Interesting questions posed by a potential backer

[ThePadster]

Below are a selection of questions a backer asked potential horses when looking for people to stake which I found interesting and wondered how some of you guys may respond.

Mixture of questions designed to get a feel not only of the potential horses ability (sharkscpe/OPR etc provide a good part of this), but the type of person.

Recently there have been some pretty sick rolls on the site (that is where a horse wins money and doestn pay shareholders, or gets backers mone and disappears), as well as some outstanding successes (this week new backer backed a bunch of guys for in ftops on 80% backers cut, 1 guy won one for $209k and im sure to the backers relief shipped him his monster cut str8 away!)


Tell us about your poker playing experience:
Would you classify yourself as a amateur, semi-pro, or professional (explain):
If you made no income off of poker for 4 months, how would that affect you financially?
Why should we feel comfortable that you won’t roll us?
If you had to pick one, which are you most similar to: tight passive, loose passive, TAG, or LAG?
Describe your style of play.
How much volume do you generally put in?
How many tables do you generally play at one time?
What limits do you generally play?
Do you study poker? If so how often? If you study, please describe what you do to study?
Tell us what you do to manage downswings.
How would you describe your sense of humor? Playful, Dark, Sarcastic, Self deprecating???
What do you do on days when you do not play poker?
How supportive is your family of you playing poker?
What is your ultimate goal in poker?
How many big blinds would you say a reship or reshove stack is?
How often do you 4 bet light? in what situations? with what stack sizes?
If you’re on the button with 40 big blinds, and the cutoff opens for 2.5x with 40 big blinds, this being your 1st hand at the table, also assuming the small blind and big blind have 100bbs, what do you do with AJ offsuit? Why?
What is your general game plan (assuming there are antes) with a 10bb stack? 25bb stack? 40bb stack? 60+bb stack?

[tfeilding]

Here goes for me....

Tell us about your poker playing experience:
Would you classify yourself as a amateur, semi-pro, or professional (explain):

I'm an amateur - though I have an essentially part time job and poker monies exceed wage monies. This might shift me into the semi-pro category but I don't think that is accurate.

If you made no income off of poker for 4 months, how would that affect you financially?

Things would be fine if I was break even over those 4 months. If I lost every single buy-in then it would pinch. I have pretty healthy savings though and can ride through a storm or two.

Why should we feel comfortable that you won’t roll us?

I dont fully understand this - are you asking why I wouln't roll a staker? I would roll anyone for a small amount of money if I thought it might give me a return or improve their game if I knew them.

If you had to pick one, which are you most similar to: tight passive, loose passive, TAG, or LAG?

Tight passive. I'm the guy who doesnt see a flop for an hour and never defends a blind.

Describe your style of play.

I like to get trappy. When im in a pot, I play it big. That's not to say I don't know when I'm beat, but I live check raising people and making my hand look like a monster. I'm aware of my image at the table and play accordingly. I'm generally perceived to be a rock but later on in a game I open up and abuse this image.

How much volume do you generally put in?

I play live around 30 hours a week.

How many tables do you generally play at one time?

Live? One. I don't play online much but when I do I play 8 tables.

What limits do you generally play?

Online: MTTs from $0-$30. Typically freezeouts and ideally deepstacks.
Live: From £2 in the pub to £35 in the casino. I have occasional forays into the realms of £100-£500 though.

Do you study poker? If so how often? If you study, please describe what you do to study?

Yeah, I've read some books. I also read several forums and discuss hands with a small group of guys. I also watch whatever gets broadcast in the UK plus some stuff like the WSOP on pokertube/youtube.

Tell us what you do to manage downswings.

I try and plough through them and burst out the other side. I don't take extended breaks but I might decide to focus more on the cheaper games.

How would you describe your sense of humor? Playful, Dark, Sarcastic, Self deprecating???

Playful and dark are two quite fitting words. I like banter and craic. I also often stop myself making certain jokes because for some reason people are a little sensitive about some things.

What do you do on days when you do not play poker?

This does not compute. *ahem* I might just chill at home in front of a film or go to the cinema or get sloshed in the pub.

How supportive is your family of you playing poker?

On the whole not very supportive though I'm breaking through to them and they are realising that poker is not like playing blackjack or roulette for instance.

