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Bell Boulevard — 1.1
The summer of 2007 was coming to a close, and I would soon be starting my senior year of high school. I was all set to attend St. John’s University in Queens, on a scholarship to major in computer science, and I had just recently experienced my first police raid. You could definitely say I ran good that night, being that I walked away from the situation as clean as a whistle. Timing was definitely on my side.
Despite the reality check that was dished out to me, I decided to continue dealing at Spades, although, moving forward, I made sure to keep a part-time job at my local Trader Joe’s — a higher end, niche grocery store. In hindsight, I’m glad I did, because I was certainly losing my perspective on what it meant to work for an honest wage.
The summer of ’07 ended, I started school again, and I would occasionally pick up shifts dealing cash on the weekends. It wasn’t often, but it was enough to slowly build up my experience dealing live action games. By the time I graduated high school in 2008, I felt confident enough to start seeking out other games where I could deal. I knew that I wanted to continue dealing and playing throughout college, it was just a matter of “where”.
Over the course of the beginning and middle of 2008, I drove into Queens to meet up with Andy to play some cards, more than a few times. He knew that I would soon be going to college no more than 20 minutes away from him, and I inevitably asked him to seriously help me get another dealing job.
I didn’t have to persuade him much at all — Andy knew that I had kept my job at Spades and that I had been dealing cash there for a while now, although irregularly, yet consistently. I explained to him that I wanted to deal and play in Queens for income, as opposed to getting a standard job that the typical college kid would have. I reasoned that I could make substantially more in a few nights of dealing than I could at any other job, in addition to the fact that it would require much less of my time.
Just before the end of the summer of 2008, my time at Spades would be coming to an end. Vinny and Gary knew that I wouldn’t be able to make it there to work any longer, and it was understood that I was going to college. I left on a good note, and I made sure to do so, because I knew that I would eventually be back in Long Island at some point.
In August of 2008, Andy brought me down to the game on Bell Blvd. For me, this was a new experience because this wasn’t a club — it was a private game that ran three times per week in the basement of a deli, and it wasn’t at all like anything I had encountered.
The host of the game was an Italian guy named Sal. He was in his late 40’s, wore a food-stained, white-colored undershirt to every game, and always sported a freshly shaved bald head, with a thick beard that could have only been maintained by a professional barber on a weekly basis. He was a well groomed guy, I could tell he waxed his eyebrows and regularly got manicures, but I never understood how he wouldn’t change his white, tie-die colored, food-stained undershirt. He was in decent shape for his age, seemed able-bodied, but was by no means a meat-head or physically intimidating, other than the fact that he was at least 6’2. I remember that he also wore copious amounts of Dolce & Gabana Pour Homme cologne, something I recall because I later on started wearing it myself. He had quite a few tattoos, and I have no idea what any of them meant. All I can recall, is that one was a tribal tattoo on his shoulder, and that was all I cared to know about.
Sal owned and ran the deli everyday, which was modestly successful, but the golden goose he had was the 3x per week game that ran in the basement of the deli. He had a high quality, single table, that ran Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In the room was a 2nd table, but it wasn’t being utilized when I had first been introduced to the game. It was the usual $1/$3, although it was a $5 bring-in and the buy-in structure was much deeper — $100 min to $1500 max, or you could match the biggest stack at the table.
The first time Andy brought me down to Sal’s game, it was for an introduction and, of course, to play in the game. There weren’t any open seats when we arrived, in fact, there was a waiting list of about 6 or 7 players deep. This was where I could help. Andy suggested that I join him and Sal for a cigarette in the smoking area — a small room, the size of a walk-in closet more or less, that was fashioned with a fan inside that sucked up the smoke and fed it out into the street, which was upstairs.
Andy introduces me to Sal, informing him that we’ve been friends for a few years now, and that I have been dealing in Long Island for about the same amount of time.
“Julius, I’m going to start running a second table and I need a reliable dealer. Andy tells me that you could be of service to me?”
“Absolutely. I’m going to school at St. John’s, and I live in the dorms right now, but I plan on getting an apartment nearby next year. I can 100% be here on time, and can give you a commitment, if you can do the same.”
“Well, I can, but are you willing to ride it out for a little while?”
“What do you mean?”
“The second table is going to be a must-move table into the main game, at least it will be until I can fill it. There might be some nights where you don’t see much action.”
“I understand that. That won’t be a problem.”
“And you can be here, on time, each night?”
“Without a doubt. Andy will vouch for me, I won’t waste your time.” — Andy nods in agreement.
“I gotta say, Julius, you look very young. Do you know what you’re doing in the box?” — I look to Andy, which he again nods his head, “yes”.
“I do. Let me get in the box right now for 30 minutes as an audition, and I’ll split my tips 50/50 with your other two dealers.”
“Well, alright then, you got it. Be ready to push in on the half. The rake is 10% up to $25.”
We converse for a bit longer, I tell Sal about my background and experience, and he seems content with what I have to say. I make it a point to remind him that I’m still on the list for a seat — something that was quite important, I might add, because hosts don’t particularly like dealers who won’t play in their game.
We head back to the table and I see Sal whisper something into the dealer’s ear, clearly telling him I’m going to be dealing on the next push. He looked surprised, yet amused — I assume because he was going to be getting 50% of my tips.
I begin to get nervous, and Andy can see it. He gives me some advice — stay calm, don’t try to deal too fast at the expense of dealing accurately, and most importantly, make sure to say “good evening” when I push into the box.
It’s one minute to the half hour, and I walk up behind the dealer and tap him, gently, on his left shoulder. I see him nod his head, and he finishes up the current hand. He thanks the players, then turns around to me and says “Drop the rake into the slot at the end of the hand, and keep your tips on the left side of the well.” I tell him thanks, and I take my seat in the box.
“Good evening, everyone. Small and big blinds, please.”
I give the deck a scramble, then shuffle up and deal. The next 30 minutes go by without a wrinkle, and I manage to make $58 in tips. I get pushed out, I thank the players, take my tips out of the well, and head over to Sal.
“Nice job, Julius. Table two is yours.”
“Awesome, thanks. I made $58.” — As I hand Sal my tips.
“I respect a man of his word. I’ll chop up half for my dealers and I’ll put the other half onto your stack when you get into the game, sound good?”
“Yep, thanks man.”
And that was it — I was in. I still wasn’t as fast as the other two dealers, but where I lacked in speed, I made up for in professionalism. As the night progressed, I noticed that the other two guys would text inside the box, talk sports bets, and generally lose focus of the game here and there, needing to be reminded where the action was after someone had went into the tank. I was still new and eager to please, so I made sure to give the game my undivided attention whenever I was dealing.
