I was having a discussion with a colleague the other day who basically slated the fact that I was a multi-tabling “pro”. In fact calling him a colleague would be very loose fitting and other names may be more apt. However the point was that he labelled me a “bottom feeder” which he said in a rather uncomplimentary way which needled me. Not that it should needle me seeing as I have made far more money from poker than him and will be playing poker long after he has busted out (cat fight possibility).
I mentioned this on my poker blog a few weeks ago but I firmly believe that sacrificing your progression up the levels is not only a very important step, I think it is the ONLY step. I look around the middle limits these days of NL400 and upwards and maybe I am missing something but I am struggling to see value. I know numerous top professionals who did well at middle limits for a while and then found that they couldn’t make money any longer.
High-stakes poker games are even worse because where in hell is the value supposed to be? I am not naïve enough or conceited enough to think that I will be able to find some edge that other highly smart people haven’t been able to find. It is certainly true that if you bottom feed like I do (a name given to a player that feeds off very weak poker players without moving up) then you will not win any style marks. However I just don’t see what value improving your technical game to a high level is going to do for you because you sure as hell don’t need a PhD to work in a Butchers shop.
Just too many players will be playing poker at a very high level once you reach the NL400 levels and so value is going to be thin and variance is going to be very high. My own definition of a successful poker player is one that has been active within the game and won considerable money over their lifetime. It isn’t some hot shot that is up a million one month and down a million the next. People like Tom Dwan (pictured) are a very rare exception and emulating him or trying to is going to be a big mistake. If you make $50k per year bum hunting and then you do that for forty years then $2 million in lifetime earnings is going to take some beating….for anybody.
This is how I define success and just like when you are looking at your own results, short term fluctuations will lead to warped opinion. A NL100 player may be nowhere near the top of the poker pyramid but in terms of the pyramid of money winners then they are pretty damn close to that apex if they have been hugely successful at that level for many years.
