GiantBuddha's Wellathon (ask me anything)

GiantBuddha

GiantBuddha

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I know I'm not a poker folk hero like leatherass, but I am currently on Day 3 of my own epic 28 day grind. So I thought I would tell you guys a little bit about it, and answer any questions, whether they're about the grind, LHE strategy, the Mayfair Club of old, vegan baking recipes, martial arts, or whatever else anyone wants to know.

Grindathon cliff notes: I'm quarantining myself in my apartment complex for 28 days to grind poker and raise money for charities. I won't be collecting the money myself. People make pledges, then donate the money themselves once the grind is done. I will also donate a portion of my winnings once the whole thing's done. I'll post the whole press release below in a response.
 
GiantBuddha

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Press Release

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — March 15, 2010 — Renowned Limit Hold’em poker player Paul “GiantBuddha” Hoppe is staging a one-man, 28-day “Grindathon” to raise money for a variety of charities. The fundraiser, which began today, was announced on the online poker training website Drag The Bar (www.dragthebar.com), where Hoppe is an instructor. The event will run through April 12.

Hoppe, who lives in New York City, likened the event to a “walk-a-thon or dance-a-thon, except I’ll be seated for most of it.” Hoppe, 31, has vowed to not leave his apartment complex during the 28-day period, and is asking individuals to pledge a particular amount based on hours played, hands played or pokerstars VIP Points Accumulated (VPP). Pledges can be sent to Hoppe via email at gbgbgaga@gmail.com, or via private message at DragTheBar.com. Hoppe will post daily updates of these three totals on DragTheBar.com in the form of a video blog.

Pledges will be capped at 400 hours, 160,000 hands and 250,000 PokerStars VPPs. Hoppe said that that if he so much as leaves his building, or plays fewer than 200 hours, 80,000 hands or 125,000 PokerStars VPPs, he will pay individuals 100 times their original pledge. If he both leaves his building and falls short of those minimum levels, he’ll pay 200 times the pledge.

In addition, DragTheBar.com will give the biggest contributor a free 1-year membership to the site. The second biggest donor will receive a free 6-month membership, and third place will receive a 3-month membership.

Donors can select from what Hoppe calls a “grab bag” of four charities:

• Autism Research
• Cancer Research
• The Poker Players’ Alliance
• A private charity to benefit family friends of Hoppe’s who are raising four children while the father endures treatment for kidney cancer

Hoppe’s father died from cancer 23 years ago. One of the children in the aforementioned family is autistic. In addition to the pledges, Hoppe will donate a portion of his profit from the online poker tables to the charities.

“Poker is not necessarily a job where on the surface you create a lot of value for society,” said Hoppe, who has been a professional player since 2006. “I was thinking around Christmas, that I should be doing more to give back. Then ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ came on TV … well, the ideas started flowing from there.”

Hoppe said he was inspired by Dusty Schmidt, another instructor on DragTheBar.com, who played online poker outdoors in Portland, Ore., this winter to raise awareness and funds for the homeless. Schmidt’s House of Cards charity ultimately generated $21,000 — enough to house and feed three homeless people in their own apartments for six months.

“I’m proud that our instructors are so active in their communities and find time to give back,” said Drag The Bar CEO Hunter Bick, who started the company nine months ago. "I'm happy that our coaches are very well-rounded. There aren't too many professions out there that allow for charitable fundraising while working."

“For the majority of my waking hours, I’ll be playing poker, playing a little guitar, running on my building’s plaza, and watching the occasional movie,” Hoppe said. “I won’t exactly be pushing the limits of human endurance, but I’ll certainly be pushing the limits of my personal endurance.”

Hoppe will be playing mid-stakes Limit Hold’em exclusively at limits $5/$10 through $30/$60. He will play primarily at pokerstars.com under the screen name “Giantbuddha.”
 
F Paulsson

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Hi Paul and welcome to CC!

I applaud your grindathon efforts; cool idea. A bit demented, but pretty cool.

Okay, a question... Um...

Can you name some important lessons that NL players should learn from LHE?

How many tables do you usually play at once?

How many hands do you typically play per month, and what's your typical total rake paid per month?

Good to have you here!

