Riporto un'intervista con Olivier Busquet.
Questo tizio è stato n1 (leaderboard) nella classifica mensile di SScope x 4VOLTE !
in pratica per essere dei vincenti a sto gioco bisogna essere dei completi idioti
ha iniziato giocando 1-2$ 3 anni fa e all'inizio è andato schienato infinite volte facendo dei versamenti da 200$ - 500$ - 1000$ poi ha iniziato a versare 2-3K$ - aumentava livello , si sparava dei 5-10 - 10-20 - 25-50$ e finiva schienato regolarmente ha chiesto soldi a prestito 5K$ a botta, schienato di nuovo, ha perso il lavoro perchè giocava mentre era al lavoro, poi ha sculato ....
si è messo a giocare solo SNG HU
e adesso, SOLO SU FT .... è messo cosi' .... l'impennata dopo i 10.000 game è impressionante ...
Gioca 50 ore a settimana e dice che ne gioca 1 alla volta quindi circa 900 HU / mese.
da quando si vede lo "swing" da -100K$ ( attorno al game n. 19.000), sta giocando il 5.200$ che è il max su FT ma adesso viaggia bene.
INTERVISTA
Olivier Busquet is one of the best Husng players of the world. He plays onFulltilt and Pokerstars with theses pseudonyms: Livb112 and Adonis112.
His History…
1 – Could you introduce yourself please?
My Name is Olivier Busquet, i’m 27 year old male, from NYC, my job is pro poker
player. I read a lot work out, play sports, go out to restaurants, clubs,
interested in politics, art, science, philosophy. I love tennis and basketball,
and I used to run track and to play a lot of chess.
2 – Could you talk about your own story in poker? When did you heard about it
and started to play?
About 3 years ago, I had never really played poker with friends or casually or
anything, a friend invited me to play in a game among friends. I played; I was
not good but liked it. Then, someone I worked with told me I could play on the
internet. So, I got an account and put some money in, couple hundred dollars and
started to play cash game at smallish stakes 1-2$.I lost my BR a few times. I
was working at the time at a small trading firm in NYC, Wall Street job, living
at home with my parents.
I have always loved games, competition, and strategy. Poker was a natural fit
for my personality I’m not a gambler-type, I don’t like casinos and I don’t get
a thrill from taking risks for their own sake. Many high stakes players make
huge bets on all types of different and in my opinion dumb things; I am nothing
like that.
So I started to read a little about poker and play more, improved. I remember
the first day I moved up to 2-4, i got destroyed. Thought it was a totally
different game and that I was just bad, which I was at the time of course, but
the money difference was huge for me. I remember I finally flopped a set, and my
opponent had a higher set, and I was so sad. I went broke soon thereafter, and
redeposit.
I started to read more, but just books eventually, I got sick and tired and
there was no 3-6$ so I went str8 to 5-10. If I ever had 1k, I would sit 5-10.I
went broke many times with this brainless strategy. I knew nothing about
bankroll management or game selection or anything.
I wasn’t a winner in the 2-4 game, but eventually at 5-10, I would make runs,
and then lose, but I was improving a lot. I was still very bad though.
Eventually I met a guy named Dustin Dirksen, who was new to ftp and making a lot
of money quickly. We became friends AND he told me about a site called
“Twoplustwo”.I started reading from highs takes cash section of twoplustwo.At
this time, I had a different job at a hedge fund in Connecticut. I ran good as I
improved, and I went on a big run at 5-10. Then moved to 10-20$, made more, 25-
50$ made some more, and had 100k in about 5-6 weeks. Then I moved to 50-100$ and
got destroyed and tilted. I played every top player I could find, and lost my
100k in about 3-4 days. I was totally devastated.
Well for a long time, I didn’t have any money, and would deposit 2k or 3k and
play 5-10, and would lose it almost every time. So I was totally broke, I had
zero money, but I had a job and I lived at home.
Eventually one of the guys (krisqueen) I played with at 25-50, decided to stake
me, i wrote him a long email and he agreed to give me a chance, so he staked me
5k. I lost most of the stake, and decided to try my luck at another site. I
moved the rest of the money, maybe 2k to Pokerstars. I started playing 3-6,
killed my first session and moved str8 to 5-10.On Pokerstars, I went on a sick
good run. My staking deal wasn’t great, so I had to pay krisqueen a lot of
money, but I played him what I owed, and had a BR of my own. I moved up to 10-20
and lost, then moved the rest of my bankroll to ftp(maybe around 30k).
During this time, I would play HU SnG’s from time to time. I was ok not but
good, and would lose overall.
3 – At which buy-ins did you started playing HU SnG’s?
