Rizen interview.

Hi guys,
This is an interview I did with Eric for WPT magazine earlier in the year, prior to the WSOP.
Its a little outdated but I'm sure you all have noticed Eric back playing with us again recently and thought I'd post it.
I'm sure you all know who Eric is and what he has achieved but here goes anyway.



Name: Eric Lynch, aka Rizen
Age: 29
Resides: Olathe, Kansas, USA
Marital status: Married
Occupation: Cash Game Instructor and poker professional.
Estimated tournament earnings: Approx $2m
Major achievements: 7 WSOP cashes including 3 final tables and a 24th place finish in the 2006 main event. Winner of Pokerstars Sunday $1m guaranteed.

David: Hi Eric, can you tell us how you first got into the game, how old were you, how did it go at first, what levels were you playing and, what was your roll when you first started out playing for real money, did you ever go broke?

Eric: Well, I've played cards in various forms for most of my life, but I didn't really start playing poker, and especially Texas Hold Em, until 2003. I was 24 then, and the poker boom from Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 WSOP main event was just in its infancy and a lot of my friends were getting into the game. I started playing in a few home games, caught the bug and deposited $50 online. Fortunately I've never been broke, but like most poker players I've had a few pretty bad downswings and real life issues that severely depleted my bankroll on more than one occasion.

David: How long had you been playing when things started to really take off?

Eric: It was probably in mid 2005 that it really started to all come together. I had been making some money playing limit cash games up until that point, and I had been turning a small profit in the smaller stakes tournaments as well, but at best it was enough to slightly supplement my income, not enough any person could ever live off of or do a lot with. In mid 2005 though I won an online tournament for just over $11k and it really boosted my confidence and drive to succeed at the game. It was in late 2005/early 2006 that my poker income started to become greater than my actual working income by quite a bit and I started to realize I might be able to do this for a living. In March 2006 I was at a point in my life where it made sense to give it a try and in May I won the PokerStars $1 million guaranteed. That summer I decided to head to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker and made $600k in cashes in just 4 events. The rest, as they say, is history.

David: Were there any reasons in particular that transformed you from an average beginner to the player you are today? I.e.: Books? Help from friends etc?

Eric: I consumed all the knowledge about the game I could. I was probably border line obsessed with it for a while. I read all the books out at the time (which really weren't very many), frequented all the forums, and made friends who I was always talking about different situations with. I just kind of immersed myself in the game and was constantly trying to be one or two steps ahead of the competition.

David: You seem to be a pretty busy young man, what with poker as well as your work with PXF; do you have a schedule you try to stick to? How do you manage your time, family and socialising etc?

Eric: My schedule is really hectic with two children, full time poker, and PXF. I do have a schedule I stick to, and it mostly involves just making sure I take two nights off away from the game to spend with family or doing non poker related things. It helps keep my mind clear and makes sure I'm keeping a somewhat healthy social life. I have a routine on the 5 nights a week that I play. I start at 7pm and have a pretty set schedule of tournaments I play then go to sleep when I'm out. As I bust out of tournaments I'll pull up some cash games as well, Except on Sundays which is the day of all the sites “Major” tournaments, but ideally I really try to keep my schedule pretty set to no more than 7-8 hours a day so I don't burn myself out.

David: How did the instructor of cash games at PXF job come about?

Eric: I was originally approached by them to do a series video on the PokerStars Sunday Million win. That video went really well, and PXF didn't have any cash game instructors at the time, which was something a lot of the users were asking for. Since I got my start in cash games before transitioning over to tournaments, and I was starting to get back into cash games a little after having kids because of the time flexibility they offered, it seemed to be a really good fit.

David: As you know, we shared the same table in the $200k guaranteed tournament on Ultimate Bet last week for the first 2 hours or so. One of the things I noticed was that you managed to almost double your starting stack in the 1st hour without really having to showdown as a hand. Do you find because you are well known player with a big reputation on-line, that players tend to avoid playing pots with you?

