Q&A with MrPillowtalk

Lafortezza · 02-02-2007 11:11pm #1

As with the other threads (see Musician's Poker Sticky for details), ask MrPillowtalk questions here.

1) What games are you currently playing? Site+stakes?

2) How will online poker change over the next 3 years as a result of all the American legislation and stuff.

3) How could the poker forum be improved?

4) Who do you hate on the poker forum?

5) 6-handed NL-hold'em cash game with you, HJ, fuzzbox, NorwichFanRob, Roundtower some random millionaire fish. Who takes the most money off the Fish? Who takes the most money off the rest of the whole table?

6) Same as above but it's PLO?

DeVore · 02-02-2007 11:15pm

What happened to your retirement?!

Most enjoyable tournie?

Make some predictions.

DeV.

Doc Farrell · 02-02-2007 11:22pm

Do you enjoy playing cards still? If you hit your target of 150,000 for the year but found that you weren't enjoying it would you give it up and concentrate on your other business interests or is the money enough to keep you going?

say you made 200,000 over the next 6 months then lost it in the space of a month, would you shrug it off or focus on making it back directly at the poker tables?

Vamos · 03-02-2007 12:55am

Could you rate these 1-4 in order of importance.

Tilt Control
Bankroll Management
Hand Reading
Game Selection

Thanks.

ocallagh · 03-02-2007 2:01am

What is your most memorable hand?
Do you find a good challenge (clubber heads up etc) comes ahead of any BR issues?

ditpoker · 03-02-2007 2:17am

can you give a brief hand history of the ept, u and w. thorsen, at the river u show ace high and win the pot?

why is halibut so good at plo?

Flushdraw · 03-02-2007 3:32am

1. Whats the strongest part of your game?

2. What elements do you need to work on?

3. Do you play Omaha 8 or have you any ambition to play it at a high level?

4. Would you class making 30K profit this year as being succesful or is it just 'meh'

nicnicnic · 03-02-2007 3:52am

does going out of a big live tourney effect you emotionally, how long does it take you to shake it off.

when you hit a downswing online does it effect your state of mind in everyday life, can you get moody with family/relationships/work or can you leave it at the tables

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 6:41am

lafortezza wrote:

As with the other threads (see Musician's Poker Sticky for details), ask MrPillowtalk questions here.

1) What games are you currently playing? Site+stakes?

2) How will online poker change over the next 3 years as a result of all the American legislation and stuff.

3) How could the poker forum be improved?

4) Who do you hate on the poker forum?

5) 6-handed NL-hold'em cash game with you, HJ, fuzzbox, NorwichFanRob, Roundtower some random millionaire fish. Who takes the most money off the Fish? Who takes the most money off the rest of the whole table?

6) Same as above but it's PLO?

Okay lads Im going to do my best on these.

1)For most of January I was multitabling 5/10 and 10/20 on full tilt and crypto, this was the lowest id played in a while as November and December was mostly 20/40 on tribeca.

2) I think with the american legislation we will probably lose the weakest of the american players and keep the toughest, which is not very desireable. I think Party will die a death which seems to have started allready, this basically means the 10 and 12 tabling nits will have to find new homes, from what Ive seen so far the high stakes 10 an 12 tablers get owned by the good players on other sites, this may change when they learn to adapt Im not sure yet, the games I play have gotten tighter in general.

3) Tough one, I think there should be a beginners subforum as I often get bored by some newbie questions that get asked repeatedly. The forum has grown and its probably not big enough yet but if it grows much more I would think having a medium to high stakes forum and a low stakes forum would be beneficial. Theres other stuff that Ill come back to as I think of it.

4) I dont hate anyone on the forum, honestly. However I have issues with some. Bops because he makes little sense allthough he has gotten better lately. Pok3rplayer because he seem s to take exception to basically everything I say. Hector because he can make posts that can be read as abrupt and aggresive without explaining his position clearly, I have to say that I think HJs strategy posts are probably one of the best features of the forum and Ive allways found him to be a gent when Ive met him in person and I would consider us freinds.