Andy further validated the audition, giving me a pat on the back and a compliment that I had come a long way from the last time he saw me deal. We were both on the waiting list for a seat, and it would be quite a while until we both got into the game.
Sal’s game was certainly accommodating, but I was a bit outside of my comfort zone during that first night that I was given my introduction. He provided an outstanding spread of food — given that he owned a deli, you can imagine what was offered. All types of sandwiches, side salads, chips, drinks, beer, desserts, you name it. Anything he couldn’t sell was put out for the spread. There wasn’t much to meet the eye, but the tables were of professional quality and the chairs weren’t cheap.
However, Sal let his pet pitbull, appropriately named Beast, roam freely throughout the basement. Beast was a big mother****er. He had to be at least 120 lbs of lean muscle. He was docile and friendly, but make no mistake — he was well trained, and you would not want to have to deal with him if he thought you were a threat. Looking back on it now, having the dog unleashed inside the game may have made you uncomfortable at first, but it sure was a great deterrent for anyone who thought about getting out of line.
While Andy and I waited for our seats, another player had arrived. In total, there were now 7 players waiting for a spot in the game. Sal approaches me.
“Julius, I want to open the second table right now. Are you good to go? I’m going to sit in the game so we can open it at 7 handed. I don’t know how long it will last, but I think it’s worth a shot.”
“I’m ready, let’s do it.”
Sal walks me over to his make-shift podium and hands me a few racks of chips, totaling $300, to act as my bank. I take the chips and head over to the vacant table to set up.
Less than 10 minutes later and we’re 7 handed, including Andy and Sal. Sal made a smart to decision to buy in for the max of $1,500, which encouraged other players to start deep as well. About an hour and a half later, another player arrives, but a seat opens up in the main game.
Sal announces to the room that he’s going to keep the games balanced, but guarantee at least 8 players for the main game, which would take priority. I’m only speculating, but I’m pretty sure he wanted the first night of running a second table to be well received by the other players. He didn’t want anyone to feel shorted.
A few hours later, we’re down to 8 players in the main game, and 4 on the must move table, including Sal, who is in the black for around $500. A player at my table suggests that we break and Sal obliges. He tells me to go take a break, get something to eat, and relax for a bit. I do just that — I take a much needed bathroom break, stuff my face with a delicious rare, roast beef and cheddar sandwich, and watch as the main game receives two new players. Interestingly enough, Andy voluntarily gave up his seat, which left Sal and himself conveniently out of the game.
While I was dealing, Sal would clear out my tips every hour. He would take them over to the make-shift podium, and write them down on a notepad. He cleared out my rack a total of five times, and I had kept track of the total amount. I took a peek at the notepad and it was exactly on point — I managed to make a little under $415. I was thrilled. I had only dealt for about 5 hours on a must-move table which eventually became short handed. However, Andy and Sal were tipping me heavy on every pot they won. That’s not to say that the other players weren’t tipping well, I simply mean that the two of them were tossing me redbirds, at minimum.
Even though Andy was my friend, I understood that he played for a living, and thought it was unusual for him to be tipping me $5 on pots that he would take down on the flop. Combined with the fact that he gave up his seat into the game while being stuck for a couple of hundred, I knew that something was up, for this wasn’t at all standard for Andy. Eventually, he made his way into the smoking area, and I casually followed him.
“So, Andy, are you also my boss or should I keep that between the two of us?” — feeling a tad confused about why he didn’t tell me upfront.
“As I’ve always said, you’re a smart kid. How’d you know?”
“Well, you were tipping me heavy all night, and then you gave up your seat into the main game while you were stuck. That’s not like you at all.”
“Good read, buddy. Keep it on the DL, please. Nobody else needs to know.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me before we got here? You know you can trust me…”
“In case Sal didn’t like you and agree to put you in the box on table two. He’s my partner in this game, I have to respect that. In business, when you have a partner, the answer is always “no”, unless both parties are in agreement. I wanted you to earn the spot on your own merit, and as usual, you didn’t disappoint me.” — My feeling of confusion quickly shifted to one of sensibility.
“Okay, I get it now. That makes sense.”
“Besides, nerves keep you sharp and I was glad to see that you weren’t too comfortable. You know I trust and respect you, so don’t take this the wrong way — it’s always someone close who screws you over.”
“You know that I would never do that, man, but, I get it. You gain nothing by telling me you have a piece of the game. In fact, you only benefit by not letting me in on the fact. I understand, no offense taken.”
“Precisely. It’s just business. I’m always reluctant to mix friends with business, but I needed someone in the box who I could trust. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if you had gained enough experience to handle dealing cash here — however, I no longer have any reservations whatsoever. Great job tonight, buddy. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks, man. Does that mean I don’t need to stick around and play in the game?”
“As a friend, I’m going to say that you should steer shy of this game. These guys have deep pockets and the money doesn’t mean anything near as much to them as it does to you. I think you’ll get bullied, but as a business, I’m going to say that you’re welcome to hang around for a seat.”
“I hear you, loud and clear. Thanks, man. I’m going to hang out for bit longer and help clean up. Can you tell Sal to take me off the list?”
“Smart move, buddy. You got it.”
I leave the smoking area and walk into the main area. I take out the trash, restock the fridge with beer and drinks, and empty out the ashtrays in the smoking area. I stick around for just a little while longer, run some chips to the main game, and then walk over to Sal.
“Hey, Sal, I’m gonna cash out and head back to my dorm. Is that cool?”
“No problem. Your bank was balanced, by the way. Good job. I forgot to mention that you’re responsible for any variance — if it’s short, then you have to make it up, and if it’s over, it’ll go towards the rake.” — Sal pays me out, $450.
“Understood. But, uh… I think you paid me out too much, I only had $411 in tips.”
“I know. I gave you a couple extra bucks for coming through on the spot, and I also noticed you taking an initiative and cleaning up and helping out. I want you to know that it’s appreciated and noted. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. That’s how I operate.”
“Me too. Thanks, man. I’ll see you Monday then, yeah?”
“Yep, be here at 6PM sharp. We start the game at 7.”
We exchange numbers and I leave the game, intentionally not saying goodbye to Andy. Instead, I send him a text, explaining that I left without saying anything because I didn’t want to blow up his spot. He was more than understanding, in fact, he was appreciative.
Andy ended our text conversation by making it clear to me that I can expect to make some serious money once table two is running at full spread, but that I should also expect to split my box time with a second dealer at that point. He also reminded me to ask the older students around campus if they were interested in playing.
