08 Feb 08

50,000 StrategyPoints in only one week - what's your line, Mr Nightfly?

For some this was so incredible that they suspected a fraud. But as our interview shows, it's thanks to his professional attitude and talent that Nightfly broke the PokerStrategy records.

This quote from Laurenz88 on the forum summarizes quite well how much the 50,000 StrategyPoints that our current leader Nightfly managed to gather in the first week of the February promotion represent:

Chuck Norris is dead.
Nightfly sent him to his grave.

The new record holder and current leader of the February leaderboard kindly answered our questions.

PokerStrategy
Congratulations for your huge lead after only one week! Could you tell us a little about the person behind the nickname Nightfly?

Nightfly
My name is Thomas, I'm 27 years old and come from Sachsen-Anhalt. I studied management. My hobbies beside poker include football - which I play in a club. To relieve stress I often go to the sauna and I spend a lot of time with my girlfriend, family and friends.

PokerStrategy
You completed your studies and have many other hobbies - how did you come to start your poker career?

Nightfly
There is a lot to say about my poker career, since it's different from the usual one in this community. I discovered poker 4-5 years ago through another forum. Back then, 7 card stud was the recommended variant for beginners, since so much information is visible. For example, in the last WSOP, you can see Michael Keiner throwing away his aces, because he doesn't have outs to improve anymore. He went on to win the bracelet, and said that that decision won him the tournament. Today though, there are hardly any high limit 7-card stud tables left.
Being a "lone wolf" compared to today's huge community was also rather hard. You had to find your own way. Because there was also university, the job, hobbies, friends,... I lost sight of poker a little. Once I had holidays I came back to the game. I deposited my own money on PartyPoker and began playing 7-card stud. I think it was about 200 euros - and in retrospect, I can't say it was a great success. I played above my limits. Today I know that I was way too passive. It wasn't a big problem however, since I was generally rather tight.

PokerStrategy
Given your history, and the recent poker boom, you could almost be considered as one of the oldschool players. How did you come across PokerStrategy.com?

Nightfly
I started playing more Hold'em, although it was a more complex variant. The fish didn't realize this though, for them it's easier since there are only two cards. Because of this there were more tables and it was easier to make money, although I was still much too passive.
Then I somehow landed on PokerStrategy. From this point on I got much better. Here I had the possibility to develop my game a lot quicker than when I was out on my own. Thanks to the articles I quickly discovered my weaknesses and I rapidly moved up in the limits. There were of course obstacles along the way, but I felt confident I was able to play at the very top.
Back then Korn still coached regularly, and I though I could also beat the limit he played at. One must have goals, but also over-estimate oneself. For this reason I couldn't resist taking shots. I was playing larger and larger sums of money, and at that moment Mr Bad Beat decided to show up in every hand. I learned from my errors and started using a strict 1000BB bankroll management. I must admit however that I still took shots now and then. I strongly advise against it, but nevertheless I became familiar with the aggressive play of the higher limit during these attempts.
Besides my studies, I continually moved up in the limits. This lead me to where I am now. I must say I'm still a little shocked that so far in the February Promotion I'm the first of the community.

PokerStrategy
Nice speech! Some are still suprised by your rise to first place. How did it happen?

Nightfly
The idea came from a few players in the PartyPoker chat already 2-3 months ago. A few players from Party know me, and know that I'm a winning player.
Why the sudden points frenzy? Check out the latest promotion results. I often placed high, even though I had a lot going on privately and at the university, which stopped me from playing full-time.
I finished third in the December promotion, even though I had to hand in my thesis in January. Nevertheless I played quite alot in December. Because of my thesis I could never play enough at night, since I was always exhausted during the day.
Once I handed it in in January I had much more time to concentrate on poker. The promotion is just a nice side-effect. For me it's much more important to improve my game!

PokerStrategy
And how can one generate 48,360 StrategyPoints in 7 days?

Nightfly
My advantage is that I have a very good memory, like Korn described in one of his $100/$200 videos. That means that I can multitable without stats (PokerAce) and still get a good read on my opponents. I can play up to 16 tables on several poker sites - but mostly 12 tables or less. Unfortunately I only have a 20 inch monitor, but I'll soon get a Samsung 305T.
I play shorthanded fixed limit up to $50/$100, but 80% of the time just between $10/$20 and $20/$40. I only play at higher limits if the tables are fishy.

PokerStrategy
A lot of commenters doubted that it's possible to play 16 tables of shorthanded fixed limit profitably - especially without stats! How do you manage that?

Nightfly
That's also thanks to my good memory - without exaggeration, it allows me to play a lot of tables simultaneously. There was some debate on the forum about playing without stats and there were some very different opinions. If I play only 2-4 tables, then having stats is fine. However the colorful figures, mucked hands and the old board are just too confusing when I'm playing 12-16 tables. I can simply remember very acurately every situation, storing the player's name and actions in my memory.
I call this photographic memory, although this sparked some discussions (for example, I probably don't have such a photographic memory for textbooks). Anyway, for me, stats are superfluous for multitabling.
About profitability: I must admit that I never play my A-game 100% with so many tables open. However, it's close enough, and the edge I lose is compensated by the greater volume of hands, which means a bigger hourly winrate. The problem is just that I don't always have enough time to think about tricky situations, so I certainly make more mistakes in those cases.

PokerStrategy
Do you have any tips for beginners?

Nightfly
I will try to set a resonable example for beginners.
Please don't try to imitate this point-gathering frenzy, because you'll never inmprove your game! Work on your game, and success (in the promotion) will come naturally.

PokerStrategy
Thank you very much for the interview and congratulations on your continued success. Would you like to add anything?

Nightfly
I'm very grateful for all the positive comments I got from the other members, thank you! And I'd like to thank my girlfriend, who believes in me and supports me along the way. Thank you for that!