Interview with George "Jorj95" Lind

How did you discover poker? Tell me about your first year grinding: what was your first deposit, which buy-ins did you play, how profitable were you, etc.?

I started playing in college around 1998 just for fun, around the time Rounders came out.  I didn't take it very seriously at first but i realized eventually that I had a lot of talent when it came to poker.  I started off playing really low limits like 1-3 stud and 3-6 limit holdem but within a year or so I was playing games as high as 400-800.  All this time I had a job as a computer programmer but I eventually quit that in 2001.  It was quite a hard decision for me to quit working just because I'm a somewhat risk averse person but eventually I was making 6 months salary some nights in poker and it just made sense.

How long did it take to you to be able make your living from poker?

Probably a year or so but I didn't quit my job for 3 years just because I was unsure about becoming a pro poker player.

Do you ever tilt?

No not really.  It's probably one of my best assets.  I'm a very analytical/mathematical thinker so I pretty much try to always make the right decision, and tilt basically can be defined as intentionally making incorrect decisions, which just seems dumb to me.

How do you handle frustration which comes with loosing sessions?

Honestly I barely even think about it.  I know I will get it back eventually.

Do you have a daily routine?

On days I'm playing I always get some coffee then drink a smoothie before I start, but other than that, no.

Do you still feel pleasure during the grinding sessions after all these years?

Yeah but it's different.  I remember when my bankroll finally went over $10k back when I was playing 20-40 holdem and it felt like the greatest feeling in the world at the time.  Unless I'm playing really high stakes I barely even know whether I won or lost in a day anymore.

Tell me about your biggest downswing. How long did it take?

I know I've lost 6 figures in a day a few times, not the most fun days ever.  :)

How many tables do you play at once?

Right now I max out at like 20 but probably average around 6-8.  A few years ago I would play 30-40 or more pretty consistently but it's tiring and way too easy to misclick, and in a game like mine where edges are really small, the mistakes can add up.

How has 6max hyper game changed compared to 2009? Please describe main tendencies. What is different now?

I mean most players are better now, you don't see as many completely horrible calls as you did back then, although they definitely still exist.

How did you learn poker math?

I don't know, most of it is just common sense, the rest can be learned with various tools/programs.

How is your game different comparing it with, lets say, two years from now?

It's pretty much the same except I play a lot less now because we have 3 kids.

What is your sample (played games) ratio between SCOOP+WCOOP action (satellites) and all other year (6max hypers sngs)?

I probably play more during SCOOP & WCOOP than the rest of the year combined.  They are each bascially 5 weeks of grinding all day every day whereas the rest of the year I just play Sunday thru Tuesday, and even those days are usually not full days.  The stakes are a lot higher during the COOP's and the games go a lot more, so it only makes sense.

Those WCOOP and SCOOP satellites have different structures, right? Are you aware of why not every High Stakes 6max hyper shark is grinding them? Looking at your results it seems that it should be the main concern for every 6max hyper pro...

Well obviously just because I win doesn't mean everyone else can.  There are a lot of other good players but a lot of them tend to lack motivation and just don't put in enough hours.

You are known for having more VPP's than anyone else. It's like your business card and you prolly understand that (as I see from your blog slogan: "I have more VPPs than you"). Do you feel any danger about being outscored in VPPs by shabalinvlad one day? He told me that he is aiming to reach 7.5 millions VPP this year.

I honestly don't care at all if anyone passes my VPP total.  I used to care about it and it's probably a big reason I got on Team Online.  I will never put in the hours like I used to just because I have so much more going on in my life right now with having a family.

When did you reach your 10mil VPPs? How many lifetime VPPs do you have right now?

I reached it in 2011 i think? I currently have almost 16 million.

Do you remember your longest session?

When I played live I played over 36 hours plenty of times, but with online I think my longest was maybe 20 hours or so.

What is your biggest score in live mtt? How about online?

Biggest live score is $300k which I did twice at WSOP, coming in 6th in the $50k 8-game and 2nd in the $10k omaha-8.

jorj95: Family Man - A Short Film by Team PokerStars Online