On Wednesday, as he livestreamed his online poker gameplay to hundreds of viewers, Lex Veldhuis fielded questions from the poker community in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread on Reddit.
While multi-tabling a few thousand dollars worth of tournaments, the newest addition to the GGPoker roster responded to queries on a wide range of topics – including his favorite albums, advice for newcomers to the game, how it felt to watch himself get bluffed by Phil Ivey in one of the most legendary High Stakes Poker hands, and who he thinks the best online MTT players in the world are.
Veldhuis also touched on how he manages his work-life balance and the one thing he wants most in poker.
As the undisputed king of livestreamed online poker, Veldhuis has been incredibly open with his audience. And that transparency extended into the AMA thread as he gave candid answers to the majority of questions asked.
Below, you'll find a roundup of the highlights from Veldhuis' AMA session.
Note: The questions and responses selected have been edited for formatting and clarity.
Veldhuis: I would never give up streaming
High rollers have some absolute wizards in the fields – how do you approach those tournaments? Do you adjust a lot for the top regs, or do you mostly stick to your own game? Also, how much better have the elite online tournament players gotten compared to 10+ years ago?
I just want to not give up ground. If I make mistakes I want them to be on the aggressive side so at least I can be a headache to play against instead of easy.
I have to stick to my own game, if I start adjusting I make the gap bigger. I think the 1000th poker player in the world would be the best reg 10 years ago.
Who do you think the best online MTT regs currently are?
I'm not good enough to have a definitive answer to this question, but the people that come to mind are Vladimir Minko (ServlaMin), MalakaStyle (Juan Pardo Dominguez), C.Darwin [Simon Mattsson], [Adrian] Mateos, Lena900 [Niklas Astedt].
€urop€an [Samuel Vousden] and Simon Beckmann might be my top 2 right now.
Adrian Mateos is widely considered one of the best live tournament players in the world – Lex Veldhuis thinks his online poker chops stack up with the best as well. Have you ever done analysis on how live-streaming affects your win rate? How much of an edge do you think you theoretically give up, if any?
That's impossible to calculate. There are things that make me play worse, but some things that make me play better. The overall effect is damaging though, but I would never give it up.
If you started playing MTTs today with a bankroll of around $200, what approach would you take?
As low as possible, small fields, low amount of tables, watch free training content. Do warmup/review sessions. Try to join a Discord where they talk strategy.
What are a few of your favorite albums?
good kid, m.A.A.d city – Kendrick Lamar
AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP – A$AP Rocky
Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent
Use Your Illusion II – Guns N' Roses
Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Black Album – Metallica
Bobby Digital in Stereo – RZA
Leren Leven – Fresku
'It was a huge goal of mine when I was younger'
What's the one thing in poker you want the most?
I would say winning a bracelet would be very nice, yeah. It was a huge goal of mine when I was younger. Also it's a bit of a regret of mine how I took grinding WSOPs for granted.
How did you feel when you realized Phil Ivey bluffed you with 52 off-suit?
It was pretty funny because me and my friends would watch HSP every Monday morning when we all woke up. Everyone would come to my house and we'd get food and watch.
I told them I played a huge hand vs. Ivey and I couldn't wait to see what he had. The moment the hand came in vision and he was shown to have 52 off-suit a friend of mine threw a sandwich in my face (literally) and said, 'God, you suck' and they all left.
Who needs enemies when you have friends like that?
How do you manage streaming, playing poker and family life?
Well, moving up stakes creates more pressure, tougher games, and more work to stay in good poker shape, so it takes more time. I think it's very important to look at your life balance as filling up Tetris blocks. You put the biggest, most important pieces in the bottom and then look at how you fill the roster up.
Family, being a present dad, is most important, health is important (I used to prioritize poker), and then I fill it up with poker, hobbies, and friendships. When one of them gets too big you just have to re-adjust once in a while.
What are the differences between getting into the world of poker today and when you were starting out? If you had to start playing poker from zero today, how would you do it?
The biggest difference is back in the day you had to learn through playing, and nowadays all the info/study material is available.
So, even without playing you can improve rapidly. I would focus on getting better and playing games that don't risk me going broke while still getting reps in.
Featured image courtesy of Manuel Kovsca/Rational Intellectual Holdings
