+++Tri Nguyen in da house!+++

Hey guys!

First off, I want to thank you PokerStrategy for having me.

If anyone have any questions, I would love to answer them.

- Tri

Welcome Tri. Glad to have you here.

Ingrid

What is the single most memorable moment in your poker career? Be it one of those fabled 'Aha' moments, a particular hand, whatever...

Hi, Tri and welcome !

My Q to you - as somebody who came from very hard and poor circumstances ...

If and how much did you struggle with being $$$ oriented and how (long) did you overcome it as I'd assume money has a huge significance coming from that background?

Thanks

Wow. The writer of the first book I ever read is here ♦

Welcome Tri!

The poker blueprint was actually the first book I've read once I reached NL10 to take a serious shot a poker. It instant helped my postflop play alot, and I became a winning player.

The games got harder and I started reading other books because I found out that the postflop situations of the poker blueprint was limited. I hope your new book offers more situations/strategies/examples for low to mid stakes player as poker isn't easy as before anymore

Originally posted by Wriggers
What is the single most memorable moment in your poker career? Be it one of those fabled 'Aha' moments, a particular hand, whatever...
When I first played live poker about 6 years ago (after Paradise gave me a series of bad beats of course), I walked into the card room in Southern California with two buy-ins for the $3-5 game, which was $600 total. A standard buy-in back then was 50BB. I ended up winning about $3,000 that day, which was 35% of my BR.

The following night, I went to the casino with $600 again. I had a tilt problem where I kept re-buying if I lose and I had a difficult time quitting. Bringing only $600 forced me to go home if I lose. And by the time I get home, I'm either too lazy or too annoyed to go back to the casino.

That night, I bought in for the $3-5 game. But instead of sitting down and played, I went to the "high-stakes" section, which was $5-10 and the buy-in was $500. I had recently read Barry Greenstein's "Ace on the River" where he said the highest stake is often SOFTER than the second highest stake. So naturally, I moved up.

I was doing well all night and was re-raising this guy constantly. I asked Barry what I should do against aggressive opponents and he said re-raise them a lot. So that's what I did.

Eventually, he got sick of it and we got into this massive hand.

I have 66.

He opened. I re-raised pre-flop.

Flop is 742 rainbow (I *think*). I bet, he calls.

Turn is 3, putting a backdoor flush out there. He massively overbet shoves for all my money. I tanked.

The pot was to be over $5,000 at this point, this was by far the biggest pot I had ever played.

I was taking forever, even for live poker standards. Everyone in the high-stakes section stopped what they were doing and were watching the hand. Finally, after about 15-20 minutes, the floor manager started counting down.

I was sitting there counting my chips but the thought of how suck would it feel if I called and lose all these chips kept running through my mind. Then I thought about folding and booked a win. Then for whatever reason, I told myself to calm the fk down and don't think about the chips. Go through what hands he had.

I finally called. The river was a 9 or an 8. He didn't do anything. I showed 66. Everyone was silenced. Villain shook his head and threw his hand in the muck. Everyone grasp. Remember, this was in 2004-2005, making a call like this was a big deal.

Villain couldn't believe I made that call and proceeded to tilt off until his stack was gone.

The next day, he saw me and said he couldn't believe I called. He then said he went straight to the Blackjack table and tilted more money.

So in over two days, I doubled my bankroll. The smell of money was also sweet.

BTW, at this point, I didn't know anything about bankroll management. To me, 10 buy-ins was more than enough to play a game.

Looking back, I realized how lucky I was. Luck plays a MASSIVE role on a lot of poker players' careers. If I lost that hand, I'm not sure what would happen. I would probably get to where I am today because the games were very soft, but it would definitely delay my rise through the ranks.

Originally posted by StaticMoth
Hi, Tri and welcome !

My Q to you - as somebody who came from very hard and poor circumstances ...

If and how much did you struggle with being $$$ oriented and how (long) did you overcome it as I'd assume money has a huge significance coming from that background?

Thanks
Hey hey. Thanks for the love!

I didn't struggle with being $ oriented at all. Despite being broke all the time, I'm reasonably logical and prided myself on making the "right" decision.

Also, I was lucky to realize that happiness is everything so money didn't affect as much.

I have to admit that it was nice to be afford a pair of jeans and shirts haha.

Originally posted by ragney
Wow. The writer of the first book I ever read is here ♦

Welcome Tri!

The poker blueprint was actually the first book I've read once I reached NL10 to take a serious shot a poker. It instant helped my postflop play alot, and I became a winning player.

The games got harder and I started reading other books because I found out that the postflop situations of the poker blueprint was limited. I hope your new book offers more situations/strategies/examples for low to mid stakes player as poker isn't easy as before anymore
Hey ragney!

I'm glad the Poker Blueprint helped. I didn't expect it to do so well. I remember telling my brother that it would be a blessing if the Poker Blueprint did half as well as the NL Workbook haha.

My new book doesn't offer strategies for low to mid-stakes players. It offers strategies for all players.

It goes over many aspects of your game that are often overlooked by many poker players. Everyone knows that playing your A game is important but they don't know what steps to take to make sure you're playing your A game all the time.

It's also important to be in a positive mindset and this can be tough to achieve since playing poker is very stressful.

