To access the weeklong membership, all you’ll have to do is show up and join us from July 2-6 during the Mixed Game Festival and get the code directly from me. Upon using the code to register your account on Pokercoaching.com, you’ll receive unrestricted access to every bit of training material they’ve produced for seven days!

From the moment you open your account, the clock will start ticking, and you’ll have a full week at your disposal to look around, watch some videos, and check out a variety of tools designed to help you become a better poker player.

The platform features over 25 full-scale poker courses taught by company founder Jonathan Little as well as his top-notch roster of poker coaches, which includes highly decorated professionals such as Faraz Jaka, Justin Saliba, Lexy Gavin-Mather, Tommy Angelo, Alex Fitzgerald, Brock Wilson, Matt Affleck, Ethan “Rampage” Yau, and Jonathan Jaffe. Plus, there are over 100 hand history review videos that you can watch that are practically guaranteed to give you a leg up on the competition you’ll face at the felt.

Popular offerings to check out from their library of material include their Cash Game Masterclass and Tournament Masterclass. If you’re a more experienced player you’ll likely want to have a look at Little’s new Advanced Tournament Course.

On top of traditional courses and instructional videos, PokerCoaching.com offers a range of interactive content, including more than 2,000 hand quizzes and 700 coaching seminars. These tools will prove immensely useful when putting your newly acquired knowledge into practice, thus improving your understanding of theoretical poker concepts.

As you’d expect, you’ll also find a boatload of GTO preflop charts for different formats, as well as hundreds of coaching webinars featuring interactive sessions between coaches and students where common spots get addressed effectively. If you pay close attention and internalize the lessons, you’ll have a utility belt full of enhanced options and maneuverability during your poker sessions.

Plus, on top of your FREE week of Pokercoaching Premium access, many Mixed Game Festival V attendees will likely have the opportunity to mix it up at the felt in person with some of the stable’s pros, who’ve showed up to splash around with us in the non-Hold’em streets in the past.

Finally, during each day of our upcoming Mixed Game Festival, one player will be selected as our “Pokercoaching.com Player of the Day” and will receive a free hat along with special coverage in our daily recaps.

Success in poker is all about finding value, and you’ll be sure to find plenty of it at Mixed Game Festival V, thanks to Pokercoaching.com.

Welcome to @JonathanLittle, @Justin_Saliba and the @PokerCoaching_ crew, @LuschEric repping @WPT.

We just opened up a FOURTH $4/8 Dealer's Choice cash game here at @PokerLifeMedia #MixedGameFestival IV at @PokerRoomRWLV pic.twitter.com/z8Z5b8iD4E

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 23, 2023

First to make an appearance on Day 4 was 2014 WSOP $10K HORSE bracelet winner Chris “Fox” Wallace. He signed a few copies of his book Getting Started with HORSE for the participants and then joined the festivities by sitting down to play in the $8/$16 mixed cash game.

As we sat there playing poker, a new $4/8 dealer’s choice table opened up featuring Norman Chad, Jan Fisher, and the First Lady of Poker Linda Johnson, who all returned to join in the festivities having had a blast playing and mixing it up in the cash games on Day 3. The table quickly filled up with fans who wanted the chance to play a hand of poker with them!

Jonathan Little and Justin Saliba brought not only PokerCoaching.com hats to give out to randomly selected players, but also a few fans alongside them who couldn’t wait for the opportunity to play small-stakes poker with the professional crushers. Jonathan hopped into one of the $4/$8 mixed cash games where he offered tips and tricks on what to look for in a hand to play depending on the game that was being played. He also played Drawmaha for the first time and seemed to enjoy learning the new poker variant. It was unique to see someone with over $7 million in lifetime tournament earnings and such a brilliant, successful career in poker learn a new variant for the first time and arguably be the least experienced one at the table, where the majority of the players were already familiar with Drawmaha. Learning and enjoying the game were high on everyone’s agenda, but the chance to win a few bucks of the pros was likely the highlight for most.