5) Ok this is hard to answer, if the fish was aggresive maniac then I reckon if Roundtower or myself ran well either of us would probably take the most off him as we would probably be the most willing to race with him. If he was a weak passive fish then we would all get a chunk I would think. As far as money off the rest goes, well I dont know, honestly its not a game Id fancy playing but if I had to choose then I couldnt sleep at night if I didnt choose myself.

6) if its plo I imagine Fuzz or Roundtower on both counts

ianmc38 · 03-02-2007 6:48am

You have an unnatural ability to accumule chips in well structured deep stacked big buyin events. What's your secret? Do you play more hands early on? Play tighter/looser? Play more hands in position? See loads of flops? Call raises with marginal hands in position? Pick specific opponents to play pots with?

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 6:55am

DeVore wrote:

What happened to your retirement?!

Most enjoyable tournie?

Make some predictions.

DeV.

My retirement served a purpose in showing me the depth of my addiction, but yes untill I lose my roll my retirement is postponed.

Probably the Dublin EPT I was playing class players and felt I was never found wanting.

Like what? Man Utd to win the premiership, A boardsie to win a major ranking event, Masters to learn to play cash games

.

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 7:06am

Doc Farrell wrote:

Do you enjoy playing cards still? If you hit your target of 150,000 for the year but found that you weren't enjoying it would you give it up and concentrate on your other business interests or is the money enough to keep you going?

say you made 200,000 over the next 6 months then lost it in the space of a month, would you shrug it off or focus on making it back directly at the poker tables?

Ill put it this way, if I cant make a significant ammount playing playing poker then yes I would quit playing seriously. If I made 200k in 6 months (unlikely to happen) I would just try and make another 200 in the next 6.

I love playing poker, it has to be said though I love playing big cash games and big tournaments against good players most because of the mental challenge, but that said I would hate to play tough games every day.

If I stopped enjoying it I would just stop unless it was my only method of making cash.

I expect that fairly soon I will have to cut back on poker in favour of other business interests, I look forward to that day and also to maintaining a healthy interest in poker.

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 7:16am

Vamos wrote:

Could you rate these 1-4 in order of importance.

Tilt Control
Bankroll Management
Hand Reading
Game Selection

Thanks.

For me

1 Tilt Control
2 Game Selection
3 Bankroll Management
4 Hand Reading

For Most People

1 Bankroll Management
2 Tilt Control
3 Game Selection
4 Hand Reading

Flipper · 03-02-2007 7:33am

(1) Describe your typical day...

(2) You said in your blog that you're trying to lose weight... Join the club. How are you going about it? Any plan of action I should be aware of?

(3) Why is Dave Callaghan the jammiest man on earth?

green123 · 03-02-2007 7:34am

who are the best 4 or 5 players in the 20 40 game on tribeca ?
are you / will you play in it again ?
why did you stop ?
and your thoughts on clubber ?

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 7:39am

ocallagh wrote:

What is your most memorable hand?
Do you find a good challenge (clubber heads up etc) comes ahead of any BR issues?

My most memorable tourney hand is my exit hand from the EPT Dublin it was interesting as it was a third or fourth level thought hand.

Willie Tann was to my immediate left and just about covered we both had about 100k and the average at the time was about 65k we hadnt really gotten that involved so far but he had seen enough from me to know I wasnt the average mug. He made it 7700 utg blinds 1500/3k and I called in bb with 4d5d flop came 2 3 Q with two hearts I checked he bet 17k, this is where it got interesting, I counted out the call and the rest of my stack to raise at this point Willie asks me if I intend to raise I tell him I am certainly thinking about it, he tells me I shouldnt go all in with the flush draw. Now I am pretty sure he has the queen but I tell him I dont have the hearts which I am fairly sure he believes, so know I think if I push he has to put me on a set because he will surely realise that I have him on a queen. It was real he knows I know that he knows sort of stuff.

