Diamond Interview Series: NightFrostaSS

PokerStrategy.com: Hello there troll, I finally caught you. Welcome to the Diamond Interview Series! How's it going over there, under your bridge?

NightFrostaSS: Hi there! Well sun is shining, birds are singing and I'm not broke yet, so I guess things are going great!

PokerStrategy.com: Not broke yet? Don't worry about it. For now. Why don't you introduce your face to our readers for now?

NightFrostaSS: Well, my name is Almantas, I'm 21 years old Lithuanian. Few months ago I graduated college, currently am unemployed and play poker which makes me a poker pro.

PokerStrategy.com: Unemployed people always say they're poker pros. What's with the nickname? Why did you have to put 'ass' in there?

NightFrostaSS: Because I registered when it was cold night and my ass was frozen

PokerStrategy.com: Alright, I shouldn't have asked that. Anyway, when did you come across this game? How did you discover PokerStrategy.com?

NightFrostaSS: Approximately two years ago I did quit smoking and suddenly found myself having a need to do something about my life and even tho I never seemed to care about money somehow an idea to get rich came to my head. This got me interested into stocks market but unfortunately in order to make money at stocks you need to have quite a lot of money and so after some searching I found a Lithuanian stock investor/poker players blog which got me interested into poker.I googled around for poker strategy articles and this way I found pokerstrategy.com and never looked back since then.

PokerStrategy.com: I guess it's (somewhat) good that you haven't looked back, since your rotten one-liners in the forums recently became something like a necessary evil. You made it quite a long way though, as you reached Diamond status now. What games and limits do you usually play?

NightFrostaSS: My best game in my opinion is heads up no limit holdem which I played up to NL200$, but heads up swings can get really nasty sometimes and I just lived through my biggest downer so far which forced me to take a break from heads up games. So now I grind NL100€ 6max games. Overall the stake I have the most experience in is NL100.

PokerStrategy.com: You probably play after drinking that weird Lithuanian beer and then blame it on variance. Tell us a bit about a regular poker day: how many sessions you play, how long each session is, if you do anything in particular to get in the mood, you know... stuff.

NightFrostaSS: Haha, no I actually prefer vodka, much better effect and no need to take WC breaks every 5 minutes.I've never been a high volume player and used to play just whenever I felt like, but since the beginning of summer I've been trying to get more volume in and currently am doing two sessions a day five days a week. My sessions usually last around 3 hours. but sometimes there are exceptions to that (when I lose money) then I put in more volume, for example yesterday I've played a bit more than 13 hours. First thing I do before sessions to get myself into grinding mode is open up pokerstrategy.com and post some extremely usefull advice to our fellow community members while drinking coffee. I like helping people.

PokerStrategy.com: You're not just a troll, you're OUR troll. How did you get to this level anyway? Which learning tool (articles, videos, coaching, sample hands, etc.) helped you the most and why? Why, oh why?

NightFrostaSS: In the beginning I did read through pretty much every NL Hold'em BSS article there is at Pokerstrategy and it helped me greatly, but most of the credit for my growth as a poker player I'd have to give to watching videos and doing sweat sessions with another Lithuanian pokerstrategist NiekamNeidomu. I wasn't very active at posting sample hands but it's very useful feature offered by pokerstrategy.com and in near future I'll be posting more hands for evaluation.

PokerStrategy.com: And by 'sweat sessions' you mean 'cheap alcohol drinking' sessions, followed by what you thought were 'winnings sessions'? No need to answer that one, we know the answer. Speaking of which, what were your best and worst poker days so far?

NightFrostaSS: Hey, don't be mad that you weren't invited! As for best and worst poker days, I'm not exactly sure about the numbers because I just don't care as much anymore than I did in the beginning. My worst day was probably around -3k$ and my best day was probably around +2k$. Now when I think of it, my worst poker day was actually when I lost 100$ playing NL10 fullring in one session long time ago, I felt like such a degenerate.

PokerStrategy.com: A degenerate who doesn't invite the right people to 'sweat sessions'. I still remember that and it still hurts. But anyway, did you setup some goals with poker yet? Do you consider becoming a full-time pro or you want to do this until you get a job (haha)? Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

NightFrostaSS: My sincere apologies sir, we'll try fixing that in future. My nearest goal is to rebuild my bankroll to where it was before this nasty downswing and possibly get back to heads up poker. I promised myself not to shave beard until I reach this goal and so if I want people not to start throwing rocks at me, I'd rather reach this goal fast! As for getting a job, I'm not thinking of doing that any time soon, I couldn't earn more than I do in poker anyway and I'm individualistic person so sitting infront of computer all day long and clicking buttons suits me well. I'm also currently trying to help our community member huseens to move up through stakes and am hoping that he would reach NL100 by the end of this year, if he does that, free drinks for everyone from him! I have some non-poker related plans for my future but it's so unlear if I'll do it or not that I'd rather not talk about it at all.