A surprise visitor, popular vlogger and poker pro Ethan “Rampage” Yau, then popped in to Resorts World to see what all the fuss was about and to splash around in the $4/$8 streets of mixed game poker. Rampage had never played mixed game and was learning every single new poker variant on the spot! His first game that he played was 7 Card Super Stud 8 or better. This variation of poker is the same as 7 Card Stud 8 or better, but you are dealt four cards facing down and one facing up. You then choose which two of the four cards dealt to you to keep and discard the other two cards. From there you play as you would normally would play in a stud game. Ethan looked like he was doing well and managed to win a few hands right away!

READ MORE: Mixed Games Poker Guide — Stud Games

PokerGO’s Tim Duckworth also made an appearance to show his support for the event once again, as he has attended two prior Mixed Game Festivals here in Las Vegas. He was all smiles and was kind enough to answer questions from fellow players at the table about how content is created for PokerGO. He stayed many hours playing poker before it was time to call it a night.

OK folks, caption this photo of me and @tRaMSt0p at @PokerLifeMedia's #MixedGameFestival IV pic.twitter.com/ME21tnNy0E

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 22, 2023

The game of the day that was played is currently called Squid Game but some of you may know it as Oklahoma. This game was popular among many players not only because it was fun but also, the dealers also had a little sweat on the outcome of the hand. This is an Omaha style game where players are dealt five cards and then see three full boards as they try to make the best possible high hand. The catch is that on the end; the river with the lowest card is eliminated. What happens if all three rivers are the same? Well, if that happens then no one who is playing the hand can win the pot since there is no longer a board they can use to make a poker hand. In this instance the pot is awarded to… the dealer!

An Awesome, Positive Vibe Prevails in the Poker Room

Overall, there was a ton of laughter and good times being shared by all who attended and played at the half dozen tables throughout the day. Players were thrilled to meet some of the best players and poker industry personalities and listen to stories they had to share about their careers. Many poker books were signed. Lots of swag was given out to players via randomly drawn splash pots, thanks to great sponsors like D&B Poker, BBO Poker Tables, and RunGoodGear. The atmosphere was abuzz with excitement as numerous players hopped from table to table to get a chance to play with the poker celebrities in attendance.

Some of the Mixed Game Festival regulars that were in attendance to participate in the festivities, who we’d like to give special shout outs to, were Ruth, Pat, Chuck, and Chance. These players helped keep the games friendly and were always happy to explain the rules to games if someone was not familiar with a game. More than once during the day I heard players compliment the friendliness of the community and how they made the game fun!

Grand Finale H.O.R.S.E. Tournament

The festival’s marquee event, a $260 H.O.R.S.E tournament, is set to begin at 2:05 PM Las Vegas time today, March 23rd. It will include a prize package sponsored by PokerStars to play at December’s European Poker Tour stop in Prague. You’ll get roundtrip airfare for one, four-nights’ accommodation, and the opportunity to mix it up with poker greats in a €550 buy-in mixed game tournament.

We’re expecting a field of over 100 players, including a who’s who of mixed game poker, to be duking it out at the felt for top prize and the value added prize package. The final day of Mixed Game Festival IV will also be your last chance to score some awesome merch and other great prizes… until the next festival!

Many people come up to me and say, “Jeff, I bet you’d be so good at mixed games”

I say “yea, you’re probably right”

So I think I’ll go play the $260 HORSE tourney today at 2pm over at @pokerroomrwlv, the Main of the @pokerlifemedia Mixed Game Festival.

— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) March 23, 2023

The @cardplayerlife @Pkrboss1 @PokerLifeMedia #MixedGameFestival Grand Finale $260 HORSE tournament starts Thursday at 2pm.

The structure is excellent!

Winner gets an EPT Prague Prize Package sponsored by @PokerStars.

Head to Resorts World @PokerRoomRWLV!

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) March 23, 2023

Thanks so much to the 61 players who came out to @PokerRoomRWLV for our @PokerLifeMedia #MixedGameFestival IV $260 O8/Stud8 tournament today!