100$ I think. Well, it depended how much money i had, because when I went back
to FTP, I played pretty high stakes, and went on a big run again.
Then I got fired from my job, because I was playing poker at work… and they
caught me. They even warned me, and I didn’t care, I hated my job. And I was
obsessed with poker. I thought about poker constantly, I didn’t see my friends
much, I didn’t have a girlfriend. I would read about poker or play 95% of my
free time. I would run home from the train every day, and sit at my computer
until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Sometimes play all night, not sleep and go
to work. Sometimes call in at work and pretend to be sick. I was obsessed… and
not in a good way.
My parents were worried, after I got fired, I wanted to play poker fulltime, but
I didn’t have a big bankroll. I was confident I would win. I also started
playing tournaments and had gotten pretty good at them.
I was still a losing HU SnG’s player, and only playing when i was tilting or
bored.
I got into a fight with my father because he had the cable company block the
channel that played poker. So I couldn’t watch the WPT every week…
So I decided to move out, and got my own place Manhattan. Then my expenses got
bigger, and I played in bigger games… and got crushed. I lost most of my money.
I was pretty good, but not great, and would tilt and lose a lot. Eventually a
good friend (wuddacooler) staked me and i made money right away and paid him
back. I had some money but literally tilted and lost it all right away. Then I
met a guy randomly, totally randomly, never spoken to him before, and I told him
my story, and he said he would stake me. He didn’t even have a lot of money, it
was very strange. It was one of the most random and generous things I have seen
in poker. He actually gave me access to an account he had with 5k in it
So the first day, I won a 24 dollar tournament on his stake for 5k. Paid him
back the same day and had 5k of my own. I decided to take HU SnG’s
seriously…why?
Because on day, I was in a tournament and talking trash to someone. And someone
told me I was down 4k, and that I was bad. But I didn’t have any clue what they
were talking about. He said “sharkscope”. And I looked on the website sharkscope
for the first time. I was determined to improve my results, driven by my ego
mostly.
So i started playing 100 dollar non turbo HU SnG’s, and taking them very
seriously, playing 20-30 a day, and following on sharkscope like a hawk.
I was good right away, after I dedicated myself to them. I played super
aggressively and people were weak, especially at nonturbos. In turbos you had
some maniacs but nonturbos mostly nits. So my style worked well, I just grinded
like this for months. I always had confidence in myself because of sharkscope.
No matter what i had a record of my results and I could analyze them and break
them down. I knew how I did on certain days like for example Fridays was very
bad for me. And I would go out on Thursday night a lot. So I would wake up
Fridays hung-over and feeling crappy, and would play bad. I started to
understand all of these things. And pay a lot of attention, also when I would
tilt it was much less expensive.
4 - Do you think the mental side of poker is an important factor?
Its the most important aspect of being a HU SnG pro. Not of playing one game, or
a series of 10 games, but grinding day in and day out.1k games a month on
average, dealing with the variance, playing your best as much as possible
improving your game, adapting to other peoples styles, keeping confidence,
staying motivated. So much mental, and I wasn’t a natural. I have had huge
emotional roller coasters; I have lost confidence totally many times… but always
came back.
I played a guy named bmwnick1 who played a very different style from me, and
seemed much more in control. I had trouble beating 550s and moving up.
After playing nick, I thought about what he did differently. And he limped a
lot, played small pots in position. So, I did a test!
I decided to limp every single hand I had, for about 1k games. And I did well,
not great, but well.
It changed my outlook a lot:
There were certain players who when you limp at 15-30 for example, will raise QT
offsuit. If you have say KJo and call, flop is A72, they bet out, you fold and
they win.
If you had risen originally with KJ, they call with Q10, same flop, they check,
you bet, they fold, you win.
I knew aggression was important, but most players just check q10o when you limp.
It was a certain group of players that didn’t and gave me problems. I had to
know my opponent, and adjust to how they played. My style became that of a
chameleon, always adjusting. Being able to be a maniac against a nit, but a
trapper against a maniac. I try not to have one style, I try to play according
to my opponent. I know basic principles and can apply them. Position is
important, aggression too; hand ranges are essential etc…
Those are fundamental building blocks, but the difference between good players
and great players at HU SnG’s, is that great players can play many different
styles depending on who they play. That is one difference between “sifosis” and
“skilled_sox” for example. Sox is aggressive all the time, sifosis is generally
conservative, but can play very differently depending on who he is playing.
So, I played a lot of tournaments and HU SnG, and did well, and grinded and
moved up to 1100$.
Well, there are really two issues when you move up:
There’s the external issue of your opponents: do they get better as you move up?
Generally yes but not necessarily.
Then there is the internal issue: can u handle the swings? Does the money matter
too much? Do you play the same? Do u play better or worse?
