Heglaf: 'Perfect Entrance'

Our only High Stakes player with a poker diary is both a new BlackMember and an 'old' coach. Here he talks about his holiday plans, Warcraft III and opponent analyzes, and lifts the mystery around power lifting.

The interview was held by funmaker

PokerStrategy:
Hello heglaf! First of all, congratulations to your ascent to our BlackMember elite, and merry Christmas! Please introduce yourself briefly to those members who don't know you yet!

heglaf: Hello, Happy Holidays and thanks a lot! My name is Gregor, I am 22 years old, and I'm from Graz in Austria, where I am currently studying engineering at the University of Technology.

PokerStrategy: How will you spend the Holidays and New Year's Eve?

heglaf: On the 24th, I will celebrate Christmas with my family, which will be followed by a four-day snowboard vacation in Flachau. I don't know exactly how I will celebrate New Year's Eve, but probably with friends at first, and after midnight in Graz' inner city.

PokerStrategy: You are not only a BlackMember, you are also a part of the PokerStrategy staff. What exactly are your areas of operation?

heglaf: I am a Fixed Limit Platinum coach and evaluate sample hands in the 3/6 & 5/10 Gold forum.

PokerStrategy: What drove you towards coaching and evaluating hands?

heglaf: Before I became a coach myself, I was a regular listener to the FL Platinum coaching sessions by umumba, and also discussed diligently. That's when I got the idea to apply as a coach as not much would change for me - except that I would have to talk into a microphone then, instead of having to use the chat. 😉

umumba and me are probably a very good team as well. There are some advantages to coaching as a pair. The co-coach can come up with equity analyzes for current hands, you can immediately talk about the pros and cons of certain lines, or get a second opinion if you're in a tight spot.

The job as sample hand evaluator was rather a coincidence. I regularly evaluated hands in the sample hands forum to ponder about certain ones, improve my game this way and at the same time help other members. One day, I was asked by firsttsunami if I wanted to become a professional hand evaluator. I took the offer as I would then have to be present in the sample hands forum, which also helps my own game.

PokerStrategy: You also have a diary in our German FL experiences forum - and with over 74,000 hits, it is currently the most frequented one as well. What do you think makes your diary so interesting?

heglaf: It is probably so interesting because I am the only High Stakes player who has a diary. Due to my rapid run up the limits early this year, I probably got many loyal readers.

It also makes me  happy that there are often comments in which people tell me that my diary motivates them, and that I am a role model for many.

PokerStrategy: On which limit can you be found these days, and on which of our affiliates?

heglaf: Currently, I play exclusively on PartyPoker. Fixed Limit as of 10/20 up to 50/100. With really good tables, you also see me quite often at 100/200.

About two months ago, I began to play No-Limit as well. The start on NL200 was going quite well, and meanwhile, I can be found on NL400. However, for now I won't move up higher in No-Limit as I want to collect more practical experience to get a better feeling for certain spots.

PokerStrategy: In comparison to the early months, you're doing better again these days - Your ups and down move around the 5-digit dollar area after all. What's your trick, what is the best way to deal with this widely known 'roller coaster ride'?

heglaf: In early December, things really didn't go well. I made several trips to 100/200 which ended in disaster. As I don't really have the tightest bankroll management, these swings became quite noticeable, and I lost more than half of my online BR. In the last few days, the situation improved again, and I was able to make up for a larger part of my losses.

Naturally, bigger losses don't leave me cold, but as I can hardly resist taking a shot as soon as there is a good 100/200 table, I simply have to live with them.

After such days, however, I don't have any problem continuing the next day. It only becomes a problem when I am down and stuck on being break-even again. 😉

PokerStrategy: Playing poker and dealing with money is also a question of character. About 15 months ago - back at the start of your career - you already deliberated about if and how poker would change your character. What is your opinion today?

heglaf: An important point of poker is that you should take the outcome of a hand calmly. In the ideal case, you should play like a machine and simply shrug it off when you lose a $5,000 pot due to a 1-outer on the river.

At the beginning of my poker career, my interior state was gravely endangered at the smallest beat. Meanwhile, however, I mostly remain quite calm. Only a few poker buddies have to put up with me spamming them about how unfair PartyPoker is every now and then on Skype. 😉

Naturally, this also rubs off on the real life. You're simply cooler with events that you cannot influence yourself. That I am still a human with emotions can be experienced by my friends in a match of Warcraft 3 or Pro Evolution Soccer if things don't happen as I want. 😀

Within the last one-and-a-half years, I have also changed the way I deal with money. I still don't toss money out of the window, but I do treat myself to more things than the average 22-year old student.

PokerStrategy: New Year's Eve is usually the time to make resolutions. In February this year, you had come up with a few goals and dreams: Put money on the side, advance your studies, and a family some day. What about them? Has anything changed, or has anything been added?

heglaf: My studies went quite well in the first segment. I passed every test on the first try and finished the first two semesters without a problem. Now, in the third semester, I've dropped a gear and take my studies a bit more casually. This way, I have more time for poker and more leisure time. Nevertheless, my uppermost goal is to finish my studies.

As far as the family plans are concerned, nothing much has changed since February. However, there should still be enough time for that.

For the next year, I mainly set sports-related goals, even though it isn't sure yet if I will even participate in events in 2009.

In poker, I don't really have any special goals. I still want to play a lot and naturally remain as successful as possible, no matter which variant and on which limit.

