» Spotlight on DailyVariance and Tri 'slowhabit' Nguyen
Have you ever wondered what is involved in writing a poker book and setting up your own site to sell and promote it? I recently interviewed Tri 'slowhabit' Nguyen, the co-author with Cole South on Let There Be Range and his own The Pot Limit Omaha Book: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO about poker, writing and his site DailyVariance.
Who was involved in writing and publishing your two books?
I wrote the initial draft for Let There Be Range. However, after reading through LTBR, I felt something was missing but couldn't quite figure it out. So I though of people who could help me. I sent a copy to Cole South and he was nice enough to read it. I offered a fee but that's not how he rolls so he reviewed it for free. He ended up liking it a lot so we co-authored LTBR and he wrote on topics I wasn't comfortable writing.
For The PLO book, I did everything.
Why did you decide to sell it independently on your own website instead of the more typical Amazon/mainstream distribution and sales?
I decided to sell it independently because I like to be independent. I think the ultimate goal of making money is to buy time so you can have more time for yourself to do things you enjoy. It doesn't make sense to lose my independence for money, then use the same money to buy that independence back.
And the process of selling/promoting books is fun for me.
How did you determine a reasonable price for your e-books?
I don't have a systematic way of determining a price. The only explanation I can come up with is I'm a feel-based player. I just make a bet that I think will get the results I want.
What is involved in the website, promoting and selling your books?
I maintain the website and I sell the books. As for promoting, our books' quality is great so it's mostly through word of mouth.
I would like to mention my inspiration for Let There Be Range. It was meant for my students. I wanted to have a structured coaching program so I could plan my students' lessons. I know a lot of coaches out there who just show up without preparation and offer a sweat or HH review without understanding what the student's game is like.
Like-wise, it's hard to be a doctor when you don't know what the patient's problem is. You have to run tests to figure out what is wrong with him and have a plan on how to fix him. Even the best doctor in the world cannot help me if I show up at his office and say, "fix me."
By having a structured plan, I go from the most basic concepts and theories and guess which part of their thinking process is correct/incorrect. After a while, you kind of know the common leaks/mistakes students make and it's easy to improve his game. Of course, once in a while, a student shows up with a very creative outlook on the game and that's when it's really fun to teach and learn. And this goes both ways.
Our books are written in that manner. My goal is to give you a coach in your hand (or in cases, on your computer). It's quite common for the books readers to have a question on a concept, then on the next page, that question is answered. And it goes on like this until the end of the page.
There are a lot of poker books out there. How is your different from all the others?
(The following comments only deal with those that I have read). Firstly, our books have no filler. I don't need 50+ pages telling my readers how awesome I am. I mean, they are willing to pay a lot of money for my work. There's no need to waste either of our time.
Secondly, the difference is the level of practicality. Our books are extremely practical and they aren't heavy in theory. That doesn't mean theory isn't important. It definitely is. The problem is a lot of those playing at 600nl and below have a hard time applying these theories.
Here is an example that was brought up by awesome poster jjordan in our forum that illustrated the difference between theory and practical.
In our book, we advocated "Against opponents who three-bet the bottom and top of their range while electing to call with the middle of their range, it is very profitable to four-bet them."
Jjordan wrote a very insightful post:
"Player A 3-Bets {22-55 JJ+, AQ+, 43-T9s, 53s-T8s} This is 8.1% of hands, 4.2% on the top and 3.9% on the bottom.Player B 3-Bets {99+, AJ+, KQ, KJs, QJs} this is 8.1% of hands. Assuming both players will play for stacks preflop with {JJ+, AK+}, 4-Betting player B would be a better play than flat calling with marginal hands, as compared to 4-Betting Player A. Against Player A, calling with marginal hands seems better than 4-Betting because we are surely ahead of half of his range. Basically I would prefer to call a 3-bet against the polarized range to pick up added equity vs the bottom of his range. Against the top of range 3-better I'd rather take away his ability to realize the equity from the bottom of his 3-betting range, which is strong, but unplayable to a 4-bet."
And he's right. However. My response...
