Diamond Interview Series: TerrorBlade

This interview was conducted by vhallee

PokerStrategy:
Hello, TerrorBlade, and finally I can tell you "Welcome to my Diamond Interview Series!", you elusive prey. First up - intro!

terrorblade: Hey guys, you probably know me if you frequent the blog forums and such, until earlier this year I was an engineering student when I made the splash into the "pro life" after playing the game for about 1.5-2 years. Im an avid gamer and played games all my life up until I joined in Oct 07 when the gaming has screeched to nearly a halt like my bank account at the time 😉

PokerStrategy: So you're here from 2007? Not bad! How did you actually get into poker and what brought you to PokerStrategy.com?

terrorblade: I came across the site after googling "poker strategy" because I'd heard about all the ex-progamers gone pro and after recently having food poisoning for a week or so I watched a LOT of WSOP 07 videos and it seemed like an interesting challenge.

PokerStrategy: In short: food poisoning made you a part of our community. That's... that's just nice, I guess... For those reading who don't know about your 1337 zkillz: what type of poker do you play? For those reading who almost know you: Why do you play that?

terrorblade: I played FL SH & HU aka F**k (my) Life Shoot (self in) Head & I really can't think of another meaning for HU. I play minbet fixed limit, where you click it back all day long! The limits go up to 8/16 at the highest (that didn't last long :D)
The reason I play Fixed limit is because on the main page it gave me a choice of 3 different games, NL, FL or SnG and I can't remember my thinking exactly but it was more or less of a 3-way coinflip. I haven't seriously tried other variants since mainly because of the huge effort required to reach the same level I'm at in FL.

PokerStrategy: FL HU is bad? I wonder if yoghi will read this. How much poker do you play these days and how do you split your sessions (if you play in sessions)? Do you have a lucky rabbit's foot next to you or something when you play?

terrorblade: Well, if I ran like the holy lord himself Jesus Christ aka yoghi who has the keys to the random number generator then I would probably feel otherwise 😉 But seriously it's an interesting variant that requires a lot of discipline and tilt control both with table selection and making sure you aren't playing different just cause you haven't hit a pair in the last 200  hands. I try to play about 4-6 hours of poker every day and generally have  a light breakfast at about 8am then start with a video or two then play from 9-1:30 or so, have a big lunch play, some games & play DDR for exercise then get back to it from around 3-6pm.
I haven't discovered my lucky charm yet but once I do you guys will hear about it when I've gone from 3/6-300/600 in 5 months ^^;;

PokerStrategy: So yeah, you officially admitted you play Dance Dance Revolution "for excercise". I know someone else who plays it "for excercise" too - (sup Johannes). You also provide the community with nice strategy content, such as videos or coaching sessions (I love your English accent). How does it feel to be worshipped by masses of FL players? Do you have a bronze statue of you in the back yard yet?

terrorblade: OK OK I admit I can't stay away from those catchy J-pop tunes D:
It's nice having some regulars who visit the coaching if not for the strategy content then some good old fashioned lols, whether it mass youtube watching or listening to SoyCD's sweet hybrid accent. I don't plan on quitting my contribution to the community any time soon anyways as long as that statue gets here on time ._.

PokerStrategy: I just got a call from FedEx - the statue should be there any minute now. You also have a great poker blog (like a BOSS) and it appears that you are taking poker as a full time commitment. What are your goals with poker actually and where do you see yourself in about 5 years for example?

terrorblade: Like a boss indeed!
Honestly I have no idea where I'll be. Currently I'm just trying to improve my game and be able to take on greater and greater challenges at higher limits. In 5 years the poker landscape will be a lot different so it's hard to tell. Maybe I'll hit a Yoghi (I just coined a new term, you heard it here first) and be able to retire next year.
My expectation is I'm able to play basically any limit I can in any game in 5 years, sooner though I hope to be able to take on any limit in FL maybe in the next year or two if I stick to it.
One of the main reasons I decided to do this full time was that I'd be more free to pursue other hobbies as well, I'm planning on giving starcraft 2 a decent go and who knows where I'll go with that but I know poker will be there to support me so I might put the serious pokering on hold at some point. Who knows what will turn out to happen in the end.