5 - Is there a huge gap between the $1100 and the $2200 SnG’s? Because at that
point, every players are great, isn’t it?
Yes, difference can be small but still exist.
6 - Is that a technical or mental difference?
both
7 - About your sharkscope graph : for about 10,000 games you’re winning
consistently, then until 19,000 you start to win a lot faster, and then change
again at the time of the 2+2 challenge. Could you explain that to me please?
Yes, 2 reasons: I moved up in stakes, and I changed my style (the bmwnick part
of the story…).
8 - What was your style before that?
Super aggressive, running over everyone, potting it, raising every hands shoving
every pairs, etc…
9 - Was it a winning style on those $110 SnG’s?
Yes and 220$.
For the last part of my graph, I’m not sure why I’ve had so much trouble winning
on ftp the last 4 months. A lot of it is variance in 5ks.
10 - I saw you played a lot versus “imthefranchise”…
Yes, I have lost a lot playing him and he is no doubt very good. But the simple
fact is that he has run insanely good versus me.
11 - Did he win that war?
He’s definitively beaten me for a lot
12 - Could you tell us how’s his style?
He is very good; he is tricky, aggressive post flop but makes small bets. I
think he has a very good sense of hand ranges. Mentally he is also very strong,
he rarely tilts. If he starts to lose, he quits right away.
13 - Why to play against each other? Because of ego? To keep practicing on a
high level?
Some ego, some because there is so little competition on ftp in 5ks…
14 - Who are regulars in $5k?
getmoneyobv, plzstoplookin, bmwnick1, fl39, knickadam55.Nordberg is pretty good
too.
There are a couple players I don’t know at all, but have done well. They never
sit first and game select hardcore: nina_wiggle, purecash25 is another,
greatdanbino is good.
15 - What’s the percentage of the gambling players?
Players like that are pretty rare, maybe 10-20%.
But that doesn’t leave the rest to be regulars, I play a lot of tournament and
cash game players, who are good at poker, but aren’t necessarily great at HU, or
aren’t necessarily great at HU tournaments.
HU SnG’s and HU cash can be pretty different, especially as the blinds move up.
HU cash game players for example, tend to play out of position much less because
position tends to make more of a difference as the hand develops. So when stacks
are deeper they matter more. so high stakes HU cash players have a huge aversion
to play oop consequently, they fold their blind a lot, but for them they are not
used to that mattering, because they are used to just reloading when they get
below a level. And if they lose a bunch of small pots
they don’t care when they win the big one.
But in a HU SnG, if you fold too much you can’t reload and you get shortstacked,
and are at a huge disadvantage.
I am more willing, to play a hand oop, sometimes that hurts me.
Also in cash games,3 betting with a garbage hand doesn’t make sense if you have
29o and someone makes it 150, and you make it 500 with 29o.In a HU SnG, with
even stacks not many people will call. Some will and you have to know that, but
most will fold or shove. So if they fold or shove, your hand doesn’t matter. You
are either calling or folding, so having a hand like [910s] doesn’t help you if
you’re folding to a shove.
In a cash game its totally different, your rarely in a fold/shove spot, so
players waste hands like that by 3 betting and folding.
16 - Which is the blind level you find out that others start to play badly?
On FTP, I think 30-60, they start to shove too wide preflop. With like 15bbs,
they shove suited connectors and weak aces. They usually don’t have a strong
grasp of hand ranges.
That is one big difference between ImtheFranchise and most cash game players. He
is very good as the blinds get bigger, has a seemingly intuitive understanding
of hand ranges.
And at FTP the blind levels change rapidly. And there are more of them so small
adjustments to hand ranges is important.
On pokerstars it’s different, which creates a very different dynamic
On pokerstars, certain players play the 25-50 level HORRIBLE: they start to
shove all the time, at 25-50 its so bad. Also at 50-100 on pokestars, there are
people, even good players, who shove like 90% of hands, its not that its
horrible, but its exploitable and beatable, and unnecessary in my opinion.
17 - How can you get so accurate at reading others? Is it only because of your
own experience or because of some mathematics?
No, it’s more experience and feel based.
18 - Do you play along with a tracker?
No, I use no stats or software or tracker or anything. The only thing i use
besides the poker sites is sharkscope.
But the reality is I have always been very good at math especially arithmetic.
Very quick with numbers, so a lot of it comes naturally. But also when people
use math in poker, assumptions are huge, so people pretend to know what they are
doing or that they’re play is math obligated. But it’s based on assumptions they
make that could be wrong or just adjusted to have a different outcome. The fact
is that poker is and will always be a people game. You cannot simply apply math
because people are unpredictable and can act irrationally and it happens all the
time.
