Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?

markycash

Can be people you play against or pros you watched or both.

Might be interesting to hear opinions on and pick up tips on a few players to observe.

I will start off...

Regarding players I have played against regularly


I hope it is okay to mention this site as it is permanently closed these days so no threat to Sky (if not Tikay can permaban me or just edit it if he is feeling kind)

I started out on Pokerroom and although traffic was average at the time there were a bunch of really strong players who influenced me. I got influences from many regs regarding OH8. In NLHE there were a couple of Scottish guys who I still keep loosely in touch with, Neil Stewart aka Puggy and Neil McFayden. Both won the Championchip on Pokerroom at least once each for hefty scores and I think both won the Sunday Million and even final tabled it together. As a newb it was invaluable reading their posts on stratedgy and I played against Puggy a few times live and he offered advice which I will always be greatful for. When I look back at some heads up games I played against him I cringe a little (a lot) as my game was pretty erratic at the time to put it mildly!

Regarding Pros

Probably a lot of the familiar names here but it is hard not to admire Ivey's game! Also Alan Cunningham has always struck me as a very shrew player. One I would rail quite often to see their approach was KipsterDK aka Jesper Houugard who I used to talk to quite a bit playing HU HORSE games with and loosely keep in contact with via FB, His consistency was/is amazing. He won the Sunday Million twice which I doubt has been done too many times and I think was the first player to win WSOP bracelets on both sides of the atlantic in the same year too I think.

More currently I would say Daniel Negreanu as he is a pretty deep thinker and I much prefer his small ball style that often offers opponents the room to hang themselves in hands as opposed to the wide ranging hyper aggro 4 & 5 bet preflop styles employed by a seemingly growing number. I know many players adopt these styles and are highly profitable but I am old fashioned and like to see some cards in the middle of the table

Would love to hear peoples thoughts on who has influenced them or who they feel are good players.

RLT16

without doubt stuarty117 for me, before i met him on the tables i was a massively losing rec, probably paying for stus holidays. i cant remember how it came about think i probs just put in chat asking for advice from anyone, and he said he'd pm me. he probably only put 2/3 paragraphs of advice. but it was all put so clearly and was all so obvious looking back at it, since that day taking that advice on board, my games down a complete 180, barring the odd losing days and tilt induced madness, i have become a steady winning player. just got to build on it now and stop with the stupid stuff 

HENDRIK62

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?:

without doubt stuarty117 for me, before i met him on the tables i was a massively losing rec, probably paying for stus holidays. i cant remember how it came about think i probs just put in chat asking for advice from anyone, and he said he'd pm me. he probably only put 2/3 paragraphs of advice. but it was all put so clearly and was all so obvious looking back at it, since that day taking that advice on board, my games down a complete 180, barring the odd losing days and tilt induced madness, i have become a steady winning player. just got to build on it now and stop with the stupid stuff 
Posted by RLT16

Very good post Lee, Stuarty is an absolute gent, great to hear this stuff.....now if we could just work on his choice of football team....

HENDRIK62

Regarding the OP.

There are several people who I feel have gone out of their way to help me here on Sky, I will pick two names , but would also like to thank anyone who has given advice, shown me the error of my ways etc. on various forum posts.

Without further ado the nominees are........

Hhyftdr and Jac35 both have differing skill sets; one smokes, one eats, but both have been fantastic help and I really appreciate it.

Pros I like:

Hellmuth just for lols at his volcanoes

Ulliott for the dark bitter humour and that edginess he seemed to have

Negreanu for the same reasons Marky mentioned

Phantom66

Influenced would have to be Harrington - not the first poker book I read but the one that helped my game the most.

Admired - Devilfish for his character, without those early LNP shows I may not have got into poker at all. I remember the series when Hellmuth played and steam-rollererd everyone and several times blew me away by accurately calling opponents hands. Obviously impossible not to admire Negreanu and Ivey, I respect Negreanu more following Ivey's "Edgegate" he appears to be the consumate ambassador for the game. 

I did actually play Mr Cunningham once, got it in good too but lost the flip so not really a story to dine out on.

Early playing days I was on Interpoker mainly and then SpinPalace to be a TV tart on Poker Night Live. I can remember getting a lot of advice and support from RobNotts, no idea who he is in real life, back then you couldnt link up via other social media.  I could take a wild stab at where he was from and his first name but that's about it, I think his last 2 digits were numbers but I'd be guessing now. There was another guy on the site+forum who got me into SNGs. He blew me away by multi-tabling the incredible amount of 6 tables. Had a simplistic formula which worked well for him. Can't remember his id, just the fact he was doing research at a top uni and was able to play through the day while at work.

On here...

I have to thank Tikay and Macacgirl for introducing me to the wonders of PLO8.

Jac35 for the inspiration to start a diary and even to goad me into keeping it up to date when slacking.

Messers Ivanavic, Lambert and TeddyBloat have been great in the poker clinic, not just when I have posted but more often when they explain things generally on any hand.

weecheez1

Macagirl for plo8 and the boatmans for late night poker just watching not really knowing what was happening but knowing i wanted to play

shakinaces

For how I play now, strategy articles by high-stake pro Ryan Fee (from about 2009 I think?) are probably the biggest influence.

Slight tweaks on that from Adam Jones (w34z3l) who I personally find has a great ability to present videos on relatively complex topics (for micro-low stakes players like myself) in a manner which is very logical and easy to understand / apply in game.

It may be making the game that much tougher, but it really is immense how much top quality (and free/very cheap) content is out there for people to utilise these days.  Fair play to those guys (and girls) that take the time to put it out there.