PokerStrategy: StarCraft II you say? I can make a small bet now and claim I will beat you in StarCraft II (let me know if you're up for it). Speaking of games, your nickname sounds oddly familiar. How about you tell us about your nickname and how you got it?

terrorblade: Haha I'm up for it, kind of a vague challenge though but we'll sort something out later =)

Yes, my name is probably familiar as it's likely you are afflicted with the common strain of "DOTA nub". I named myself after one of the several names a Demon Hunter gets in WC3 many years ago and now that DOTA has gained huge traction and is more popular than the original game every asks "IS THAT FROM DOTA LALALALALL?!?!?!". No it's not from dotAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

PokerStrategy: I'm actually a StrarCraft fanatic and I believe I can kick your ass in a best-of-9 StarCraft II show match. So once it's out, the challenge is official - we'll discuss about the stakes since I just came up with the challenge 2 minutes ago. I do play some DotA from time to time but that's not the point - my girlfriend is teaching me WarCraft III actually so I might kick your ass there too. And since we drifted to non-poker things, what do you do besides poker? What's a normal day in your life and what hobbies do you have?

terrorblade: Awesome, super keen and but I hope you forget about the challenge for your sake 😀 You might have an edge on me StarCraft wise as I came to the party post WC3 with some ICCUP donking around! Best of 9 sounds amazing 😛

As for non-poker things I'm truly a gamer at heart. I've been playing games since I was a toddler and try to squeeze in what I can between poker and the girlfriend, I wish there was 40 hours in a day 😐

Since I postponed my studies indefinitely it's been poker/gaming/DDR/girlfriend with the occasional hanging out with the friends. When it comes summer time I always mass the tennis matches with friends (including chenny8888 our SnG coach!) and I really should get off my ass and resume my badminton - pretty much the only sport I've ever been good at ^^;;

PokerStrategy: Wow, first you mention DDR, now badminton... you're not exactly a manly man, are you? Also tell chenny8888 I said hi - his "chick-raise" accent is amazing. What are your advices to players starting out with poker? After all, you got that nice PS.com icon next to your name...

terrorblade: This is going to be hard to swallow but I also don't drink beer, or most other drinks either except for the girliest of the girl drinks, vodka cruisers etc. - sad but true ;(

Yes, we New Zealanders are known for our sexy coaching accents so be sure to check us out ^^

My advice would be as well as the standard post hands, read articles blah blah blah that you really ask as many questions as possible and save every single troubling decision into a text file instead of writing it off as "not sure what to do but whatever" which is what I still do regularly.
Also branch out your learning to every possible resource at your disposal, every different school of thought even other players at the table who made some great looking plays - do sweat sessions!
Good luck (you shouldn't need it)

PokerStrategy: Do you sing in a choir? Let me repeat: do you or do you not sing in a choir?

terrorblade: I can't believe I forgot about that when you asked me about my hobbies...heh....heh....
Nah I sing loud & proud! Check us out on that youtube link guys and leave comments, our Conductor loves it!

PokerStrategy: Alright, now that we established what kind of person you really are, I suggest we end this. There's really not much I want to ask you at the moment. But if you want to ask me something or add anything to this interview, now's your chance!

terrorblade: Will you ever forgive me for being so hard to interview and cutting into the epic dentistry scheduled 15 minutes ago?

PokerStrategy: Short answer: no. Longer answer: I hate you so much. Ok, that's about all, so thanks for the (extremely late) interview and good luck with your poker career! P.S: See you on the coaching player!

terrorblade: Thanks guys, last minute shoutout to the coaching regs & BDL and everyone you know who are you 😀

  Related news:

• Diamond Interview Series - Feedback Thread
• Diamond Interview Series: Yoghi
• Diamond Interview Series: Kruppe
• Diamond Interview Series: awishformore