Interview with Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar

Charles Hawk: How are you doing both in poker and whats new in your life in general? 

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: In poker I am still playing Spin&Go tournaments - in these days I am sitting mainly at the $60 tables. I really enjoy the format. I am playing against recreational players  - which is good for earning chips :) and against professionals - which forces me to think hard about many decisions and it puts me under pressure to improve my game - and that's good. When I was a kid in elementary school I was a straight A student. At the time I was happy about that. Obviously the reason behind my "success" was that the school was easy. These days I want to put myself in more challenging enviroments (like when I compete against other regs in Spins) so my leaks and mistakes and very visible and I can improve my game and grow as a poker player. So what I have found out is that it's good to put yourself under pressure, to force yourself to work little bit harder.

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: Brief info about my family life - my son Peter is seven years old and this is his first year of formal education. Me and my wife were trying to find a good school for him (he is diagnosed with autism). Peter is very intelligent so in theory it should not be a problem to find a school. But we have found out that many standard schools are not willing to educate kids with autism (or other diagnoses) and they find all kinds of excuses so they don't have to deal with a child that is not "standard". So seeing this situation we decided that Peter will be a homeschooler - the concept of homeschooling is very popular in some countries and it is also starting to get traction here is Slovakia. I am happy to say that it works great. Peter can read fluently, he is doing fine in math - all in all - he knows more than an average 1st grader.

But obviuosly it takes time, so that's one of the reasons behind my business.

Charles Hawk: What new have you learned over the last year theoretically in Spins? How the population tendencies changed? Any specific advices for new upcommers which you wouldn't have a year ago?

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: I have learned so much in the last year. I could write a book about it.

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: Some advice for newcommers:
- It's very important to constantly improve your skills (poker theory and also the mental game). I love the quote of Jim Rohn: "Work harder on yourself that you do on your job." I used to forget that piece of advice - but I have found out that just grinding is not enough. To be successful you need to work on improving yourself as a person and as a player.
- Another advice: Don't wait for a big multiplier. I am not waiting to hit a big multiplier. I am just happy that I am able to play the game. I enjoy the process, I enjoy the grind, I love the grind. I am not dreaming about some exotic vacations, I want to work for the rest of my life. So winning or not winning wouldn't change much - the next day I would continue to work anyways. Yes, winning would be interesting - because I could start some new projects with that money - actually winning big would lead me to working more not less.
I feel like many people have some big goals but they make themselves miserable in the process of achieving them. So my advice is - play only if you enjoy the game. If the only reason for you to play is that vision of hitting a big multiplier, I would strongly recommend you to reconsider your approach. I mean, there are so many opportunities these days, make sure you find some work that you really enjoy. That way you create a nice lifestyle for yourself right now, it's won't be some nebulous dream for the distant future.

Charles Hawk: Do you notice overall improvement in your mental approach, motivation or multitabling comparing with a year or few ago? 

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar:  I have certainly improved my mental game - part of that is just by getting older :) and seeing things in perspective. My best friend died of cancer two months ago - when you deal with these kind of situations, suddenly - in comparison - going on a 100 buying downswing doesn't look that terrible anymore. I would say that I am less attached to money and session outcomes than I used to be. I am still trying my best when playing the game. But I realized that my lifestyle and happiness are more predicated on my inner state than on money, so when it comes to swings I just don't give a ... I don't swear, but you see where I am going with this :)

Motivation is easy - I love to work, so I don't need any kind of special outside motivation.
 

Multitabling - uh-oh - I can certainly improve here - usually playing only 3 tables. Actually I used to play 4 tables, it's not going in the right directions here - maybe it's becaue I am getting older. You see, being older is not always an advantage. :)

Charles Hawk: Have you set any specific goals for 2017? Hows your daily routine looks like these days?

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: At the beginning of each year I say to myself: I want this year to be my best year. So that's also the main goal for the 2017.

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: My daily routine is boring to describe - but I would say that I try to eliminate the fancy stuff. In some sense, success is boring - you just do few simple activities over and over again. In every area of human life there are few simple things that are easy to do that make all the difference. But as Jim Rohn said: "Things that are easy to do are also easy not to do." So I try my best to do the simple stuff - eat healthy, exercise, study poker theory, grind, spend quality time with my family, walk around the block,... nothing fancy, just simple stuff.

Charles Hawk: Do you provide any coaching? If not, are you planning to provide it in the recent future? Or maybe to create some coaching video packs? I guess it would be quite popular!

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar:  I am not doing coaching right now, but it's certainly one of the interesting options for the future. I am working on the videopack - the main theme of which will be a mental game and big picture thinking about poker and how it fits into your lifestyle.

Charles Hawk: How the new increase of 4x and 6x multipliers affecting your short run performance and variation? Do you notice significant changes in it? 

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar:  I guess that I have read it somewhere about these tweaks in the multiplier structure. Frankly, I don't care that much. I mean, variance is still there - you will experience some ups and downs no matter what. My approach was always to focus on my game. Improving my chipEV will have much much bigger effect on my variance that these changes could ever have.

Charles Hawk: What do you think about Amaya's future plans such as merging poker with board-games like "Power up"?

Daniel 'Pl@yerABC' Sklar: I think that we will see many new poker variants in the future. So it will be certainly very interesting. The idea of merging card and board games sounds interesting. That being said, I am not paying attention to it now. I believe that in poker it's best to be a one trick pony - I focus 100% of my attention to Spins. But I am happy that we will have more options for the future.