Zimba: Welcome to CardRunners' Fifth Ask a Pro chat session featuring Brian Townsend (aba/sbrugby). Brian: hey everyone, thanks for coming Zimba: This is our first "moderated" chat where members can't call out questions or comments without approval. I will be feeding Brian questions in an orderly fashion. When he is finished with one response, I will submit another. Zimba - A transcript of tonights chat session will be uploaded to the Promotions/Special Activities section of the forums within 24 hours. Zimba: We will begin with questions submitted in the thread I started in Promotions. You can also submit a question by typing into the chat box for the chat room. Those questions will be added as time permits...

Zimba: First off congrats on your success, and thanks for becoming a part of CR. Your videos are insightful and much appreciated. Anyway, I was wondering about when you first started out and how you got to where you currently are. How long did you play the lower stakes (1/2 and lower) and what BR allowed you to move up for each level. Did you strictly follow proper br management or did you take risks along the way? Any suggestions for a lower limit player trying to come up would be appreciated too. Thanks, Ace. Brian: I started off playing limit Brian: and worked my way up to 10/20 limit where I really struggled Brian: it took me about 1/2 a year to reach 10/20 limit, since I was playing infrequently Brian: Then I switched to .25/.5 NL and it all clicked Brian: I moved up very quickly by taking shots when I had 17-20BI for the next level Brian: then if I lost a few I would drop down to the level I could beat Brian: then I just rinsed and repeated until I reached 200/400

Zimba: How should you work with understanding the mechanics of handranges. Can you give some examples of pokerstove exercises that are healthy and how to apply these to your game ? Brian: well alot of it is from table time Brian: nothing can replace playing a million hands of poker Brian: but you can speed this process up by using pokerstove Brian: Say you have AA on a K45 two diamond flop Brian: and a very tight player raises you and you know he has a set, AK, or a straight flush draw Brian: pokerstove is an excellent program for solving a problem like that

Zimba: How do u work analyse ur game? can u give some examples? Are you selt taught or do you have a mentor that taught you the game? Brian: I am self taught Brian: though for 2 years I have eat and breathed poker Brian: no matter how good you are moving from .25/.5 to 300/600 takes a ton of time Brian: I have read almost every poker book out and I am constantly browsing and reading this forum to learn Brian: right now I am learning limit omaha 8 or better Brian: I have never played this game before (I have never even played a hi/lo game before) Brian: right now I don't have a good understanding of my equity in a hand vs a villians range Brian: so after everyhand I win or lose I go into pokertracker and look at my equity vs villians holding on each street Brian: this helps me understand the value of my hands in certain situations Brian: I plan on doing this process until I can accuratly estimate my equity vs a range in a game Brian: this is how I learn all new games

Zimba: Do you believe that live poker is a very different beast from the online game? Are the same skill sets emphasized? Do you subscribe to the theory that physical tells are an important part of live poker, or that you can figure out the game using hand ranges, betting patterns, etc. Brian: live poker and online poker are the same game Brian: yes the same critical thinking skills are required for both live and online Brian: physical tells are very overated Brian: its the same game and hand ranges determine everything at the end of the day

Zimba: I know you moved up the limits relatively quickly! Can you give an approx amount of hands you were getting in each month? Did you skip any limits?

Brian: at first I didn't play much at all Brian: I probably started averaging 50-100 hands a day Brian: then as I had more and more sucess I started to play more and more Brian: at my peak I was doing 50-60K hands a month, but now I don't play as much Brian: I guess I skipped the mirco limits since I started with a 300 dollar bankroll playing .25/.5 limit

Zimba: You play 3-4 tables, very understandable for the high stakes, but what about low to mid? I play $100NL and feel I can beat the game for 4pt/bb+ 6-8 tabling, but probably can beat it better with less tables, but for less overall profit, so should I just go with the 4 max or play 6-8? How many did you play at the lower stakes? If I decide to quit 6-8 tabling when I get to a certain limit, what limit is that? $600NL ( All questions about 6 max )? Brian: well it just depends on your personality Brian: and what you can handle Brian: I can't focus on more than 3-4 tables, but some people can do 10 tables with no problems Brian: I woudl just try diferent things and see what works for you Brian: that said I think you can get a much better understanding of the game by playing fewer tables and really focusing