Think of it as "Ace on the River" but for the online generation.

Welcome Tri!

What was the biggest mistake you made /or your worst habit in your poker career?

Because everyone has bad "things".

Good luck!!

Originally posted by 24magus24
Welcome Tri!

What was the biggest mistake you made /or your worst habit in your poker career?

Because everyone has bad "things".

Good luck!!

I have too many bad habits!

Two big things that stunted my growth a lot:

1. It took me a long time to accept game theory. I was crushing the games playing a very exploitative style. Then poker theorists would say so and so is winning because he's doing X and X. Well, I'm winning because all I did was bet and people folded.

However, as the game became tougher, I can't just bet anymore. I had to work other parts into my game such as always be aware balancing. Once I embraced game theory, I became a much better player. It was definitely a humbling experience.

2. I'm also very bad at talking about poker with others. I have a big ego so I wouldn't tell others what I think because I was afraid others might think I suck at poker.

Then I started writing books and have to send to great players to make sure the strategies are correct. Their insights instantly made me a better player. I remembered the first time Cole sent me his comments. The first thought I had was, "Wow, this guy is f'ing good. He cares about all the details in a poker hand that I didn't even think about."

I talked a few more bad habits in my book but these two definitely changed the game for me.

I can well imagine that writing a book isn't just about knowing the theory and having a some experience, or we'd all be doing it!

So, assuming you'd actually like to make a profit somewhere along the line, how difficult is it to reconcile this with what strategies you would actually, really, like to put in a book?

Much respect,

Mal.

Originally posted by gadget51
I can well imagine that writing a book isn't just about knowing the theory and having a some experience, or we'd all be doing it!

So, assuming you'd actually like to make a profit somewhere along the line, how difficult is it to reconcile this with what strategies you would actually, really, like to put in a book?

Much respect,

Mal.

My philosophy is if you're going to do something, give it your best shot. If not, don't do it and find something else better to do with your time.

I write everything I know in my books. The main reason is I have an ego. I want people to read my books and say, "wow, that was helpful. Thanks!"

Hi Tri !

Do you think Plo will slowly replace NL hold'em like it happened with Limit hold'em ?

Do you think people who have worked before playing poker (and then know how hard it is to get money) have an edge on players who never have ? (Mentally wise I mean)

What was the hardest thing you had to figure out to be very successful playing poker ?

Thank you

How the hell do you beat NL2?

Roo

Welcome Tri!

How you get a lifetimelucker +EV status? Which button do I have to press on PokerStars in order to flip better? thx 4 help! Good Man!

Greetings from good old Germany!

@Kojika, just superb winning 1st two questions, what insight. Er, IMHO of course.

Originally posted by Kojika
Hi Tri !

Do you think Plo will slowly replace NL hold'em like it happened with Limit hold'em ?

I don't think it will any time soon.

The main reason is PLO is a complicated to introduce to the casual fans. NL Holdem is easier to learn at first, there's the all-in move, and most tournaments are NL based.

Do you think people who have worked before playing poker (and then know how hard it is to get money) have an edge on players who never have ? (Mentally wise I mean)

I think people who HAVEN'T work before in their life have a huge edge on people who have worked.

The main reason is money matters less to them. They don't know how much $10,000 is. When I was 21, my weekly losing sessions were $10,000-$20,000.

If I had a regular job that makes $40,000 before playing poker, I'm not sure how I can handle that.

What was the hardest thing you had to figure out to be very successful playing poker ?

I learned that it's OK to quit a session.

Sometimes my ego gets the best of me and I feel I HAVE TO get even because I don't want my opponents to think less of me. I want them to think I'm a great player. But later, I realized that if I quit when I'm playing less than my "A" game, my opponents will respect me for that. So I became a better quitter.

One thing that most people don't realize about Phil Ivey is that he's a GREAT QUITTER. You rarely see him lose more than 2-3 buy-ins and stick around. He has better things to do with his life. But when he's winning, he stays until you bust your bankroll. That's what makes him so good. He's almost always on his "A" game. And of course, he's the best at adjusting to his opponents' strategies.

Thank you

No, thank YOU.

Originally posted by roopopper
How the hell do you beat NL2?

Roo

Move up to NL25. I'm serious.

After you know the rules and hand selections, DO NOT play anything less than NL25. You're wasting your time. You won't learn much besides the fact that no one cares down there. The money is almost meaningless that you don't care how you do. You can't even get excited for a big winning session. At least with NL25, you can run hot and win a couple hundred dollars.

Move up to NL25.

Originally posted by quarkbrot
Welcome Tri!

How you get a lifetimelucker +EV status? Which button do I have to press on PokerStars in order to flip better? thx 4 help! Good Man!

Greetings from good old Germany!

Hey!

The best way to run good to play A LOT when you run good. Log tons of hands when you're on a heater. Playing longer sessions. You will feel amazing and it seems you hit your draws more than often.

At the same time, when you are running bad, instead of whining why you are running bad or why you hate the poker God, QUIT the session. Go do something else. Go rest. Go read.

This is kind of similar to putting a lot of money in when you have the best of it and fold when you don't have a good hand.

If you use this approach, I promise you will win more money. And there's a super high chance you have a +EV status.