Things you might not know:
Dan "rekrul" Schreiber gives full credit to StarCraft and being a professional gamer for helping him become a success at poker. He has always taken a pragmatic approach to poker, seeing it as a game similar to any other which needs to be understood and practiced to become excellent.- Schreiber found solace from being one of the nerdy bright kids in school in his love for StarCraft.
- Schreiber admits that he was a big trash talker and often felt he had to be right concerning StarCraft discussions.
- Schreiber won the USA championships for StarCraft at the World Cyber Games in LA, which led to going to Korea where he met ElkY and Giyom.
- Schreiber was an engineering student at the University of Cincinnati, dropping out after his freshman year due to his success in poker.
- Schreiber was recommended to try to play poker by Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier who had also transitioned from StarCraft to poker. EklY staked Schreiber while he learned poker.
- Schreiber kept his StarCraft name, Rekrul, when he transitioned to poker.
- Schreiber defeated Vanessa Selbst in the semi-finals and Mark Muchnik in the finals of his WSOP heads-up win.
- Schreiber, at the time, was the fifth youngest player ever to win a WSOP bracelet at 8 days prior to his 22nd birthday.
- Schreiber took eighth in an Asia Pacific Poker Tour Seoul event two months after his WSOP win, choosing to go to Korea due to his Korean StarCraft connections.
- Schreiber considers South Korea home nowadays, speaks fluent Korean, and can read and write it as well.
"When I came to Korea, I had $3,000 to my name. If I had never come to Korea, I'm fairly sure I would not have succeeded at poker. I needed the pressure that forced me to succeed." He left Hexatron DreamTeam and went through a rough spell of freedom in Seoul as he pursued poker. He quickly moved from a $400 online account playing $0.50/1 NLH to $3/6 in a matter of weeks, then went on a tear as he moved up to $10/20 NLH, winning $120k over two months.
"I did not try to make myself a poker pro, I was just someone who really enjoyed it and saw it as a game of skill, a skill that I wanted to master," said Schreiber.
"I did not try to make myself a poker pro, I was just someone who really enjoyed it and saw it as a game of skill, a skill that I wanted to master," said Schreiber.
Schreiber adds...Of course, StarCraft and poker are very similar games. They're both games of missing information. You have to figure out what your opponent is doing and use it against them. If you're good at StarCraft you're going to be good at poker. That's just a fact.
Schreiber continues...Poker is a game of skill. There are at least 3 losing players for every winning player. Poker is a dangerous game. The house always has an edge in any game it spreads and the casino or online poker room is always raking a small % of every pot so you need to be much better than your opponents to profit in the long run. That's why its possible to safely and consistently make money in a game that involves gambling, as much sense that doesn't make. You are competing against real people in a game of skill taking their money rather than playing a game like blackjack where you're playing against the house and the house has a 2% edge on you even if you are playing perfectly. You cannot win gambling at any game in the long run except playing poker against real people.
Slight differences in skill can make the difference in earning 5 figures a year or 7 figures a year. There are plenty of people that think about the game just like me and understand everything but just don't have it in their personality to summon the balls to run a huge bluff, or don't have the ability to precisely psychoanalyze their opponents thought process, or cannot look someone directly in the eye and know if he's got the goods or not. Those differences are why they have to try really hard to make only 10,000$ a year, and why I have a WSOP bracelet. And that's just one tournament...I'm mainly a cash game player. I'm not trying to brag or anything but if an unmotivated anti-social nerd like me could accomplish all this through pure luck then why can't someone like you accomplish it now seeing how much material there is out there that can meld you into a winning player. It's never too late to start something and for every good poker player out there there are many many more retards who have too much money for their own good spewing off thousands of dollars in poker games. If you are reading this you are probably a gamer. If you played Starcraft you are probably very intelligent, if you preferred other games you still have some intelligence (unless you played counterstrike LOL!). If you are intelligent you can make money grow on trees through poker. And remember. I did it the hard way. Its very easy to do nowadays.
Poker is like fire. It will bring you warmth and cook your food and keep you alive and well. But the moment you take it for granted or don't respect it you will get burnt. Every time you get angry due to short-term variance and do something stupid you will be losing more money. To play poker you must accept that you will lose from time to time because of the luck factor and you must realize that poker is merely a long run game. If you already have a career and a life and are happy I implore you to not ruin it to become a poker player. If you want to give it a try merely follow strict rules for play and bankroll management and treat it like a hobby until you are sure if you have what it takes or not. And even if you know you have potential realize this before hand: Poker is just money. It is not a fulfilling lifestyle. Winning lots of money from poker does not make you cool. I am still a huge nerd and I realize this. I do not feel above anyone because of how much money I can make from poker. What poker is is freedom. Sitting in your house all day playing World of Warcraft on your computer isn't a way to live your life. Creeping a bunch of goblins in Warcraft3 isn't a way to live your life. And while Starcraft is an amazing game one should not let it consume their lives. There are countless gamers out there with infinite potential who just don't utilize it because they are unmotivated just like I was in high school and college.
Slight differences in skill can make the difference in earning 5 figures a year or 7 figures a year. There are plenty of people that think about the game just like me and understand everything but just don't have it in their personality to summon the balls to run a huge bluff, or don't have the ability to precisely psychoanalyze their opponents thought process, or cannot look someone directly in the eye and know if he's got the goods or not. Those differences are why they have to try really hard to make only 10,000$ a year, and why I have a WSOP bracelet. And that's just one tournament...I'm mainly a cash game player. I'm not trying to brag or anything but if an unmotivated anti-social nerd like me could accomplish all this through pure luck then why can't someone like you accomplish it now seeing how much material there is out there that can meld you into a winning player. It's never too late to start something and for every good poker player out there there are many many more retards who have too much money for their own good spewing off thousands of dollars in poker games. If you are reading this you are probably a gamer. If you played Starcraft you are probably very intelligent, if you preferred other games you still have some intelligence (unless you played counterstrike LOL!). If you are intelligent you can make money grow on trees through poker. And remember. I did it the hard way. Its very easy to do nowadays.
Poker is like fire. It will bring you warmth and cook your food and keep you alive and well. But the moment you take it for granted or don't respect it you will get burnt. Every time you get angry due to short-term variance and do something stupid you will be losing more money. To play poker you must accept that you will lose from time to time because of the luck factor and you must realize that poker is merely a long run game. If you already have a career and a life and are happy I implore you to not ruin it to become a poker player. If you want to give it a try merely follow strict rules for play and bankroll management and treat it like a hobby until you are sure if you have what it takes or not. And even if you know you have potential realize this before hand: Poker is just money. It is not a fulfilling lifestyle. Winning lots of money from poker does not make you cool. I am still a huge nerd and I realize this. I do not feel above anyone because of how much money I can make from poker. What poker is is freedom. Sitting in your house all day playing World of Warcraft on your computer isn't a way to live your life. Creeping a bunch of goblins in Warcraft3 isn't a way to live your life. And while Starcraft is an amazing game one should not let it consume their lives. There are countless gamers out there with infinite potential who just don't utilize it because they are unmotivated just like I was in high school and college.
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