Matt Bates In The Well

Tikay10

Following the success of Ryan's "In The Well", & by popular demand, our next Weller is Matt Bates.

Matt has agreed to do it, so please post your questions, & Matt will do his best to answer them. 

My thanks to Matt for agreeing to do this.  

Tikay10

Matt, we all joke & laugh about how lucky you are, but what exactly are you doing to be so successful in MTT's?

I've watched a lot of your play on 861, & much of it does not seem to be "textbook", & yet you keep getting the job done, & going deep time after time. 

What's your formula?

 

Tikay10

Do you have a day job, if so, what line of work?

What part of the country do you live?

What sports do you follow?

Tikay10

Any MTT players on Sky that particularly cause you problems?

How bad do you think Solack is?

Is CTBN the worst player on Sky Poker?

Lambert180

What is your live record like? Do you think your game/style works just as well live as online?

I'm sure I heard you had a few binks when you went over to Vegas with some of the Sky guys.

Why don't you play cash? Is it just because you find it less fun? Can you ever see yourself putting in any kind of proper volume playing cash?

chicknMelt

Hi Matt, 

I hear you also back some players as well as playing yourself...

-How has it gone so far?

-do you back many players?

-how do you choose players to back?

which do you prefer to use when playing, a booster seat... or childs desk, so your feet reach the floor?

DOHHHHHHH

What's the most amount of buyins you've ever spent on a standard structured Sky rebuy tournament?

How long would you need to go without a score to consider yourself on an MTT downswing? (hypothetical obv, I know it hasn't happened yet)

How do you rate your mental game?

In a big 30/40+ MTT session on a Sunday for example lots of weird and wonderful stuff will be happening from MTT 1, bad beats, near missus, blow-ups, bubbles, wins, periods where you can't win a hand, can't lose a hand etc. 

How easy is it to stay as close to your A game as possible for the remainder of the session whilst all this is going on?
What's the key to doing so? Just experience?

Favourite Chinese takeaway order?

jdsallstar

Hi Matt

So a player is just about to start an MTT, what 3 tips would you give him/her on how they should approach the tournament? (assume a standard freezeout tournament)

splashies

Being an MTT grinder, you must be used to playing with different stack sizes....

So how do you cope being a shorty?

scrumdown

hi matt what,s your game plan at the beging middle and the latter end of tournaments

GREGSTER

Hi Matt - I think you play anything from £11 - £110 buy ins on here. Do you notice a difference in the standard of play across the different buy ins and do you play differently depending on buy in? 

Do you make notes on players whilst playing loads of tables or do you not have the time? Is notes on players important to you?

Do you play cash for a change?

Cheers

Greg.

THEROCK573

well without blowing 2 much smoke up ur backside i have to say you are probably the toughest player to play against in mtts, you have played me quite a bit so obviously u wont wanna tel me some of my leaks that are exploitable cos its -ev for you but can you give me one piece of advice for me to improve on, il just use it when u arnt at the table :-)

1267

Hey Matt

Non poker question. Who would be your England starting 11 for the world cup ?  

The_Don90

what do you think seperates the best tournament players from winning tournament players?

Nutter5932

Hey Matt,

I know you play other sites and wondered if you had any big scores elsewhere before you joined sky. The reason is i noticed that amongst the bigger winners of the last few years You/Tommy/Divs mtt wise you all started out struggling on here.

-£1800 in sng/mtts for yourself over 1400 games which hopefully you won't mind me saying but you then came 2nd for 4k in a tourn and basically never looked back. Just some comparisons tommyd and divs were similar but respectivly 4200 games each-ish. Think that win gave you a massive confidence boost or just variance ironing out ? i just find it remarkable how when some players get that one mtt win they then pile in with another monster score or just motor on full steam ahead.

Proudest ever win ? i no from experience mine isn't even my biggest score...not even close. Was a pleasure to meet you at UKPC even though i wanted to not like you through sheer jealously of your recent success.

Do you play live tournies much ? plans in them for the year ? I didn't know you have coaching by mark (very shrewd) - improved your game alot ? Maybe I'll message him

Edit* a former total player way past his glory days informed me my post looks like a rubdown. I assure you it's not to any of you it's just a pattern I've noticed. 

hhyftrftdr

Matt, are you interested in the free micro stakes coaching that Paul is offering elsewhere on the forum?

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

Matt, we all joke & laugh about how lucky you are, but what exactly are you doing to be so successful in MTT's? I've watched a lot of your play on 861, & much of it does not seem to be "textbook", & yet you keep getting the job done, & going deep time after time.  What's your formula?  
Posted by Tikay10

I think if you play textbook then it can be predictable for opponents. I guess I try and put opponents in tricky spots as often as possible. I have a lot of experience playing MTTs so I am comfortable in situations and have a good feel of when and how to adjust to opponents.

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

Do you have a day job, if so, what line of work? What part of the country do you live? What sports do you follow?
Posted by Tikay10

I am the finance manager for two companies owned and run by my family. One company manufactures and sells kitchen and bedroom furniture and the other one manufactures anti ligature furniture that goes in prisons.

I live in Upminster in Essex.