PokerStrategy: In the German forum, you offered other members your help. Who helps you to improve your game even more?

heglaf: I try to improve my game with analyzes of my own played sessions and those of my opponents. A good point of an analysis is to figure out how a certain opponent thinks. You should keep an eye on those opponents against which you are insecure in some spots, opponents who are simply unpleasant to play against. You should take a closer look at these unpleasant traits of your rivals and possibly include them in your own game.

Another point is that I often discuss hands with other High Stakes players, in which I am unsure of myself. Here I want to thank schiep who has helped me out quite often with his opinions.

PokerStrategy: In
our TOP250 promotion in December, you're also doing quite well. Do you still want to attack the Top10 this month, or what are your ambitions in this scenario?

heglaf: I often end up in the TOP20 in the promotions. However, I don't play more hands to possibly get $500 more in the promotion. It simply isn't worth playing bad tables just to get a bit more rakeback, or a better place in the promo. Each month, I play as much as I want - whatever I end up with at the end of the promo is a nice bonus.

PokerStrategy: You became a member in late March of 2007, and you're already a BlackMember. A rapid ascent. How was this possible so quickly?

heglaf: The main reason for my quick success was probably the theory-intense start of my poker career. In the first half year of my career, I probably spent two thirds of the time with theory. The main part of that in the sample hands forum. Furthermore, I visited the coaching sessions regularly and watched every video for my current limits.

Due to this, I was able to quickly move up to the Mid Stakes. Once you've made it there, you can become a BlackMember quite rapidly if you are an ambitious player.

PokerStrategy: This also speaks in favor of the 'System Pokerstrategy'. In your opinion, what makes it stand out?

heglaf: In my opinion, it's the wide-ranging offer in terms of strategy articles, videos and mainly sample hand evaluations, which helped the most in my case. I should also mention as well the very good private coaches. I myself took several private coaching sessions. Especially those at the start by cornholio and
milamber have improved my game quite a lot.

PokerStrategy simply offers you the perfect start in a successful poker career, however you also have to show some initiative on your own, be ambitious and not be disheartened by setbacks.

PokerStrategy: The next BlackMember party is already scheduled - this time in Düsseldorf. Will you show up there?

heglaf: It's very probable that I will be there. I'm already looking forward to the whole weekend. However, most of all I anticipate meeting many people who I chat with regularly via Skype, and with whom I could then party a bit. 🙂

PokerStrategy: Do your friends and acquaintances actually know what a BlackMember is?

heglaf: My friends know that I play poker, but only a few know what a BlackMember is. However, now I can point them to this interview. 😉

PokerStrategy: Now let's move a bit away from poker: In your free time, you are into athletic sports on a competitive level. This sounds very interesting. Care to share some more about it?

heglaf: For several years, I practice power lifting on a competitive level. Many of the readers probably don't know what this is exactly. A competition is made up of three disciplines with 3 tries each, with the goal of moving to as much weight as possible in a by-the-book manner.

To make it a bit simpler, here's a link to the video of my latest competition. Such a sport requires a massive training effort, that's why I can be found in a gym four times a week.

PokerStrategy: As a power athlete, you also eat a lot of food. What's on your daily diet?

heglaf: I only have a real nutritional protocol during my preparations for a competition where it's all about keeping a maximum of power with a minimum of body weight. Therefore, my diet in the weeks before a competition looks like this:

Breakfast: 80g rice, 1 banana, protein powder
Morning: 250g turkey, 80g rice
Noon: 250g turkey, 80g rice
Afternoon: 250g turkey, 80g rice
Evening: 250g low-fat curd with protein powder and 30g almonds

Outside the competition time, I eat 'rather normally', even though it's probably one-and-a-half- up to twice as much as the average person. 😉

PokerStrategy: Thus you're busy and versatile. What else do you enjoy spending your free time with?

heglaf: Besides the athletic sports, there's hardly any time or energy for another hobby. At times I also play some football or volleyball, or climb on the snowboard in winter. Apart from that, there are sometimes poker home games on the weekends or Pro Evolution Soccer sessions, and every now and then, I can also be found in Graz' nightlife.

PokerStrategy: You would also like to play live poker in a casino, but FL is rarely offered. Have you instead played some NL live then?

heglaf: A few weeks ago, I played a session of NL400 in a casino. It was probably fishier than NL10 online, but very boring as you only play about 30 hands per hour. Thus I will probably stick with online poker.

PokerStrategy: Is there anything in your poker career which you want to achieve no matter what?

heglaf: Some big poker goal which I just have to achieve, is not on my list. I don't have to become the best player anywhere, or win a big tournament. I simply want to keep on playing poker successfully in the next few years and try to win a lot of money.

PokerStrategy: At the end of the interview, you have the opportunity to say a few things to our members!

heglaf: My advice to poker players who want to make it to the top, is to occupy yourself a lot with the theory and always work on your own game. You have never learned enough, and you can always improve somewhere.

Furthermore, it is important to not get discouraged if you have a bad phase. A lot of High Stakes players have played break even over several months. However, you shouldn't always blame the variance, but also be honest to yourself and be able to acknowledge to yourself that you cannot beat a limit for now.

After all, in poker it's not about being the best, but to make a lot of profit. If that happens on 100/200 with a lower winrate, or on 10/20 with a higher winrate and mass-tabling, is secondary.

And last but not least, I wish every community member a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

PokerStrategy: Thank you, heglaf, for the nice chat! We wish you all the best, and good luck at the tables!