/Fredrik
 
GiantBuddha

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Thanks Fredrik! To answer your questions:

Can you name some important lessons that NL players should learn from LHE? In LHE we get to see a large percentage of showdowns (40%+), so it's a great game for learning how to read hands. It's also great for learning to count combos, since players tend to have somewhat more uniform ranges when opening from a given position. Finally, we get to see more flops in LHE (especially HUHU LHE), so it's a great way to practice reading board textures.

How many tables do you usually play at once? 4 to 6 tables most of the time. If I'm playing HUHU, I'll used to just play 1, but I've taken to starting tables pretty often, so I'll play someone heads up while playing 3 to 5 other tables at the same time.

How many hands do you typically play per month, and what's your typical total rake paid per month? It's hard for me to generalize, since last year I averaged about 20k hands per month. This year, I'm averaging over 50k hands per month, and I expect to play close to 100k hands during this grindathon. I pay about $20k in rake per month these days. Fortunately, once I hit Supernova Elite I should get over half of that back.
 
F Paulsson

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I'll follow up with a vegetarian question: My wife and I decided, somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly, to become vegetarians last fall, but we're still on the lookout for quick-and-easy recipes. What's your favorite? Preferably something that takes less than 30 minutes to cook and ideally also something that can be put away in the fridge for a day and re-heated without spoiling.
 
bazerk

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Again, welcome GiantBuddha/Paul (already did a fly bye with your intro thread :))! No ???s ATM, just wanted to subscribe to this thread. As indicated by F Paulsson, Grind-a-Thon = very cool idea :icon_thum :idea: >>> Best Wishes & Much Success with it!
 
Kasanova King

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Very nice project of yours and for a good cause. Welcome to the forum!
 
Stu_Ungar

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Thats a really nice thing you are doing.

GL
 
slycbnew

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Welcome GiantBuddha - great to have you here! Your project sounds great - I'm guessing/hoping you'll be blogging - link pls for everyone (I'm guessing I can find it on my own, but for simplicity...)?
 
Debi

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Hi Paul - thanks for joining! I read about this at DTB and wanted to pledge something myself.

If any of you guys here want to join me in a group Cardschat pledge send me a pm and we will come up with something together. I will send him a pledge on Monday so contact me before then. (I know he has already started - but hey this is a charity thing not a prop bet so who cares).

I would like for the donation to go to his friend's family (friend has cancer).
 
c9h13no3

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You play LHE. How many nails have you pounded through your dick? Why'd you pick a game that likely has less fish (correct me if I'm wrong) and a smaller edge?

And doesn't bacon taste good?
 
K

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Haha. Very funny above!

Anyway. This sounds like an absolutely awesome idea! I wonder what your daily routine looks like? How tightly do you have it all scheduled? Do you have a set meal plan? What's in it? Do you have anyone helping you to get through this?

Also, I think I saw that you are doing daily YouTube video updates. Can you link those here as well?


Thanks and keep strong!
 
Makwa

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Very cool pokerthon, all the best!

Lotsa pizza I guess??
 
xXSmuggla

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That's great that you can take your knowledge and apply it to help charity.

Why play LHE? Don't you think you could make more in other gametypes?

Since there is a large # of showdowns, do you consider LHE somewhat of a 'chasing' game?

What the hell is the old mayfair club?

btw..my two sisters and mother have been vegan's most of their life, they wont even prepare non-vegan food (which sucks for me) but its a huge commitment to make and I respect that
 
GiantBuddha

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I'll follow up with a vegetarian question: My wife and I decided, somewhat suddenly and unexpectedly, to become vegetarians last fall, but we're still on the lookout for quick-and-easy recipes. What's your favorite? Preferably something that takes less than 30 minutes to cook and ideally also something that can be put away in the fridge for a day and re-heated without spoiling.

The easiest thing to cook on a regular basis is stir-fry. Get a wok, throw in some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, or whatever other seasonings you want. Throw in some tofu, seitan, peas, or other protein source, some vegetables, stir it around, serve over rice. You can also add coconut milk and curry paste (Thai Kitchen makes one without fish sauce) to make a thai curry.

I also eat a lot of pasta - pretty simple, but adding stuff like peas or pine nuts can help out on the protein front.

