Eric "paddygo" Sullivan

Please introduce yourself to those who dont know You.

I am Eric Sullivan, I am 24 years old. I live in Rosario, Argentina and have been playing poker for around 4 years professionally and right now I am playing heads up from 200 to 1k turbos and reg speed.

I first started in poker around 2008-2009 built a few rolls and busted them in "one night tilts" chasing the losts. But on summer 2009 after I have busted a few rolls (under 1k rolls) I thought I was good because I played tight (I was a fish at that time and for sure in the future I will say that about myself from the past) and decided while I was on holidays at Punta Del Este (Uruguay) to play with the money which was supposed to be for the appartment´s rental. Long story short I busted 1010 against A10 all in preflop and was devastated. I had to survive that holiday with money my friends lended me, and one interesting thing that happened was that I met a "Gitana" while I was walking around in Punta Del Este and she told me that I was going to do really good in health, love, money and life in general and gave me like a plant. After that holiday I came back to Rosario, dropped university and started playing Double or nothing at NoIQ Poker with a no deposit bonus and never looked back. With my first cashout I paid all my debts and by the end of the year I was playing the highest Double Or Nothing stakes at Cake Poker.

How would you describe your player type and playing style? Whats your main strengths?

I just play according to my opponent trying to exploit his tendencies when he deviates from what I think is GTO and trying to make the best exploitable adjustment, and if someone is really hard to exploit I try to play the closest to GTO I can and become myself as un-exploitable as possible.

I do not think I have a main skill or a main leak, but a mixture of both will be that I know I can learn a lot yet and become more accurate in some spots. So while it is a skill knowing your own ignorance it is also a leak not knowing as much as I would like.

Tell me about your transition from don's to husngs?

I reached highstakes DONS really easy and the regs at highstakes made ton of mistakes which were worth a lot of money which I realized as I had studied this format a ton and sometimes it was a good decision to fold even AA preflop (bubble situations mostly). Sometimes you would need something like 85%+ equity preflop and regs would call with something like AKo but even though I was making good money, the highest stakes on stars were only 100 so it was not motivating. So I coached Rodra0 and RodraAbdala who were friends of mine and decided to start playing HU as a secondary game as you could play up to 5ks and only need one opponent to start a game. I also started 6max hyperturbos satellites at that time and when I had studied everything and was playing almost perfect they decided to change the structure and decreased edges so I quit that one. After Double Or Nothing stopped existing RodraAbdala moved to them but you can achieve very low rois so the variance is harder.

So my only option was HU SNG. I used to watch bluefirepoker.com videos of Phil Galfond and husng.com premium videos, and after that I took coaching with Bryan "PrimordialAA" Pellegrino. I started playing 50s or 100s directly at CakePoker first and did not had to battle too much to gain respect.

I do not feel I have reached highstakes yet, I think the really highstakes are 2k-5k but I have improved a ton in the process so I think I am closer to get there but still have to improve a ton more.

As regards reg warring, I share with people who I think I might have an edge but have asked you nicely to share and they are trying to earn a living so no need to complicate their lives, as I also play on other networks. And the ones who I think I do not have a clear edge, I try to play as less as possible

How you came up with this nickname?

My brothers name is Paddy. So I created a team in hattrick.org with his name and then kept that nickname for ever.

Do you have any grinding routine? How your standard day looks like?

I actually have to work on my grinding routine, I put very small volume in general compared with other regs. Right now my routine is waking up at around 11 pm, go to a kinesiology/ high performance training center 3 times a week which is something like a gym but applied mostly to sport (really cool and funnier/more specialized work than the regular gym), then have lunch around 2 pm, take a small nap/watch something on TV/study some poker, two times a week I go to play soccer on the afternoon, I have dinner around 10 pm and then grind for about 4-5 hours. But I am planning on start playing on the afternoons also when I have spare time.

I do not play at all on weekends (really lazy from me but I like enjoying the weekend).

Wow very productive days you have :) How are you studying poker?

