Daniel "Pl@yerABC" Sklar

Introduction

I am 35 years old, studied physics at university, worked as IT specialist, played poker part time and 4 years ago I started to play professionaly.

I am married and have a 5 year old son Peter. He was diagnosed with child autism. So poker is great for me, because I can organize my time in a way that I could earn money for my family and spend a lot of quality time with my son.

I am interested in personal development - here poker is also a great tool to improve myself. If I learn something new (game theory, psychology, ...) I could apply it immediately at the tables and see results.

Charles Hawk: What was your main HUSNGs leak in game theory and psychology at the beginning compared with now?

I had so many leaks in my game when I started playing hypers. A complete list would be very long. I will point out 3 costly game theory mistakes that I was doing over and over again. Many of my less experienced opponents are still doing these mistakes nowadays.

Number 1: I was never limping. I have read many poker books - majority of them were about deep stack 6-max/ 9- max games. Limping was always described as a bad play and frowned upon. From those books it looked like that limping is so bad that if you do it you will go directly to poker hell. But obviously short stack strategy is very different from correct play at deeper stacks. Incorporating limping into my play was a big improvement.

Number 2: Not defending enough from the BB. My out of position play was atrocious. I was folding a lot. And I mean LOT - with capital letters. I was thinking that calling with weak hands will lose me money. But unfortunately I was losing even more money by not playing those weak hands.

Number 3: Shoving too much. I was openshoving when I was too deep with too many hands, because it looked easy - avoiding hard decisions post flop. Now I know better. Just because shoving hand X is better than folding it, doesn't automatically mean the hand should be shoved. Many times expectations of limping or min-raising are higher than that of openshoving.

How good or bad is my game nowadays? Certainly I still have many leaks. There are many spots where my ranges are unbalanced and skillful opponent can take advantage ot that. When you see me in Pokerstars lobby, join my table and see for yourself!

CH: Tell me about your reaction after the rake increase. You play at 60s now; do you think the rake increase will reduce your chances to climb the limits?

My reaction to rake increase? To quote Jim Rohn: "It is not what happens but what you do about it, that makes the major difference how your life works out." The rake increase creates an enviroment where it is harder to succeed. Part of my profits will now be consumed by this rake increase. So after hearing the news I immediately started thinking: What could I do to remain a winning player? What are the necessary steps for me to take to still earn enough money for my family while playing poker? A few of my answers: Work harder on my game, learn new formats like eg. Spin and Go, try to visit local cardrooms and play live.

I believe that successful people will be successful no matter what happens - they will allways find a way. I want to be one of them. If you want to read why rake increase is not good for poker, there is more than enough information available online. I want to think positively. Like the quote goes: "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." My attitude is that I hopefully turn what looks like a stumbling block (high rake) into a stepping stone for myself. I have another incentive to work on my game! Hopefully I will improve my game to such extent that despite an increased rake I will earn in the next months even more money than i was earning before!

Climbing the limits? You are either successful or you have a story about why it didn't work out. Rake increase is no excuse to stop trying to climb limits. Even with this rake structure, if I work hard I could move up and play higher limits.

CH: I want to ask you about the lack of "value-adding" for society (or even humanity) from poker players, basically what Daniel Colman stated when winning One Drop. Poker basically is a "money-reallocation" with paying some rake to the provider on the side. Also it makes people unhappy (even stressful, increases chances for depression…).

Do you see it as I formulated it? Is it a problem for you? What would you do and/or advice doing for other poker pros to be as socially-responsible as possible?

Yes, poker is not directly adding any value to the society. There is so much potential in people and our society is not using it at all. Hopefully one day we will be living in a world where those great minds (like for example high stakes poker players) are working on finding a cancer cure instead of constructing limping ranges when 13BB deep. I have read a great book about playing games vs living in a real world from Jane McGonnigal: "Reality Is Broken". She writes about how many hours are spent playing computer and video games and how we can construct our real world in a way that it will be as captivating as these virtual worlds. If you have time, it's very interesting reading (or you can watch her TED talk on YouTube, she is a very charismatic person).

But before that future where everybody is doing some useful work, what should we do in the meantime?