So I pushed, and he called with AQ, afterwards he told me he thought I have KQ or QJ too much there for him to pass, but he felt it was 50/50 I have a set.

Im not proud of my most memorable cash hand, it was back when 25/50 and 50/100 where the biggest games on the net and I was playing with prahlad friedman and Ram on Prima.

I was on tilt and I think I was playing my case 5 or 10k I cant remember it was about 3 or 4 years ago, anyway I had AhKx I think, I raised pre flop both called and we saw an all heart King high flop, pretty huge for me you would think, except the action went check check I lead for 2/3rds pot raise from Ram reraise all in from Prahlad. LOL I know Im beaten but refuse to fold and call all in, Ram calls behind.

Ram has middle set, Prahlad has a made flush, I have one pair with the nut draw.

A beautiful heart comes I rake what was an absolute monster pot for me at the time and then sit out as I know Im playing ****e lol.

The abuse from prahlad was fairly hillarious.

eggie · 03-02-2007 7:43am

E50 + 5 tourney

Player A: New to poker; previously limped with AA and check called to river on 8 4 2 rainbow board. Limped with AQ, AJ on button also.

Player B: Experienced aggressive player who likes to see a lot of flops.

Player C: Agressive, likes to check raise continuation bets, re-raise/bet to any weakness shown by opponents.

Player

You (small blind 100)

Player E: (big blind 200) Fish, no idea of the fundamentals or any part of the game, limped/called with JJ on J high board and with A rag on KK4 board,likes the look of his cards, good enough for him, if not bin them.

A: min raises to 400 (stack 1.1K)
B: UTG, calls 400 (stack 3.5K)
C: calls 400 (stack 5K+)

45o (2.8K) calls 400
E: calls 400 (1.6k)

POT 2k; Flop 8 6 3 rainbow

A: leads for 500 (200 behind)
B: calls
C: calls

push or fold and why?

Actual hand played out. Reveal all later. (edit to put in blinds)

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 7:44am

ocallagh wrote:

What is your most memorable hand?
Do you find a good challenge (clubber heads up etc) comes ahead of any BR issues?

I find it hard to sit out hu even when I rate the opponent, I own clubber hu at 10/20. I played omghaha hu for about 4 hours one day and we both had at one stage 35k each on the table and allthough I should have quit I wouldnt as I dont like to quit people hu, I really enjoy the challenge of playing good players.

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 7:49am

Thats me for tonight lads Ill get the rest sa maidin.

fuzzbox · 03-02-2007 12:25pm

1. Why dont you post more interesting hands here ? Do you feel that it will give too much away? Do you really believe that, or are you just lazy :-).

2. How often do you play and how many hours do you tend to log?

3. Do you prefer live or online?

4. How do you control your tilt?

5. What stakes did you start at and how long did it take you to get the hang of it?

6. Did you have an "epiphany" moment where lots of things started to make sense?

7. Jeep or sports car?

Hitman Actual · 03-02-2007 12:41pm

1. What are the qualities, both technical and otherwise, that you need at the higher levels (10/20+)?

2. Related to Q1, are there any qualities that you need at higher levels that are worthless at < 2/4.

3. What areas of your game do you consider weak(er)?

4. A while back you started posting some pot-odds questions which inferred that you don't rely too much on maths in your game. Is that the case?

And a question you can avoid if you want, as I'm abusing the well here to get some personal feedback:
5. In the IPC way back in August we shared tables for maybe 10-12 hours. Did you pick up on any really obvious weaknesses in my own tourney game? Be as harsh as you like!

halibut2 · 03-02-2007 5:58pm

Are u a legend/superstar or is it just my opinion?

edit, have u ever been barred from a casino?