Eric: Well, I find I get one of two reactions from a lot of players. Some players give me WAY more respect than I probably deserve because of my reputation. Others will do everything in their power to bust me just to say they did it, especially in those Sunday tournaments were lots of players win their way in via satellites. Most of them don't play with me on a regular basis, so sometimes they like to try to take a story away from the tournament.

David: To most, you’re considered to be a TAG player (Tight-Aggressive). Do you take advantage of this image early in tournaments when everyone else is playing tight? What tips would you give to our TAG reader’s on how they can loosen up early in tournaments to accumulate chips without being reckless in deeper stack tournaments?

Eric: Well, I wouldn't personally say I'm a TAG player. I like to think of myself as being able to adjust to the table dynamics to play whatever style fits at the time. That being said, I know most other people think of me as TAG, and I do use that image sometimes to take down pots. It cuts both ways though. Whilst players are typically willing to give me credit for a hand when I bet or raise, allowing me to win a lot of pots just by being aggressive, other players also realize that I'm capable laying down hands as well, so will play me more aggressively. As far as advice to other TAG players goes, my best advice is to use position to accumulate early. It's a HUGE advantage when the stacks are deep to act last on every round of betting, and if you can use that properly to your advantage you can often chip up a lot easier. The biggest problem a lot of TAG players have early is they play too many pots out of position, and while their starting hands may be stronger on average than their opponents, when the stacks are still deep it's really tough to play any sort of medium strength hand out of position.

David: I like to think of myself as being a TAG player and one of the biggest problems I find I have to deal with are good LAG players (Loose-Aggressive). You placed 7th in last years WSOP Event #4, at that final table you had Gavin Smith directly to your right, what advice would you give players like me sitting with a good LAG player like Gavin or a Gus Hansen to my right?

Eric: As long as they are to your right that's a good thing. Use position against aggressive players, and you can open up your calling and raising ranges some, but not so much that you lose the advantage of playing better hands, on average, than the looser players. Patience is also key. You want to pick the right spots. LAG players make their living off players who get impatient and try and force a move with a marginal hand out of frustration. If you're patient and pick your spots without forcing anything, you'll do well against LAG players when you have position.

David: How would your strategy against this type player change if they were sat to your left?

Eric: Out of position against LAG players is a lot tougher. The good ones like Gavin or Gus especially, know how to apply a lot of pressure on you when they have position. What I do a lot of times then is I'll change the range of hands I'm playing pre-flop to include hands that are much easier to play with confidence post flop. For example: I'd rather play pocket pairs than suited connectors against aggressive players without position (although in position I love the suited connectors against them) because they are much easier to play (since you don't have to deal with two or three barrelling draws etc). I also prefer big cards (A-K/A-Q) against these players, because you can play top pair very strongly against them. So I probably tighten up the range of hands I play, but I play them more aggressively than I would against a standard opponent.

David: Can you give our readers a clue on how to make quick and effective note taking on players whilst playing on line?

Eric: Well, it really depends on the person a lot. I personally always make sure simple notes at first then elaborate on them as I get more information. For example if I have a guy call me down with pocket twos when I fire on all three streets I'll often just make a simple note saying 'station' referring to him as a calling station. Then if I see him do something similar later with fives I'll elaborate to say 'overvalues pocket pairs post flop'. I particularly like to note the players who slow play their big hands or not, and ones who lead into the pre-flop raiser with either weak or strong hands.

Cash games:

David: Like most players I find that I manage my roll for tournaments pretty well, but find I struggle to find a level in cash games I’m comfortable with. What advice could you give someone like me about cash games and finding the right level for my roll? Also, how do you decide when you should or shouldn't move up or down levels?

