Ask Me Anything (Dusty Schmidt aka Leatherass in the well)

[Stu_Ungar]

You obviously have a lot of experience and a fantastic winrate.

How ABC would you describe your play at micro / low stakes?

Are you winning because you are a disciplined ABC player (who may well throw in the odd creative play) or are you winning because you are more creative than the majority of players?

How important do you think table selection is AT MICRO STAKES?

Was there a turning point in your poker career where it clicked, or was it a slow and steady slog?

Hi Dusty, I think you may have missed this!

I'm interested in how you would describe yourself as a poker player. With your experience of the game, does the bulk of your money come via creativity or ABC discipline?

Are there any specific techniques you use when hand reading?

 

[belladonna05]

Welcome to CC, Dusty. It is very generous of you to make yourself available and open to our poker community. I don't have any questions, I think a player that might play 20 sngs a week can't even begin to approach poker as a business.

 

[dan]

Do you think you have never had a losing month is because the stakes you play or the number of hands you play removes varience?
todays big problem short stackers going all in with any pair or A-10 and up it seems like every choice is a race they are playing 5-5 more often than a monster should I be laying down more often?

 

[Jack Daniels]

When I am on tables I only exist purely for life threatening family emergencies. I don't help out my wife with anything at all while I am playing.

FYP

Would you be willing to talk to my wife to get me this same arrangement? It doesn't seem to be working when I try it.

 

[Debi]

When I am on tables I only exist purely for life threatening family emergencies. I don't help out my wife with the baby at all while I am playing. It is best for all 3 of us that I don't be bothered with that because I can not win at my games without focusing 100%.

Would you be willing to talk to my wife to get me this same arrangement? It doesn't seem to be working when I try it.

lol JD - I bet lots of guys are envying him right now. I would be just like his wife though if my husband could make 600k a year playing poker part-time.
(Heck - I would settle for a lot less than that lol.)

Dusty - your wife sounds amazing. Where did you meet her and how long have you been married?

What was it about her that initially attracted you the most?

(you can count on me to ask all the girly type questions)

 

[LarkMarlow]

I have some girly questions too...

Are there any rituals you go through before you sit down to play? Like wearing certain clothes, or having an amulet or two on your desk?

Do you use affirmations? How much do you weigh the proverbial "power of positive thinking"?

When and where were you born?

Do you love your mother?!

Do you have any brothers and sisters? If so, where do you rank in terms of birth order?

Do you plan to have more children? If so, how many? Will you encourage them to play poker?

Does your extended family approve of your playing poker?

OK, OK, I'll stop now... LOL

 

[Leatherass]

I have some girly questions too...

Are there any rituals you go through before you sit down to play? Like wearing certain clothes, or having an amulet or two on your desk?

Do you use affirmations? How much do you weigh the proverbial "power of positive thinking"?

When and where were you born?

Do you love your mother?!

Do you have any brothers and sisters? If so, where do you rank in terms of birth order?

Do you plan to have more children? If so, how many? Will you encourage them to play poker?

Does your extended family approve of your playing poker?

OK, OK, I'll stop now... LOL

I will return to answering the questions in order, but sometimes it in nice when you only have 5 mins to answer the easy ones.

As it pertains to this post, here goes:

1. I spend a couple minutes thinking of the goals for the session and what my objectives are at the tables. From there I just play. No superstitions really.

2. You should always have confidence that you will do well. To think differently really is not doing yourself any favors.

3. 3/6/81 in Whittier, CA

4. Funny you bring that up. I am not in contact with my parents. I had an abusive situation growing up and every time I try and reconcile I discover that my parents are even crazier than I had originally thought and it doesn't work. As a result I try and keep my distance from them.

5. I have a brother named Tyler who was born 4 years after me.

6. We intend to have one more and I hope it is a boy. If it is another girl that is fine too. I will be happy either way.

I don't have any plans to teach them anything specific at this point. I think speculating on anything in their lives may be a fun exercise, but things tend to not follow a plan so I just want to be there for them and adapt to the situations that arise long the way.