"In theory, 4-betting against a polarized 3-betting range is bad because like you have proven, we will get shoved on more than half of the time, especially when stacks are 100BBs.However, in practice, when stacks get a little deep (150BBs+), regulars at 400nl and below have a super polarized 3-betting range. What I mean by super is they don't usually 3-bet with QQ-TT and their nut hands are weighted toward AK/AA-KK a lot more than when it was 100BBs. The reason is people don't feel comfortable stacking off pre-flop with QQ-TT. Additionally, they are paranoid with those hands and don't want to get 4-bet and have to fold majority of the time. Of course, getting 4-bet doesn't occur as often as they think. Now, they'll have more crap hands in the 3-betting range because they don't mind folding them if they get 4-bet. Now, if your opponent is able to keep his polarized 3-betting range balanced (ie have TT-QQ some of the times and are willing to stack off with them), then 4-betting them is bad.The important thing is a majority of grinders are afraid to get it in 150BBs+ pre-flop with QQ-TT because it "seems" bad.I think this is an important distinction between optimal play and exploitative play. Sometimes, your opponents just don't play perfect and you can't assume that they do."
...so as you can see, the theorists are right but the practitioners make moneys because players at 400nl and below don't have a optimal balanced game. It's not profitable to give high credit to robotic TAGs. The only thing they are thinking is FPPs/rakeback, 100K hands/month, and why they are not making sets. They're not making their game balanced and un-exploitable, blah blah blah. And people who don't GET THIS lose money because they are sitting there leveling with themselves that "Villain is a regular. He's good so he will balance some bluffs in this spot." Then Hero calls and see a set.
People must realize that the only hands a nit balances in his range is the nut, the 2nd nuts, and sometimes the 3rd nuts. Then Hero proceeds to rant how bad he runs and how he always run into his opponent's top range when he has a good hand. That's when I ask, well, when you have the nuts, does the nit run into the top of your range with a worse hand? Obviously not. Because the nit doesn't have the nuts so he folds."
Describe what a day in the life of Tri 'slowhabit' Nguyen is like?
I work from home and I share an office with my brother. My schedule used to be really bad. I wake up whenever I'm recharged and work until whenever I'm sleepy. But after adopting a boy Pitbull/ Labrador mix and my one-month missionary in Vietnam, I suddenly have this abundance of energy so now my schedule is wake up at 5am-6am, work, play with my dog and my SLF (special lady friend), and go to sleep around 10pm. Early bird gets the worm!
What qualified you to be an authoritative figure on NLHE and PLO?
I don't feel like I am an authoritative figure on NLHE and PLO. I think it's hilarious when someone calls themselves give them such a title. The reason is there are a lot of great players out there. The only difference is I can get into a SSNL/MSNLer's head and know what they think and why they think that way and write my books from that perspective.
How much poker do you play and when?
Before I wrote the PLO book, I played at least 10 hours a day because I knew I wanted to write a PLO book and wanted to get in as much experience as possible. The best way to learn a game is to play HU. You'll realize how bad you are and will work harder to improve. The downside is you will think you are the unluckiest player in the world!
Now, I don't play as much poker as I used to. The only time I play a lot is when I'm writing a book and want to be up to date with the game conditions. My advices usually take an exploitative approach so it's important that I know how the current crop of players think.
Where do work, poker and a personal life rank as a priority? How do you balance them?
In theory, it's personal life > poker > work. In practice, it's work > personal life > poker.
I'm addicted to working and fortunately, my family and SLF understands that. Taking them to vacation spots and buying them things they want definitely helps the understanding part.
Most people, including my SLF, think my personal life is boring because it doesn't seem like I do much. What they don't know is I'm having brain orgasms almost every time I'm working. Actually, I think working is the wrong word. I worked when I was in high school and college and what I'm doing doesn't feel like work. When you're doing something you love, it's like a vacation.
As for balancing my schedule, I don't do it. I do whatever I feel like doing at that moment. Lately, this means working on my books and website. Nevertheless, family is most important to me and I would instantly drop everything to be at an event I know that is important to them.
Looking back, regarding balance, I guess I take the same approach for poker.
Do you have future book plans?
I have a No-Limit Holdem workbook coming out November 1 and its targeted audience are players at 50nl to 400nl. I send it out to a bunch of people to get feedback and so far, they have been awesome. You can pre-order for a 35% discount at DailyVariance.com. The price is definitely way lower than our other books. The reason is I think a larger audience will benefit from it.