In terms of TV-poker enjoyment, it's probably those that are the antithesis of me. Tony G, Devilfish, Luke Schwartz, players like that who could win Olympic gold for table talk and have no small amount of poker skill to back it up.  In terms of sheer poker wizardary, obviously people like Ivey and Negreanu, but also some of the younger players like Ole Schemion.  Poker so often seems like such an easy game, then I watch a bit of late night C4 coverage with players like Ole and feel like that I barely even understand the game at all.  Equally makes me feel useless at the game, but also want to get working on improving and playing even more!

Essexphil

First influence was Late Night Poker-fascinated that Mr Ulliott and Jac Arama could play the same game!

Since then, many-had the pleasure to share a table with Mr Negreanu at the wsop-the man has style. I could never play like him

Influencers include a variety of players I have been beaten up by (on a poker table), from the Hendon Mob to Eli Elezra

craigcu12

when I first begun Dohhhh made a great beginners guide and that helped me turn my poker game into a winning game. Since then various regs have had did alot of chatting with me at the poker tables and I really do believe I have a great poker game inside me.

I do still have 1 extremely bad skill. I have great difficulty mentally, I'm easily worried about taking risks, find it very difficult controling tilt and might start to panic when the chip stack doesn't build up at the very start of MTT. Rec are for this reason the most difficult players to play against, I won't know the hand range get concerned with betting and don't expect them to think about my own hand range.

craigcu12

Anyone know of an autistic poker pro with aspergers because this guy might just be the type of guy I need.

stuarty117

Thankyou Lee for your kind words and Hen.

People that helped me or infuenced me are: -

Gerardirl gave me a few pointers and just chat about the dym game he sent a few private messages and i then became a winning player soon after that.

When i went through a rough patch i asked Mr Grumpy aka Jac35 and he helped as well

Then one night i regged a plo8 mtt by mistake and Mr Hen was at my table. I asked how do i play this game he gave me a few pointers in the chat box and actually done ok. Now i am a winning player at plo8 dyms. So maybe regging that game was fate. I now use it for a bit of a change and has helped my holdem game.

At the minute a guy helps me out from time to time just talking about hands and stuff but i wont mention his name as he is a weisel

Glenelg

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?:

when I first begun Dohhhh made a great beginners guide and that helped me 
Posted by craigcu12

Another shout out for Do7h.  Him & Grantorino gave me some useful feedback in the poker clinic when I started.  TommyD & MattBates I've "studied" a lot which has been V. useful. I know it wasn't in your remit BUT the player I most admire is SOLACK.

P.S. Marky....are you a buddy?  ;-)  Also,  hope to get around to reading your second diary this weekend/

tomgoodun

Hi Mark, I meant to post on your diary to say what a great read it is, but on reading your op above I just had to post here. I have had the pleasure of meeting Puggy and his mate. I was new to the poker scene and not wishing to bore everyone with the same story but it is relevant here, I won a seat to the Wsop Main event in 2010 on another site, Puggy and his mate were " Guests" of the site and were really nice down to earth guys, the rep from the site was amazed I had not heard about them.

Itsover4u

to begin Devilfish... just incredible to watch on TV as a youth. There were personalities that mesmorised more than the game itself back then, unforunately most of the big charecters seem to have dissapeared (honorable mention to tony G - "date with an 8, 7 from heaven & you dont have the heart or commitment to mess with the Gman)

More recently Ike Haxton, BeLoWaBove (kevin Saul) and I am a massive fan of Olivier Busquets and What he does year after year after year

markycash

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?:

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most? : Another shout out for Do7h.  Him & Grantorino gave me some useful feedback in the poker clinic when I started.  TommyD & MattBates I've "studied" a lot which has been V. useful. I know it wasn't in your remit BUT the player I most admire is SOLACK. P.S. Marky....are you a buddy?  ;-)  Also,  hope to get around to reading your second diary this weekend/
Posted by Glenelg

If you mean as in St Mirren, no, from Glasgow originally

I see you are nearby in Troon, seem to be a lot of players from around here on Sky!

markycash

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?:

Hi Mark, I meant to post on your diary to say what a great read it is, but on reading your op above I just had to post here. I have had the pleasure of meeting Puggy and his mate. I was new to the poker scene and not wishing to bore everyone with the same story but it is relevant here, I won a seat to the Wsop Main event in 2010 on another site, Puggy and his mate were " Guests" of the site and were really nice down to earth guys, the rep from the site was amazed I had not heard about them.
Posted by tomgoodun

Thanks Tom!

Yeah I know the site you mean and rep would have been Kristian, another really nice guy! I played a couple of games with Puggy on Eurosport and had some rather interesting nights out with him and some others in Vienna, Brno and Vegas. Not that I remember too much about any of the nights out

Some great replies!

I should probably have mentioned Bax & Sheets, learned loads watching their videos.

markycash

P.S. Tom, how did you get on in the main event?

ALTiltYou

Alvez11- Dave. Known him about 10 years way before he ever started playing poker and still has time to talk about hands over Facebook and takes it out his own time to analysis my hands, and give me in depth tips. His success shows that if you put in the time effort and learning then you can do very well in the game.

tomgoodun

In Response to Re: Which players have influenced your game most/ which players have styles you like the most?:

P.S. Tom, how did you get on in the main event?
Posted by markycash

The rep was indeed Kristian, how you got that from my few clues is pretty impressive I made day 2, short in chips and shoved in BB with AK to a raise and a flat call on button, raiser called, button re-shoved with QQ., raiser folded.Was quite happy with AK4 flop....turn 10 river J..:) Rigged brigade would have a field day with that lol.

markycash

Ah unlucky Tom, still well done on making day 2!