I made the drive back to campus, found a parking spot after what felt like an eternity, then walked back towards my dorm. It was late August of 2008, and my first semester of college had just started.
I walk into my suite, which was essentially two rooms, occupied by three students each, as well as a single-student room, all sharing 2 bathrooms and a common area.
It was rather late, around 3AM, and I open the door to my room. One of my roommates, Danny — who would later become one of my best friends — is up watching TV while on his laptop. He asks me if I was coming back from a girl’s room.
“Not tonight, bro. I was working.”
“Where the **** you working that you’re getting back this late?”
“How familiar are you with poker?”
I take out a small wad of cash, the $450 I just made, plus another $500 that I originally brought to play with in the game.
“What the ****, dude! You made all that playing poker? How?!”
“Not exactly. I deal the game, but I play too. Have you ever played before?”
“Uh, yeah bro… I play on Pokerstars all the time. Usually not for serious money, but I had no idea you could make that kind of cash from poker.”
I begin to feel inspired, and my mind instantly becomes filled with ideas.
Maybe I could start a poker club on campus — not a literal card room, but an interest group. That might be a good way to connect with other students who play cards. I start to wonder how many other people on campus play poker. Could I recruit new players? Maybe I could start a friendly, micro stakes game in my dorm. Or perhaps I could run $20 tournaments, maybe that would go over better? I had forgotten all about Joey! The two of us hadn’t talked in a while, but surely he was still going to school here. I remember that several of his fraternity brothers play the game.
****! I was so focused on school up until this point, being overwhelmed with orientation, moving, leaving home, breaking up with my girlfriend, and getting caught up with life, that it never occurred to me — there was massive potential right in front of my face.
Danny and I stayed up for several hours longer, talking about poker, girls, and money.
I had much more experience in poker than he did, and while I had only known him for a short while at this point in time, my read was that he was smart and capable. He was also a smooth talker, very charismatic, and incredibly likable — a natural-born salesman, persuasive and convincing.
I wanted to see if he was any good at the game, so I challenged him to a few $5 matches of heads up on Stars. He accepted my offer, and we played over a dozen matches.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t some prodigy of a player, but I knew how to make money playing the game. It was simple — play with people who are worse than you are, don’t get into ego wars with seasoned players.
I was certainly surprised by the outcome of our heads-up matches, I was only up 4 games on him, after playing him 15 times. Danny didn’t have nearly as much of a basic understanding of the game as I did, as he couldn’t explain a majority of the plays he made — he lacked fundamental theory. However, he would constantly look up from his laptop screen and goad me into table talk, eventually claiming that I had several obvious tells.
To be honest, it was uncanny how good he was at reading me. Eventually, I stopped responding to his table talk, and I simply resorted to just staring at my laptop screen. Nevertheless, he claimed I was still giving off physical tells.
It was that night that I learned that his father was a psychologist, and that he was majoring in the same field. He would eventually teach me how to read body language, spot deceptive behavior, understand the psychology of lying, listen for particular speech patterns, look for soothing behaviors, the list goes on. He was quite good at both bluffing and picking off a bluff. Consequently, he was damn good at talking to women — something I’d see for myself in the upcoming months.
By some miracle, the two of us had managed to not wake up our 3rd roommate that night. We would later discover that a nuclear war could be taking place — it didn’t make a difference, he wouldn’t wake up for anything short of being physically shaken.
I can’t really say I went to sleep that night, rather, I took a short nap. No matter, I was able to rest for several hours. I spent the following afternoon looking into the school’s procedures for starting a club on campus. To my disappointment, there weren’t any existing clubs that pertained to poker or card games.
I also reached out to Joey and sent him a text, while befriending every student that I could find on Facebook.
It wasn’t long before Joey texted me back. Sure enough, he was still attending school, but lived in a frat house that was off-campus. We quickly caught up with each other — I was delighted to hear that he had made several deep tournament runs on Full Tilt that year, winning enough cash to provide him the luxury of not having to work.
Subsequently, I let him know that I was dealing the game as my main source of income, and that I also still played regularly. Our text conversation ended with him extending me an invitation to play cards at his frat house — he gave me directions to the place, and told me to bring a couple hundred bucks for a $50 rebuy sit-and-go.
The game was going to start at 9:30pm, however, he said to come by an hour earlier if I wanted to play some beer pong and meet a few girls. It was a no-brainer, really.
To be continued…
Next: Inside Underground NY Poker #14

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Date: 2013-02-28
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Questions	Answers
What are your thoughts on Phil Galfond? Is he one of the best PLO players out there? Is he really as humble as people make him out to be?	He's actually a huge jerk because I never got a chance to slide on his slide before he sold his apartment.
You seemed shocked with the call by Sylvia that ended the main event. (as a lot of us were) How much was Jesse playing based off the advice you were giving him up to that point? In other words, were you giving him more advice on spots to be more or less aggressive, or was it much deeper than that? Also, do you think fatigue was a factor in the hand, or did Jesse think Greg had a huge edge against him and was willing to take a huge gamble to try to end the tournament? Thanks and good luck!	Great question, actually. Jesse is typically a cash player and a lot of the stuff that he was doing throughout the final table, like 5-betting light based on ICM, limping in certain spots or checking back certain hands that might be autobet in a cash game, was pretty new territory for him. I think he played really really well with relatively few mistakes until the last couple of hours, and I do think fatigue played a decent role in the mistakes he did make. As far as the final hand, I wasn't shocked at the call so much as the overall play - 3betting QJs on those stacks wasn't optimal just given the chance that Greg decides to 4bet shove light. I think Jesse hadn't realized they were only 30-something BBs effective because two hands ago they had been 45ish effective, and he was planning to 3bet to 5b shove. Once he 3bets and gets shoved on, I think it's actually a mandatory call given Greg's probably range (discounting extremely strong hands which he would probably 4bet small).
	I didn't really want to be so hands-on at the final table because I wanted him to play his own game and to play it with confidence, but I guess I ended up talking to him quite a few times just because I kept seeing opportunities that I thought Jesse was missing. I just can't imagine how difficult it is under that kind of pressure, 3 handed for so long on poker's biggest stage. Most of the time I was just telling him to start bluffing more, and then he didn't, and then I told him again, and then he didn't, and then I yelled at him to do it... and then he ran a 3 barrel bluff and we were all good again :)
Hey Vanessa- What is the biggest challenge of being a queer woman in the professional poker world? Have you experienced outright homophobia from your peers/fans of poker?	Heya. Happy birthday! (Is that what that slice of cake means? I'm a reddit noob!)
