When I Was A Donk – Tom Schneider

In this series, Card Player asks top pros to rewind back to their humble beginnings and provide insights regarding the mistakes, leaks, and deficiencies that they had to overcome in order to improve their games.

Tom Schneider is one of the most feared mixed-game tournament players in the world, having won four World Series of Poker bracelets in disciplines such as stud eight-or-better, Omaha eight-or-better, and H.O.R.S.E. He also has two World Poker Tour final table appearances on his poker resume as well.

In total, the Arizona pro has earned more than $2.3 million on the tournament circuit and was the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year.

Here, he explains how he often lets his aggressive nature get him into trouble.

“What’s embarrassing about this story is that I had already been playing for a long time when this hand came up. I guess it would be better had this happened when I was a beginner, but even the pros still make mistakes from time to time, or often in my case.”

“About ten years ago, I was playing pot-limit razz for some really high stakes. I believe the antes alone were $100. I started the hand with four babies (low cards) and I caught a nine. Now I of course have the aggressive gene, so it’s normally in my nature to just keep betting, but my opponent was showing three babies up, so I figured I’d slow down. But then he checked. I should’ve checked as well, but I somehow convinced myself that he had paired or something and bet the pot.”

“He repotted and all of a sudden I was in a horrible situation. I could have let the hand go, but his check threw me off so much that I got it in basically drawing dead. He had already made a wheel on fifth street and I needed runner-runner just to tie. Needless to say, I didn’t get there.”

“My rule at the time was, if you check, I bet. Now I know that checking doesn’t always mean weakness, but I still find myself getting in trouble from time to time because I’m relentlessly aggressive. Doug Polk recently nicknamed me the “Cannon.” He said I’m constantly firing, even if I’m not always accurate.” ♠