- How much time do you think it takes an average player who works really hard to climb from NL10 to NL200?
Well, a lot. It's a long road from NL10 to NL200. I'd say a few thousand hours of practice and studying are required. Mostly practice. Poker is about practice, after all. We talked about it in our interview with Dyrdom1, although he was talking about a Rubik's Cube. But anyway, the idea is that you have to practice a lot. Whether you're talented or not, you can't avoid it. You have to put in a lot of hours and a lot of work.
If you are talented, it would be quicker, but I'd say that at least a couple of thousand hours are needed to get this high. If you are very talented and hit a huge spree of luck, then you can rush your way to NL200, but it would be mostly about luck, not skill.
- Do you prepare for tournaments somehow?
Oh yes, I do, and I often recommend some form of preparation to other people, even before playing cash games. You have to prepare yourself to lose five or ten stacks. You have to expect the worst but hope for the best. Although those things do not affect me anymore after 13 years of my poker career, I don't care if I bust the very first hand of the tournament. I have time to talk and answer questions then, and I don't have any reasons to be angry about the luck in my life.
I was pretty lucky in all the important moments of my poker career, so even if I bust in the following tournaments at the very beginning, my life will not become worse because of it.
- Who’s the best versatile player right now, meaning he’s strong in both cash and tournament games?
Well, I think right now it's Barak Wisbrod. He is at the table with us right here, so even before finishing reading your question, I had an answer. It's Barak. (Editor- This is the "mysterious" player who busted Daniel Negreanu in a WSOP event)
Oh, Limitless and Mikita Badziakouski. Yeah, Limitless is also a great example. Badziakouski, I think he already forgot all the cash game ranges. He is mostly an MTT player today, but Limitless is also a good option. And Barak, yeah. When I started reading your question, this was my first answer.
Linus mostly plays tournaments for fun. I talked to him, and he told me that all of those wins on Triton are mostly just the result of an upswing, and he often makes those ICM suicide moves. I remember after busting from a tournament, he came up and said, "You can't imagine what a suicide move I just made."
- What software do you use to analyze MTT hands? ICM is probably not an easy thing for a cash player.
Yeah, it's true, not easy, but for me, I mostly ask my friends to explain hands to me. I mean, I get them on a call and I ask them to explain what I should have done, with examples and so on. This format works best for me in my opinion. And to practice, I use GTO Wizard. They have ICM spots. You can actually use their trainer to practice ICM spots.
- What's the maximum number of tables you can play simultaneously?
Well, not too many, but for me, six tables is the maximum. This is like the upper limit for my comfort zone. And of course, it depends on the situation. I can play six tables against recreational players, but against regulars in reg wars, one table counts as two. So I can only play three tables against regulars. But of course, it can vary. It's not a strict formula or anything like that. But when I'm serious, I do count one reg war table as two standard six-max tables with recreational players.
- Can you assess your love for poker on a 10-point scale? Did it change over time?
Well, I always had passion, I always had love for the game. There weren't periods where I hated the game, but after 13 years of my poker career, I want to compete at the highest level. It wouldn't be sufficient for me to play an offline NL100. It's not interesting for me. I mean, I went to play offline here in Argentina, but mostly to meet my friends, to talk. It was a social thing. In terms of competition, in terms of the game, I only want to play against the best. I want to make assumptions, I want to find their leaks.
And of course, to play at the highest level in Texas Holdem, just like in chess, you have to dedicate a lot of time to it. You have to work at the tables, away from the tables, a lot of theory, a lot of practice, a lot of sweat sessions, and other things. So yeah, it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy as well.
You can't be a halfway high-stakes regular. You either dive into it completely or you ignore it. So yeah, it makes things complicated for me. I mean, it's tough for me to play for fun, and the only way for me to do it is to play tournaments. It is still possible, let's say, in tournaments. So when I finish my career, I want to play offline tournaments for fun, travel around the world like a lot of wealthy recreational players do. So yeah, I want to travel and play those tournaments, like break even or slightly positive in terms of EV. And I've seen some photos from Monte Carlo Triton, it's amazing. The place is amazing, and I would really love to participate, but it's not easy to get there from Argentina.
- It would be great to see you playing Triton series again.
Yeah, I myself would really love to play Triton Series again, but there are like two key problems with Triton.
I really want to play Triton again. It was amazing, everything was great, but there are two key problems for me. First, a long travel distance from Argentina while I live here. And second, it is very expensive. The buy-ins are huge, and the last time I ended up in the money. So yeah, it is very expensive. Triton is very expensive. You can easily spend like half a million dollars in one trip, and I'm not that rich. I mean, I can play some $10K tournaments, $25K tournaments from time to time, but playing a main event of $100K, well, a little bit too much. Lose like 10 of these in a row, and you have to get back to grinding cash.
- Name the three most "unpleasant" players.
Well, I really hate to play against guys who know how to make thin folds. Even playing against Stefan is not as tough for me as playing against those guys. Stefan will at least pay off when you have a value hand, but those guys, it's like they read your soul. Like, you're going for a thin value and he finds a thin fold, or you're going for a thin bluff and he finds a thin call. So yeah, I really struggle against those guys. And number one in this list is MoonStar. It's always tough for me to play against him. Sergey Jayser1337, Taxhere also.
And even against LLinusLLove, it's not that tough because he doesn't really make those thin folds. But yeah, MoonStar, Taxhere, and... well, who's number three? Those two were like from the top of my head. Okay, let's say Dex888. He's the guy I've been playing against a lot in 2019. I was battling him and I thought for some reason that he is not that good, but in the end, he won a lot of buy-ins from me. So yeah, he is probably number three in my list.