Zimba: Also, you say you're going to learn 08 and stud, how do you just go about learning a new game? What limit do you practice at and how long/hands per day? Do you read poker books to learn a new game? Brian: ya I read books and browse forums to learn new games Brian: I play 50/100 limit and down Brian: as I said before I use pokertracker to determine my equity by street when learnign

Zimba: how do you play against player who has position on you and reraising you all the time? Brian: when I tight player reraises me and I have KQo I think my hand doesn't have very much value Brian: but when a over agro player does I will take a flop and if we have 100BB stacks I will play for stacks if I flop a K or Q Brian: basically I play the same I just adjust my opponents hand range and play my hands accordingly Brian: so hands like KQ or AJ have very little value in reraised pots against tight players but are fine to play if you are getting reraised by worse hands

Zimba: what is the most effective method of putting people on hand ranges, also do you think pokertracker with HUD is better than using poker office with their built in overlay tool ? Brian: I have never used poker office, but I think pokertracker with a HUD works great Brian: well you can help yourself by using pokertracker and pokerstove to put people on ranges Brian: and think about hand ranges after the hand Brian: so if I was looking to improve my hand reading abilities Brian: I would post tons of hands in the forums, and watch as many videos as I had time for Brian: then with the less interesting hands that I didn't post I would think about them on my own and guess at hand ranges that the villian could have

Zimba: How do you balance your life with poker? Do you feel that active engagement in exercise increases your results, and if so how so? Thanks, Really appreciate you doing this. God Bless. Brian: its very hard Brian: I have a personality where I feel that I need to be the best at whatever I am doing Brian: and at times I put off more important things to play poker Brian: right now I am trying to stay as healthy as I can because the life of a poker player is a very unhealthy one Brian: I do find exercise really improves my results as well as socializing Brian: there have been times where I play poker for days straight and it really hurts my results as I am not playing focused poker

Zimba: What is your strategy when a table has mixed stacks from 20 to 100 BB? How do you play vs the shortstacks? How much worse does a shortstack have to be in order to be more profitable than a normal bad player with 100 BB stack to play against? Brian: I generally tighten up and throw away hands like 57s and things like that

Brian: someone with a short stack who isn't very good is defn protecting himself Brian: bad players lose much more quickly the deeper the stacks get as it allows the better players to out manuever them

Zimba: you talked about 'options' in your new video. what are some ways I can start learning pot limit omaha. any book recommendations? or just watching the videos on CR? what was your learning process for pot limit omaha Brian: I would recomend watching all the videos and posting hands in the forums Brian: I have read pretty much ever poker book and they havent helped me improve as much as watching videos and posting in forums. Brian: My learning process was the same for plo as I am doing for O/8 right now Brian: I used poker tracker to determine my equity on every street to figure out how better to play my hands

Zimba: Brian, I was curious about how to implament/read pokertracker and poker HUD. I have had them for some time now, and used them occasionally but I see your setup and I want to learn how to look at my hands further in depth as well as how to play vs certain people. Brian: I would recomend watching my future videos as I will talk more and more about using a HUD

Zimba: I sometimes have a really hard time knowing when to continuation bet and how much, I also seem to continuation bet the wrong people and frequently find myself getting check raised. Any suggestions? Brian: I just started teaching one of my buddies how to play Brian: and I began by giving him a starting hand sheet, saying raise pot preflop whenever the chart tells you to, and then bet any flop regardless of what the flop is or what you have Brian: so continuation betting every single flop is a resonable strategy all the way up to 3/6 or 5/10

Zimba: Brian, I've had a lot a bit of trouble developing card reading skills. The information I've gathered from books, vids, 2+2 pretty much all the say the same: experience and observation. Surely there is something more tangible that we can do to practice card-reading and tune. For example, I've used PokerTracker's replay feature to try and card-read at my leisure. I jot down handranges, and try to narrow down the hand ranges given the action. More often than not, it seems I'm quite off. Without guidance (questions to ask myself, the thinking that goes into the pro-mindset, etc) I feel a bit lost in this area. Most books barely touch on the subject, only to say that yes you need that skill, and you just have to (magically?) acquire it. Brian: well it sounds like you have the correct process down Brian: now you probably just need to spend some more time doing it Brian: its not going to be something that happens over night Brian: the top players have put countless hours into improving their games Brian: so I would recommend continuing with the process you outlined because I think it is an effective one.

