Charles Hawk: When did you start playing poker? What have you tried before HUSNGs? How did that go?

Karliz / coixdog: I think I started playing online when I was like 16 and played pretty much everything except HUSNGs. Mostly MTTs, cash and random SNGs. I was pretty much breaking even and not making much money, until I won $5000 in a $10 tournament, then lost half of it the next week playing HU cash. I then mostly played HU cash and DoNs until I moved to Betfair and started playing $30 HUSNGs, and discovered it was pretty soft and the rake wasn't as bad as in HU cash.

Charles Hawk: What, at the very beginning, was the hardest to learn to be able to climb the limits in HUSNGs?

Karliz / coixdog: My biggest problem was probably volume. I one-tabled for the longest time and a good day for me was 30-40sngs. I was too afraid to lose my profit that I earned that day. I also didn't move up as quickly as I should have, because I always assumed that the guys who play a stake higher were great until I moved up to their stakes just to discover they were just slightly better than regs at my old stakes.

Charles Hawk: Did you have problems with tilt, discipline and motivation when you started playing profesionally? How did you solve these problems (maybe there are some problems even now)?

Karliz / coixdog: I did have problems with tilting but it would never affect my results. I wouldn't chase my losses or play worse when I was on tilt but I did punch a few walls and destroyed a few mice. At one point I had like 10 $7 mice in my drawer that I would just change every 2 weeks. It sounds bad but it's definitely better than just playing like a moron at high stakes. But now it's been a while since I've broken anything. I also had problems with motivation because grinding 8 hours a day is extremely boring unless you're battling someone. Thankfully I discovered podcasts so I can play without losing my mind from boredom.

Charles Hawk: What was your main HUSNGs leaks in game theory compared with now?

Karliz / coixdog: My biggest leak in the past was probably the fact that I didn't adjust enough. Many regs will just play their abc game against a fish thinking that any change in their style will be -EV, but each player is different. Sometimes a calling station will fold 90% to 3bets so you shouldn't be afraid to 3bet K2o. It's worse when people don't adjust when playing other regs. You just can't win against a thinking player if you're predictable.

Charles Hawk: Did you study HUSNGs a lot back then? Are you studying it now regularly?

Karliz / coixdog: When I was starting out, I watched a lot of HUSNG.com videos and just talked about hands with other players. These days I usually try to improve my game by running over a few hands in my head when I have a bad session or something.

Charles Hawk: In which spots were you losing the most money at the beginning? Which hands were most unprofitable for you?

Karliz / coixdog: I was probably bluffing too much in the beginning. Just because you know the other guy's range and think he should fold in a certain spot doesn't mean you should bluff there. Some people just don't care about ranges and whatnot. I also overplayed Axs hands and other suited hands. I still play suited aces more often than I should, but I refuse to believe that A2s isn't a lot more profitable hand than A2o. It just looks so much prettier.

Charles Hawk: How many tables at once are you playing mostly?

Karliz / coixdog: 2-5

Charles Hawk: Do you have a daily routine?

Karliz / coixdog: Wake up at like 10, start playing at 11, go workout or meet some friends at 16, come back at 19 for an evening session. This summer I've been more busy than usual so it's rarely I get a day where I can play for 8-9 hours.

Charles Hawk: What do you want to achieve in poker? Do you have a plan B for what you would do after ending poker?

Karliz / coixdog: I'm studying business and law, and I have my last year left till I get my bachelor's. So I guess that's my plan B. I'm not exactly looking forward to sitting in a cubicle but at least I have something to fall back on. Meanwhile I just want to make as much money as I can in poker so in a scenario where either poker is banned or I'm not good enough to make money, at least I have some saving that I can use to pursue my next goal.

Charles Hawk: How does your daily routine change and how differently do you divide your time when attending university?

Karliz / coixdog: Well I joined my university because I thought that that's what you're supposed to do after high school and I figured I could just play a few sessions after classes. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy. Not only you have homework, but because of early classes I sometimes had to sleep for 5 or 6 hours and I'm just not one of those people who can play their A game on 5 hours of sleep. So now I can just play in the summer basically. There are some great people that I've met through university and many things that I would have missed out on if I had just pursued poker after high school but honestly, I fucking regret joining Uni. The amount of money I could have made in the last 3 years just makes me cry. There were guys who were shitty $30 regs when I was grinding $100-$300 at the age of 17-18 and now they play the highest stakes while I have to battle for a $100 lobby. I'm definitely a better player now compared to 3 years ago but you just can't be a very successful player if you play 8k games a year. There is a friend of mine who was in my Uni and he's also a great HUSNG player. Last year he dropped out because he couldn't play enough games because he was a full time student. So he dropped out and was broke, I lent him his first $1000, then he got back to grinding, and his results just skyrocketed. In the last 2 months he made $300,000 I think. So obviously I'm tempted to do the same and drop out but I feel like I can't because I've invested so much time and money, and I have my last year left. So yeah. It's not easy to divide time between attending college and playing.

Charles Hawk: How often do you take small breaks during the sessions?

Karliz / coixdog: It really depends on the day but I usually take 0 to 3 small breaks in a day.

Charles Hawk: How often do you take them not because you become tired or want something to drink/eat, but because you want to calm down and lower your frustration?

Karliz / coixdog: Not that often. I usually just take them because I'm bored and can't focus on the games.

Charles Hawk: Have you ever signed up for an MTT or few when you get bored of grinding HUSNGs?

Karliz / coixdog: I used to do that more often than I do now and it was definitely a leak for me because I would just spew my chips away after like 2 hours or so. If people can play a few MTTs in the background and it doesn't affect their sng performance, good, but I'm not one of them.