I am trying to do some useful stuff after I finish my poker sessions. For me a very meaningful way to spend my time away from poker tables is to be with my son Peter. I am trying to help him learn as much as possible and also to create many enjoyable experiences for him. He was diagnosed with children autism. I will quote Jim Rohn again: "Children don't lack capacity to learn, they only lack teachers." I can clearly see that Peter can learn almost anything and he can improve greatly if we spend a lot of time with him. Peter made great progress in the last two years all over the board. From being behind in language development to speaking all the time. From only crawling when other kids were already walking to now - he is running, jumping and walking long distances when we take a trip. He is smiling, making eye contact, asking questions... Two years ago he was typical autistic child with almost all the symptoms described in the literature. Many autistic traits are barely visible now in his behaviour. I believe that by the time he is an adult the autism traits will be hard to notice and he will be capable to stand on his own feet. The only thing we need to do is to help him in his journey and reserve lot of time for him.

What about doing something nice for other people? Let me share with you a little idea I came across a long time ago.

There is a saying "you can't buy happiness with money". I believe that you actually can buy happiness with money. The trick is not to buy things for yourself. When you have your next upswing, cash out a few dollars and use it to make someone's day better. I am regularly buying myself happiness this way. You could not imagine how much joy you could bring to your life and to other people's life by spending a few dollars in the right way. Sometimes it is great to pause for a second and think - what I could do for the other person to make him/her a little bit happier? Ok. Maybe you have a downswing and you don't want to spend money right now. But still you could easily do a lot of good stuff - just smile when you meet other people. Smiling, happiness, good emotions are contageous. When you talk to someone and you are smiling, you could start a whole smile chain reaction - the other person will be also in better mood, he smiles and then the next person smiles and on it goes. You might ask : Smiling while I have a downswing? Sure. That's the best way how to handle it. The best way to get out of it fast. Your thoughts are like magnets. If you think negative thoughts you attract negative stuff into your life. Downswings happen regularly - so make sure you handle them with the correct attitude!

CH: Poker was always positioned as a game of skill. Do you think poker’s image is/will be discredited by Spin and Gos?

I am happy to see new poker formats being introduced. We probably don't want to play the same games for the next hundred years. In my opinion Sp&G are a great magnet for recreational players. The game is fast, interesting and there is a possibility to win a lot of money for small buy-in.

Poker was always a combination of luck and skill. Sp&G makes it so that it takes lot of time for skill to prevail - that's a challenge for professional poker players. I guess for professionals it is best to play some Sp&G combined with another format with less variance. I started playing Sp&G and it looks like I will add them to my repertoire. For me Sp&G are challenging and I will again need to improve my game. Playing 3-handed creates completely different dynamics compared to playing HU. I am looking forward to learing new stuff!

In my opinion Sp&G will attract new players to the game, which would be great. It looks like some recreational players are switching to Sp&G. In last days traffic at Heads Up Hyper Turbo tables seemed much slower. Another incentive for professionals to look at this new format! I don't think poker's image will be discredited because of Sp&G. Sp&G is not the first format with high variance. There are other popular formats of poker that are also very high variance. Take for example big multitable tournaments - you can go an extra long time without reaching the final table and making it deep into the money (and many great players have actually never won a major event).

CH: Do you have any interesting or funny stories related to poker?

My summary after 4 years as a profesional player: ZERO number of funny poker stories. I enjoy playing poker, it is very interesting game for me, but I am not laughing while playing. Maybe live players have interesting stories to share. I am sitting at home behind my computer clicking buttons. That's it. I have lot of fun, but it is outside of poker.

CH: What does your standard grinding day look like? How do you divide your time to be able look after your child and have a healthy relationship with your wife?

I will start with a Jim Rohn quote again: "Make rest a necessity not the objective." I am trying to be very active during the day. I am trying to play a lot of poker, spend a lot of time with my son and family, read books to find new ideas and to develop my mind. I also have some business ideas and I work to bring them to reality. My days are busy.

My schedule reflects my priorities. Of course my number one priority is my son and my family. Everyday (and especially during the weekend) I spend lot of time with them. Poker will be here for a long time. But the first years in child's development are crucial and I want to make sure that I am the best father that I could be. So often poker is put on the back burner in favor of family time.

Anyway I try to find time for playing poker almost every day. My non-poker friends are surprised by how much I enjoy playing poker after all these years. For me playing poker feels more like adventure and fun than work.

Another activity that is important for me to include in my daily regime - reading books. I am a voracious reader. There is so much interesting and useful information available in non-fiction books. I believe that you could improve every aspect of your live if you read good books and learn from them.

CH: Tell me about how you are learning and improving. Do you have a favourite poker book, favourite article, or forum posts (related with improving)?

I have learned a lot about poker in general from books (eg. Harrington series, Sklansky books). For specific information about HUSNGs, I bought video packs from HUSNG.com. Videos from Mersenneary made a big impression on me. From the newer video packs, I like the work of zZzTILT. Lately I have read two books from Will Tipton and one from Mathew Janda - these are very good game theory books. I recomend these materials to every serious poker player. With this theoretical background I play back some of my sessions and I analyze my play and think about my ranges (and my opponents' ranges) in many spots.

