percentage of your bankroll or would you be more inclined to advise to gradually increase in levels as your bankroll grows. From your blog I see that you dabbled at 0.5/1 and 1/2 for a while before taking a shot at 5/10 and never looking back since. Would you do the same again all over again and what proportion of your bankroll would you have staked at the time?
Congratulations on doing so well and thanks for taking the time out to reply to these questions.

MrPillowTalk

El Stuntman wrote:

excellent stuff Mr PT so far...

you got slagged a lot about your "retirement", what drove you to retire?

even more pertinently, what drove you to come back?

do you consider yourself to have an addictive personality?

1) a 50k downswing and the fact I was and to some extent still am playing poorly.

2) a strong obsessive streak, and an addiction to poker, and the money Ive since clawed back most of that downswing whilst still playing poorer than I would like to admit.

3) no not generally, I am very particular about being good at everything I do.

MrPillowTalk

willietherock wrote:

"He understands the value of setting up river bluffs on the flop”
“he puts people to a decision for their stack without putting all his stack in jeopardy.”


Pillowtalker, could you maybe expand a bit on these two concepts that you rate highly?

If you could convince him to do it he would do a better job of it, Ill see if he will respond when I talk to him later.

MrPillowTalk

El Stuntman wrote:

'only' 70k a week for having a girly haircut, kicking a ball of air around and faking injury constantly, LOL...

He does far more than that.

Everything is relative, I dont know what you do for a living but if in work every day the guy sitting beside you with the same job was getting paid twice as much as you are and only produces a fraction of what you do, would you not think this unfair?

Similarly if another employer offered to double your wage would you stay in your current job?

I think not.

pok3rplaya

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I started to flat call with ak pre flop if the pot was hu, made it more profitable and less variance playing ak out of the blinds. I still reraise it in position usually but against an aggresive player will call about 50% of the time instead of raising. I thought I was losing a lot of value by not raising it but you actually gain from the extra action you get from worse aces on ace high flops.

This is interesting. I have a PFR of 17 and I blind steal a lot. I raise something like 30% of the time OTB. You are in the BB. What hands are you reraising me with?

MrPillowTalk

Dr_Colossus wrote:

Hi Eoin,
Great material here so far.
As per your last blog entry can you please elaborate on the importance of confidence and how it affects your play. Can anything be done to improve it during a severe downturn that affects not only your bankroll but more drastically your confidence?
I'm going through a horrendous spell for the past two months and it’s destroying my confidence making me question every move. I also think it’s affecting my play as I’m starting to assume the worst in most hands resulting in me easing off on the aggressive pedal when ahead. I don’t play near the levels you do but it is still pretty sole destroying to see every big hand and pot I’m involved in getting outdrawn on against the odds. I’ve dropped down two levels and have very good bankroll management but can you advise how you handle the variance from an emotional and psychological perspective?
Do you advocate taking shots at higher levels with a small percentage of your bankroll or would you be more inclined to advise to gradually increase in levels as your bankroll grows. From your blog I see that you dabbled at 0.5/1 and 1/2 for a while before taking a shot at 5/10 and never looking back since. Would you do the same again all over again and what proportion of your bankroll would you have staked at the time?
Congratulations on doing so well and thanks for taking the time out to reply to these questions.

1) Affecting your bankroll is more important than affecting your confidence imo. Confidence is important, when I start to lose confidence I play too fast in spots too slow in spots, I second guess myself and generally cant find the instinct that usually puts me in the right line of thinking.

2) I dont really get emotional about losses anymore. Pschologically, I tend to talk about my losses more than my winnings as I find it cathartic on some strange level to talk about it. I often bother poker freinds with tales of woe.

3) There have been times Ive played with every cent I had in my poker roll on one table, I never do that anymore but I might in the future who knows? I think players should take shots but I accept no responsibility if somoene does their roll as a result of this advice. Best way to take shots is probably to keep 15 or 20 buyins of whatever level you are playing and take whatever you have above that and use it for a shot at the next level. Everyone has their level at some point in the stakes you go from being a winner to a loser.

MrPillowTalk

pok3rplaya wrote:

This is interesting. I have a PFR of 17 and I blind steal a lot. I raise something like 30% of the time OTB. You are in the BB. What hands are you reraising me with?

Im not really sure on poker tracker stats, this means your quite tight right?