19 - What about the amount to bet in HU? Is that really important for you?
Very, but its hard to breakdown precisely how. Well that also depends on your
opponent. Half pot, 3/4 pot, and full pot give off different impressions, people
perceive them differently.
ImTheFranchise has a good strategy, because he usually bets the same percentage
of the pot, so it’s hard to read. But there are many different approaches: some
people bet pot with big hands, some people bet pot with bluffs, good players
obviously mix it up.
In general though, since in poker especially HU you don’t normally have a strong
hand, I think being able to get away with making smaller bets is better. Because
you risk less to win more. Also your style is important; if you play many pots
your average strength hand will be worse. So you should be betting smaller. If
you play fewer pots your hand on average will be stronger, so you should be
betting larger to build bigger pots with better hands.
20 - You said you would change your strategy according to your opponent. But how
do you do when you don’t know him at all?
If I’ve never played someone, I usually start off slowly, limp a lot, raise good
hands play straight forward. I try to get a sense of how he/she plays. I will
throw in a 3 bet to see if he calls how fast he calls, etc…
In limped pots I try to represent different hands, and try to value bet as
thinly as possible
I try to create an image and exploit it, depending on the actual hands I get and
the plays I make. I can either have a conservative or aggressive image, and I
try to exploit that. I’m also aware that many people know me without me knowing
them and they assume I am capable of making big bluffs. Having a reputation it’s
good for me; it makes better players avoid me and creates game selection by
itself.
21 - Have you ever played with guys like “genius28?, “stevebet” or
“dariominieri”?
Yes of course. Genius only a few times, he is of course good but by no means
unbeatable. Dario is overrated and didn’t impress me. I’d rather not share too
much about specific players that I continue to play but dario and steve are
beatable, and I will play them.
22 - Do you play some HU cash games?
Not really, I still tilt, and I don’t love playing poker as much. I make a lot
of money doing what I do, and I’ trying to balance my life with less poker and
more fulfilling things
23 - How many games within a day?
Usually one table sometimes more. I play about 50 hours a week.
24 - How can you play high stakes games 50hrs/week without tilting?
I do tilt
25 - But looking to your sharkscope graph, it looks like you keep control of
your downswings, just like a machine?
I am much disciplined, but I do tilt, and when I lose I focus a lot to come
back.
26 - Do you play with a “stop loss” strategy as Phil Ivey does?
No.
27 - And what about game selection?
No I don’t game select much… (ndlr: laughs), but I do have friends and I don’t
play my friends. Many of my friends are good HU SnG players on FTP and some on
PS. getmoneyobv, plzstoplookin, wag dodge, bmwnick1: I don’t play any of them.
28 - What’s a day to livb22? How do you get the balance between poker and social
life?
That’s a tough question, I have a girlfriend that I love very much, I try to
spend as much time with her as I can and I am close with my family and friends.
I don’t have a typical day, it depends totally, I play whenever I want, no set
schedule.
29 - What are your objectives on the middle term? And long term?
Short term I want to be ranked 1 and 2 on sharkscope. For the long term I want
to win a big live tournament WSOP or WPT.
30 - Do you think to still be playing on the long term?
It depends how profitable it can be, if I can continue to make a lot of money
than I want to play for a while.
I would really like to be sponsored by a site to play, because I pay so many
rake. A sponsorship would make me a lot of money
31 - Do you play some 6-max cash games or others, for fun?
Sometimes.
32 - Do you think about playing live cash games?
Yes.
33 - So can you tell me what your bigger downswing is? And upswing?
Downswing, maybe losing 100k in 4 days. Upswing, I’m not sure, prolly on stars
recently.
34 - What do you usually do with your money?
I drive an expensive car (Maserati), I live in a penthouse apartment, buy
cloths, and go out to nice restaurants but I also invest my money.
35 - The game dramatically changed in cash games since 2004, is that the same
for SnG?
Yes people have definitely improved but less so than cash games. I think part of
the reason is there is less information, there aren’t instructional videos, and
also it is HU, so HU tougher to learn. So much opponents and context specific
things. So many variables.
36 - What would you like to say to beginners?
I would say, learn lessons like bankroll management and game selection as early
as possible. Try to read as much as you can from smart articulated players, and
then just play a lot. Try to be decision oriented, not results oriented and be
self-aware. It’s important to be self-aware; many people overestimate their
abilities as poker players. Know yourself,
How good you are, it’s just poker, just a game. If someone is better than you or
if you can’t become very good it’s not the end of the world, it’s a stupid card
game. No more no less. It doesn’t make you a bad or good person
37 - Thank you very for taking the time to answer my questions
No problem.
thanks to not post the whole interview on forums, but a part or best of is not a
problem :) with a link.
