1) What got you into poker initially? What would you be doing if you never found the game?

A buddy got me into it during our senior year of college.  When I got into the real world and realized I hated my banking job, I put all my free time into working on my game.  The goal was to have poker to fall back on, and fortunately a year later when it came time to quit my job, I was good enough to make professional poker a reality.  Had I never found poker?  That's a tough one, I've been a poker pro for over 4 years and I only had a real job for a year and a half, but I'd like to think I'd be at a trading desk somewhere, that's about the only other thing I could picture myself doing.

2) What games did you start in and how did you build your bankroll? Did you always have solid bankroll management?

I started in the Pokerroom and Party Poker $.5/$1 limit games.  I built my roll up to a reasonable $5/$10 limit bankroll before moving to no-limit.  I was never much of a gambler growing up and was usually fairly risk averse, and that led me to being conservative with my bankroll and moving up slowly, I'm still a pretty big bankroll nit, but at least now I have the roll to sit in the bigger games when there's a good spot.

3) What games are you playing at the moment, and how are you running?

Playing a lot of 6max NL, mostly $3/$6 through $10/$20, since I don't have as much time anymore to sit around waiting for heads-up action.  I've been running ok so I can't complain.  Main thing is I'm really enjoying it and having fun working on some things.

4) Describe your typical day? Do you play a set amount of hands a day or play more hands later in the week when more recreational players are online?

Before starting Drag The Bar, I'd to get my hands in 6 days a week.  Now, I play much less early in the week and then grind on the weekends.

5) What, do you feel are the biggest strengths and weaknesses to you game?

I think my biggest strength is my creativity and my hand reading ability, which I think comes from not letting auto piloting.  Plus that's what makes poker fun, confusing an opponent to the point where he has no clue what do and just has to guess.  My biggest weakness until recently was that I was too stubborn about giving up on hand, but I've been working hard on that.  I also get drained after playing 12 tables for 3 hours, I'd like to get that mental stamina up to 5 or 6 hours.

6) What is the biggest weakness of regulars in the games you play? Are the games getting tougher?

I honestly do not think the games are getting tougher.  People have been saying that NL cash is dying since the UIGEA, but you have a lot of the regulars, even in the $5/$10 games, that are barely winning players.   There are a lot of really good players, but you just don't tangle with them unless you have to.  Many of the weaker guys just insist on assigning too wide a range to their opponents in spots where they shouldn't, so they end up in tons of very marginal spots that inject tons of variance without the edge that should normally accompany variance.  But poker is like anything else, if you practice and work on your game, you're always going to have your edge and be able to make solid money from it.

7) I understand you are married, do you find it difficult to balance your poker life and married life? Have you any hobbies outside poker?

Sometimes for sure, but my wife and I lived together when we graduated college which is when I started playing online, so she watched me go from the micro stakes to a pro player, and has been very supportive the whole way.  Her support has been huge over the years.  I'll play some golf and go for runs, but basically between poker and DragTheBar, there's not a lot of time for much else right now.

8) Congratulations on the launch of DTB, can you tell us what inspired you to set up the site? Will you miss Stox Poker?

Thanks!  Basically I knew my two partners separately and had talked about the training industry with each of them.  I got the three of us together and we realized we had all the pieces we needed to go for it, the thought of having complete creative control and direction for my own training was incredibly compelling and sounded like a lot of fun.  I've always loved teaching poker and this just seemed like the next step.  I got my start with Stoxpoker and they provided me with a great opportunity, but when I realized I could start my own site and do things in a different way, that's just not something I could can say no to.

9) Can you describe to us your coaching philosophy?

My goal when I’m coaching is to help my students and Drag The Bar members build a winning thought process by teaching them how to tighten up their assumptions, read hands better, and be more creative.  To be very successful, every poker player needs to develop his or her own style, so I show them how to think about the situations better and help them build their own winning thought process.  I make sure that they understand the reasons behind a play and that they are not simply copying my style or making a similar play because I did it.  There are so many variables to think about during a poker hand, that you have to teach people how to think for themselves instead of just telling them what to do.