What is your ultimate goal in poker?

Maintain being a winning player. In the short term, play some GUKPT and UKIPT games and see if I can cut it there.

How many big blinds would you say a reship or reshove stack is?

15ish. 20 is awkward and 10 gives about evens on a call so lacks fold equity.

How often do you 4 bet light? in what situations? with what stack sizes?

I'm very careful with this. It depends largely on players' images and stack size. To take an example from last year – I was playing a £100 game at Dusk til Dawn and had James Bagley and Neil Blatchley on my table and both were opening alot of plots and playing against each other plenty. I decided the next time this happened I was going to pop up and take the pot away pre flop with a 4-bet. Sure enough shortly after they tangled and I shipped in my chips – fortunately I had QQ as Blatchely called with JJ. I would have made the move at this exact moment with a bunch of trash hands though so I think the answer is still applicable and I feel I would have been unlucky for Blatch to wake up with a hand in that spot given all the action.

If you’re on the button with 40 big blinds, and the cutoff opens for 2.5x with 40 big blinds, this being your 1st hand at the table, also assuming the small blind and big blind have 100bbs, what do you do with AJ offsuit? Why?
I take the flop. A raise bloats the pot and makes things post flop rather tricky. Just flatting means the pot is only 6-8bb deep when the flop drops. This allows for more dynamic play post flop and allows you to get away from some situations.
What is your general game plan (assuming there are antes) with a 10bb stack? 25bb stack? 40bb stack? 60+bb stack?

10bb I look for shoving spots. 67s+ Ax+ depending on position.
25bb I might be looking to call preflop or I can re-raise pre in some spots but this is player/hand dependant
40bb & 60bb I treat the same and play in a conventional manner.

[s4ooter]

Tell us about your poker playing experience:
Would you classify yourself as a amateur, semi-pro, or professional (explain):

Im 100% amateur, a student of the game and passionate

If you made no income off of poker for 4 months, how would that affect you financially?

It wouldnt at all as Poker and life are 2 seperate things for me

Why should we feel comfortable that you won’t roll us?

Im not Jamie Gold

If you had to pick one, which are you most similar to: tight passive, loose passive, TAG, or LAG?

I swing from LAG and TAG depending on game really, aim to portay LAG and expolit by playing TAG

Describe your style of play.

I tend to mix it up when possible. Live i am confident on my hand reading ability to call light if needed, mainly as i focus on players. Online altho aggressive i am very mathematical in my approach and see all the small sessions as a long game over a period of time (6months)

How much volume do you generally put in?

bout 20 hrs a week

How many tables do you generally play at one time?

depends what i am playing, HU sngs 2-4, MTTs/SNGS 8, cash 4

What limits do you generally play?

Online: MTTs from $0-$30.
Live: Up to £50, occasionlly bigger with backing

Do you study poker? If so how often? I spend 4 hours a week reviewing HH, and read as much poker literature as possible.

Tell us what you do to manage downswings.

Take a day off, you dont want to take too long off as they breaks up flow,

How would you describe your sense of humor? Playful, Dark, Sarcastic, Self deprecating???

playful and sarcastic, i like a good wind up

What do you do on days when you do not play poker?

Spend time with the missus, play pool to a high level and chillax

How supportive is your family of you playing poker?

Missus still sees it as gambling altho im trying to teach her

What is your ultimate goal in poker?

Be a winning player, obv would love to go pro, but that takes a lot of hardwork and a bit of run good at teh right time, being a working stiff in a demanding industry makes it hard, but time is on my side

How many big blinds would you say a reship or reshove stack is?

depends on the opp tbh, 12-15bb is prob my ave, however with the right table up to 20bb if im confident i will get called light

How often do you 4 bet light? in what situations? with what stack sizes?
This is very much situation based but against a maniac i will 4 bet light in position when deep with 44+ 9Ts+, as at the levels i play players are generally bad enought to stack off on wet boards with AK etc

i fold
What is your general game plan (assuming there are antes) with a 10bb stack? 25bb stack? 40bb stack? 60+bb stack?

10bb get it in as the aggressor with any pair and 78suited+ (especially on a rocks bb)
25bb stop and go, looking for dry boards
40bb & 60bb play some pokahs!