Black beans w/rice, avocado, salsa, etc. is also super easy. You can use beans from scratch, but I'll usually just take a can of them and add in a slash vinegar, olive oil, and hot sauce, along with some salt, pepper, chili powder, tumeric, and cumin. Fresh diced onion, green or red peppers, and garlic can spice it up and add some crunch when I'm not feeling lazy.

Also, here's a super easy vegan pancake recipe from my blog: http://zenmadman.blogspot.com/2009/01/in-what-may-quickly-become-sunday.html

There are some things that were better before I was a vegan (cheese, mostly - especially pizza). But I like these pancakes way better - very light and fluffy - and eat them perhaps a bit too often.
 
icemonkey9

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1. Why "GiantBuddha" ... are you Buddhist?

2. How rewarding has it been being a poker instructor? Any great success stories?
 
GiantBuddha

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Again, welcome GiantBuddha/Paul (already did a fly bye with your intro thread :))! No ???s ATM, just wanted to subscribe to this thread. As indicated by F Paulsson, Grind-a-Thon = very cool idea :icon_thum :idea: >>> Best Wishes & Much Success with it!

Very nice project of yours and for a good cause. Welcome to the forum!

Thats a really nice thing you are doing.

GL

Welcome GiantBuddha - great to have you here! Your project sounds great - I'm guessing/hoping you'll be blogging - link pls for everyone (I'm guessing I can find it on my own, but for simplicity...)?


Thanks for the support everyone! I'm glad you asked about the blogging, sly. In fact, I'm posting a video blog each day here: http://zenmadman.blogspot.com
 
GiantBuddha

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You play LHE. How many nails have you pounded through your dick? Why'd you pick a game that likely has less fish (correct me if I'm wrong) and a smaller edge?

And doesn't bacon taste good?

Exactly zero, thankfully. That's the same number of times I've eaten bacon, so I can't comment on the taste. I'm not a big fan of the smell, though.

As for LHE, the games are better than most people think. Sure, there are fewer fish, but there are fewer all stars as well. It's just a smaller player pool.
 
WVHillbilly

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What do you consider good BRM for limit holdem? I mean I've always heard 300BBs but that just doesn't seem like enough to handle the swings.
 
GiantBuddha

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Why play LHE? Don't you think you could make more in other gametypes? LHE has always just made more sense to me, probably because it's the first version of Holdem I played. I have played all the games (even Triple Draw and Badugi), and plan to go into mixed games within the next year, but I'll never stop playing a large amount of LHE. I actually have more fun playing LHE than NL. I like to see flops and showdowns, and we get a lot of those in fixed limit.

Since there is a large # of showdowns, do you consider LHE somewhat of a 'chasing' game?
We always have great odds in LHE, so that means we can make very thin peels, thin bluffs, and thin call downs. Given all of that, we also make thin value bets, like A-hi on 3 streets from time to time. More than anything, it's a collection of very small edges.

What the hell is the old mayfair club?
If you've seen Rounders, it's the club that the Chesterfield was based on (w/Femke Jansen). Patrick Harrington and Howard Lederer used to play there. It's pretty much where I learned to play poker back in 1999/2000. It was an underground NYC club that got shut down in 2000 for health code violations. :rollseyes:
 
c9h13no3

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Do you think coaching is really worth the exuberant rates that most coaches charge? Sure, people make the assertion that its just 1 buy-in at their current limit, however, IMO winning poker is much more than having the information on how to beat games. Tilt control, talent, intelligence, experience all go into the soup that creates a winning poker game, but its quite hard to teach that stuff in a coaching session.
 
GiantBuddha

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Haha. Very funny above!

Anyway. This sounds like an absolutely awesome idea! I wonder what your daily routine looks like? How tightly do you have it all scheduled? Do you have a set meal plan? What's in it? Do you have anyone helping you to get through this?

Also, I think I saw that you are doing daily YouTube video updates. Can you link those here as well?


Thanks and keep strong!