Eric: Well, you should always be playing at a level where you are comfortable. With the inevitable losses that are sustained during some sessions playing cash games you have to air on the side of caution and be sensible. Even if you're a billionaire, if losing $1000 puts you on tilt, you should probably stay away from the $5/$10 game. For the PXF subscribers out there, there are some excellent bankroll management articles and tools. Generally speaking though, if you're not the kind of person who likes to have to replace their bankroll out of their own pocket frequently you should probably have at least 25 buy ins for whatever level you're playing, assuming you’re playing no limit hold em. So an example of this would be: If you want to play 5/10 you should have at least $25k, and for 0.50/$1 you should have at least $2500. Anything less than that and even long term winning players can run the risk of going broke.

David: How do you know if a cash table is “Good”? IE: Do you observe the table for a while before taking a seat? Do you use tracking software that gives you information on players already at that table?

Eric: At the cash games I play in regularly I know most of the players, so it's pretty easy to determine what games are soft or not. But if I'm playing at a new limit or don't recognize anyone, I usually just sit down at the table anyways, but for the first 30 minutes or so I play a very solid, unimaginative game for the most part as I learn how these unfamiliar players play. I try and identify where the loose versus tight players are, and the ones who seem to call down loosely versus the ones who will fold under pressure. Ideally I want the looser, more aggressive players to my right and the tight passive ones to my left. This makes blind stealing much easier against the passive players, and playing the looser players in position allows me to see a lot more flops and extract more out of them when I hit, since I know they'll be playing aggressively. The best thing about cash games though, is if I spend 30 minutes and either don't like the table or think my seat is bad, I can just get up and find another one. I think one of the biggest mistakes a lot of players make is they'll stay in bad or even just 'not so good' games rather than finding good ones.
Don’t be afraid of changing seats at the same table or finding a “better” table to gain an edge for the above reasons

Heads up:

David: I recently watched the video of your Sunday million win on pokerstars. I thought the heads up play was awesome.
Usually when a tournament gets to a heads up confrontation the blinds compared to the stack sizes are pretty high, how do you get reads on opponents quickly when you’re playing heads up?

Eric: Fortunately for me, that particular player had some normal heads up leaks. Generally though, as long as I have a reasonable amount of chips I'll just do a lot of probing type plays in small pots early and see how he reacts. If I just call on the button is he going to raise me? Is he folding to me if I bet on the flop a lot of times? Or is he the type of player who is constantly re-raising my raises or floating me in position? I generally just try a lot of different things early to see how he'll react and start to build a profile on him from there, adjusting my game to hopefully take advantage of his leaks.

WSOP:

David: You had 7 cashes in the last 2 years at the World Series of Poker, was 2006 the first year you played?

Eric: Yes, 2006 was the first year I played; I only entered 4 events that year. In 2007 I played a fuller schedule of around 20 events.

David: How much live experience did you have going into your 1st World Series of Poker Event? How did you feel when you first sat down? Nervous, excited, or a little bit of both?

Eric: I had played only 2 major live tournaments prior to the WSOP. To be perfectly honest, even to this day I get a little bit of both, nervous and excited when I first sit down at the table for a tournament. Once the cards are in the air though, most of that quickly goes away as I just focus in on playing poker.

David: I mentioned earlier about your 7th place finish in Event #4 last year, what were your feelings afterwards? Were you happy to have made a World Series final table or were you disappointed going so close to winning a bracelet?

Eric: I'm always disappointed when I don't take first. I wouldn't be any kind of poker player if I wasn't. Later on, when I looked back I was pleased with my play so overall I was pretty happy. I went in as the shortest stack at the final table with no expectations and managed to put myself in contention by getting my chips in as a 75% favourite against Gavin for a pot that would have put me near the chip leaders. It's always a disappointment not to win, but as long as I feel like I played my best that usually quickly passes. It's only when I lose AND feel like I made mistakes that I get upset.

David: You then went on to take 2nd place in Event #23 ($1500 pot limit Omaha), how disappointing was that to come even closer?

Eric: Well, I must confess that that one was actually less disappointing since it was my first live Pot Limit Omaha event ever. I'd probably played maybe a dozen or so online but never really spent any time studying the game at all. It also helped that I got heads up in that one with about a 20 to 1 chip disadvantage, so I knew it was going to be a really long uphill grind to win it.