	Um, being queer is awesome because it means I get to be in an amazing relationship with a woman, and it also means I get an extra community of really f-ing cool people. It also caused me to take all of these classes about race, gender, class, etc., which just made me so much more of an empathetic person generally.
	If all that means that I have to block a few more trolls on twitter every week than I otherwise would have to, then so be it, I'll take it any day of the week. No one that is actually intelligent has ever given me any sort of trouble, so it's mostly no problem.
	Digging a little deeper to answer your question, I would say my biggest challenge lies in perception. I think as a masculine lesbian, there is a tendency for people to expect me to be mean and aggressive. When I live up to that stereotype (which I do, sometimes, though not nearly all the time), the media wants me to play that character, so that's what gets shown. So honestly, I think a lot of what people see and characterize as me being "angry" results from selection bias of which moments the media is going to show from me, and I think some of that results from me being typecast based on my gender presentation. And that, I would say, is by far the toughest challenge.
If someone had well-tuned poker skills (obviously a sizable assumption), how would that person begin the path towards playing poker professionally? What kind of a bankroll do you need, where do you go, what games do you start at?	Hey there, I'm glad my brother got you, too. He got me into reddit as well.
Thanks for doing this AMA and for your civil rights work. I'm a huge fan. Incidentally, it's entirely your brother's fault that I'm addicted to reddit. It was a good way to survive 1L.	As far as your question - I think the most important thing is to play online. Putting in ridiculous amounts of volume while studying the game through discussions, videos, and what not is the best way to go about it. I think if you're really serious about wanting to take the plunge, take a few months and go live in Canada, Mexico, Europe, wherever. Play cash games, always making sure that you have 100x the buyin for the stakes you want to play (this is very conservative bankroll management but might be right in the state of today's games). Putting in that kind of volume is by far the best way to prove you can do it while building your bankroll and improving all at the same time.
What was your thinking behind 6-bet shoving in the infamous J7s/AA hand with Prahlad?	Hmm - well at the time my thinking was that Prahlad's 5-bet range is super super polarized as deep as we were. Like, even with pocket kings I thought he would have just flat-called my 4-bet. I'm sure I'm right about all of that still, the problem is a polarized range to {AA, bluffs} is still super strong if it's AA 95% and bluffs 5% :D One of my bigger leaks is assuming people are as crazy in certain spots as I am, and that was just a giant misstep in assigning him a much bigger bluff frequency than he actually has in that spot.
Do you get pissed with people calling you 'probably the best female poker player in the world' rather than, as it should be given your results, 'one of the best poker players in the world'?	As far as the female poker player comment - I don't get pissed, per se. I wish those distinctions didn't have to exist, but I understand that people want to make them, given how relatively little success women have had in poker thus far. As women get better and better and a few of the up and coming players become really elite (which WILL happen), hopefully that distinction will be made less often.
Thanks for doing this, you're one of my poker heroes.	And you're welcome! This is pretty fun!
Hey, Vanessa! Remember our video project for High Honors French where we went to the mall, you asked people questions in French, and I "translated" them?	I definitely remember... I still cite that project, to this day, as one of my best TV moments :D You have a copy of it lying around somewhere?
Why don't cash games get more attention? Especially on TV. What were the best and worst things about your experience on High Stakes Poker (the show)? Which tournament players are also really good at cash games?	Cash games don't get more attention probably because stacks are deeper and thus decisions are more complex (thus bad TV). I also think a tournament tells more of a story with a beginning and end point, triumph and glory... cash games, while interesting to really serious poker players, just don't excite the casual viewer as much as seeing someone beat out 6000 other people to become a multi-millionaire.
Who do you think is the best poker player in the world atm?	Phil Ivey, always Phil Ivey, will perhaps forever be Phil Ivey.
Bearing in mind your law background, do you believe we will see Pokerstars/FTP return to the market in the United States any time in the foreseeable future?	I'm not sure, but I have a feeling Pokerstars didn't spend hundreds of millions clearing their name with the DOJ just to clear their consciences.
1). Do you think the poker economy is in a good place right now? 2). How about the legalisation of online poker in America, what time frame do you think we are looking at here? 3). Assuming online poker does get legalised some time in the future, how large of a poker boom do you think will undergo in comparision to the Moneymaker boom?	1) I definitely don't think the poker economy is in a good place right now - I don't think anyone would think that. The "poker boom" happened in the 2000s, and the poker economy will never be what it was in 2006. That being said, I am hopeful that we will experience another mini-boom when online poker comes back to the US and new sites pop up with more secure regulation, and all the television programming returns as well.
When in a downswing or losing streak, how do you go about keeping motivation levels up, confidence up, and head level?	What's a downswing?
How do you improve your tournament game? Do you study board textures and use calculators (ICM/Chip equity) or do you approach it in more of a logic deduction way?	Talk to friends. Review hands. Talk to friends. That's me, anyways. If you're an online player, looking at HEM and stuff would probably be helpful too, but I'm much more theoretically-motivated.
How much time is dedicated to bettering your game?	It's really hard to quantify - I used to spend a lot more time on poker forums reading about poker and also a lot more time talking to friends about poker. It's definitely less now, but it's difficult to say just how much. I still think about it far more than is healthy, probably :)
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to become the best possible tournament player they could be?	Flip well, young jedi.
Given all the cheating and mismanagement we have seen from people running poker sites over the years what responsibilities do you think Pros have to investigate how a site is run before they take a sponsorship deal with someone? What questions did you ask of Pokerstars before signing with them?	I think it's pretty tough for poker players to thoroughly vet a site before representing them - especially in the unregulated world where so much of the important information about the management of a site isn't publicly known. That being said, if there's any good reason to doubt the integrity of a site, I think it would be irresponsible to turn a blind eye to it. As far as Pokerstars - they're the best out there, and I've said it long before I represented them. When they offered me a contract, I was just thrilled as I knew I'd be working with the best and most professional site there is... (I'm not even paid to say this stuff, I just really believe it).
If you could give amateur players one tip what would it be?	Be more aggressive. If you think you might have the best hand, bet or raise. Don't be worried with the times you might not have the best hand... be worried about the times you do.
