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

David Peat, recognized by most only as "Viffer," is a regular player in the big ($50-$100 and $100-$200) no-limit hold'em cash games in Las Vegas. The Ohio native made the move to Las Vegas about five years ago, and he is still playing from the same bankroll he brought with him. Peat is known as a chatty player, but he uses his endless stream of stories to maintain a lighthearted mood at the tables. After all, when the fish are being entertained, they don't resent Peat as much for taking their money.

Lizzy Harrison: What one attribute must a cash game have for you to take a seat?

David Peat: I definitely want there to be deep stacks at the table. I like to play with people who have a lot of money in front of them, especially more than they are comfortable with.

LH: How can you tell when someone is uncomfortable with the amount of money he has on the table?

DP: If he has his chips stacked really neatly, or he is always counting how much he has, it is likely that he is not used to having that much money on the table. Sometimes I will just ask him how it would affect his life if he were to lose all of the money in front of him.

LH: Do you actually get honest answers?

DP: Yeah, sometimes they tell me when they are playing with the last of their money [laughing].

LH: What is your preferred game to play, and why?

DP: I prefer to play no-limit hold'em because it is probably my best game. I am most comfortable playing it because it is the game I started with.

LH: What about your least-favorite game?

DP: I don't really like limit games. I think that playing any limit game is kind of like working at McDonald's.

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

DP: I started gambling when I was 15 years old; I played pool. When I was about 18, I started playing poker in the pool hall, and I used to lose all of my money.

LH: When did your poker game improve?

DP: I would play in the pool hall with my friends, and I would lose and lose and lose. Then one day, I heard them talking about PokerStars at the poker table, and I was like, "What is this?" I went home and started playing on the computer, and I lost and lost and lost. Finally, I started to actually think about what I could do to win, and what I was doing wrong, and it clicked.

LH: Was there a major flaw that you learned to avoid in order to win?

DP: There were a lot of fundamental things that I was doing wrong. One thing was that I would call raises with hands that don't play well against raising hands. If a guy raises from under the gun and you have A-J, it is not really a good hand to call with.

LH: When did you make the move from Ohio to Las Vegas, and was it solely to play poker?

DP: I moved here five years ago, and my main motivation was to play poker. When I first came here, I remember playing $5-$10 at the Wynn and a little bit of $10-$20 at Bellagio. I remember getting beat up in the $10-$20 game at Bellagio and having to go back to the smaller game at the Wynn.

LH: You moved up in stakes fairly quickly; what advice would you give to low-stakes no-limit hold'em players about moving up?

DP: You should play in the games you are comfortable in, but if you see a good game that is above the game you usually play, you should take a shot. Along the way, you have to take shots at the bigger games. If it is a really good game, you might have a breakthrough session.

LH: What skills are most important when you play cash games?

DP: The thing about cash games is that you have to know how to avoid that one big hand with which you lose a lot of money. For example, I played a big hand against Phil Hellmuth on TV that some would call a cooler, but I played it badly. I raised preflop and flopped top pair, but he flopped bottom set. It was not really a cooler hand; it was more a hand that I played badly and lost a lot of money on. If I had played that hand well, I would not have lost nearly as much as I did.

LH: What could you have done differently in that hand?

DP: I shouldn't have gotten emotional. I wanted to beat Hellmuth so badly that I let my emotions get involved. I really wanted to beat him and make him stop whining. Letting your emotions rule your decisions is really bad at the poker table.

LH: What game do you play most often?

DP: I usually play $50-$100 or $100-$200 no-limit. The buy-ins are anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000.

LH: What is the biggest amount of money that you have put down as one buy-in?

DP: I played $500-$1,000, half no-limit hold'em and half pot-limit Omaha. That was last summer; I played with Sammy Farha, Brian Townsend, Bobby Baldwin, and a few others I can't remember. I do remember thinking how ridiculously big the game really was. I bought in for $200,000, and it didn't feel like anything [at that table], but it seemed like a lot of money to me at the time. A few of my friends made me play in that game; it was kind of scary.

LH: You were out of your comfort zone. How did that session turn out?

DP: I ended up losing $70,000 or $80,000, then I quit. I really didn't feel comfortable playing the game, and I didn't think I could play well, so I got up.

LH: Is it always that easy for you to get up when you are losing?

DP: No. When I think that I am supposed to win because I am the best player in the game, I don't like to quit.

LH: So, against what type of players are you supposed to win?

DP: There are some players who come to Las Vegas wanting to have fun by playing the poker that they see on TV. I've seen guys sit down to play games as big as $50-$100 no-limit while they're laughing, drinking, and having a great time. They don't want to hear about the equity of their hand or their odds. The people you want to play with don't want to hear about any of that stuff. I keep the conversation away from that as much as possible, because people who can afford to casually lose money in games like that are most likely successful businesspeople who could learn how to succeed at poker, so why would we want them to know how bad they are? They will either feel stupid and quit or get better and win.

LH: What is the best part of playing poker for a living?

DP: I'll be honest with you, I used to love the lifestyle, but I have realized that it is not fulfilling. The money keeps me playing, though. Let me tell you a story. About a year ago, I was playing in a $100-$200 game and ended up talking to this kid who told me that he was one year away from finishing law school, but he was going to give it all up to play poker. I told him that I would trade my lifestyle, and all of the money I have, to be one year away from graduating from law school and owing a bunch of money, but having a chance at a real life. Poker leads to a lonely life, and you don't ever get a sense of accomplishment. The only fulfillment for a poker player is winning money, that's it.