Frzl: FL HU Is The Greatest Game In Poker

The Top 250 March Race is almost over, as we have just one week left. Players are also competing for the March Jackpot, where they can get a share of the $1,750 prize pool. What does this have to do with frzl? He's the number one on this leaderboard. We sat down for a talk with him in order to find out more about his daily life, poker life and future plans.

This interview was conducted by soycd.

PokerStrategy: Hello frzl, first of all congratulations on leading the English community rankings! Most of the members will probably know you from the Fixed Limit Strategy Area or from the 2nd Battle of the Donkey Season; please tell us a little bit more about yourself.

frzl: Hi, thanks :). Well I'm a 24 year old student from Germany (Bavaria) named Christian and started playing in April 2006 as far as I remember.

PokerStrategy: Wow 2006, that's quite a long time. You are German, yet are by far the most active in the English part of the site. How come?

frzl: I started participating in the English community because I wanted to improve my English and after a short time I started to post my FL sample hands there as well because the feedback was just great. I remember that I posted a hand some day and the first 3 answers where coming from blinzler (former coach), stefan1000 (former admin and 20/40+ regular) and korn (...). I was kinda surprised because it was a 1/2 hand :). furthermore I just like the atmosphere there. many friendly people 🙂

PokerStrategy: Well you have come a long way since that first post - in fact you are one of our "FL Veterans" and have since then judged nearly 3000 Fixed Limit hands as a voluntary hand judge. What motivated you to become a voluntary hand judge?

frzl: Well I started judging because I obviously wanted to improve my own game as well. It helps a lot because there are always different opinions and you get into discussions with other players which is the most effective way to get better imo. Furthermore, I thought that I had to "give something back" because there were so many people which helped me a lot when I was a beginner so I could climb up the stakes pretty quickly. Last but not least it's kinda fun. At least most of the time it is 😀

PokerStrategy: So you would say it has left a definite positive impact on your game?

frzl: Without a doubt. Especially in the last few months, the discussions got better and better because sometimes there are up to 3 different opinions and people seem to be more into asking question/discussing lines etc. not as they were like a year ago. A shame that I don't play FL anymore.

PokerStrategy: I was just about to ask that. Last October you updated us on your restart with SnGs (http://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=29644) and can often be seen posting in the SnG hand evaluation forum. Please tell us more about your switch and progress you have been making and what prompted you to move from FL to SNGs.

frzl: Well I was playing FL up to mainly 2/4 and good tables at 3/6. In the end of 2007 I just wanted to try something different and started to play SSS :(. I got annoyed pretty quickly because it looked kinda boring to me, so I decided to start all over again and cashed out almost my entire bankroll in the beginning of 2008 to start again with $600 at the $6 games at PokerStars. I guess I was a BRM nit right from the start :). I liked it from the beginning and was lucky enough to move to the 22-33s pretty quickly because I ran like a god. Since ~1/2 year I'm playing the 54s at Ongame and the 60s at Full Tilt and I'm still happy with playing SnGs. Seems like it was a good decision to switch 🙂

PokerStrategy: Wow, well congratulations on establishing yourself up there. Is this move upwards also the reason that you have been dominating the English leaderboard for the last 3 weeks or have you just been putting in a lot of volume recently?

frzl: Thanks. I guess I haven't been playing THAT much in terms of hours/day or days/week but I tried to play a lot of tables at once so my volume in terms of SnGs played is quite high. Furthermore I'm playing almost Ongame only since the promo started and as the blinds are going up pretty quickly there you can play a lot of SnGs/hour because it only takes like 15-20 minutes to finish one (on average). and obviously it helps as well to play higher limits ^^

PokerStrategy: Well at the moment you still have a 200 point lead and just a week more to go! Do you think you will be able to hold on against twicet and cakara?

frzl: Honestly, I have no idea. Of course I will try to play a lot but as far as I know, twicet is playing limits up to NL1k (at least I think I read it somewhere) and I guess I won't stand a chance if he is willing to really put in some volume. The good thing is that NL1k players normally don't really care about 100$ more or less ;). cakara has a shot as well of course but I'm still optimistic and I wouldn't be the end of the world for me if I would finish 2nd or 3rd 🙂

PokerStrategy: Well good luck holding on! I actually think you have a pretty decent shot if you put your mind to it 🙂 But a bit more back to yourself. You've obviously come a long way since 2006 - do you have any specific plans for the future or goals you want to reach?

frzl: Right now I guess I don't have any specific goals in mind but in the next ~6 months I really want to make as much money as possible so I can fully concentrate on my studies after that, be more independent, stand on my own feet etc... I've never really thought about a specific limit I want to reach and right now I have absolutely no intentions to move up anyway. One of my goals is to start playing more FL HU because it's just the greatest game in poker imo but I will have to wait until I find time to start 🙂

PokerStrategy: Well mastering FL HU and gaining some financial independence is certainly a nice goal to follow. Have you actually been able to get yourself some nice things from your winnings?

frzl: Actually yes. the last "big" investments have been a 30" TFT and a trip to Bulgaria with some friends. I can definitely recommend it to anybody to buy something nice from time to time using your poker winnings. Even if it's just something small it increases the motivation a lot (at least it works for me) because you can actually see that you have achieved something and your winnings aren't only numbers in your moneybookers account anymore :). The first thing I bought from my first cashout was a FL book which cost around 20$ and I was so SO proud and happy 😉

PokerStrategy: It's very nice to see some tangible winnings from the hard work you put in online. What do you think are the most important attributes of a successful poker player?



frzl: In my opinion it's really important to believe in yourself
and your own skills. Downswings happen to anybody. Nothing you can do
about it, so I guess "confidence" is really important as well as
motivation, patience and consistency. Pretty much any "good" attribute
will help you while playing poker I guess.

PokerStrategy: What kind of tips do you have for the players out there?

frzl: I think my best advice to other players would be to try to use every
bit of content they can get. Articles, videos, coachings, sample hands
discussion, strategy discussions etc... and the most important thing is
that you really think about anything and participate. Don't just read
sample hands -> say what you think, ask when you don't get
something. Don't just listen to coachings -> ask questions when you
think that the coach did something weird. That's what they are paid for
🙂

PokerStrategy: Are there any players that have had a big impact on the way you play or your poker career in general?

frzl: Well there are several players who really improved my
game. In the beginning blinzler and cirith helped me a lot to improve
my FL game because they judged all my hands. Later on there was also
cornholiowho really made some awesome videos which I can strongly
recommend to anyone who's playing FL. When I switched to SnGs I gained
a lot from watching trader, horror,thenose and helemaalnicks (who also
helped me a lot while I had the biggest downswing of my life). Special
thanks have to go to unam and kobeyard though - imo the two best
coaches and video producers on the site.



PokerStrategy: Agreed, these people are definitely great. So what kind of things can you usually be found doing when not playing poker?

frzl: I'm a big football fan so I really spend a lot of time watching tons of games. Furthermore, I like to spend time with friends like playing cards (sometimes poker, sometimes other games) or going to the local bar to grab some beers. at home I like watching a lot of movies or listening to some music. Everything pretty standard I guess 🙂

PokerStrategy: Thank you very much for your time and good luck in the future!

frzl: Thank you! 🙂