How have you adjusted your game as you have had more televised hands?	I have definitely adjusted my game in certain ways - I can't take all the most obvious bluffing spots I used to be able to take, which is sorta lame. I have to look for more suicidal bluffing spots nowadays to be able to get away with them :)
Do you like the way that the WSOP is getting around excluding men from the Ladies event?	As far as the WSOP - I don't like the idea that they have to use semantics to get around the laws since the laws should just allow for protected classes to have exclusionary events. (And women should be a protected class). Given that it is what it is, I like the fact that the WSOP is committed to doing everything in its power to keep the women's event women-only, so yes I do support their efforts.
Do you think a women only poker league would help more women get involved with poker?	I think any time you create a more inviting space for women who don't have to deal with annoying misogynist BS from guys that they often have to deal with, it's going to get more women involved with poker.
You played an extremely exciting hand against Kevin Macphee in the EPT8 Berlin main event where he made a brave call with A9o following your 6/7bet shove. At the time you clearly thought his call to be a terrible one, have you had any time to reflect and do you still disagree with his play? What are your thoughts on this spot in general?	Haha, yes, I've talked ad nauseum about this in other interviews so I won't go into any more detail here, but his play there was terrible. We are friends and I wish I hadn't blown up at him the way I did (a lot was due to issues behind the scenes around our friendship), but his play is and was completely terrible. That being said, Kevin is normally a great player.
Hi Vanessa. I do pretty well in donkaments, I have final tabled the Sunday Million twice. However, I struggle in cash games online. In your opinion, what are the biggest adjustments from tournament play one has to make to become a very good cash game player?	Hi Sharky. I personally started with cash and moved to tournaments, and most of my friends that are awesome all around players did as well. I would say you have to just not overvalue your hands - I would start at cash by playing extremely tight preflop, and then open up as you get more comfortable with understanding other people's ranges. Because there are no antes, ranges are just so much tighter (it's not profitable to raise KJo in EP when there are no antes to steal), which means that there is less bluffing generally. Thus, top pair goes down tremendously in value. Most of the mistakes tourney players make in cash games is stacking off with top pair or overpairs in terrible spots (see: my hand on HSP, lol), so be cognizant of that, and fold top pair without hesitation when you get raised and it just isn't that likely that your opponent is bluffing.
What's #1 thing you look at when trying to read someone?	For me, it's much more about betting patterns and bet sizing rather than a specific physical read. I just try to pay attention to when people are betting, on what sorts of board textures, and how big their bets are when they have it and when they don't... that kind of thing.
Hi Vanessa, congrats on your success at the PCA! It was fantastic to watch.	Hey, great question. I don't know that there was a moment that rocked the boat for me... it was more of a long series of moments. In 2007-2008 I was playing full time - mostly cash games, though I was also traveling around to tourneys as well. I kept awful hours, often playing all night and sleeping all day. I rarely went to the gym, and I didn't keep in very good contact with my friends from outside of poker. Long story short, I was depressed, even though I was doing well at the game. That time made me think poker wasn't sustainable as a career if I wanted to be happy.
My question for you would be when you were starting to think you would like to turn professional and use poker as your main source of income, was there any moment that really rocked the boat and made you think "hang on, is this what I want to do" and if so, what was this moment and how did you overcome it?	I left poker at that point and went back to law school, intending to leave poker for good. When I missed poker too much and decided to get back into it, I just decided that I was going to be healthy while doing it because I refused to go back to what I was like during that pretty dark year in my life. Now, I make sure that I take significant time off to catch up with old friends and to spend time at home with my fiancee and dogs. I play sports or go to the gym and eat healthy, I [sometimes] make time for other activities outside of poker, and I go see a therapist as regularly as I can.
Thanks a lot, I look forward to your continued success in 2013!	For me, that's the biggest difficulty with life as a poker pro - the balance between a normal life and "poker life" and keeping it healthy even while on the road. Ever since making all that stuff a priority, I'm much much happier than I was 5 years ago.
Hey Vanessa, I have a bunch of questions: 1) What is the best way to improve now that there is no internet poker available for someone who wants to get better?	9) Yes, I almost always have a plan for the hand from square 1, but the plan can change if unexpected things happen or if something physical changes my read. Once you play so many hands, there are few situations that you aren't prepared for, for the most part. That is what makes tournaments so fun though - the changing stack sizes and tournament stages make for many more situations - it just makes sense that the more variables you add (tournament stage and stack size being varianbles), the more situations you will be faced with, combinatorically.
2) What specific details do you look for when you sit at a table to weed out amateu bad players and how do you play against them? How does this change from cash games vs a tournament? 3) What goals do you try to set for yourself when you sit down at a tournament in order to set up for a deep run? For example, do you try to double up before the 4th level? 7) Should a player be looking to build his/ her bankroll more through tournaments or cash games?	3) No specific goals - just play my hands and the other players day 1 and 2, and play my hands, the other players, and stack sizes the rest of the days. 5) The least skilled players always overbet when they have good hands because they want to protect, and then when they bet smaller you know they are less confident and can be bluffed off their hands. 7) Cash games are the best place to start, hands down. Less variance, and you build the necessary skills to succeed in tournaments down the line.
4) What is the best way to be a winning player at 1-2 NL when a player(s) doesn’t know how/ why to bet or how to bluff? Should you just play around the top 10% of hands and ABC straight forward poker, or is there a certain trick? What strategy would you use if you had to sit down at a lower stakes game? 8) When you were coaching Jesse Sylvia live, what information did you give him and when? Was it just after every hand that he played post-flop, or maybe every hand that he was involved in with a 3-bet or more? Was it hand ranges & aggression statistics from other players/ his image at the table? Were you coaching based on any physical or betting tells? 9) When you see a flop, what is your process for determining a bet? Do you play the hand all the way down through the river in your head and ask yourself “what will I do if he does this/ bets like this/ raises by this much/ if a certain card falls along the way?” and bet from there, or is there another system you use internally to determine the winning play?	1) volume is most important and if you can't play online, then log lots of live hours. use online forum strategy discussion boards through communities like Deucescracked (and other video sites have similar communities). Make friends at or above your level and discuss strat with them constantly. 8) I was mostly trying to pump him up, and usually telling him that he needed to start bluffing more. I think he thought his image was super aggro (which it HAD been, 3 months earlier), so I was trying to get him to understand just how tight it had appeared that he had been playing.
I've heard you talk about how balance isn't as important for tournaments because the player pool is more diverse. Can you give some examples of your frequent unbalanced play against players other than nits or showdown monkeys?	Well I'm probably not going to tell you exactly which spots I'm always bluffing in, but there definitely are some of those. Probably some where I'm always for value, too, though those are harder to think of :D In general, I'm extremely balance-aware (maybe overly so) when I'm playing high rollers, or against anyone whom I know I will be playing again soon.
