FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#482 – My “Pro Chat” During FTOPS Event #15 – Part I of IV

Posted by Editor | Filed under FTOPS, I = Genius, I = Idiot, My family, My Life

Part of my duties hosting FTOPS Event #15 – one of which was NOT busting out in 1,722nd place; I did that on my own thank you very much – included hosting a “pro chat.” I chatted for two hours and answered just about every question put to me, some several times. I’m reprinting the transcript for anyone interested, exactly as it appeared online. Because of the length, I’ve broken it into four parts.

Welcome! This chat event will begin shortly. You may play poker while waiting for this chat session to begin by opening a new game window.
Michael Craig has entered the room.

Michael Craig: I just finished getting $1000 of dental work and I’m playing the HORSE along with the Turbo FTOPS I’m hosting. And I hate my avatar. Waddaya wanna ask?

Question From KingKongKK: Do you prefer turbo tournaments vs. normal tournaments, and if so, why?
Michael Craig: I fell in love with turbos because of the Turbo Hundo, which starts at midnight local time. I can’t play a 5-6 hour regular tournament at that time, but the amt of time for the turbo is just right. I also like how the format teaches preflop play.

Question From fuzzylander: I am just starting to play limit hold em and I was wondering if you have any advice for me as far as raising when there are not many players at the table?
Michael Craig: My play is based on Howard Lederer’s chapter in The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide. Generally, always enter the pot raising, and base your hand selection on the number of players left to act, not total at the table.

Question From ThrasherFD: Good evening from Mississippi. Do you ever play in any of the Freerolls?
Michael Craig: Occasionally, for fun.

Question From Lewellyn Evans: I just wanted to offer a compliment on the Tilt Strategy Guide, Michael. I just got it and it’s so cleanly and clearly written…so kudos to you.
Michael Craig: Thanks. I know I learned a huge amount from writing it, so the advice has been “amateur tested”.

Question From CBUD22: When playing online do you take notes on other players?
Michael Craig: Very rarely. I’ll note just a couple strategies – like limping with aces. Otherwise, I’ll use that program that collects the hand histories. And again, just for basics, like how many hands they play, whether they raise a lot in steal position.

Question From ThrasherFD: What do you do to keep your mind on the game if its done 3 + hours?
Michael Craig: Not sure I understand the Q – you mean AFTER that much time? If so, that’s pretty easy. Getting in the money, figuring out how to get deep in the money, seeing who’s playing so I can steal. It’s way easier to keep my mind in it than early on.

Question From CBUD22: Do you prefer short handed play over a full table?
Michael Craig: I prefer playing short handed against people who are used to playing full-table. Especially if it’s at the end of a big MTT. I’m surprised when it gets to short-handed (1, 2 tables) and heads-up how the survivors may not be short-handed players.

Question From MustanqGT: hi, who do you think is the best all around poker player?
Michael Craig: I’m in trouble if don’t think it’s Michael Craig when I’m sitting at the table.

Question From TheItalian705: live, when the blinds start to rise how do you deal with a recklessly loose table that bets everything
Michael Craig: I try to be that player. But if I’m short, I try to estimate what quality of hand he needs to play this way, so I can move in with a better hand.
Michael Craig: Oh, and I also figure out how to get him off my blinds.

Question From OMGBlink182: how long would it have taken to reach a steady bankroll and maintain it?
Michael Craig: If you follow Chris Ferguson’s rules, then you’re always maintaining it.

Question From MustanqGT: lol, what is your favorite game to play?
Michael Craig: Whatever they’re dealing. Seriously, I like mixed games, and enjoy all forms of limit poker, as well as NLHE. PLO is probably the only game I’m not REALLY comfortable at. Haven’t played it much.

Question From ndbball21: largest toruney cash?
Michael Craig: $39k in the Sunday Brawl, $31k winning the $40k Guarantee a couple months ago, a couple final tables at WSOP 2007.

Question From Tyler Kawahara: how old are you?
Michael Craig: I’m the oldest online tournament player in existence. I’m 49.