7. My Mom's brother loves that I play poker. Outside of that they aren't too supportive of it. I come from a family who is insanely image conscience so I am sure this bugs them. I never really do anything with the thought of what others might think about it. I am pretty darn true to myself and if I think it is a good thing to do for me and my immediate family, then I do it. I've found that no matter what you do in life, there will always be some segment of people who will not approve. So I don;t really bother myself with what others think. I just do it and if you hate me for it then great, and if you love me for it then that's even better.

 

[Leatherass]

FYP

Would you be willing to talk to my wife to get me this same arrangement? It doesn't seem to be working when I try it.

Haha. My wife wrote a guest chapter in my book that everyone loved. I have been told by tons of people that they made their wife read it. Show it to her and see what she thinks. I think it really speaks out to the wives out there and may help them better understand what you are trying to do.

 

[dg1267]

How many hours did it take for you to make the 21k for your Paying it Forward project? Did the people at your tables know what you were doing at the time? How could you possibly bear that weather??

(For anyone that doesn't know - Dusty recently drug his laptop onto the freezing streets of Portland and donated all of the money he made playing poker during that time to help 3 homeless families get back on their feet)

No questions. Just wanted to let you know how cool I think this is. That is probably one of the first things I would do as well if I had the money. It's so easy to just think of yourself and go about your business, but you took time out of your schedule (not to mention being uncomfortable while doing it) to help someone who will really appreciate it.

If we could get all the celebrities doing something like this, I feel it would make the world a lot better place. And I don't mean doing it so they can get their face on t.v. again. Kudos to you, man!

 

[cAPSLOCK]

Ok. I thought of some questions.

1. What do you think is the biggest problem with the game or threat to it? In regards to play, attitude, technology, law etc.

2. Do you see Omaha or another poker variant (back to stud?) as the "next boom"? Or will there even be another boom?

3. In the same line; What do you see as the future of hold'em?

4. Do you believe in God?

Oh and your "pay it forward" was a great an honorable thing to do. I love it.

 

[only_bridge]

Welcome to the forum!

On FTP at any given time, there are around 20 players sitting and waiting on their own hu 5k poker table, and at the same time no action.
What are they waiting for?

 

[the lab man]

Another Question Dusty?

Will there be money made in the near future in non NLHE games?

Do you play other games?

Any Favourites?

Thanks

 

[Leatherass]

You obviously have a lot of experience and a fantastic winrate.

How ABC would you describe your play at micro / low stakes?

Are you winning because you are a disciplined ABC player (who may well throw in the odd creative play) or are you winning because you are more creative than the majority of players?

How important do you think table selection is AT MICRO STAKES?

Was there a turning point in your poker career where it clicked, or was it a slow and steady slog?

ABC poker prob does ok at the micro stakes, although everyone's definition of ABC can be a little different.

I don't think at micro stakes it is too important to game select since everyone is just learning anyway. Although, you'd rather have F- players rather than F players.

I'm not sure exactly why I am winning, but I definitely know it is far from ABC. I feel my game is something I have to grind on for a lot of decisions.

The turning point for me was when I realized that I needed to be more aggressive. I learned that is is very infrequent that it is bad to simply bet. In fact if I lose track of what is going on in a hand I just bet by default rather than check.

 

[Leatherass]

Do you think one table Sit N Goes ($5 to $10) are a waste of time? Would a person be better off switching to micro ring games?

Definitely switch to ring games. Think of it this way. Why would you want to practice a game where the upside is significantly less than the other game? It is hard to make any kind of big money at sit and gos. The stakes are too low and the ROI is so thin.

 

[Leatherass]

I will have some questions for you later but for now I want to know...

How many hours a night do you sleep? If it is less than 7 do you feel deprived?

Thanks again for the thread - your responses have been great and we are all enjoying it very much.