	One easy way to think about balance being overused is with opening-raise bet sizing. Let's say you're playing at a table with a bunch of people who have no clue about poker... wouldn't you raise 4x with aces rather than 2x, since they'll probably call anyway, and you build the pot much better that way? Or let's take the example of bluff-raising a K73r board when an amateur bets out with like 30BB behind... I might float that board very often for balance against better players (or bluff-raise, but also value raise some good hands) but why not just minraise against someone who will fold every single unpaired hand, despite the fact that there's basically no hands I would ever take that line for value with?
	People often fall into a robotic playmaking mode based on what's best against the entire set of all players, rather than exploiting the fact that when playing weaker players, you can be completely unbalanced, and in fact, it's more profitable to play that way.
When was the first time you won a considerable amount of money? and how did it feel?	Mohegan Sun NAPT was my first huge score, for $750,000 (and I had most of myself since I had just quit my backer before law school). It was... um, surreal. I still never really understand when I win a lot of money - like I've said before, it's more of a score in a game than anything else. I never really buy things that are very extravagant, so the money doesn't change all that much honestly. The only thing I've spent real money on are law school, my condo, one nice car, fancy sushi, and now my wedding.
What was your most embarassing poker moment?	I think I was probably most embarrassed by my QQ hand on HSP, just because of how god awful it was. I was really really thrown off by the lights and cameras and scrutiny of each hand on my first big televised cash game, and I hadn't played cash in quite some time. I think my nerves caught up with me, and what should have been a super easy fold just cost me like $170k. So yeah, that was probably my most embarrassing poker moment.
Best tilt story you had or have seen?	I don't know if it's a tilt story, but any time Matt Marafioti goes on a facebook rant and it ends up on 2p2, that's pretty much comic gold.
How much math goes into your live poker game?	It used to be a lot, but now in my old age I usually try to do it for all of 3 seconds, and then give up and get the dealer to spread the pot and make a bet size based on approximately "whatever it looks like there is out there." :P.
How many nights a year do you sleep in a bed that you own?	Well probably around 180, but only because my primary residence is actually Las Vegas so I'm there for the WSOP and all the Bellagio tournaments. If you don't include Las Vegas, then maybe like 70-80?
Which side do you like in the recent Team Pokerstars vs. Team Fulltilt HUSNG challenge? What other projects/passions are you working on outside of poker? Do you ever plan to retire from poker?	1 - I like Team Pokerstars side. I won't say more about the specific matchups, but I like our side by a LOT. 3 - I started a foundation to support nonprofit organizations which I have yet to getting off the ground, but I'm currently funding it and excited to get it off and running. I'm also working on a TV show (though this is in poker) and hopefully if/when it happens, you will hear more about it. Other than that, my hobbies are cooking, sports, my dogs, and watching TV. My future plans (not immediate future, but not too far off) are to coach a little league sports team, volunteer at a civil rights organization, and go to culinary school.
	4 - I don't think I'll ever retire from poker entirely, but I'll definitely cut back in a few years. I want to start a family eventually and I can't possibly travel as much as I do now if I am going to do that.
When you started getting into high buy in tourneys did you get staked, try to get in via satellites, or buy in the full amount?	Hi there. I started playing high buyins in 2007 I believe, and I was pretty new to tournaments generally. My friend just put the word out that I was "pretty good" and that was all it took in those days. Timex and Steve PA picked me up and all my friends loved how one of my backers was 17. Anyways, I wasn't that good at the deep-stacked tourneys and I would typically bust day 1 or 2 running a giant bluff for all my chips and getting called every single time :) Luckily dudes were still folding to me at the WSOP and my success there in 2008 led to a decent profit for myself and my backers.
What about now, does Pokerstars cover most of your buy-ins? How does your sponsorship deal work with them?	As for now, Stars covers some of my buyins and travel and some I pay myself... hopefully once I bink the main (3 times in a row) they'll begin to put me in everything and anything I want, but for now this is how it goes and I couldn't be happier with representing them.
Hey Vanessa! I'm a big fan!	Yeah, I'm not sure how the misconception that I slowrolled came from, but I guess it might look like that from TV.
So, I'm sure you get this a lot, but of course you remember the Heads Up Championship match against Peter Eastgate... Some would call what you did a sick slowroll. Can you explain what you were thinking at the time?	Anyways what happened was we were the last two people playing in our group after each of us doubling up and the match swinging quite a bit. The TV team had just made us take like a 20 minute break to get us to the feature table, despite our protests since we only had like 12 bigs and it was super annoying. Finally we are all set up and the very first hand I raise and he shoves and shows JJ and I guess I shook my head a little in disgust before flipping my QQ over. I just thought it was so absurd that the match would end that way and I felt bad for him that he had this setup on the very first hand after this whole thing had gone down. So my head shaking was part "lol what a cooler" and part feeling bad for him, and I guess it came across like a slowroll on TV. Peter definitely didn't think it was so that's what's important, I guess.
Of all the poker pros who did as well as you as quickly as you, how many of them do you think achieved it due to luck triumphing over skill? (i.e. what percentage of meteoric pros like you do you think have true winrates that are accurately reflected by their results?)	Most poker pros that have had as many results as I have had are genuinely good players. It's hard to win consistently and just be terrible. That being said, none of us have true winrates and we've all run exceptionally well... that's just how variance goes. Personally, I don't think that over time, I've flopped more sets or had my AA hold more than the average person... I've just gotten extremely lucky in terms of running good at the major final tables I've made. And that's the most important skill to have in the world - knowing how to get lucky when playing for 6 or 7 figures.
Awesome player, really enjoy watching you. you haven't been playing much cash recently, as you said, but how do you think you would fare in today's online lineup? who have been the toughest players you'd faced when you were grinding online cash?	I think I'd probably get destroyed in cash by the game's toughest players. I haven't been playing much cash in recent years and the game's elite are so far ahead of where they were when I played a lot. Given how many amazing players there are right now, it's extremely rare for someone to be elite in all forms of poker - and that's what makes Phil Ivey just so awe-inspiring.
Do you listen to any podcasts or watch any poker shows you could recommend?	Mmm I don't really watch any or listen to any myself as I'm pretty busy, but I guess this is as good a time as any to plug some - Rootbone Radio is run by a few friends and if they're still making them, I'm sure they're hilarious. The twoplustwo Pokercast is usually a pretty good listen, if you have 5 hours/day to kill. Thinking Poker is another one that I've been on that's pretty sweet and run by a couple pretty smart dudes. Deuces Cracked runs a few podcasts, strategy and otherwise, that are pretty good.