Zimba: What types of things have you done to tune card-reading? I've watched GP and Muddy both start rattling off hand-ranges with impressive accuracy on their videos... is it really just experience? Or is there something beyond observation and experience? Brian: mainly experience and practice Brian: GP and Muddy have played tons of hours of poker and after some time it becomes second nature

Zimba: What do you think is the most common misunderstood concept(s) of the game, even by many good players? What is the best way to fix it? Brian: I think people who check raise with weak made hands is a huge mistake I see Brian: an example would be calling preflop with KTo from a CO open Brian: then check raising a K44 rainbow flop and not knowing what to do when opponent goes all in

Zimba: What kind of preparations are you making before you sit down for a session? What kind of food do you eat? Energy drink? Brian: I eat very healthy Brian: I go to the grocery store everyday so I always have fresh fruit and vegtables Brian: I also have baby carrots on hand at all times for a quick snack Brian: I often drink green tea or water when I am playing

Brian: I also try to workout and enjoy the day before I play poker Brian: I feel like I am wasting the day when I play and its gorgeous outside

Zimba: I think I can reasonably assume that there exist poker players with the same level of poker knowledge as Brian Townsend but still cannot beat NL $10/$20 and higher. What could be the reasons for that? Brian: maybe they are primarily limit players and although they have extensive poker knowlegde they haven't developed their hand reading and hand range abilities for NL yet

Zimba: Brian, assume you start to date a girl that has no knowledge about your income. At what point would you tell her, if at all, about the money you make? First date? After 3 months? Brian: well I only date money hungry super models so I have to tell them right away how much I make

Zimba: If online games start to dry up, do you think it will really affect your earn? I would suspect not since you already play the best players and are winning. Brian: it would defenitly hurt my earnings Brian: there is an entire poker economy that exists Brian: and the money works its way up to the top of the pyramid Brian: there are alwyas people who can beat one level but not the level above them Brian: and they tend to win at the lower limit and take the money up to the higher limt and lose, then rebuild at the lower Brian: this is how the money works its way up

Zimba: Where do you make your profits in the 200/400 games? It always seems to be the same small group of players. Obviously you all can't be making money. Is it just random 25/50 guys just taking shots. Brian: there are players in those games that are just like the ones I described Brian: you will see them playing 200/400 for a few weeks or a month then they will drops back down to smaller limits Brian: and rebuild Brian: actaully that process is a little longer and they will usually be in teh bigger games for 2-3 months

Zimba: I don't know if you want to publicize this or not, but I'll ask...What are your winrates (bb/100) at all the various high limit games, both NLHE and PLO (100/200, 200/400, and 300/600) Brian: I am not sure since I play on both my laptop and desktop

Zimba: "You're biography on cardrunners says your favorite players are patrick antonius and mike matusow (FOR DIFFERENT REASONS), what are these different reasons?" Brian: honestly I don't really have favorite poker players, and I just wrote something

Zimba: As there a tons of LAG players these days from 1-2, 2-4 and up, with a huge group of experienced TAG and LAG players in the ML and HL 6 max games, I would ask this... What do you believe is the concept (or mindset) which allows you to rise above and beyond the accomplished and "highly winning" players at 10-20, 25-50 etc? It would seem obvious that the highly skilled 25-50 players are well versed in mixing their play, know and are very experienced in most lines of play, and crush the weaker players who venture into that game, yet somehow there are 100-200 and 200-400 players such as yourself that overshadow (in skill) the regulars in the 25-50 game? Brian: its a survival of the fitest Brian: the best rise to the top Brian: I think its my dedication to being the best that really puts me at the top Brian: for the past year+ I have been determined to be the best poker player I can be Brian: most poker players are lazy and unmotivated

Zimba: First of all a table selection question: I am European (Germany) and therefore can play on all sites available.. Right now I do play NL200 - 400 and hopefully soon NL600 on Pokerstars. Stars seem to be quite fishy on NL200 but the skill lvl is growing quickly between NL400 and 600.. Some friends of mine do play Partypoker and due to the legislation, most American sharky cannot access Partypoker. I think Stars will help me to become a better player more quickly but it ain't as profitable as Party could be.. I mean NL1k on Party is maybe like NL400 -600 on Stars.. People are limping a lot in 6max and do very basic mistakes. Would you choose the Pokerengine with best support, software and mutlitableoptions or go for the easiest competition (might slow down my progress as a player). Brian: I think you should play against the easiest competion

Brian: I think if I was coming up the midlimits I would split my roll between stars and fulltilt since the games seem to be best there

Zimba: How can you exploit, take advantage of, people who are multitabling stakes 1/2 through 3/6?