PokerStrategy.com: Well, even if you don't get your bankroll back on track anytime soon, you'll grow an awesome beard and look like a shaman. I bet your Lithuanian village will be happy to hear that. By the way, do you usually tilt when you have these nasty sessions? If so, how do you handle it: kill a villager with a ritual or just burn your clothes and cry yourself to sleep?

NightFrostaSS: I do think that it's more likely that the so called villagers after seeing what I've done with my beard will banish me into some scary, creepy place like Estonia or something. I'm close to tiltess when I play heads up, it's just the game I love and so running bad doesn't bother me as much. But I do tilt playing 6max and it kills my winrate greatly because my style is quite spewy and so not playing my A game can cost a lot of money. Crying myself to sleep is a part of my daily routine regardless of if I run bad or not.

PokerStrategy.com: You remind me of Phil Hellmuth. Why would I say that? Is he your favourite pro maybe? If not, who would that be?

NightFrostaSS: Well obviously I remind you of Phil Hellmuth because you know that if there was no luck involved in poker I'd win every time too! But he is not my favourite player, I dislike people who whine about bad beats and berate other players at the tables. I am my own favourite poker pro obviously, who else could it be? The second favourite would probably be someone like Leatherass, he looks like a strong personality and good businessman and I like it.

PokerStrategy.com: What about live poker? Do you plan on joining some of the major events out there like the EPT or WPT? I guess I'd like to see your troll face over there.

NightFrostaSS: Well since I'm not very experienced tournament player I have no such plans in near future. But hey, I have a nice smile and like donking money away so if you wanna stake me, just say so, no need to be shy.

PokerStrategy.com: You and ihufa should stop asking me to stake you - I am sane enough to say 'No, oh god no!' Let's end the poker part with an advice from you to our beginners: what should they know if they want to be winning poker players? I'm probably asking the wrong person, but what the hell.

NightFrostaSS: Hey, insane winnings for insane decisions, but if you want to play it safe and never know if I would've won that tournament for you, so be it. Firstly they should stop crying about the bad beats that happens to them, it already happened, so by reacting badly to it you can only cause more damage to your bankroll and happiness in life. Also find some study buddies who have a different view on the game then you do, arguing with them will force you to think more deeply. And to those people who are just starting out in heads up no limit, HU no limit strategy discussion section doesn't seem to be very active and I'd love to see increase on that, so post your hands and I promise not to troll and try to give you serious advice.

PokerStrategy.com: Alright, I think I had enough of your poker talk. What can you tell me about Lithuania? Do you guys hate Estonians?

NightFrostaSS: Lithuania is obviously the greatest country in the world, living is cheap, girls are beautiful and people are cool in general. No, we don't hate Estonians, we just have this slightly trollish sense of humour and like laughing at other people. For example we laugh at Latvian words because they sound funny and we have many jokes about Estonians being slow. That's pretty much all, no hate, just lulz.

PokerStrategy.com: So you do it for the lulz in general, I understand. That being said, it's time to take the TROLL TEST. Are you ready, wannabe-troll?

NightFrostaSS: If you promise to consider staking me if I pass, bring it on!!

PokerStrategy.com: Out of the question. I don't hate money. First question: how long is a troll's answer? a) 3 lines max b) 2 lines max c) one-liners always

NightFrostaSS: c) ldo, but I balance my ranges sometimes and post longer replies to keep ‘em guessing

PokerStrategy.com: That was easy. When someone is losing and asking for help, you should answer: a) study more, play less b) win more c) blame it on variance

NightFrostaSS: winning more sounds like the best way to stop losing so I'll go with b)

PokerStrategy.com: Correct again. When someone just had a successful day, what should you say: a) Luckbox b) But how much did you lose? c) I've seen better

NightFrostaSS: all answers seems correct, the reply is even more valuable if you combine few answers into one like "Luckbox. But how much did you lose?" Obviously this should be done only in special cases

PokerStrategy.com: You're right again, the answer was all of the above - trolls do not have any regards for people doing well. Final question now, fill in the blanks: The best way about trolling is _______ a) emotionally scarring people online b) living under a bridge c) nothing, I hate myself for being a troll but I can't stop it

NightFrostaSS: a) emotionally scarring people online, but if you do it too much and forget to make money you may get to live under the bridge and hate yourself for being troll. Don't get me wrong, I like bridges, but there's no Internet connection under bridges in Lithuania.

PokerStrategy.com: The results are in and according to them, you're a 'gay n00b fake lamer'. In other words, your trolling level exceeds 9,000! Before we wrap this up, do you have anything else to add? Some words for the victi-- community maybe?

NightFrostaSS: And no rewards? I'm not sure anymore if I'm gonna invite you into my "sweat sessions". Anyway, for the community members I'd like to wish all the best at the poker tables (how could I wish differently) and just keep on trucking! 8-)

PokerStrategy.com: Shut up troll.