Prize pool over $13k, with over $4k for first place and 10 players making the money. pic.twitter.com/3hK8pgzAt1

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 21, 2023

Robbie Strazynski, owner and founder of Cardplayer Lifestyle, is hosting the festival from March 19-23 at Resorts World. The Festival will include cash games and culminate with a $260 H.O.R.S.E. tournament on Thursday March 23rd. In addition to the regular prize pool, the tournament will award EPT Prague prize to the winner, sponsored by PokerStars.

Chuck, Chip, Matt, and Linda

An exciting addition to the Omaha 8/Stud 8 tournament was bubble protection in the form of free poker training memberships donated courtesy of Pokercoaching.com. Bubble protection will also be in place for Thursday’s H.O.R.S.E. tournament.

Debra and Anthony “double bubbled” our @PokerLifeMedia #MixedGameFestival O8/Stud8 tournament…

Courtesy of @PokerCoaching_ they each get half their buy-in back #stingsalittleless pic.twitter.com/ToLBttZOCr

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 21, 2023

Pokercoaching.com’s Justin Saliba also stopped by yesterday with additional free merchandise to hand out to players in bomb pots throughout the festival. Justin is a professional poker player with two WSOP bracelets, and was taught by one of the best. He reached out to Jonathan Little while still in college, offering to intern at the company in exchange for poker coaching. He is now a part of Pokercoaching.com and feels strongly about growing poker and being able to learn to play at a $4/8 level.

Me, speaking with Justin Saliba

Justin “just loved coming and playing $4/8 and learning all these different games. And when the World Series comes around (and) there’s a $1,500 O8 tournament I can say I’ve played this before.” Justin shared that he learned poker along with his older brother, and played in a neighborhood game, watching Main Event reruns in the background.

“Book bomb pots” were also a fun addition to the tournament on Monday, with multiple players winning Eli Elezra’s autobiography Pulling the Trigger. Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra will be signing copies of his book Tuesday March 21st for a discounted price of $10. Additional book winners included James Basham from St. Louis, who attended Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival III that was held in Malta. He’d already planned a trip to Las Vegas with eight of his friends when he found out about the Festival. He then changed his plans and came to Las Vegas early.

Debi Cheek, Danny Anton, and Clyde Gaskins also won books, with Clyde also winning a sweatshirt courtesy of premium poker industry brands RunGoodGear and PokerGO.

Dylan Linde enjoyed Monday’s festivities and will also be attending the Festival on Tuesday, March 21st, to sign copies of his book Mastering Mixed Games, which will be available for purchase at a discounted price of $25. On Wednesday March 22nd, WSOP bracelet winner Chris Wallace will be signing copies of his book Getting Started With HORSE also at a discounted price of $25.

Jan Fisher

A portion of all proceeds derived from book sales will be donated to Poker Gives, a non-profit organization that distributes funds to assist military families, homeless veterans, and youth programs in Las Vegas. Originally founded by Linda Johnson, Lisa Tenner, Jan Fisher, and the late Mike Sexton, Poker Gives is a fully volunteer organization, with every dollar donated going to the cause. During a break in the tournament action, Johnson spoke for a couple minutes about the mission of Poker Gives to the assembled crowd, and about the beauty of being able to assist the homeless community in Las Vegas thanks to the generosity of poker players, who donate both money and time to volunteering for the cause.

The $260 Omaha 8/Stud 8 tournament was not the only action running on Monday. A couple of $4/8 Dealer’s Choice tables were running all day featuring players like Sean McCormack, Director of Poker Strategy at MGM Resorts International, and Ryan Kirk, Director of Poker Operations at the Aria. Cody Meyer from Nebraska was back at the table, along with Ruth Sun from San Jose after enjoying the first day of the festival.

There’s also a $4/8 Dealer’s Choice table running alongside our @PokerLifeMedia tournament at @PokerRoomRWLV today.

(More tables will open as tourney tables break)

The players REALLY love the sweatshirts! Thanks @PokerGO and @RunGoodGear! pic.twitter.com/V9efxQTjHH

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 21, 2023

Resorts World has been a huge part of this festival, providing an atmosphere that you can relax in yet feel Leon Wheeler’s superb professionalism as the venue’s Director of Poker Operations.