Brian: yes people who play more than 6 tables tend to be on autopilot Brian: generally they won't fold overpairs and if you raise them they will usually toss all hands weaker than top pair Brian: so a good strategy against multitablers is to check raise the flop alot and then give up

Zimba: Do think it's important, or atleast could be a valuable asset, to have some knowledge about other strategy games, such as chess and backgammon? A friend of mine, who won the EPT Barcelona (HU against Phil Ivey) used some chess strategy when he limped on the button several times with the intention of folding to his push, just so that he could do the same with TT (his winning hand). Brian: I used to play chess when I was very very young. I think it helps develop your critical thinking which is very important for poker.

Zimba: When should I bet the turn and river for a value bet. Sometimes with hands such as top pair I just bet the flop and often check the turn for pot control, but Im sure this is a mistake sometimes, if not most of the time. What makes you decide to bet the turn for value here? Player type? Position?

Brian: very broad question with to many things to consider here but generally board texture means alot . if I have AK and I raise and am cold called by someone in middle position and the flop comes A82r adn I am called on the flop and turn is another 2 I am going to be betting my ak again for value.

Zimba: I'm a 1/2nl player and while I rarely have large swings, I seem to have a hard time dealing losing a couple of buy ins on a given day. Even one buy in could upset me on a certain hand. I know you started relatively recently, how have you gone from dealing with losing say 200-400 dollars on a given session to losing thousands in a given hand. I guess I'm just asking how you handled losing a buy in or whatever at each level and how to overcome this fear of losing and thinking about the money.

Brian: just keep playing. whenever I moved up levels the swings would really bother me I remeber losing 50 dollars the first time I played and thinking it was the end of the world. the more you play a limit the less the swings should bother you .

Zimba: Hi, I am wondering how long the longest break-even streak you have had in the past year online has been. I am talking in terms of # of hands. Also, is it common for a strong winning player to break-even over 20 thousand hands, and if so, how often should that happen.

Brian: I had a realy bad run right after HSP filmed Brian: I got beat up very badly in the 40/80 pound games on crypto Brian: I probably had a 20 BI downswing and about 20K breakeven Brian: I was playing very very poorly though and my results were because of my weak play Brian: I would say 20K breakeven would happen 2-3 times a year playing 30K-40K hands a month

Zimba: Do the losing sessions get to you, or are you used to them by now and just take it like a man?

Brian: losing sucks Brian: the money I lose doesn't bother me anymore but I hate to lose at whatever I am doing Brian: if this was play money I would hate to lose.

Zimba: Can you explain how bluffing on the flop with unimproved high cards into a couple of opponents helps protect your big pairs from people mining sets against you? You discussed this in the second video, but I still don't get it.

Brian: well if you only bet when you have an overpair then your opponents can fold anything that doesn't beat an overpair

Brian: that is the basic idea but its a little deeper than that

Zimba: Do you think you should play where you are a loser/breakeven if you have enough buy-ins to take a shot so that you'll get better quicker? Will this be profitable in the long run? If I shouldn't play where I'm a looser/breakeven then where should I play? Where I'm a small winner?

Brian: no Brian: no Brian: where you are a winner Brian: being a breakeven or losing player is going to get frustrating very very quickly Brian: I think its fine if you are a small winner to play in the game Brian: but I think the furstration level would be to great for me if I was a losing or breakeven player

Zimba: How important is it playing heads-up? Will this improve your shorthanded/6max game where I think it's fair to say the most money is.

