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Though not quite a household name like Phil Ivey or Gus Hansen, the online player named "leathera$$" or "leatherass" is a highly respected player in the poker community. His real name is Dusty Schmidt and unlike his more famous counterparts, he doesn't necessarily sit at the biggest poker games not does he actively seek out publicity. Rather, he is an online grinder who makes use of a mathematical based approach as he multi-tables middle stakes cash games.
Although Dusty Schmidt has played for years winning at an above average rate, he is not immune to downswings and the online poker forums are buzzing about his latest blog post in which he expresses a great deal of frustration over the major hits his bankroll has taken over the past 6 months. He speaks at length about his expected win rate during winning sessions pales in comparison to how much he loses during a losing session. To most posters on the forums, he sounds like a player going through a massive amount of tilt.
On his blog, Dusty Schmidt aka "leathera$$" says:
"While I have had over 10 50k+ hand break even streaks over the last year, I have had ZERO heaters. I have had some nice stretches where I made some great money, but it was only because I grinded lots of hands. I have not had any stretches of poker where I have made like 8bb/100 over 50k hands in the last year which would be the equivalent upswing to counter my massive bad stretches. Basically my last year has either been a stretch of poker where I made like 4bb/100 over 250k hands, or I am getting butt fucked for a 60k hand stretch. It's either one or the other. So the only possible thing that could be happening (and I think it would make me feel a lot better if this was the case) is that I am running like .5 or .75bb/100 ABOVE expectation for very long stretches (which just feels normal, but maybe it's because I am subtly running good without knowing it) and then following those with nasty downswings that perfectly balance EV.
Right now it is just no fun going through my career feeling like I am either running fine or getting screwed with never any cause whatsoever to experience a thrilling good run. It has just become a miserable existence to sit in front of this monitor every single day and just wonder when the Poker Gods are going to make me their little (bleep) for the next few weeks."
There is speculation that perhaps it's not just bad luck, but rather a flaw in the belief that a math based approach to poker is fundamentally flawed. His skill level is respected enough that he is a member of the online training site StoxPoker and players looking to improve their games pay for his advice.
Will he be able to turn things around? Or will he go broke trying? Only time will tell.
Source: www.aintluck.com
