Diamond Days: Dusty 'leatherass' Schmidt Joins Our Coaching Staff
With the Diamond Days coming to an end, we are very proud to present former Team PokerStars Online Pro and book author Dusty 'leatherass' Schmidt as our latest addition to the coaching staff. He starts off with a NL1k video for Diamond members.
| No Limit 1000 with leatherass | |
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Dusty 'leatherass' Schmidt |
| Watch video | |
Interview with Dusty 'leatherass' Schmidt
PokerStrategy.com: How did you get into poker and where do you stand now?
leatherass9: I got into poker when my best friend began playing and asked me to create an account for him. I observed him play and saw an opportunity to compete and have a chance to make money all from the comfort of my own home. I began immersing myself into the strategy of the game and within 6 months was playing full time for a living.
Fast forward to today and I guess a lot has happened. I have played nearly 10 million hands, won nearly $4,000,000 in no limit holdem cash games, written two books on poker, I write a column for Card Player magazine, and up until recently, represented PokerStars as a Team Online member.
PokerStrategy.com: How has poker influenced your lifestyle?
leatherass9: Well, it has allowed me to do things that I could only dream of before poker. Becoming a millionaire at 27 years old (I'm 30 now) was obviously pretty cool. But it's not the material things that the money buys is the reason why I enjoy the money. Mostly it is the ability to know that my children will be well taken care of and not having money won't be a huge stress in my life. If I want to take a year off and just enjoy my family and hobbies, I can do that. And having that freedom is what I always wanted in my life.
PokerStrategy.com: What are your goals with teaching? What can our members expect from your videos?
leatherass9: My main priority has and always will be to teach others the game in such a way that is easy to understand and will benefit their game. I wish everyone could win $4,000,000 playing poker like I have. I think it is within everyone to master the game. It takes opportunity, hard work and dedication, but anyone can do it which is why I love this game. No matter how hard I try to dunk a basketball, I will never do it. There are physical limitations. But in poker anyone willing to work hard can realize their goals and my aim is to help them get there.
PokerStrategy.com: Which of your skills are the most helpful when it comes to educating poker players?
leatherass9: I think it is my ability to explain why I make the decisions I make at the tables. I am at times log winded, but I am very thorough in why I make the decisions I make. I think deeply about the game and try to let people inside my thought process as much as possible. I am not the type of coach to just say, "Well here is how you play default ABC poker." Rather, I like to teach people how to think about the game so then when they go off on their own, they have the tools necessary to figure out how to solve their own problems.
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| Dusty Schmidt's latest book - "Don't listen to Phil Hellmuth" |
PokerStrategy.com: What's the best way to learn poker as you see it?
leatherass9: I am partial to coaching videos and books. Those were to two main tools I used as I was progressing. Shoot, who am I kidding, I still watch videos a lot today! There are a lot of great coaches out there and I am always eager to learn about the game.
I have written two books myself. I wrote a book last year called "Treat Your Poker Like A Business" and released a book earlier this year called "Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth". I think they are both excellent tools to improve your game, but obviously videos are an amazing resource. My hope is that I can become a coach that everyone here at PokerStrategy.com can look to to improve their games. Having coached for other training sites in the past, I am really excited to get to showcase my work in front of the largest training site in the world.
PokerStrategy.com: What kind of content can we expect from you short-term, what are you planning long-term?
leatherass9: I am aiming to make a wide variety of content that is suitable for members of all skill sets. I have coached micro stakes players and I have coached nose bleed players and obviously everyone in between. My goal is to continue to just put out good content for people hungry to improve their games.
PokerStrategy.com: What is there to know about the person behind the screenname? Hobbies, Personality, Relationship status?
leatherass9: As some may know, I come from a golf background. I played in college and professionally before transitioning to poker. So golf is near and dear to my heart and I have actually started playing a lot more lately.