Thanks kryptonite. I have my days fairly well structured, although it's a bit flexible. My basic day looks like this:

3 PM - Wake up, stretch, run on the plaza, eat breakfast
4 PM - Study Poker - retool my game
5 PM - Poker Session (snack at 6 PM while still playing)
9 PM - Eat dinner, relax
10 PM - Poker Session (snack at 1 AM while still playing)
2 AM - Session Review
3 AM - Record Video blog & Hand of the Day for DTB
4 AM - Upload vids, post on forum, relax, snack
7 AM - Sleep

The two 4 hour poker sessions will expand to 5 hours each by Saturday, and I'll try to maintain that for a while. Hopefully I'll get up to two 6 hour sessions on most days by the end of it all. It depends on how much faster I get at video blogging. So far all of the peripheral things like the vids have been taking more time that I expected.

I have no set meal plan, just the meal schedule - 3 PM, 6 PM, 9 PM, 1 AM, 4 AM. My girlfriend (whom I live with) helps with the food preparation.

My daily youtube video blogs are on my ZenMadman blog and on DTB.
 
GiantBuddha

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Hi Paul - thanks for joining! I read about this at DTB and wanted to pledge something myself.

If any of you guys here want to join me in a group Cardschat pledge send me a pm and we will come up with something together. I will send him a pledge on Monday so contact me before then. (I know he has already started - but hey this is a charity thing not a prop bet so who cares).

I would like for the donation to go to his friend's family (friend has cancer).

Thanks, dakota. It would be awesome if you got a sort of group pool thing going. I'm still accepting pledges, even though I'm a bit behind schedule. I'm pretty confident that I'll make my numbers, though. Once I dig myself in, I tend to be pretty stubborn with it, especially if it's a bit insane.
 
GiantBuddha

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Why "GiantBuddha" ... are you Buddhist? I'm not Buddhist, per se, but I'm pretty zen (not to be confused with littlezen). My screen name on Paradise Poker was GiantPanda, and it was taken on Stars, so I went with GiantBuddha on account of an old card protector I used live (which was actually a tiny buddha).

How rewarding has it been being a poker instructor? Any great success stories?
I love it. I probably enjoy talking about poker more than I enjoy actually playing it, so I get paid to do something I love doing. Making a living playing poker affords great freedom, and anything I can do to help others achieve that end makes me very happy.

What do you consider good BRM for limit holdem? I mean I've always heard 300BBs but that just doesn't seem like enough to handle the swings.
In today's high variance online games, I'd say 300BB is pretty light. It's fine for low variance games in which you have a huge edge, or if you're a recreational player (in which case it's not really a bankroll). But most players should have closer to 1,000 BB for limits that they need to keep playing. It all depends on your winrate, standard deviation, and risk tolerance. I currently won't play any games that I have fewer than 1,000 BBs in, although I think taking shots with 500 BB is fine.

Do you think coaching is really worth the exuberant rates that most coaches charge? Sure, people make the assertion that its just 1 buy-in at their current limit, however, IMO winning poker is much more than having the information on how to beat games. Tilt control, talent, intelligence, experience all go into the soup that creates a winning poker game, but its quite hard to teach that stuff in a coaching session.


I don't think all coaches are worth the exuberant rates that they charge. I haven't worked with many other coaches, but I do think there is a fundamental flaw in the way most people think about poker coaching. It takes more than a winning player to make a good poker coach. I think it's unreasonable for every player making $100/hour to assume that their coaching is worth $100/hour, or even $50/hour.

To be a good coach, one must actually know how to teach. Poker skill and knowledge are requisites for sure, but they are not the only requisites. The ability to communicate knowledge is not a widely held skill. While some people may have more talent at it than others, working to develop the skill of teaching is just as important as working to develop the skill for poker.

I started out teaching friends how to play a decade ago. I taught my girlfriend how to play six years ago. I taught martial arts for six or seven years, and did a good number of session review swaps with other players. All of this was before I ever charged anyone for a poker lesson. Still, I only charged my first student $25/hour at the beginning. Only after testing out a large number of coaching methods, trading sweat sessions with other players, and coaching a number of students did I feel justified in charging anything resembling my hourly rate from playing poker.

As for whether or not the value is there, I believe it is. I don't know how to teach intelligence or experience, but a good coach can show a student how to make the most of their intelligence and experience. And I can recommend a guy for working on tilt control.
 
PC69

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Stepping in for a second.. Answers were getting here to the questions are top notch.. Really interesting to read... Back in the a.m. to post questions.
 
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