Leon Wheeler

Miami John Cernuto Wins Another One

After 13 grueling hours weaving and winding his way through the Allen Kessler “Chainsaw approved” tournament structure, “Miami” John Cernuto took down top prize of the day’s tournament at approximately 2:45 am local time.

Some notables making the final table alongside Cernuto were Chip Jett, Women in Poker Hall of Famer Jan Fisher, World Poker Tour Executive Tour Director Matt Savage, and WSOP bracelet winner Ari Engel.

“Old school” defeated the “new school” as Cernuto offered a hearty handshake to Engel when winning the final Stud 8 hand.

Congratulations to @MiamiJohnC, winner of the @PokerLifeMedia #MixedGameFestival IV $260 O8/Stud8 tournament for $4,375

With this win, John extends his @TheHendonMob all-time tournament cashing mark to 622 pic.twitter.com/ccVqqQKZBM

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) March 21, 2023

Cash games will continue running Tuesday and Wednesday and the grand prize will be handed to the winner of Thursday’s $260 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. The prize will include an EPT Prague prize package for the winner, sponsored by PokerStars. The package, with an estimated total value of over $3,000, will consist of:

• Mixed Game tournament buy-in up to €550
• Roundtrip airfare for one
• Four nights’ accommodation

Enter the Advanced Tournament Course, the latest massive multi-lesson endeavor from Jonathan Little and his outstanding team of coaches. With over 35 hours of content, it would appear to be a huge stand-alone course, and while it sort of is, it’s almost more like a huge expansion pack to your favorite video game, with exciting new weapons and items to crush your opponents.

What’s New in This Poker Course – The BFGs in the ATC

The Advanced Tournament Course takes the lessons taught in the Tournament MasterClass and expands on them in a huge way (I mean it is 35+ hours long). One of the most notable additions is the expansion of bet sizing strategies. Whereas the Tournament MasterClass primarily dealt with situations for “small” or “large” bet sizes, (mostly 1/3 or 2/3 pot-sized bets), the Advanced Tournament Course moves from the preset buttons to the slider with lessons on how and when to implement tiny bet sizes (ranging from 1 BB to 25% pot) and various overbet sizings on each street. Each section comes with multiple examples and comparisons using a variety of board textures.

The elements to consider within a hand are refreshed and expanded throughout the course. While range advantage and connectivity, nut advantage, position, stack size, and such are obviously discussed, it felt to me like there was an added emphasis on board dynamics when it comes to bet sizing and frequency. All of these factors are obviously important on any given hand and are discussed in each bet sizing concept lesson in the course.

Lessons are primarily taught with the onus on 40 BB strategy, which obviously has some wiggle room around that stack size, but there is a section specifically on 75+ BB play and the impact on frequency and sizing of bets (primarily based on the importance of nut advantage and SPR size). Short stack play isn’t really revisited from the Tournament Masterclass as the lessons there still hold up.

Plenty of new tools are also included in the course, including updated preflop GTO charts, new ICM and heads-up charts, a ton of post-flop GTO betting frequency charts, and for users of PIOsolver, a ton of presets to load into the program.

The PokerCoaching.com staple of a short quiz at the completion of each lesson to test yourself on what you’ve just learned returns, along with a 40-question final exam at the end to test everything you’ve learned collectively.

Advanced Tournament Course Content

Before we get into a few specifics of some of the lessons, here’s a quick breakdown of all the content you’ll find in the Advanced Tournament Course.