I attended a short poker talk of yours during the WSOP a while back that I thought was extremely insightful. Any plans to write a strategy book in the future?	Great, I'm glad you liked it. I don't have plans to write a book any time in the near future both because I'm extremely busy with tons on my plate, and also because it just isn't that profitable honestly. Mostly though, it just doesn't appeal to me the same way discussing poker through coaching or live seminar or the like does.
Hi, Vanessa- thank you for taking the time to do this! As a lawyer and a fan of poker, you were always my favorite to watch on televised games. You mention still not being convinced that poker as a career is your endgame; do you have any areas of law you're attracted to? I seem to recall an interview where you mentioned wanting to do something in the area of LGBT rights- is that still the area of law you'd practice if you decided to put that degree to work?	Hiya - I'm still not 100% sure what my end game is. I doubt I'll be a full-time lawyer in any traditional sense, but I'll always work on issues about which I'm most passionate, in whatever sense that happens to be. It might be doing charity poker tournaments, or volunteering with organizations, or funding start-up non-profits with my poker winnings. I wish I had a more specific answer for you, but I don't. As far as what field, I would say I'm most interested in fighting for racial and economic justice, though the gays need love too, so who knows?
Are you ever going to make more vids for DC?	Honestly, I'm not sure... it really depends if I start playing online a lot more again, in which case I could see myself making more videos. In the past when I have tried to make videos about live play, they have tended to not come out very well.
Can you post a picture of the engagement ring?	I would, but I don't know how to do that :(
Hows the culture between pro's amongst each other? Are there alot of friendly relationships or do most people just go about there business? Is there alot of discussing on hands, anything like that?	Yeah I mean just like any subculture, some people love each other, some people hate each other, etc etc. I think there is a great deal of camaraderie that results just from shared experiences, and also the fact is that a lot of us are very similar in personality and temperament. It can definitely get difficult sometimes just because when you're on the road with people you're seeing them so often, it can become almost sibling-like in some ways. The competitive nature of it can also be difficult because when you're ultimately competing against these people, it's hard to believe that anyone truly supports you or has your best interest at heart 100% of the time. I think it's rare to be able to have those sorts of relationships. Still though, I like almost everyone I've met on some level or another.
	There is this cool thing that happens that is unique to poker though which is that there will be people I've never really hung out with before or even met, but if they are in a group of people I am hanging out with, we can just strike up a conversation as if we're old friends. Usually you know who everyone is and some mutual friends have talked about that person to you before, so it's like you've known them forever yourself. That's a cool aspect of it - the idea you can just hang out with anyone and you know something about each other - and can make otherwise lonely places feel less lonely sometimes.
Who is the most talented cash game player on Team Pokerstars Pro?	Really tough to say as I haven't played cash with many of them. Isaac, Jason, Elky, Eugene, Ville, and I'm sure tons I'm forgetting are great cash game players as well as tournament stars.

Last updated: 2013-03-05 07:44 UTC
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Date: 2014-01-24
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Questions	Answers
What has been the luckiest moment in your career? Thanks!	With 90 players left in EPT San Remo in 2008, I got JJ in against Roland De Wolfe's QQ... on a T 7 3 flop. I hit a jack on the river and went on to win the tournament for 1.4 million $
1) How long were you playing poker before you decided: "I'm going to do this for a living"? What would you consider the turning point (in terms of poker ability, a significant cash, etc) that pushed you toward doing this professionally?	I was playing for about 2 and a half years while going to school and working part time jobs, before I realized I was going to make a living solely from poker. The turning point was when I decided to go for supernova elite on Pokerstars in 2007.
What portion of the cash that you play with is actually yours?	It's almost always all mine. I sell action to the 100k+ tournaments thought.
Why do you mostly play tournaments instead of cash? Isn't the variance terrible?	I play both, you just don't hear about the cash games all the time. The variance is insane for both.
What is the worst bad beat of your career?	KK into Antonio's AA with 19 left in the One Drop where first place was 18 million dollars. I was third in chips he was second. #showers.
Jason how do i win flips?	Focus really hard, I mean really really really hard lol.
Are there any well-known poker pros out there who have obvious tells they aren't aware of?	Yes, and I'm not going to name names obv :)
Do you think that online poker will come back to the States entirely?	Eventually yes... I hope.
Is there a moment in your career that stands out as the biggest poker mistake you've ever made?	I can't think of a huge mistake that I regret, I try to focus on the positive aspects of my career!
Hey Jason, do you think it would be possible for a live grinder to grind in today's games with 2k starting at 1/2$ to like 75k in a year eventually moving up when the bankroll allows it?	If they are a good player than yes, but I can't imagine why a good player would only have 2k
When Vanessa Selbst did an AMA, she went into some detail on a hand she played on High Stakes where she stacked off to an amateur's set with her queens, her point being that the hand was one that she looked back on and cringed about, knowing that it was broadcast on tv. So, is there any tv hand (ept, big game, high stakes) that you feel that you truly misplayed and can't bear to look back on?	Actually there's a hand against Justin Bonomo that I played on the big game in which I had AxJd and check shoved the river as a bluff. Makes me cringe a little- although, I'm not sure it was such a bad play :)
What would you say the single most important piece of advice you could give poker players just starting to really learn the game?	You can only get better but playing, and through experience. there's only so much studying you can do, you have to play.
What's the best comp you've ever received from a casino?	Lotta buffet tickets :)
	Honestly, I can't recall the best
Do you treat poker like a job all the time now or do you still have the occasional beer and pretzel game with your buddies?	I had to stop doing that a long time ago. I spend so much of my time playing poker at the highest level that when I'm not doing so, I want to do something other than poker.
So what do you do for fun now with your buddies if not poker?	Boating, eating, sports, beach
How many hours did you dedicate to poker when you started?	My life
IS LIV SHAVED? HAVE YOU EVER HAD MORE THAN 4% OF YOURSELF IN A SHR?	Do u want me to say yes? because I've obviously had more than 4% of myself
Can you share some pics/vids of your boat? What are your thoughts on Phil Helmuth?	Follow me on Instagram for boat pics : realJasonMercier.
Hi -I am very curious about what a typical week looks like for a poker pro (in terms of hours)? For example 60 hours spent playing poker, 40 hours spent analyzing, xx spent sleeping, xx recreation.	Depends on the player. I spend weeks playing 0 hours and other weeks playing 100.