10) What are the features of Drag the Bar that will attract new members?

We've got the standard free trial, no DRM in our videos, and ipod downloads.  But the real attraction for Drag The Bar is our coaches.  I specifically hire guys who are not only great players, but also great teachers.  The passion and enthusiasm for teaching has to be there.  Some guys enjoy being a part of the learning process and helping members and others do it for exposure and to get paid, our coaches all belong in the first category.  I feel very fortunate to have coaches who all are big winners at their limits, but who also play very different styles and are excellent communicators and thoughtful, enthusiastic teachers.

11) What levels of poker player are you looking to cater for?

On the tournament side all stakes will be represented.  On the cash side, we have a couple coaches who may be looking to do a nosebleed video or two, but our focus will be micro stakes through mid-stakes, say 25nl through 10/20.  For one thing, small stakes are the players who need easy access to poker training and will benefit the most from excellent teaching and instruction.

Secondly, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year is very attainable at mid-stakes online poker.  It is far more attainable than shooting up the heads-up ladder and landing at $500/$1k.  Our pros make millions grinding mid-stakes and can show our members how to do the same.

12) What disciplines of poker are DTB looking to provide poker training for?

We are focused on No-Limit Hold'em cash games and tournaments.  We will be adding more tournament coaches in the coming months.  Of course we also have excellent PLO and Limit Hold'em coaches as well.

13) Which games can we expect to see you produce videos in?

Well I'm a cash pro so I personally will be focused on 6max no-limit with some occasional heads-up videos.  I really enjoy making videos and don't plan to stop.  You won't see an MTT video from me though unless I manage to stumble into some big final table on the monthly tournament that I play, and even then, I'd have EndlessJ or one of our other experts on hand to point out my screw-ups.

14) DTB have made really made an impact in entering the poker training market with the signing of Leatherass and the acquisition of Poker Swat. Is this a sign for things to come in the future?

Absolutely.  We're never going to stop improving the site, we're always asking ourselves "How can we do things better?"  I see it just like poker, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse.  Our members can always count on us working on their behalf to better the product and offer more ways to learn and improve their games.  Bringing in Leatherass and acquiring PokerSwat were two moves that just made a ton of sense in that they provide so much value to our members.

15) With the addition of Poker Swat, DTB will have an extra 230+ videos to add to the library that were produced by  a number of respected coaches. Can you name any of the coaches that will be joining DTB from Poker Swat?

The only one I can name at this time is Achilles157.  He is a huge winner at the small stakes full ring games and we're proud to have him making full ring no-limit videos for us.  I think a lot of players are starting to realize how profitable full ring NL can be and we're excited to have a top earner in those games teaching our members.  He'll be our first full-ring only coach and his experience making videos for PokerSwat and his ability to answer questions about his past videos makes it even sweeter.

16) Drag The Bar also provides Backgammon coaching videos, the only poker training site to do so. Is there a big interest in Backgammon training and do many players make a living by playing backgammon?

While not every poker has played Backgammon yet, once they do, its hard not to love the game.  Its an incredibly deep gambling game where your edge can be enormous and the matches can be intense.  Many poker sites are starting to offer it including the Merge Network skins in the U.S.  There is no one in the world more qualified to teach Backgammon to poker players than Bill Robertie, he's a great poker player and co-author of the Harrington on Hold'em books as well as a Backgammon world champion.  He's also just a very effective teacher and his videos are a lot of fun to watch, even if you've never played.

17) What cool things are Drag the Bar offering to new subscribers?

In addition to the 7-day free, we also offer lots of ways to earn your membership for free alongside your rakeback when you sign up for one of our 9 different rakeback offers.  Players can earn multiple DTB memberships each month in addition to their rakeback, so they aren't giving up anything whatsoever to earn those memberships.

Our best deal is with a Merge Network skin called Black Chip Poker, players get a free DTB month for every $200 they rake, and that network is HEM compatible and is about to get a whole lot bigger now that sportsbook.com is moving there.

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