I have never had a coach - so maybe hiring a coach will now be a good way to continue my poker education.

CH: What are your long-term poker goals? Do you have a plan B - what you would do after ending poker career? Maybe it’s related with your studies?

When I was a small kid I loved games and especially I loved playing chess. My dream was to become a professional chess player. Now I am playing a different game, but being a professional poker player is very close to my childhood dream. My poker goal is to constantly improve my game and try to earn a nice living.

Whether I have a plan B? :) I have plan B,C,D,E, ... I have so many plans. This world is so interesting and so full of opportunities. When we talk about jobs - I was never unemployed and right now I have multiple opportunities to start working in a standard job enviroment from the very next day if I decide to. So that's a great feeling - important for peace of mind when I run bad at poker. But my intention is to continue to play poker and also to pursue some of my business dreams.

CH: What do you think about online poker’s future?

Online poker will not be here forever, that's for sure. In my opinion the biggest danger for online poker's longevity are bots. Faster computers, better algorithms and progress in artificial intelligence will lead to the end of online poker. If your opponent could easily use some advanced poker bot in the future, you would't wan't to play against him for money. But I don't think that this scenario happens next year or in the very near future, so we can still play and enjoy the game!

CH: What are the ten most valuable tips you would formulate to a new poker player who wants to be successful?

1. Take care of your bankroll. It's hard to play poker without money!

2. Learn from books, videos, coaches. It's much faster to learn from others than to figure it all by yourself.

3. Poker should be enjoyable. If you are constantly angry, frustrated, bitter and full of negative emotions, stop playing or change your attitude. At the end of the day, poker is just a game. Upswings and downswings are part of the parcel and it should not severely interfere with the way you live your daily live. Make sure you are not an angry parent, husband, friend or colleague just because your opponent hit one-outer on the river in the big pot in your last night poker session.

4. Game selection is often the one most important factor that determines your winrate. Don't play against experts that are stronger than you if you want to earn money.

5. Learn to quit. Quit when you are tilting, playing your C-game, when nothing is working. Your bankroll will thank you. It is never bad not to play.

6. Practice range based thinking. Your opponent doesn't have a hand. He has a range. You don't have a hand. You have a range. Poker is a range vs range game.

7. Know WHY. Why are you calling? Why are you raising? Why are you folding? Why are you betting $50 and not $80? Have a good reason for every poker action you take.

8. Compare expected value of all your options. Try to find the line which has the highest expected value. Don't be satisfied with a good move, try to find the best one.

9. Imagine this situation: You are on the river, effective stacks are such that exactly one pot size bet is left. You have a perfectly polarized range (only nuts and air). Your opponent has only medium strength hands - bluffcatchers. Game theory optimal (GTO) play for you is to go all in with all nuts plus you should add appropriate number of bluffs (nuts to bluff ratio is 2:1 here). Your opponent's GTO play is to call with 50% of his bluffcatchers. I don't want to talk theory here, I want to make a different point. In a perfect game you will be sometimes bluffing "unsuccessfuly". Your opponent will sometimes be calling "unsuccessfuly" with his bluffcatcher when you have nuts. Really think about it. No matter how good you are, there will be times when you bluff and get called or you call only to find out that your opponent has nuts. That's part of poker. Remember that next time you beat yourself up for bad play or when you second guess yourself. It might be the case that your play was actually correct but simply didn't work out this time.

10. Don't think only about the micro game (What is the best way to play this individual hand in a vacuum?). Think also about the macro game (What is my opponent doing incorrectly? How could I exploit his tendencies? What is my plan for the whole match?).

CH: You are from Slovakia. Please tell me something about this country, and the situation with poker here.

I live in the capital city - Bratislava. I really like it here. If you are traveling via Europe, Bratislava is certainly a nice place to visit on your journey. Slovakia is a small country, but you could find here a lot of interesting stuff: historical architecture, rich folk music and traditions, beautiful nature, special traditional food and beverages, and much more. If you have five minutes Google it :)

Slovakia and live poker? If you want to make a poker trip, certainly it will be better for you to visit Las Vegas then Bratislava. But seriously - I feel like poker is gaining popularity here. Few years ago when I started playing poker everybody was shocked and they had no idea what poker is about. Nowadays I see many people are playing online (mainly as recreational players for fun) and also many people I talk to are watching poker at TV on sports channels. Poker is still not the mainstream, but it is certainly much more popular here then it was few years ago.