Brian: its good to know but isn't a necessity until you reach 50/100+ limits Brian: I think playing HU cna be most profitable if you have the right competition

Zimba: What tactics would you advise against regulars who are 3-betting you apparently light from the blinds and you have hands like TT/JJ in position, or players who call your 3-bets from the blinds too lightly in position, and then make plays at you postflop. Also, I am finding many regulars are basically obsessed with winning every pot they are in - so there is a lot of floating and reaction to weakness with bets - how would you combat this bearing in mind obviously you won't be hitting more than 1/3 flops with unpaired hole cards?

Brian: against some people you need to get it in preflop with TT or JJ Brian: also I sometimes deciede I am going to call someone down no matter what cards come Brian: say I have to jacks on teh button and the small blind 3 bets me Brian: and he has been three betting me alot Brian: then the flop comes 27Tr and he leads for 2/3 pot Brian: I think calling down is fine there, and calling any turn and river Brian: so even when an ace comes on the turn and you think he has air a lot you still need to call down

Zimba: ok, i'm now switching to live asked questions so their name will show up Zimba: Question from 5kplo: I turned the nut straight (board 3h4s6h9s). it was a 5 way limped pot, checked around flop, i was bb, sb potted turn. how strong of a redraw do you want before taking this to war? flushdraw? set? fold naked 57? smooth call 57+2pair? Brian: um kinda hard to answer here without all the table dynamics Brian: but if I have the nuts with some type of redraw and 100BB stacks I will tends to get felted as people way way over play the nuts in omaha Brian: with no redraw

Zimba: i kinda wanna ask who's the best player to come out of UCSB? sbrugby, jeff madsen, or Spudt24 Brian: UCSB has turned out some good poker players

Zimba: Favorite adult beverage? Brian: I usally drink sapporo or stella Zimba: How do you rate Sammy Farha? Brian: not good, but we don't really like each other

Zimba: how do u feel bout playin patrick antonius headsup in 300/600? Brian: well yesterday was my first session against him HU Brian: and I thought I played well

Zimba: Focus is a problem for some players coming up - how do keep your mind at its peak throughout your sessions, especially your longer ones? And keep in mind - if you say Green Tea, we're going to have to put China on full alert to get their production moving cts: ha, i was playing 25/50nl at the bellagio and sammy was in the game and mentioned ya'll weren't friendly and you were gonna go broke blah blah blah. what's the story there?

Brian: that said he is a very good player and even if I do feel I have an edge it would be small Brian: there are better adn easier spots than HU against patrick, when I play him its a pride thing Brian: its very tough to stay focused for hours on end Brian: I tend to play more sessions which are shorter Brian: so I will play for 2-3 hours then go for a run or go to the beach Brian: and then come back and play another session this helps me stay focused Brian: well when I first played live at the series Brian: this summer I brought 50K with me Brian: and ran super hot so after 3-4 days I had 250K with me Brian: and sammy showed up and we played 100/200/400 blinds Brian: and he was very rude to me

Zimba: Can you play an optimal lag style profitably in a short stack game such as card rooms which the Max NLHE buy in is 50x Big Blinds. Brian: thoes live games are so soft that it doesn't matter how you play Brian: if you have some semblance of strategy and don't do anyhting stupid you will win

Zimba: How much do you think your background in limit holdem contributed to your successes in NL? Do you think that playing in limit and seeing more hands at showdown helped you progress faster while playing NL? If so, do you recommend young players to try to Brian: yes it did help me learn Brian: but I think finding a game which fits your personality is best Brian: I am coaching someone who has been a break even player for 2-3 years Brian: and even with my coaching he just wasn't getting it Brian: then he switched to HU and he is running at 7.5 bb/100 over his last 30K hands Brian: so I think finding what game your best at is most important

Zimba: Do you feel that you are addicted to poker? Brian: to some degree Brian: I have put poker ahead of more important things before

Zimba: Well on behalf of all CR members, I want to thank you for answering questions Brian: no problem Zimba: while there is still a long queue of questions, we will need to schedule another session for them Zimba: this was well attended and we appreciated your answers Zimba: You are a great asset to the CardRunners community Brian: I am glad to be able to give back to a community that helped me grow as a player

This last question went unanswered and will lead off our next chat session with Brian. Thanks everyone, hope you enjoyed it.

Zimba: one last question from taylor... Brian: do you ever see yourself "getting out" of poker? what do you see yourself doing/having accomplished in 20 years?