David: The main event soon followed where you finished in 24th place. Jamie Gold eliminated you from that tournament, what were your feelings afterwards having got so close, and what are your views about the hand that saw you eliminated by Jamie and what were your views on his much documented antics at the table?

Eric: I was obviously disappointed that I busted, but I felt I made the right play given the information I had at the time. Jamie's antics were what they were. Quite honestly as a professional player you have to deal with lots of different antics at the table, and if you let them heavily impact your play you'll be in trouble. I personally wasn't bothered by the antics, and the rules at a lot of poker rooms have since changed in regards to table talk, which I view as a good thing.
Going back to the hand that eliminated me where I went all in over the top of Jamie’s raise with A6, I still believe I made the right move considering the information I had at the time. Jamie and I had played on previous days prior to this, and in those instances he had shown he had the capability to lay down hands when people played back at him. He had also been raising pretty much every limped pot (as he probably should have been doing with his stack). My chip stack at the time in relation to the blinds was just big enough to have a lot of fold equity with this sort of move (I had 2.5 million chips, despite the comment another player made at the table about only having 1.5 million,( I had just won a big pot the orbit before). The blinds were about to make a huge jump the next level though, which would have essentially eliminated my ability to play post flop. I had already decided before the hand that if I got a chance to limp/re-raise Jamie's big blind before the blinds jumped I was going to do it with any sort of playable hand. I would have done it with 7-6 suited as well to be quite honest. However, later Prahlad (Friedman) tried the same play with A-4 and Jamie called with 8-7. Had I seen THAT play prior to making my play, I definitely would not have made it. Given the information I knew at the time from prior days play and my chip stack though, I felt it was the best play at the time and given the same situation and knowledge, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

David: After the recent success of on-line bred players like yourself, Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad (WSOPE main event winner), Kevin “beLOWaBOVe” Saul (WPT title), Jared “thewacokidd” Hamby in 2007 (numerous live tournament wins early in 2007) to name just a few, do you think that on-line bred players are starting to get the credit and recognition they deserve from the established live pro’s?

Eric: Yes and no. Those of us (on-line players) who have had some live success do tend to get a lot of credit and recognition from the live players, although that wasn't always the case. But the on-line guys who just turn 21 and head out to the WSOP or whatever don't tend to get much respect from a lot of the live professionals until they've proven they can transition that success from the virtual felt to the real one.

David: Do you think this trend of on liners making the successful transition over to live tournaments will continue in 2008?

Eric: Absolutely. As more and more guys who cut their teeth online turn 21 we're going to see a lot more of them be very successful. Just looking at some of the guys who are 18-20 who are playing in events outside of the US and doing very well, it's going to be a scary environment at the live tables once they turn 21 and can take all that experience and put it into play at places like the World Series.

David: Apart from yourself and the players I’ve just mentioned, what do you think of the general standard of on-line players at the moment compared to 4-5 years ago?

Eric: It's head and shoulders above where it was. With all of the information floating around online, as well as the various training sites and forums where people can talk poker 24/7, the play is light years ahead of where it was when I first started playing. I really wish I had a time machine to take what I know now back 4-5 years ago and sit back down at the same tables. Those games were so juicy and I didn't really even know how juicy at the time.

David: And finally, do you set yourself goals, and what are they?


Eric: I only set myself two goals and that’s all. First is to play my best at all times, and second is to be a better player tomorrow than I am today. I find most other types of goals to be very limiting. Goals work well for some people, but if I set a goal to win X amount of dollars in a month, if I hit that mark on the 15th of the month I can start to get lazy, and sometimes if I don't hit it I can play VERY well and just be on the wrong side of variance, but then I feel like I failed. I like to set my goals based on self improvement and not results, since the short term in poker can be very swingy. I’d far rather in the long run make the right decisions over and over than play badly and occasionally get lucky. It’s a well known fact that poker is a long term game, if you make the right decisions and continue to try and improve you will be successful in poker.