Capture the Flag: Where Top Cash-Game Pros Talk Strategy

In the past few years, the Dang brothers have amassed seven-figure bank accounts by crushing high-stakes cash games online. The brothers, known online as "Urindanger" (Di) and "trex313" (Hac), credit their skills to the fact that they are, as are most siblings, incredibly competitive. While trying to one-up each other, the Dangs have joined the ranks of the world's best no-limit hold'em players. Poker became a part of their lives while they were still in college, but unlike many young poker professionals, they stuck it out and finished up their bachelor's degrees. However, if their current success is any indication of what is to come, it doesn't look like they will be falling back on their educations anytime soon.


Lizzy Harrison: What factors make for a good cash game?



Hac Dang: There has to be a fish at the table; if there isn't, I won't sit down. There must be someone you know you have an edge on, so that you have someone to exploit. I play only if I think that it is worth it.



Di "Z" Dang: I agree with Hac; I look for certain players against whom I want to play. I don't want to call any of them out, but I am talking about rich businessmen who like to play poker.



LH: What is your preferred game, and why?



DD: If you mean what game is the most fun, it's pot-limit Omaha (PLO). PLO has more situations in which you have to bluff, and that forces me out of my comfort zone, which I kind of enjoy. PLO is a rush because the pots are so much bigger than no-limit hold'em pots. However, I still make more money playing no-limit, because I have played it for much longer.



HD: I used to prefer no-limit, but everyone has learned that game. PLO is interesting because everyone is still trying to figure it out. I am glad I decided to focus on PLO.



LH: When you first started playing cash games, what games and stakes did you play?



DD: During my third year of college, when I was about 20, I saw poker on ESPN. I liked it, so I started to play online.



HD: I started playing 1¢-2¢ and $5 sit-and-gos – all hold'em.



LH: You both moved up in stakes rather quickly. What were the biggest differences you noticed as you played in bigger games?



DD: I remember playing against this guy named "iRockHoes" on Full Tilt Poker when I started out. He was one of the best players back then, and I idolized him. Sometimes I would take a shot against him heads up; I still am not sure why. He would always kill me, though. He'd make pot-size bets on the river and then show me the bluff. Then he'd do the same thing in the next hand, and I'd think he was bluffing again, so I would call, and he would have the nuts. This taught me that the higher I played, the more aggressive I would have to be. When I realized that the players in the bigger games were more aggressive, I also realized that I had to make bigger call-downs. I used to fold all the time when a player bet because I believed him, but I figured out what the players in the bigger games did differently, and I adjusted accordingly.



HD: Whenever I moved up to a bigger game, I figured out who the best player at that level was, and then I'd think about why he was the best. For example, back in my PartyPoker days, there was this guy named "bloodsweattears," who was obviously the best at the time. I would study his hands to see what he was doing and why he was doing it. It is easier to sort through a winning player's hand histories than it is to figure it out for yourself. If you emulate the best player, it will definitely help your game.



LH: Why do some successful players never move up to the bigger games, and even move back down to smaller games?

DD: As "J-man" [Phil Galfond] puts it, some people are computers and some people are scientists. The computers do the same thing over and over again because they have a system and they don't know how to change it. The scientists study and learn. They figure out what their opponents are doing right and what they are doing wrong. That is why the scientists will be more successful in the end, even though the computers might be successful now. If you don't evolve with the game, you won't make it in the long run. It's sick that players who were playing $2,000 no-limit hold'em a few years ago are now playing $200 no-limit because they could not adapt.



LH: What stakes do you play on a day-to-day basis?



DD: The game that I play now is $200-$400 PLO, because it runs the most often. Big no-limit games hardly ever run unless wealthy businessmen sit down.



HD: There is a huge gap in the games right now. There are the $200-$400 games we play, but there are no $100-$200 games or $50-$100 games. The next step down from $200-$400 is usually $25-$50 these days, which is a big difference. I'd prefer to play $200-$400, and sell some of my action if I couldn't afford it, than play $25-$50. This is because the $200-$400 PLO games actually have some of the worst players.



LH: What types of mistakes do you see players make when they jump into games that are too big?



HD: If they are playing a game that is too big, that is their mistake. Also, if the game is too big for them, they probably have never played there for an extended period of time, so they don't know the players. Another thing is that if a game is too big, they might be playing with scared money. If you know they are playing with scared money, you can bluff them a lot.



DD: They also won't get their bets paid off if they are playing with scared money, because you know they won't bluff. If they bet, you just fold. I do want to make it clear that everyone needs to take a shot eventually.



LH: How should you determine when it is time?



DD: If you beat a limit for more than 25,000 hands, at a decent win rate, you should be ready to go to the next level. A lot of people have two or three good nights in a row, though, and they think they are good enough to move up, when it is just short-term variance.



LH: How often do new faces pop into the high-stakes cash games online?



HD: It is pretty rare. Sometimes the guys who normally play big no-limit games come to the PLO tables. They come in order to take a shot because they see so many bad players at the PLO tables. You know the high-stakes no-limit players are not fish, but you also know they don't play PLO very well.



LH: What advice would you give a successful tournament player if he wanted to move into the cash-game arena?



HD: Sometimes you need to call your opponents down in a cash game just to see their cards. That way, you can figure out how they play certain hands. If you call down for information in a tournament and are wrong, you are out. If you call down for information in a cash game and are wrong, you rebuy and exploit your opponent by using the information that you gained.



LH: What characteristics do great cash-game players share?



HD: Good bankroll management. There are some brilliant poker players who love to take shots at better players and they lose a lot of money. Then they can't play anymore because they let their egos get the best of them. Good bankroll management will keep you in the game. I think it is underrated.



DD: I think that the ability to evolve is probably the most vital skill of all of the skills that great cash-game players have. If you don't adjust to what your opponents are doing, there is no chance for you to last.



LH: Which cash-game players do you most respect, and why?



HD: Dave Benefield, Tom Dwan, and Phil Galfond are the main guys we talk to about poker. Our games have evolved together because we go to each other for advice.



LH: How long have the five of you known each other?



DD: We started talking back in our Party [Poker] days. We didn't meet in person until about a year after we met. The way that they look at the game is really crazy, and there is no way that we could have picked it up ourselves.



HD: It's a different perspective because they think and play differently. Z and I think alike because we learned together. Tom, Phil, and Dave learned how to play separately, though, so it helps for us all to come together.