Daniel Petty
Most Wins In One Season – 17
Fall Season ’10
Daniel Petty has played with the Atlanta Poker Club since April, 2004. In Fall Season ’10, he had an amazing number of wins – 17. The largest number of wins by any player in any season of the APC bringing his total to 36. He also led the Season in points!
How many times a week did you play in Fall Season ’10?
I played four to five times a week.
Players want to know what is your winning strategy?
I changed many different things in my play. Maybe as many as fifteen different things. I worked on patience, chip stack management, and the biggest thing was reducing my tilt factor by 90%. An example: if I had A, K and was called by A, 7 and the 7 hit the board and I lost, I didn’t go on tilt. I know in the long run I’m going to win that nine times out of ten. Every time I played was to play my game the best I could, and even if the results didn’t show it, then I was still happy with my play. And if I played that way consistently then it paid off.
How has your play changed in the last six years?
Its changed in that I focus not only on my play but the other players play. I study and focus on who I’m playing and try to remember how they play.
One of my philosophies in poker is playing every hand…and by that I mean, whether I’m in the hand or not. After I fold, I watch nuanaces of people and how they bet, handle their chips, and this way you will develop tells on other players that will help in other tournaments.
Another philosophy goes along with controlling your tilt. Focus on making the correct decision and don’t worry about the outcome. Don’t let the outcome bother you. If I raise with A, K and a player makes a bad call, you just can’t control other people’s play. If you limp in with Aces and they get cracked, that is your fault. If you raise properly then the outcome is not your fault…the only person that can put me on tilt is myself.
Any advice to new players?
The mistake new players make, and even experienced players, is they play with too much emotion. So, and this goes to the tilt factor, my philosophy is to play with passion and not emotion. Second thing is, a lot of players will play pot odds, and they don’t consider their fold equity. Most players don’t know what fold equity is. That is a huge part of the win factor in a tournament, and that is another reason I did so well this season.
Can you explain what “fold equity” is?
Fold equity is a certain stage of the tournament where the amount you call with doesn’t equal the profitability. You need to wait to have a different opportunity of being the raiser and not the caller. Let’s say the blinds are 200 – 400 and someone raises to 1600. Three players ahead of you call the raise. Depending on your chip stack, that might be too much to invest in pot odds because it is too much of your chip stack and it might be advantageous to fold and wait until you are in position. Then you can raise the limpers to 2100 in a different hand, everyone folds, and you just profited 1600 -1800 in chips. Find situations where you don’t call off your chips hoping you are going to hit a flop, and find situations that you are going to take down the blinds and the limpers and take down the pot. If you limp in and have pot odds and call the raise, and you do that three times in a row and you lose, you will diminish your chip stack. Remember…maximize your ability to control your chip stack and not call off all your chips. What will happen, is a player will base their call on what happened last week, when they lucked out with the worst hand, and this time they will lose. But, if you control your chip stack you won’t be on a short stack and have to shove.
I asked myself how can I change my game so I don’t fall into the same pitfalls and traps that other players do. Whether you have pocket Aces or K, Q suited, a lot of players will value bet when they have limpers. Let’s say you have 1800 in the pot with blinds 200 – 400 and you raise 1200. You will get all those limpers calling your raise because they have pot odds. Now you have a pot of say 6,000. But, same situation, if you have four limpers and you raise to 2400 and you get only one caller your pot is the same size, but you have isolated. You only have to beat one opponent. Players think they are going to value bet and they forget that the other players only think about pot odds and will call, and that is why Aces get cracked so much in this league.
Has any major player influenced your play?
Daniel Negreanu. I admire and like him because of his ability to put players on hands.
To do this myself, when I’m not in a hand, I try to get a players range of hands and based off the continued action in the hand, narrow down their hands to one or two.
Do you have a favorite hand?
I want pocket Aces, and you can’t always win with them, but if you play them right they can be profitable. Any hand, even big pairs, you have to know when their value changes, by the number of players who called and the texture of the board.
How did it feel to have the most wins of any player in any season?
Accomplished more than I thought I could. I always knew my play was good but since I’ve applied myself and worked really hard, I plan on taking it to the next level and going to Tunica and Biloxi and applying what I’ve learned to that arena.
What do you thiink when players say its just free poker and doesn’t matter?
It’s all a mind set. Free poker is a social event, fun and competitive but it is not profitable. That is why I want to take what I’ve learned to the next arena to make it profitable.
Anything else you want to share?
My advice is you can read all the books you want. Until you get out there and get a lot of experience, try different strategies, find what works for you, and then continually self analyze your poker game, you aren’t going to get a lot better. This is a game that takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. In Texas Hold’em, there are 50 different things that you have to do consistently to do very well. When you set your mind to do something, and you put in the hard work, you can achieve more than you think you can.
Daniel Petty is in the Atlanta Poker Club Hall of Fame for the most wins in any season and also for leading in points. Congratulations, Daniel, and you have definitely encouraged a lot of players to take their game to a new level.