Mostly watching theory videos /hyper turbos videos and thinking about situations where I could apply this knowledge or try to change it for something better trying to get thinking processes and see if it fits according to me.

Or sometimes you see a good reasoning behind the play although the play is not that good, and that's really valuable. Or the other way round: trying to be creative while watching videos or reading theory books.

I also sometimes work with Flopzilla, CardRunners EV, and some equilator, but I do not make it for long periods of time because I loose focus and start to get bored.

Why you dont play hypers? It seems that most money is in those.

Yes I agree the most money is in them, but happyness ev is more important for me. And I enjoy more playing turbos not only because of the game, but also because you can achieve higher rois which translates in more winning sessions which translates in more happyness :)

After all my goal is to achieve the most happyness accumulated level in my life. If it makes sense.

How many tables do you play at once?

I play whatever number but if I get more than 5 tables at once or something like that I unreg the other tournies. Anyway I feel that I loose an edge with more than 2 tables at a time, I miss information and autopilot a bit.

Is it still more profitable to play 5 tables than 2?

Depending on who are you playing. I am not really sure about it, if I get 5 tables from different good regs I might be loosing long term. I am sure I decrease a ton my roi per game, but if I have weak players on the 5 tables I might be having a better hourly than playing 2 tables.

Do you have more than enough action in husng turbos $200-$1000? How long do you need to wait for an opponent?

It also depends, right now this year I am not playing many hours so can not be accurate about it, but sometimes you have to wait for a while depending on the time but it is also true that I have had 5 tables open at once also. It is also true that the lower the stake, the more action you get.

But last year I had decent action the hours I putted in.

How many games you are playing on average each week? Could you divide all your games of last 12 month by 48-50~?:}

I will take a look.
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110 average games weekly. Sucks :(

Maybe you don't spend a lot of money? Maybe it is a reason why you don't grind each day for like - as an example - 6 hours?

I used to spend a ton of money, mostly in alcohol and pleasure, but right now I live really well with $1.5k-$2k monthly. So I can save enough money for investments without getting too much hours.

How many $ you are making per game?

$16-$17 last year. That is pre rakeback.

Ahh, it's not that bad if your expenses are about 2k :)

Last year I saved over 100k, which is important doing a normal lifestyle.

Many poker pros trying to grind as much as possible, and I assume that they do that bc they thinks that in few years their profitability could decrease (bc of less fish or more regs with whom they will need to share). However they are afraid of that although sharkscope yearly leaderboards results don't support that fear yet.

Yes I feel the same, but at the same time this are the best years of our life, so I want to enjoy them as much as possible.

You are chilled which is really cool :) Probably it's way more fun to live grinding 110 games per week and enjoying money you earn, than just increasing your bank account numbers spending most of your youth across the pc...

It is money ev+ to stay playing, but I think sometimes I make my decisions thinking about my happyness ev. That said, I could play a little bit more.

Yap, you really could. At least 200 games per week, in my opinion :) 1 turbo game takes about 12-15 min on average, right? :)

I think it take less: 10-12 mins.

So if you play 2 tables on average - 100x11 min - It's about 18 hrs.

Yes but you also do not get constant action, sometimes I spend time in the lobbies without getting action.

But I could play 6 hours x 5 days a week as a goal. My goal last year was 600 games a month, really short goal which I failed. I should aim for 1k games a month.

But as I understand you spend some decent time on self-coaching, right? It's should be added into counting as well...

Yeah I spend more time than most I guess studying and analyzing as I mentioned previously, and the main reason behind that is that it brings me more happyness ev having a better % of games win and when studying you always feel productive (in a session if you loose I do not feel bad but not as happy as I would have been studying). Plus if you do not study you stay behind the learning curve and the new regs are going to crush you, so I rather take time to study as it will be shown in a better hourly when playing.

I also chat with regs to have different point of views.

Describe to the readers as well as you can what is happyness ev?