I wont reraise a ton from the BB against a tight player unless they are passive post flop, I dont reraise AK from the blinds hu because a worse ace is allways in villains range and if I reraise a good player will get away on an ace high flop it disguises the hand much better. Obviously its a rule of thumb I dont allways play that way.

If my button player is loose or a tag who button steals with a fair frequency I will reraise a lot any pp sevens plus and A10 AJ, I will call as much with AQ as AK against these type players.

Incidentally if the effective stacks are shortish or we are playing 4 handed or less I never call behind with AK unless its against a known nit.

BigCityBanker

Eoin,

For quite some time now you have been complaining of playing badly. What do you think has caused you to start playing badly? Can you talk about this whole phase a bit more? Cause, effects, what solutions you have in mind for it? etc.

Cheers,

Noel.

MrPillowTalk

BigCityBanker wrote:

Eoin,

For quite some time now you have been complaining of playing badly. What do you think has caused you to start playing badly? Can you talk about this whole phase a bit more? Cause, effects, what solutions you have in mind for it? etc.

Cheers,

Noel.

Ive been complaining about it for quite some time because Ive been doing it for quite some time, my game hasnt been right for about 4 months maybe longer.

I can still play well for extended periods of time and Im still not the value or anything but Im finding it hard to play as well as I used to. I dont really know why its like that if I did Id have it fixed by now. I think Ive identified what Im doing wrong and Im trying to stop.

To combat it I tried moving down to 5/10 for a while and I killed it then had a 23 buyin downswing in one day lol even by my tilt standards thats excessive and the stuff of truely bad play a similar tilt session at 25/50 would bust my liquid roll.

The effects of me playing bad are that I tilt waaaay too easy and call on the end too much. Its not like I start 4 betting Ax or anything ridiculous like that, its a little more subtle but there all the same.

It has been dificult and Im not hiding anything from myself, I have asked myself lately if this continues whats likely to happen and the obvious answer is I will quit if I become a loser, but I think I will quit if I dont start living up to my own expectations as well. Playing tired might have something to do with my propensity to tilt after a bad beat lately but thats just an excuse really.

Im trying to get back to where I hope it happens soon.

Paradoxically Im finding tournaments easy enough going at the moment.

nicnicnic

do you play many online tourneys, biggest online tourney cash? leading on from that do you see them as a waste of your time

MrPillowTalk

nicnicnic wrote:

do you play many online tourneys, biggest online tourney cash? leading on from that do you see them as a waste of your time

No I rarely play them anymore, when I was in college I played them a bit. I made the final table of the party 500k twice and the 200k once, ive cashed in the sunday million on stars once or twice. Think I got 7k for 7th in the party 500k cant really remember.

Won a wsop seat on ppp last year that was worth 12k. I would like to play the big Sunday ones more but the ammount of time required for them isnt really feasible when you have work the next morning.

smurph

I know that you hung to the right in 2006 will you be hanging to the left in 2007?

How many Casinos have you been barred from?

Do you now agree that being manky drunk and trying to play in cash games do not mix?

What odds do you give yourself playing in future Charity Heads Up Championships?


What do you think of the standard of poker in Ireland?

Will you being going to Vegas for the WSOP this year?

You play at very high levels online, do you find you get a little bored playing smaller level live tournaments €300 €500 entry levels etc.,

Is there any young player that you see potential in and would like to coach?

DeVore

Smurph wrote:

I know that you hung to the right in 2006....?

How?

I vote Smurph next in the well!!

DeV.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

handsfree

i'd like to see pok3rplaya in the well

it sounds to me pillowtalker that you have the same problem as me, when it comes to tilting or playing badly. i find that playing less and only when i'm fresh helps alot. if you find other things that help will you let me know?

BigCityBanker

MrPillowTalk wrote:

Ive been complaining about it for quite some time because Ive been doing it for quite some time, my game hasnt been right for about 4 months maybe longer.

I can still play well for extended periods of time and Im still not the value or anything but Im finding it hard to play as well as I used to. I dont really know why its like that if I did Id have it fixed by now. I think Ive identified what Im doing wrong and Im trying to stop.

To combat it I tried moving down to 5/10 for a while and I killed it then had a 23 buyin downswing in one day lol even by my tilt standards thats excessive and the stuff of truely bad play a similar tilt session at 25/50 would bust my liquid roll.