I try to sleep as much as possible. Typically this is 7-8 hours for me. I don't like getting less than that. I feel my best on 8+

 

[Leatherass]

A follow-up question:

Since beginning to read your book, I've had a win-rate of 95.6bb/100. My question: Can I expect my money back on the book purchase if I fail to sustain this win-rate after finishing it? I think a buy-in every 100 hands is reasonable to expect.

Ahem.

Can you send me more money since you had a 96bb/100 win rate?

 

[Leatherass]

Over the course of your carreer, what is the biggest downswing you experienced, both in buy ins and in dollars? How did you handle it?

I think I lost like $60,000 at one point earlier this year. That was like 47 buy ins I believe. I ran so bad it was kind of hard to believe I wasn't being "punked." I thought Ashton kutcher was going to pop out of my closet with a camera crew.

 

[Marginal]

What are your future plans at stoxpoker?

 

[PattyR]

I think I lost like $60,000 at one point earlier this year. That was like 47 buy ins I believe. I ran so bad it was kind of hard to believe I wasn't being "punked." I thought Ashton kutcher was going to pop out of my closet with a camera crew.

^ lmao.

i read you like the show the office dusty..my personal favorite show on television at the moment. In fact i have the whole 6th season (the season currently airing on TV) downloaded onto my hard drive

i thought up a couple questions.

1.) do you listen to any sort of music when u play...or is your mind, eyes, and ears 100% on your tables?

2.) since you say ABC poker is "ok" at the micro stakes...is their any other big key you would suggest besides being aggressive?

 

[eNTy]

I came out of the woodwork especially for you .

1. What is your favorite video or series or coach on stox ?

2. Do you use videos much as a learning tool ?

3. Have you checked out the competition ? DC, CR, Leggo ? Thoughts ?

4. If I remember correctly you play 6max up to 5knl as your regular game.. Ever thought of transitioning to a pure HU game ? Do you think you will have to if you want to play higher limits?

5. Do you have any aspirations to play higher or are you content grinding it out at the limits you do now ? Is one of the reasons keeping you from playing HU now because you can reach a higher hourly at 6max, or do you want to avoid bigger swings and more stress on your mental game ? Similarly is higher variance, due to smaller edges (?), keeping you from moving up any further/playing nosebleeds ?

 

[Mortis]

Being an 80's child (I was also born in 1981 ) -- did you get into any of the 80's toys? He-Man, Ninja Turtles, Nintendo?

If you were to give one single suggestion to someone who wants to start a career in playing live poker, what would it be?

Are you an animal lover? If so, what's your favorite kind of animal?

Gus Hansen vs. Patrik Antonius, battle to the death.. who would you put your money on?

 

[Leatherass]

What are your future plans at stoxpoker?

Can you elaborate more on that? The question is a little too broad to give you a good answer.

 

[Marginal]

Umm, if you will be producing more videos a month or if you are going to cut down a little?

 

[IveGot0uts]

Welcome to the forum. I haven't purchased the book yet, but I definitely am interested. I am just having a hard time deciding to part with the 45 dollars sight unseen. If you send me one I promise to send you the first 45 I attribute to your advice

1) Any chance you have plans to distribute to brick and mortar stores?

2) Do you have any advice for someone wanting to write a book that you've gained in your experience, either on the writing process end, or the shopping the book around and getting it published end? (I'm guessing you didn't have to do much in that regard with your connections.)

3) Do you recommend the use of shortcut programs like the one you mentioned for features beyond hitting the time button? Specifically I'm wondering if the auto betsizing features might get a person into bad habits about not adjusting their bets to their situations.

4) How do you set up tables for multitabling? Cascade, stacked, spread so you can see them all, and why? I feel that I lose a significant amount of the ability to make reads based on individuals acting funny in short term ways, tilt type stuff or similar. Do you just take a hit on these items to get the number of tables up? or do you have a way of coping? Also, Laptop or desktop? and what for monitor(s)?

 

[IveGot0uts]

Sorry, forgot, in with brick and mortar stores, any plans for the book to appear in the Player Points stores of either Full Tilt or pokerstars?