Question From lferg: you not like chris?
Michael Craig: Chris Ferguson? He’s a good friend, a tremendously talented poker player, a great teacher, fabulous subject to write about. What do you think?

Question From Asians Bluff: What got you into poker?
Michael Craig: Al Alvarez’s THE BIGGEST GAME IN TOWN. I thought the game and the personalities seemed fascinating. So I decided to start playing. It was about 1990.

Question From b-rad0734: I love your book and def the blog.. any more books on the way
Michael Craig: Thanks. Most likely not about poker. I’m overdue for a new writing project but right now I’m spending a month or two on a movie script – zombies, prostitutes, serial killers, and crooked politicians in Washington DC. It’s a political scifi comedy.

Question From Tyler Kawahara: who is the toughest pro player that you have played against?
Michael Craig: I’ve played with David Pham on two occasions for a little while and the guy just freaks me out. And Andy Bloch seems to own me.

Question From pingeyemat: How do you deal with bad beats?
Michael Craig: By keeping a sense of perspective. Online, I look back at hand histories of tournaments I’ve won. I’ve GIVEN a bad beat or two, I’ve discovered.

Question From fuzzylander: when starting to play limit poker in a casino, how much bankroll should you have in order to play in a 3-6 limit game?
Michael Craig: I’d follow Ferguson’s rule: don’t have more than 5% of your bankroll on the table in a cash game.

Question From KHALILONE: what games would u say i should play ive got 100 in my account?
Michael Craig: games where you can win.

Question From certifiedgame: what advice would u give someone thats trying to move up in the poker world?
Michael Craig: Don’t go too fast, don’t go too soon. Follow smart bankroll management rules. Realize that you don’t know everything yet. Be brutally honest with yourself. Those are a few.

Question From Tyler Kawahara: Have you ever played against either phil ivey or phil hellmuth? what do you think of their games?
Michael Craig: I play just online and at big tournaments – and not even very many – so while I’ve gotten to play wiht a lot of top players, I haven’t played with the Phils. But I’ve written about both their games. Hellmuth in a Bluff cover feature last year, Ivey in the second part of the Bluff article about his games with Andy Beal. Both incredible players in their ways.

Question From KHALILONE: whats your favorite game?
Michael Craig: Whatever they’re dealing. As I mentioned before, I love all the mixed games, love NLHE, love all the limit games. But I need to get more experience at PLO.

Question From MustanqGT: do you prefer cash games or tournaments? and why
Michael Craig: Tournaments. They fit my mentality better. I like the “game” aspect of the tournament – it’s not like playing the hands at the table but exploiting rules: chip stacks, blind and ante levels, distance from the money. And I always know when I’m done.

Question From Asians Bluff: What do you think is the most important thing in NLHE
Michael Craig: There are a lot of “most important thing”s. Focusing on tournaments, my favorites involve controlling the pot size and understanding pot odds in all-in situations, as well as implied odds in deep-stack situations.

Question From SimoneK: hi there! how is doing the ftops?
Michael Craig: I finished in the money in the Stud and Limit Hold ‘Em. Low money but that’s the same number of cashes as I got in FTOPS 1-8.

Question From pingeyemat: How did you start your bankroll?
Michael Craig: When I started in 1990, it wasn’t really an issue. I played once a month or so when I went to Vegas. I played $3-$6 LHE at the Mirage with $100 at a time. Pre-poker, I was taking $2k-$5k to Vegas for craps and blackjack.

Question From EatShootNLeave: do you think you would have a different perspective about someones playstyle in the sense of observance and in the sense of playing against them?
Michael Craig: you’re more attuned to what someone’s doing when you play them, definitely. But, as Yogi Berra said, “you can observe a lot just by watching.”

Question From Professor Perez: What skills other than money managment and game selection do you think a person has to have to be a winning poker player, skills that have nothing or lil to do with the actual playing of hands ?
Michael Craig: Being honest with yourself, being capable of self-assessment, developing the psychological backbone to deal with the swings and uncertainties.

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