Hi.

While I assume you at least know something about who I am if you're here, I can't be sure. So let me tell you a little bit:

My name is Nath Pizzolatto. I've been playing tournament poker seriously for about two years now, and supporting myself exclusively from it for about 20 months. I made my first deposit online of $300 in April 2005, and won my first tournament in early August-- an $11 on UltimateBet for about $900. I won a $22 6-max tournament the next week, and suddenly I had a bankroll of nearly $2000, more money than I'd ever had at any time in my life.

I never looked back. My tournament career peaked at last year's WSOP with a second place finish in the $2500 6-max event for over $238,000. Since then, however, it's been a lot of struggling to maintain balance and not let the money make me lazy and complacent, or get me to jump into games I'm not ready for. (I've done a lot of both, and it shows.)

Flash forward to now. I'd taken a month or so off from poker while I did some traveling and visting friends, and the vacation was just what I needed, after a harsh downswing that cost me somewhere in the mid-5 figures and a great deal of the confidence I had in my game. I thought I was ready to come back and go at it, but my first day resulted in a losing session across the board at tournaments and cash games.

This led to some frustration on my part, but it also got me tons of worthwhile advice about my mental makeup and approach to the game (some of which I'll talk about in a later post).

The advice paid off almost immediately: I had two nice scores over the weekend, winning the $500 event at Turning Stone's East Coast Poker Championships, and then taking down UltimateBet's big Sunday tournament, the $200 buyin $200,000 guaranteed. The total prize money for these two was over $70,000-- my share of which is more than enough to reinvigorate my bankroll from its latest swings and provide me with a nice cushion as I prepare for Vegas. (I'll write up a report of the key hands from each next.)

My life isn't like many of the online grinders. I'm almost 26; many of them are under 21. I have a vast array of outside interests, and balancing them all can be difficult. I'll share some of them and my methods for balancing them with you as we go along.

In the next month or so, I'll be playing a lot of tournaments online while I get ready for the World Series of Poker. I'm spending June and July in Vegas, hoping to snag that bracelet that eluded me last year (as well as a lot of money). Since I'm returning to school next year (to finish an undergraduate degree I dropped out from some three and a half years ago), these next few months will be my last as a full-time tournament player for a while. This is a big reason I've taken on a backer; while I have enough money to reasonably play all the tournaments I want to play, the risk of ruin, especially with the WSOP coming up, is too high, and I'd rather ensure I had money saved for my trip back to school.

So that's my story. I'll continue to tell parts of it as I go along, and hopefully you'll enjoy the ride with me.

Anonymous says

Very cool to see you here. I look forward to reading your blog, reading about your hands and your thinking during play. It would also be cool to read some of the stuff related to your life as a poker player and what it's like to play full time both online and off.

05/17/07

EdmondDantes says

Nice to have you posting! Even nicer to have a couple of confidence boosters heading into the WSOP!

I'm really looking forward to reading about your tournament experiences. I followed some of your hands in the UB tournament, many of which were pretty sick. It'd be interesting to hear your thought process on the more stressful ones from that or the TS tournament.

Edmond

05/17/07

Podiman says

I read on 2plus2 that you won UB $200k tournament this weekend. Congratulations. I also read that long forum thread about your slump. The responses must have been helpful given the recent results. Did you change anything in your play? Do you think that the rest did you good? If so, how was your play different this weekend than during your slump?

05/17/07

lakong says

Hi, Nath. Welcome onboard. We look forward to following your progress and reading about your WSOP play. Hopefully, I'll get to meet you in Vegas during the Series. Great going on the Ultimate Bet and Turning Stone tournaments!!

- Scot

05/17/07

nath says

"I'm really looking forward to reading about your tournament experiences. I followed some of your hands in the UB tournament, many of which were pretty sick. It'd be interesting to hear your thought process on the more stressful ones from that or the TS tournament."

Yeah, I got my hand history from the 200k and once I get it into some sort of readable format I plan to go over it and discuss some of the important hands, as well as some spots where I made moves in situations I felt were good (at least a few times at the final table I reraised with total air just because the situation was right).

