Charles Hawk: You wrote to me in a previous interview (in April) that Spins are more fun for you than husngs. Do you feel the same today? If action would be equal, why would you choose spins over husngs?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): I am a big fan of short-handed games. I really enjoy both formats (HUSNGs and SPINs) - with SPINs still being number one for me. Why I prefer SPINs? The reason is the "2-in-1" nature of the game. 3-handed game is full of interesting spots and if you don't loose your chips, you are then battling heads-up for the first prize! There is also this thing with multipliers - I try to adjust my gameplan to suit specific situation. Playing for 2x buy-in or for 100x buy-in has lots of strategic implications in my book.
Obviously, I am playing poker to make money. So my decisions about which format to play are always based on economical (hourly-rate) considerations. I guess, that playing SPINs is the best choice for me at the moment - luckily it's also the format that I enjoy the most :-)
But nothing is set in stone! Maybe I will return to heads-up tables in the future, who knows? :-)
Charles Hawk: Please compare the toughness of Spins with when we talked in April. Especially in relation with "amount of spewy recreationals". Then you wrote: " Are we back to the great Party Poker era? People shoving 72-offsuit type of hand 25 bb deep (only because this was only 2x multiplier and they wanted to quickly end the table and move on to a bigger multiplier game). " - do you face things like that still as often?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): I guess that numbers of "spewy recreationals" are diminishing - at least at levels I play. Maybe you could still find them at lower stakes - they are really fun to play against! I haven't done any calculations, but it would be interesting to know, how much minus EV their "mindless shoving" strategy is.
What have changed since our last interview? I guess that more regulars are playing SPINs these days than half year ago - and sometimes they are on tilt - and shove any two! So next time when you see somebody shoving trash deepstack - don't jump to quick conclusions! Maybe it's not spewy recreational but tilting reg!
Charles Hawk: If we compare husng with Spins there are no rematches. As a result regs are accumulating reads on recs at a much slower pace. How does this change the theoretical approach? For example, it seems that you should start shoving as suggested by nash sooner that you would do that in husngs makes much more sense...?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): From my perspective the biggest difference is the number of opponents I am facing simultaneously. At one SPIN table I have two villains. Let's say I play four, five or six tables. That's lot of action! Therefore I try to simplify my decision making process. I am not making detailed reads. I could certainly have bigger edge if I play just one table and observe my opponents carefully. But I prefer to give up some edge to be able to play more tables and maximize my hourly rate!
Obviously you need to make some assumptions about villain's ranges and their style of play. But often I don't have enough time to be very specific about that stuff and I just go with general ideas like : "usually recreational players have weeker range in this kind of spot and fold to big bet". I bet the pot and ... there is already another table, another tough situation that I need to solve.
If I understand your question correctly, you are saying that because we don't have good reads we should start shoving sooner (with deeper stacks)? My view is different: Shoving certainly has it's place in shortstacked situations. But I feel, that especially against recreationals I have nice edge postflop. So my first instinct is to limp in many spots and play some poker. :-) Especially if I am in position, I don't want to overdo shoving. Let's play limped pots! For example, let's see how they handle playing 73 offsuit out of position when they hit bottom pair! They are not used to play these absolutely junky hands. What are they supposed to do when they hit bottom pair no kicker? For many recreationals it is a tough question to answer. They have little something and they don't want to be pushed around. Should they call, fold or even raise? Sometimes they make a blunder and their chips are welcomed boost for my stack! :-)
Yes, when I am out of position and without reads, than maybe shoving comes to mind, but even it that situation I don't discard limping as an option. The discussion can be even more complicated if you take multiplier effect into account. In higher multiplier tournaments I will be limping probably even more. That's the predicament with every poker related question, the answer always is : "It depends". :-)
Charles Hawk: How often are you raising villain's cbets or 3barrelling with your bluffs? Are you trying to bluff less than you did in husngs? Should people bluff less in Spins than in husngs? Any arguments?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): My opponents will read this, right? How often do I bluff? Once in a blue moon! I almost always have nuts. :-)
Get out of my pots! :-) But on a more serious note - there is much less metagame in SPINs, so I don't want to make crazy bluffs just for advertising purposes. Also as I said previously - given the amount of action, my reads are not that precise - and I just don't want to make uninformed random bluffs. So all-in-all, I probably bluff less in SPINs compared to HUSNGs.
Charles Hawk: What is your daily routine of standard work/grinding day? Tell me about your work ethic and off-table activities which are helping you be better?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): My favorite study method is to fire up PokerTracker Replayer and to go over my recent games. I try to find some interesting hands and think about them deeply. In the process I am asking myself lot of questions starting with Why??? For example: Why limping is better than minraising here? Why am I betting T40 and not T60 chips? Why I ended up in this spot with such a weak range? I really try to focus and be very specific with my answers.
What is my daily routine? This question brings back memories about elementary school and homework assignments :-) for english language class. I don't have some fixed pattern that I follow every day when it comes to grinding. Anyway, I am trying to live a balanced life so I try to avoid those super-long poker sessions (sometimes mentioned in interviews by pros).
Charles Hawk: What are your eating and sleeping habits? Do you do any sports? Do you think doing sports is important to be a better poker player?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): You probably know this question: "Do you eat to live, or live to eat?" My response is - I eat to live. So I try to eat regularly and avoid some really unhealthy stuff. That's it! I don't know what else to say about the subject. :-)
So let's continue with answering your question about my sleeping habits! My son Peter wakes up usually around 6.00 AM, so that's the time I am getting out of bed every day - be it Monday or Sunday. The time when I go to bed varies from 10PM to 3AM and sometimes I sleep a little bit during the afternoon.
OK, sports: I was doing more sport activities in my twenties. Now I am doing little bit of Yoga. One quote from Jim Rohn: "Some people don't do well, simply because they don't feel well." So being in good physical shape certainly helps also at poker tables.
Charles Hawk: If you had to coach a losing player to play Spin and Goes, what advices/lessons would you give?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): Obviously it depends. Maybe my basic advice would be: "Start small! Start with basic things, start at the lowest possible stakes, become a winner there and move up - step by step." If somebody is a beginner I would recommend them to read some good books and watch some videos before taking coaching lessons.
Charles Hawk: There are two schools of thought how to play from button: Openlimp or Openminraise. Which strategy do you use and why in your opinion is it better than the other one?
Daniel Sklár (Pl@yerABC): I experiment with both approaches and I really don't know which one is better.