The effects of me playing bad are that I tilt waaaay too easy and call on the end too much. Its not like I start 4 betting Ax or anything ridiculous like that, its a little more subtle but there all the same.

It has been dificult and Im not hiding anything from myself, I have asked myself lately if this continues whats likely to happen and the obvious answer is I will quit if I become a loser, but I think I will quit if I dont start living up to my own expectations as well. Playing tired might have something to do with my propensity to tilt after a bad beat lately but thats just an excuse really.

Im trying to get back to where I hope it happens soon.

Paradoxically Im finding tournaments easy enough going at the moment.

Eoin

I pick up on your point that your tournament game isnt suffering but have you thought through why that is the case? Cos you know your maximum downswing is limited to the tourney buyin allowing your game to be as normal? Conversely, the stigma of a downswing similar in size to that of the GDP of a developing country may be limiting your cash game. You openly talk about your swing prior to your break from the game and when you returned I recall you posting details of a $600 lodgement to FT spinning it to $15k and then losing it again through a succession of sick sick beats. This cant but shatter a mans confidence. I cant help but think that combos of the above are the current drain on your game and your confidence.

Have you considered playing a few of the tournies in town to try and rebuild your confidence in your game. To kinda reconfirm to yourself that you are as good as you are, to make you stop second guessing yourself, calling on the end knowing your beat etc.. I know it would be hard to concentrate on a 100€ event considering that its only a fraction of a continuation bet in your regular game but you are well aware that its a confidence game and simple things can often make the difference.

Anyway best of luck, however it comes about I hope it swings around for you pretty soon. Thanks again for being in the well.

Noel.

EDIT: I hope you dont take any of the above as me being a jumped up little fcker - im only saying it as I see it.

DapperGent

I think I might be sick.

Russh

Have just read through this now, very enjoyable and well done Mr PT.

AJ suited or off.... early position.... full table..Fold or Raise ?.....(middle stages of live tourney, average or just below chips..) maybe limp and reraise if raised? Whats your thoughts?

smurph

DeVore wrote:

How?

I vote Smurph next in the well!!

DeV.

All I can say is "What happened in Scarborough stays in Scarborough"!!!!!

bops

Very interesting read Mr PT - good work etc!

you say that you've been playing poorly for a few months now, does that make you a poor player as of late?

If so, is it not advisable to take a break / some other drastic action?

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything here, we all know that you are an excellent player, but having a bad run at the moment.

What i'm trying to get at is the bad run doesn't appear to be due (in general) to sick beats and/or marginal unluckiness - it appears, by your own ommission, to be due to your poor play.

You (IMO) have spent long enough trying to fight through this rough spot unsuccessfully, should you get out for a while before it's too late and you've blown your roll?

I like Noel's advice about playing live 100€ tourneys etc. Just playing high stakes online appears to be the worst option for you ATM.

You took a break before - was that not a good thing??

I know that me and you are different creatures (lol me donkey you ??) - I get as much of a buzz out of playing 1$ HU as $2,000 - I guess you only play for the $$$ and get no real enjoyment from the game other that the $?

If this is the case, I suppose bringing your game back (temporarily) to the likes of 2/4 is not an option as you will not be capable of taking it seriously?

You (from what i know) appear to be a good solid tourney player - why not focus on those for a while? there are plenty on 100/200$ buy-in games that have juicy prizepools with no risk to your BR

A change is as good as a holiday!

Thanks
bops

ocallagh

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I can still play well for extended periods of time and Im still not the value or anything but Im finding it hard to play as well as I used to. I dont really know why its like that if I did Id have it fixed by now. I think Ive identified what Im doing wrong and Im trying to stop.

Is it possible you don't care about the money as much as you used to? Also, you have proved yourself at the highest levels online, possibly the challenge is somewhat gone?

ocallagh

smurph wrote:

All I can say is "What happened in Scarborough stays in Scarborough"!!!!!

Besides playing poker and drinking this is the 3rd most common attribute associated with any poker trip I've had the pleasure of attending

Goodluck2me

i seen a hand at the hgih stakes poker table in Clonmel, There is a raise preflop and its you and fred see it. cant totally remember the action so i wont guess but it resultes in €1200 in the middle and fred pushing all in on a 44T55, what did you have?? what did you put him on? also wp etc.

BigCityBanker

Another question?

If you had to hand your bankroll to one player to play it for you - who would you give the keys to?