I'm also going to discuss the important hands from Turning Stone, although many of them were just picking up cards in the right spot and having them hold up. The biggest reasons I won that tournament were because I was willing to wait for cards when I had to, and I won every race I got into.

05/17/07

nath says

"I read on 2plus2 that you won UB $200k tournament this weekend. Congratulations. I also read that long forum thread about your slump. The responses must have been helpful given the recent results. Did you change anything in your play? Do you think that the rest did you good? If so, how was your play different this weekend than during your slump? "

Thanks. A lot of the responses were helpful, and I got some valuable personal advice from a few people. Someone also approached me about backing me, which was great, since I'd been thinking about finding a backer anyway, and I got a really good deal out of it. (FYI, I wasn't backed at Turning Stone, but I was for the UB event.) I think having a backer, and knowing I wouldn't have to worry about money, freed me up to play at my best and to take chances other people wouldn't-- in other words, to make the reads and moves that are the whole reason I have an edge on everyone else in the first place. I also recognized the importance of adjusting my game in certain spots-- before I was too stubborn about being loose-aggressive; I was just looking to play lots of hands, and trying to force my way to pots I couldn't win. Now, I tighten up when the table calls for it, and when I make moves or reraise, it has much more to do with the situation at the table than my cards. During my slump I might say "Well, that could be a late position steal and I have a suited connector, I'm gonna make a move at him." Now I say "It's a late position raise, but I feel strength from this guy, I'm dumping it" or "I'm certain this is a steal 90% of the time and he can't call a reraise". Doesn't matter what I have.

Being aware of the situation first and foremost and not your cards is a major part of maximizing your edge in tournaments. You can play a fairly tight/solid game and be a winner in MTTs, but you'll never maximize your earn potential or grow as a poker player that way.

05/17/07

Anonymous says

"Being aware of the situation first and foremost and not your cards is a major part of maximizing your edge in tournaments. You can play a fairly tight/solid game and be a winner in MTTs, but you'll never maximize your earn potential or grow as a poker player that way. "

That sounds about right. It really seems to be more about understanding the table dynamics and the why people are playing a certain way. The good players are constantly in there mixing it up and forcing people to make difficult decisions. I really look forward to reading more...

05/17/07

lakeoffire says

Nice to meet you Nath. Looking forward to your posts!
LOF

05/21/07

mstram says

Nath,

Before playing tournament poker "seriously",when did you start playing poker period? I.e what was your progression / path of learning? Did you start online or live?

As a poker beginner, I keep reading that tourney poker has much higher variance than cash games, so why do you play primarily tourneys rather than cash (if in fact you do?)

Did you play any freerolls when starting online before making that $300 deposit? ... did you have any thoughts of building up that $300 from F.R's instead of depositing?

A (series ?) of blog entires on how you progresed in the game would be very interesting.

Mike

05/05/08

mstram says

Nath,

Ok, I found your "my poker career" post on your old blog, that
answers some of my questions.

What were some of the main things you learned / changed in your game, (presumably due to a great degree from reading / posting on 2+2 ?)

"I had been posting on 2+2 regularly and was approaching my 5000th post. I turned it into an essay on my tournament philosophy and the flaws my game currently had and what I would be doing to fix them."

I assume that post is/might be in the archives there? What screen name did you post as? Do you still post on 2+2 ? (as who ? ... (I'm 'mstram' there too, btw)

"Nowadays I'm playing primarily $100 and up buyin tournaments online, and $3/$6 6-max and $5/$10 full ring no-limit cash games. I mix them up; I find I can't play the two well simultaneously because the mindsets are different (i.e. I do more dumb things in cash games that work in tournaments but cost a lot more money when you're wrong about them in cash games)."

Can you "cliff note" some of the main differences between cash tourney /play ? I realize there are entire forums on 2+2 devoted to particular games / limits formats.

(Have you looked at Harrington's new cash game book at all? ..

Do you still read poker books?

Mike

05/05/08

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