DeVore · 03-02-2007 6:23pm

halibut2 wrote:

Are u a legend/superstar or is it just my opinion?

edit, have u ever been barred from a casino?

lmao...

Halibut! Bold! but funneh!

DeV.

pok3rplaya · 03-02-2007 6:29pm

1) Have you ever played High Stakes poker on a site other then tribeca? If so, how do you think those games compared to the standard of play at tribeca 10/20 and 20/40?

2) Who are the top 5 regular players at tribeca 10/20?

Also I don't want to hijack this thread but any disagreements we may have had on here we're purely poker based. I hold no grudge against you in any way.

Shortstack · 03-02-2007 6:46pm

1: Rocky or Tyson?

2: Why Pillowbiter - do you have secret latent tendancies we need to know about?

3: Who has impressed you in a live tournament

4: How would you play AKo on a Q64 rainbow board, you have raised to 100 preflop and have one caller on the button with 800 behind?

5: Do you treat UTG at a 6 handed table the same as if you were 3 from the button at a full table?

6: Why do you drive a girls car?

pppspecial · 03-02-2007 7:00pm

what was the first thing that came to mind when u were going the toilet in the caravan that morning in scarborough when u looked down???

Mr. Flibble · 03-02-2007 7:48pm

Did you build your roll mainly live or online?

Did you start off grinding small cash games or playing tournaments?

Did you have any early successes which catapulted your roll and confidence or was your trip slower and steadier?

How long have you being playing semi-seriously?

If I were to buy 1 million euro lotto tickets would I make more in the long run buying them with the numbers in sequential order or try to have an even spread, or is the EV the same? If they are in sequential order and I got all the numbers right on one I am likely to get 5 correct on a number of other tickets too, but I am more likely to miss all the numbers and get nothing.

RasTa · 03-02-2007 7:51pm

What do you treat yourself to from winnings?(United games for mise)

Will United beat Spurs tomorrow? Scorecast plz

kincsem · 03-02-2007 8:58pm

Why do you play?

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 11:18pm

ditpoker wrote:

can you give a brief hand history of the ept, u and w. thorsen, at the river u show ace high and win the pot?

why is halibut so good at plo?

I cant really give a hand history as such, I played two hands with Thorsen that were fairly standard against his type of player, when he came to the table he was chip leader in the tourney and was two to my left so it was inevitable I would get involved with him, with a player like that I like to start off how I mean to go on and not let myself get run over.

The first on was a multi way pot and after it was checked to him at the button on a paired flop he bet it folded around to me and I called with a bare ace because theres a good chance Im ahead here. Turn came a small card cant remember what and it went check check. River paired the turn card and I check called a decent bet and it was good.

In the next pot we played I check called him down with Kx on a king high board and it was good again, after that we didnt really get involved.

When playing a player like Thorsen out of position you have to become a bit passive and call him down a lot when your quite light, playing passive in general is bad but in this kind of spot you cant check raise him light as you inflate the pot and he is likely to just move in on you.

Halifish's hand reading is unreal, and he basically never tilts. He understands the value of setting up river bluffs on the flop and he puts people to a decision for their stack without putting all his stack in jeopardy.

MrPillowTalk · 03-02-2007 11:26pm

Flushdraw wrote:

1. Whats the strongest part of your game?

2. What elements do you need to work on?

3. Do you play Omaha 8 or have you any ambition to play it at a high level?

4. Would you class making 30K profit this year as being succesful or is it just 'meh'

1) Probably my hand reading and going with my reads.

2) My Tilt Control used to be excellent and lately I am tilting spectacularly, at the moment I am playing awfully on the river I am calling knowing Im beat on the end far too often.

3) I want to learn to play omaha well, and tbh seeing as one of my best mates is savage at the game I should probably learn it, I will one day but its on the back burner more than a priority at the moment.

4) Dont mean to be ungrateful or anything but that would definately be very "meh". If I start to play a lot less I might be happy with that.

Q&A with MrPillowtalk

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