There is no doubt that the new generation of young kids have changed poker and even though they have undoubtedly made the online poker games tougher, they have passed on their knowledge and educated us all. Today’s video features a short interview with one such “kid”……Hac Dang. After watching this video and seeing him for the first time, he actually comes across very well and I sort of like him.
The thing is (and I am not talking about Hac personally here) that these young kids have come into poker at a time when poker is very mainstream and the ability to be able to make very good money is well documented. They are coming in with qualifications and education that is enabling them (has enabled them) to take poker onto a whole new level.
The older material and poker books are seriously out of date (or most of them are). In fact these new hotshots have seriously taught me a thing or two about poker. Its rather amazing in a way because I spent years working and evolving my game only to then be classed as someone who was old school 
My game has slipped a long way behind the very best online cash players but I think that my strengths these days are in tournament poker. I know that I have the game to win a big title or a big tournament but I don’t have the game (yet) to play high-stakes poker online.
This was behind why I dropped the 100k at 25-50 last year. I was trying to play old school poker in some of the toughest online games in the world against some of the toughest players. It was only after I got outside help that I clawed that money back.
Hac Dang to me symbolises the new young breed, they are smart, highly educated, highly qualified and have the correct mindsets. People like me just carry too much baggage and are handicapped by dated theory and poor education.
In the correct environment of course then it is still highly effective and despite what a few people think, I can still play this bloody game very well. But sometimes you just have to go back to school and not be ashamed to admit it.
see you soon
Carl “The Dean” Sampson at poker loco