As I said, I live in Essex so I obviously support Manchester United! I like most sports, particularly Football, Cricket, Rugby and Gymnastics.

scotty77

What situation would you need to be in order to go 'pro'?  After a big score?  Or do you think that being 'semi-pro' allows you with more freedom in how you play/stakes/aggression etc.

If you could go back to the start of the WSOP ME 2 years ago and had to give yourself 1 sentence worth of advice, what would it be?

What night of the week is your favourite for Sky MTTs?

Families/friends thoughts of poker?

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

Any MTT players on Sky that particularly cause you problems? How bad do you think Solack is? Is CTBN the worst player on Sky Poker?
Posted by Tikay10

Different players cause different problems. There are a lot of players that make things tough for me when I am out of position to them. Two players that I find put me in lots of tough spots are Lnarin and Bolly. 

Only Solack rivals me in that under rated asset of 'get there-ability' If only his club (Arsenal) knew how to do the same thing!

Colin is a great man, shared a table with him at an SPT where he had great fun joining in with my sister mocking me on facebook!

david666

Hi matt, do you spend much time away from the virtual felt working on your game, given that you play considerable volume and work full time, also what advice would you give to rec players looking to improve their game.

Finally whats more enjoyable, winning a tourney, or getting to tell tommy d that you won a tourney?  

Slipwater

Hi Matt - who is your favourite poker professional and do you especially enjoy watching players with a similar style to your own?

For what it's worth, it was great to meet you and pick your brain, especially at the UKPC earlier this year. It was good to get some hands-on advice from someone who knows how to play this game. You're a top bloke mate, and I wish you every success on the felt.

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

What is your live record like? Do you think your game/style works just as well live as online? I'm sure I heard you had a few binks when you went over to Vegas with some of the Sky guys. Why don't you play cash? Is it just because you find it less fun? Can you ever see yourself putting in any kind of proper volume playing cash?
Posted by Lambert180

I haven't played loads live. I won a Vegas package on sky which gave me a nudge to play more live. I did really well in Vegas getting a couple of small cashes and chopping the Rio $135 daily deepstack twice. I do like playing live but it is expensive with high variance compared to playing online. I do want to play more live and will be playing in the Sky 6max later in the year. I haven't cashed in a UK live comp yet so I need to rectify that asap! I haven't a big enough sample size to really know how good my live game is and whether my online game will be suited to live. I did do well in Vegas and my game has come on loads since Vegas mainly due to work I do with Marc Wright so I feel with some volume I can get some live decent live scores.

I have never really got into cash, I think part of it was having early success with MTTs and being comfortable playing them that I have never seriously played cash. I am one of the best at live drunk cash though (just ask Tommy!) I cant see myself putting in serious volume playing cash atm but you never know what the future will bring.

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

Being an MTT grinder, you must be used to playing with different stack sizes.... So how do you cope being a shorty?
Posted by splashies

Its easy, get it in and get there!

TeddyBloat

matt you've mentioned icm in the past. how big a consideration is it in making correct decisions late in MTT's and do you do in game calcs or review after tournaments. any good resources you can recommend?

you're quite well known on the site now, do you think players avoid getting into pots or do you find peeps like to try and take you on?

what are your chatbox skills like? the rock for example has took chat box agression to the nth meta level. do you ever get involved?

10bb4life

hi, another non related poker question here, obviously ive seen you on sky channel before and seen your physique, is it true you used to be a gymnast?

MattBates

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

Hi Matt So a player is just about to start an MTT, what 3 tips would you give him/her on how they should approach the tournament? (assume a standard freezeout tournament)
Posted by jdsallstar

Play in position as much as possible
Be aggressive - If you can be the aggressor in pots you can control the action and win with or without a hand
Enjoy yourself, at the end of the day its a game and we all started playing it to have fun!

TommyD

In Response to Re: Matt Bates In The Well:

hi, another non related poker question here, obviously ive seen you on sky channel before and seen your physique, is it true you used to be a gymnast?
Posted by 10bb4life

As Matt will be quite busy I'll help him out with this one and take some of the strain.  Matt, you are most welcome.

jdsallstar

thanks Matt for the reply.

Another one for you - how did you get into poker and how did you become the player you are today? i.e. self taught, books, coaching etc etc, and have you always played a similar style?

VespaPX

Hi Matt

What is more satisfying for you?

Final tabling , say , 4 MTT's in a week and winning £1k

or

Winning one for £1k.

Lambert180

Bit of a long one this....

I remember a mate said to me ages ago about how he enjoyed the gme so much more before he understood winrates.

Playing HU SnGs for instance is great thinking some nights you can win £50 in a night playing £5 games but when you learn more and realise a 5% ROI is pretty sick, so you'd have to be crushing the games just to be winning 26p per game!

Transfer that to MTTs... do you think a lot of cash players play MTTs for the fun/glory/a break from the cash grind? I ask because if you take a £33 main, and a good player who usually plays 100/200NL who has a 20% ROI in MTTs.... that means he's spending an average of probably 2-3 hours to win £6.60 when he could win that alot easier just replacing that 1 MTT with 1 more table of cash. Of course it's nice when the score comes but in reality that's what you're winning longterm everytime you play, right?

Do you ever think about winrates and think urgh?