It is when you take a choice that gives you the most happyness at that moment and balanced with the long term. For instance when you decide to study poker or play, if you study you are going to end happy close to 100% of the time because you have won money longterm, whereas if you play a session some % of the time you are going to end up not that happy. So whenever I feel I am on a downswing or something best way to make myself happy is studying.
Another important thing to realize is that 20s are the best years to hang out, travel, etc because you never now when you can get a disease or maybe death gets you. So you have to think if making some more money which does not have a huge marginal effect on your lifestyle is worth the time extra you spend playing instead of enjoying. For instance if someone offered me a 10k (or the equivalent amount at that time) salary for life for working 5 hours a day or 20k for working 9 hours a day for life, I would still take the 10k because I need time to be able to enjoy the money and the difference between 10k or 20k is not huge in the lifestyle you can have.

Maybe I am wrong about it, but right now with the information I have, I think is the best life choice this style. But I have respect for people who decide to play a ton and make as much money as they can now, because they are going to enjoy that money later maybe, it is only I like enjoying my life everyday.

My goal in life is to have the highest average happyness level and well distributed across my life.

With whom are you talking strategy mostly? Who are your best poker friends?

Right now I talk the most with Progre69, Harthor and Negriin which I consider also the best poker friends. I used to chat with RodraAbdala but right now I can not chat strategy with him but he is one of my best friends also who deserves mention.

The one who have helped me the most improving my game is Harthor with very interesting thoughts every time I asked him a question and also guidance with study material/methods.

What poker advices you would give to a new players who are dreaming to reach high stakes?

I would advise them to have 80% study 20% play at the beginning, and then start playing a higher %. Also to invest your bankroll in videos, books as they really help a ton when starting and after reading a ton of books and videos take a coach maybe (higher value in books and videos for beginners, in my opinion). Never take something a better player says as absolute truth, because even the best players have mistakes. Try to think on your own if what the better player says makes sense to you and how can you improve that thought in your games. Be always questioning the reasons behind a play and evaluate the thought process. And try to get around people who have the same wish of becoming the best, try to avoid people who are dream killers and who look for the negative side of things.

My game advice would be to play your oponent, there is a best strategy for every single opponent and it can vary a ton from a player to another.

Which poker books were most valuable to you?

As funny as it might sound, I loved Gus Hansen´s Every Hand Revealed. It was easy to read and gave me a totally different aproach to poker, I used to be a tight sng player and it worked, but I got a lot of ideas from that book. I also loved Kill Everyone which was for SNGs but those books where 3+ years ago, so they helped me the most. Not necessarily the best books.

Have you read any recently published books?

Read Will Tipton expert heads up, really good book.

How often complete fish sits you?

It depends on what you call a complete fish, if I think he is easily exploitable I tag him as fish but maybe he could be a winner at 30s/60s. But complete fish I do not recall having on the recent past (I play few games that might be a reason).

What is your bankroll management policy?

My bankroll policy right now is none, I play the limits I feel confident I beat and consider myself one of the best reg at those stakes. For instance I am way overrolled in theory and could play higher but I am not sure I would make more money at those stakes and variance would be harder.

When starting you have to use a bankroll management policy according to your roi, the higher your roi the less buyins you need. Plus it is player dependant, if you are easily tilted use a tight brm policy, but if you keep playing "A" game after loosing 10 buyins just play a looser brm policy.

Do you tilt? If yes, how often?

I do not tilt hard anymore, but from time to time if someone is running me over I make some play I would not do playing my "A" game, but I think it is natural because you adjust to the fact that you think he can not be running that hot and maybe in fact he is having a good card run and you have to deal with it. But those mistakes are nothing serious imo, and it happens really rarely. I think the most important thing to avoid tilting is being secure about your knowledge, if you know you are doing the most ev+ play then it is harder to tilt.

Tell me your thoughts about nash equilibrium? How often do you push/fold according to it? Or is it better to adjust to each opponent acordingly?

I do not use it untill under 8bb most of the time as there are way better strategies imo, and yes against some players I do not use it even under 8bb because they for instance shove to tight to call 8bb with the borderlines (passive tight players). But is is good to know it as a guideline.

How often do you play live? What are your biggest successes?