Advanced Bet Sizing Concepts (with Jonathan Little)

• 8 sections, with most videos 5-20 min long, a couple longer (3:13 total)
• When to bet small, large, adjusting raise size vs. a bet, playing turn, playing river

Deep stacked adjustments (with Jonathan Little)

• 4 sections (:43 min total)
• Postflop adjustments, positional effects, the value of being able to make (or block) the nuts

Multiway Postflop Play (with Jonathan Little)

• 7 sections (1:31 total)
• Advanced concepts, C-betting, large betting spots, strategies when facing aggression, as the in-position preflop caller, when to lead multiway

Advanced Exploits and Adjustments (with Jonathan Little)

• 8 sections (2:05 total)
• How to exploit opponents that C-Bet too much in single-raised pots, that C-bet too much in 3-bet pots, that ‘cap’ their bet size on the turn, that ‘cap’ their bet size on the river, adjusting against tight players preflop and postflop

Advanced ICM and Final Table Strategies (with Brock Wilson & Justin Saliba, Ethan “RampagePoker” Yau)

• 3 sections (1 instructional – 1:57, 1 Final Table Review – 3:58, 1 Live Stream – 4:00)
• Instructional section ‘Mastering Preflop ICM’ includes understanding preflop ICM variables, Raise first in (RFI) strategies, vs RFI strategies, vs 3-bet strategies, blind vs blind strategies
• Final table reviews of Rampage’s PokerGO win for $200k, Saliba’s WSOP online bracelet win + Saliba reviewing hands using solver software
• Live stream is Saliba’s bracelet win in full

Mastering Heads-Up Preflop Charts (with Jonathan Little)

• 2 sections (2:15 total)
• Online strategies (with 12.5% ante) for 10-75 BB, Live strategies (with big blind ante) 10-75 BB

Heads-up MTT strategy (with Jonathan Jaffe & Justin Saliba)

• 4 sections (14:42 total)
• Jaffe and Saliba play 1- and 2-table HU sessions and review each (both online ante, live ante)
• Saliba 30-min breakdown using software
• Live stream of the sessions

How to Optimally Use Poker Tools (with Matt Affleck)

• 4 sections (2:34 total)
• ICMizer, PokerTracker 4, Simple 3-Way, PIOsolver

A Few Specifics of the Advanced Tournament Course

Little and his team worked on the Advanced Tournament Course for about a year, and the effort is evident, but as is the case with almost all of Little’s teachings, it is very digestible. Most videos clock in at around 10-20 minutes, which presents players the ability to study a precise subsection of a topic, or just plow right through the 90 min+ section on multiway play should they choose. That said, I would strongly recommend focusing on the smaller chunks and really learning the concepts as opposed to just zipping through video after video.

Of note, while the majority of the lessons as I mentioned are of the shorter — but tightly packed with information — variety, the “Advanced ICM and Final Table Strategies” is where we first see sections consisting of significantly longer videos containing analysis of the play by the teachers of those sections. Get ready; the solver talk will be out in full force, but don’t let it scare you off. Hearing the players/teachers discuss their thought processes in the moment, then explaining what the correct decisions are with the solver and chart backup is really effective. In particular, fans of Ethan “Rampage Poker” Yau will really enjoy the breakdown of his Poker Masters win against Brock Wilson.

The “Heads-Up MTT Strategy” section is by far the largest of PokerCoaching.com’s Advanced Tournament Course with multiple hour-long videos of Jonathan Jaffe and Justin Saliba breaking down heads-up matches they played against each other online with 12.5% antes and a simulated ‘live’ session with a big blind ante to show the difference in strategies.

For those who want to study heads-up and learn from two of the best, this is an outstanding series of lessons discussing many, many spots they encountered in their matches with each other. Their interaction with each other as they discuss their matches is fun, too. With two players who weren’t as personable and comfortable with each other, this section could have become a slog, but that isn’t the case at all. To be fair, as lengthy and deep as this section is, it’s the one I was able to spend the least time on relative to the rest of the course. While heads-up play isn’t my primary area of desired study, the way Jaffe and Saliba go through their matches made it both entertaining and educational. I fully intend on revisiting this section and working more on my heads-up game.

A pair of sections I found very helpful were those on “Multiway Postflop Play” and “Advanced Exploits and Adjustments”. As a player who primarily plays in smaller to mid-stakes buy-in tournaments, diving deeper into spots with multiple opponents was a critical part to this course. The two sections go hand in hand, as one of the key topics of the multiway section is how much more checking is necessary because of the lack of nut and range advantage you have the more players are in the pot. This comes up in the exploits section when discussing how to take advantage of those players who just endlessly continuation-bet without taking those factors into consideration.