So, do you play golf ? And if yes, what's your handicap ? And if it's low, are you better then Ivey ? Cheers from iceland.	Only played a few times, I'm awful.
When was the definitive moment when you decided you wanted to go Pro and what impact did it have on your life (besides the obvious)and the impact of the life of others around you?	A few months into 2007 I was well on pace to achieving Supernova Elite status on Pokerstars, which meant I would make a nice chunk of money throughout the year.
	At that point, it didn't impact much, I was playing online basically working a desk job. Once I started travelling a lot for poker though, my life changed dramatically.
What do the Dolphins need to do in order to become a contender in the AFC East again?	They started the offseason off pretty right with a few firings!
What is the biggest cash pot you have won?	660k
What is the most bat-shit insane play you've ever seen made at a poker table?	Wish I could remember one specific one... I've seen so many lol.
What are the perks of being a pokerstars pro?	I get my face as my avatar :)
I tend to blush at the drop of a hat..as a pro poker player how do you generally read someone whose face turns red?	Lol ummm if there face is turning red a lot, I probably will be able to tell what kind of hand they have. :P.
How much of a financial hit did you take with your bracelet bets this past WSOP?	6 figures. don't want to say
Sweet... big fan, always love watching ept live when u final table. a few questions.	Sorry only 2 questions per person! :)
Seems like you were crazy info OFC before, but seems like to don't play as much, or at least not tweet about it?	Took a nice break but ready to get back in the mix.
After our brief pineapple session at PCA, Vlad said your ofc bumhunting wouldn't stand in Moscow. Was he referring to himself or me?	Lol I'm not sure bud... I think he meant hit and running.
	Language barrier.
Who is the player you least enjoy playing against purely from a personality/body odouall-round douchebag point of view?	I don't exactly call out my enemies on public forums
Is your last name pronounced Mer-Sear or Mercy-A? Every commentator says it differently.	Mer See Ur
Is that true that poker players get a lot of ladies?	Depends on the player...
	If they are a fat slob, then they probably aren't getting a lot of ladies.
	I do okay
Just one question Jason. When will it end? Edit- Im guessing the people down voting dont follow Jason on twitter.	Never.
Hello Jason, welcome to reddit! Do you have any thoughts on string cheese as a snack food?	Thanks! Not a fan of string cheese, stopped eating it when I was 11.
If you could give one tip to people aspiring to emulate your poker success, what would it be?	Win lots...
What tilts you the most?	Traffic
Whats your net worth give or take $1m? also what kind of boat do you own?	I don't tell people my net worth. Its a formula something. 35 footer
Who are the four people you spend the most time with?	Do u want me to name my friends?
	Do u know Dirty Dave?
	Dan Obrien when I'm on the road.
	Why 4?
You can't just drop that you bought a sweet boat and not tell us what you named it. It's corny though, isn't it? :)	It's going to be either "deuces" or "deuce to seven"
	Has to do something with the price :)
Has there been any professional poker player that you just have not been able to read? Who has been the most difficult?	There are a lot of pros that are difficult or unable to read.
Do you feel your perception ability extends past poker?	My perception ability definitely flows over into all aspects of life.
Who would you rather play between Ike Haxton and Viktor Blom?	I'd rather play Ike.
Why Ike?	Viktor is scary :)
Were you actually contemplating taking your boat to the PCA?	Yes was considering it,
I'm not sure of the logistics of it. Was it just a joke?	Ending up not because of the potential problems and bad weather
How did you select your horses? Will you ever recruit more? What cut do you get from their winnings?	I'm strayed away from backing in the last few years. Most players in the past that I backed we did a standard 50/50 with makeup deal.
It’s often a misconception that gambling is a sin but according to the bible it’s never said that gambling is a sin rather the lust of money is where we sin. I was curious since the time you posted your blog about your beliefs as a Christian how has that affected the relationships around you and has it changed your approach in live games? also, on my next visit to Miami can I drive your new boat? @heydanpowers.	Gonna pass on the boat driving, no offense.
	My beliefs as a Christian haven't really affected my relationships or my approach to live games except in that I'm trying to not put in such long sessions anymore playing cash. That is more of a health thing though.
Are you planning on playing any Irish events this year? Irish open, IPO?	No, never been to Ireland either ;/
How much money would you personally have to have in order to play $100,000 buy-in tournaments without swapping/selling action?	Many more millions :)
Just how much harder has the game gotten from when you first started out to current day?	There are a lot more elite players nowadays.
Do you watch hockey? If so whose your favorite team?	Nope
Is the no-drinking bet going to actually happen? What's your motivation for proposing it? Glglgl tho.	It might, but it hasn't happened yet. I was not feeling well after a night of drinking... so I fired off on twitter looking for action.
Hey Jason, Gonna be making my way down for my first WSOP in vegas this year. Any tips? Is late registration the way to go?	I recommend showing up early, regging the night before to avoid lines, get comfortable and prepare for a long day. Patience.
What I'm trying to get at is, as a (amateur) poker player myself, I often find it hard to separate the skill from the variance, and when I win money I wonder if I got lucky and when I lose money I wonder if I just suck. Do you ever doubt your abilities and how do you overcome this doubt?	Doubting your abilities is something that almost every poker player struggles with. It's hard not to during the downswings. Overcoming this is difficult, but a lot of times you just have to play through it.
Who's your inspiration?	My dad
If you could only choose one horse for a ten man sng for your life, who would you pick? Besides yourself.	For my life???
How do you see yourself in 10 years? still at the top, still playing?	I can't imagine a year from now, much less 10 years. I hope to still be at the top.
How hard was it to get there where you are standing now?	I can't put into words how hard it was, it took many many hours and a lot of hard work.
I know that you're a big sports fan. How often do you bet on sports? Also, do you do most of it online, with friends, or at a Vegas sports book?	I don't really bet sports much anymore, had to stop after really slamming it for a while. Was doing it mostly with friends.
Will the Knicks make the playoffs?	Nope.
Hi Jason, In your opinion, is Ole Schemion or Vanessa Selbst a more formidable opponent?	They are both very tough and very good
Any plans to relocate long-term and focus on online games again instead of live? If so, how much would another online MTT reg like me have to pay you to cancel those plans?!	Let the bidding begin!!
	I have no plans as of now to do so, you're safe! :)
Online poker is legal in my state now, and I have a $200 bankroll to start with. What would be the best way to grind it out into a decent amount?	What are you good at playing?
Tell us how you REALLY feel about the Stars High Stakes Regs Problems twitter account.	Lol who?

Last updated: 2014-01-28 19:29 UTC
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