I made a ton of money playing live in Argentina tourneys and cash tables, played from 2010-2012 regularly following the Santa Fe Poker Tour (made 12+ final tables in under 30 tourneys I guess which is sick and won 3 of them which is little considering I reached most of the time as chipleader) when the money motivated me. The stakes I played where high for me at that time and the level low so it was perfect. The biggest scores where in AR$60.000 AR$55.000 AR$35.000 AR$30.000 and a ton more over 10k+. At that time it was worth 3-4 times more because the AR$ was better against the dollar.
But at the begining of 2012 the dolar became way stronger than the peso, and the buyins did not adjusted so I started playing only online because the hourly online was way better.

Was it hard for you to refuse live play and put all efforts into grinding online? Were your happiness the same?

I was mixing both of them, yes and besides I have really good live results, when I loose I was unhappy. Playing heads up, you can get the most ITM :)

But I am going to start playing again live tournaments which are not far away and are worth my time.

Do you gamble something else besides poker? Sport betting? Black jack or other casino games?

No, it is ev-. Those games are designed to make the house win, and I do not bet unless I think I have the edge.

I have made however 3 sport bets in my life, which were you deposit and freeroled your first bet :) So it was ev+.

What are your hobbies then?:)

Football. I love football (soccer).

I play 3 times a week, and on the training center I attend the movements and excercises are all aimed for football. I just do it because I do not like loosing at anything :) And enjoy when winning.

Do you enjoy night live (clubbing and stuff)?

I used to enjoy it much more, but I have a girlfriend for the last 2 years so now it is not fun anymore. I just like drinking a lot with friends and talking about whatever.

Is it hard to play poker and be in a relationship in the same time?

Not for me, but thats because I do not put enough hours :). It depends on your girlfriend, mine really helps me and is supportive most of the time.

:) nice to hear.

What are your goals for 2014?

My main goal is try to be the most happy I can for the longer period of time. Pokerwise I would like to play more and play good.

On the investment side I would like to make a good investment that generates me a good monthly return, build my own house and buy a car. I think they are easily achievable.

Are you doing some investing already? Do you have any business ideas you can share?

Yeah, I have invested in a garage (parking spot) which was not a really good investment as regards roi, but it was secure.

After that I made a poker news web with RodraAbdala but we invested a ton of time and money and could not make it a good business so we close.

Right now I have been studying to buy appartments in Uruguay and Miami, but Miami was too risky as regards legal stuff. So I might be investing in Uruguay soon as it is the best roi/security ratio imo.

And another idea was to open a football (soccer) pitch here, because people play a ton of football here and it is a good business. But I have to invest too much time, so I am going to go with the Uruguay stuff pretty sure.

Tell me about your bet against JustNoPain. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/185/heads-up-sng/hu4rollz-justnopain-a... I posted some of your hands yesterday: http://www.husng.com/content/eric-paddygo-sullivan-hand-pack-comments-in...

It all started because JNP was rude in chat from one day to another and wanted to battle me. I did not wanted to battle him at 4 tables at high stakes because I thought he was good and I could not beat the rake, but at the same time I hate when people are rude to me. Plus he insulted me many times so the only way to make it ev+ was with a side bet.

So we agreed to play the challenge, and I saw it as a good opportunity to put volume /get better. But as soon as I have sent the money someone told me he was staked by VBV1990 for highstakes games and started to feel it was not my best choice :(. But did my best and work hard everyday but he adjusted good and did stuff I was thinking about doing so he played well and deserved to win.

One good thing is that he kept insulting me until the last 2 weeks of the challenge more or less in which he became nicer and apologize for his previous behaviour which I respect when someone admits mistakes. And after the challenge I have not received an insult from him so thats something good.
And I have to learn from the challenge, look how to get the best of it and do not cry about loosing. I improved my game for sure, although I have played very little after the challenge because I was building a new CPU. And the money I lost does not affect me at all for the limits I play.

Thank you for your time :)

I am always looking for a new opportunities to meet with HUSNG Regs who play $100 and higher and make some intereting interviews. Please PM me here or on 2p2 (Charles Hawk).