I am a very driven person. Often times I wish I wasn't because I guess I should just stop and smell the roses more often than I do. But the temptation each day to improve myself often takes over. So I guess you could say I am a hard worker, but I like to play hard too. I seem to be either working hard or having a lot of fun. Not a ton of relaxing to be honest, but I guess you have eternity to relax so I like to seize the day while I am here.
I am married and have been for nearly five years. I have a daughter who is 19 months old named Lennon (after John Lennon). I also have a baby boy on the way. He is due to arrive late August and I am very excited about that.
PokerStrategy.com: Any last words for our community?
leatherass9: Thank you so much for having me and I look forward to trying to keep poker fun and educational at the same time! I hope you will entrust in me your poker game and I believe that if you do, you will see some great results.
| Diamond Days | ||||
| Date | Producer | Video Title | Game Type | Status |
| June 1 | yourdoompoker | Advanced & Unconventional Lines | NL1k - 5k |  Diamond |
| June 2 | philshaw | SCOOP Shootout - Part 1 | MTT $215 |  Platinum |
| June 3 | dooshcom | Saving Bets - Part 1 | FL $300/$600 | Diamond |
| June 4 | braminc | 45 Mans with braminc | MT-SnG $75 | Platinum |
| June 5 | leatherass9 | High Stakes with leatherass | NL1k | Diamond |
How did you get into poker and where do you stand now?
I started poker from a pop up that offered me a free $50 deposit bonus. I started by losing for the first few months, but eventually managed to turn things around and make a living from it. Now I am a sponsored Pro for 888.com and can usually be found at the high stakes tables.
How has poker influenced your lifestyle? Are you currently a pro?
I am a sponsored pro for Team888 and as such it has greatly influenced my life. I end up travelling all over the world to play tournaments, which is probably much more travelling than I would be doing had I not got into a life of poker. Also being successful at poker allows me to do many things that I otherwise would not have had the money for, and it has given me the money to be able to invest in other business ventures.
What are your goals with teaching? What can our members expect from your videos?
With coaching videos I am basically aiming to pass on my knowledge. I've been playing since I was 18, and I'm 26 now. I've gone from micro stakes to nose-bleeds and played everything inbetween. With my videos you can always expect honesty (when I make a mistake - rather than trying to cover it up and explain it away) and thorough explainations of what I believe to be the best play, and the reasons why - regardless of weather I actually made it at the time or not. Though I'd also hope that you could expect me to usually make the best play 🙂
Which of your skills are the most helpful when it comes to educating poker players?
I think my patience and explaination skills are the most useful when coaching. I find it pretty easy to talk through what I consider the "logic" of my style of play, and to explain why I think it is the optimum play given all of the circumstances.
What's the best way to learn poker as you see it?
The best way to learn how to play poker... is to play poker. Gain the experience. You can read books all day long, but nothing teaches you a lesson like making mistakens and losing money. As long as you're able to step back after and understand the mistake you made, and the reasons why it was a mistake, it's something you're much less likely to do in the future. A good coach can be perfect for helping with this.
What kind of content can we expect from you short-term, what are you planning long-term?
Both short and long term all depends on what the users of PokerStrategy want from me. I play mainly heads up, both no limit and fixed limit cash and Sit n Go's, and I have played several high profile players in the past and still do. Having said that, I've also done a lot of 6max in the past and that's where I orignally started making good money playing poker. Whichever area has the most demand is what I will be making the videos for.
What is there to know about the person behind the screenname? Hobbies, Personality?
To be honest, I work too much to have hobbies. But then again I do also consider my work to be a hobby. For a record, when I say work, I am including poker here 🙂 When not playing im usually somehow involved in the industry one way or another. I also have a couple of businesses that require too much of my attention sometimes.
For relaxing I can usually be found with friends. I'm not a TV person and prefer to relax and do something, rather than relax and watch a screen. I guess sitting and looking at a computer monitor for a several hours a day is enough 🙂
Any last words for our community?
Sit back and relax. Stay calm at all times and avoid making stupid decisions just because you're angry that you lost the last pot. If you treat poker like a job that you enjoy and focus on the long-term rather than the last hand, you'll end up much better off.