In another very cool and useful section for students to add supplemental learning, Matt Affleck provides some great tutorials and suggestions for PokerTracker 4, ICMizer, PIOSolver, and Simple 3-Way, all of which are key programs when some study outside of PokerCoaching.com is desired.

Conclusion

One of my favorite gigs with Cardplayer Lifestyle, besides being sent to South Florida to party and hang out on a beach (er, sorry, cover a poker tournament in South Florida), is writing PokerCoaching reviews because basically I get paid to study! I spend a huge amount of time immersing myself in the content and working on improving my game while also sharing what makes the course so worthwhile for anyone looking to improve their game.

As Little suggests, if you’re new to PokerCoaching.com or thinking of signing up for the site, the Advanced Tournament Course may not be the first module you want to tackle. It does hold up well on its own for experienced players, but with an added foundation built from the Tournament MasterClass you’ll appreciate and be able to apply even more of the lessons taught in the Advanced Tournament Course.

That said, for those with a solid foundation or PokerCoaching members who have made their way through the Tournament MasterClass, I can highly recommend the Advanced Tournament Course. Along with the 20+ hours of MTT content, the nearly 15 hours of heads-up training is outstanding. It truly is a complete course to take your tournament game to the next level.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to terrorize some opponents with 4x pot-sized river bets.

Many players have already paid their entry fee, while others have won satellites at the Wynn Casino. Still others have won packages valued at $12K on the WPT Global platform or in numerous contests held on social media.

One of these winners was Dr. Josef Strazynski, who was chosen by gamer and author Amanda Botfeld in one of her Twitter contests. Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski will be on site in Las Vegas covering his own father at the tournament! Here’s the recently published video interview with Dr. Joe.

In this article, we’ll share some advice with those who plan to play the tournament and do not have much experience playing live. We also have some tips for those who are still looking to qualify.

Satellites

There are many ways to qualify for the tournament. If you live outside the United States and want to qualify for the WPT World Championship online, you should take advantage of WPT Global’s step format satellites.

If you are looking for some advice on satellite strategy, there are only two current books on the subject, but both are highly recommended. One of them is “Poker Satellite Strategy” (2019) by Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter, which talks about the post-flop game, the first stages, the mental game, and the final stages of satellites.

The other is “Poker Satellite Success!” (2021) by Bernard Lee, who qualified for the 2005 WSOP Main Event via satellite, and finished 13th, winning $400K. Paul Seaton recently wrote a very positive review of Bernard’s book.

Poker Training Programs

The fastest and most complete way to study and improve as a poker player is to enroll in a poker training program. One that I tried and highly recommend is Learn WPT.

Poker training programs have several advantages, including the convenience of studying from home, being able to interact with professional players, and choosing the subjects you want to study in depth. So whether it’s with LearnWPT or one of the other great poker training sites out there, it’s hard to go wrong putting in a little study time.

Poker Podcasts

Another way to study is to listen to poker podcasts. There’s a wide variety of programs, but the ones that will help you the most are those that provide strategy analysis and interviews with recognized players on the circuit. Podcasts are ideal for listening in your free time, while playing online, or when you are exercising or traveling.

Poker Videos

Watching poker videos is another way to prepare for the tournament. On YouTube, there are thousands of free videos on a wide variety of poker topics. You can also watch tournaments that have been played on the World Poker Tour. It is important to create a YouTube filter to ensure that you are watching videos that are current and from a reliable source. And of course, there’s plenty of great poker to watch on PokerGO.

Poker Strategy Books

Reading poker books, specifically live tournament strategy books, is another way you can prepare for the WPT World Championship. Plenty of top poker coaches and experts such as Jonathan Little, Alex Fitzgerald, and Andrew Brokos have written widely-acclaimed poker strategy books. If you have a long trip to Las Vegas with layovers a good poker strategy book is the ideal companion.

Poker Coaching

Personalized coaching is the most expensive study option, but the one that will likely serve you best, as you will be able to choose which topics to discuss with an experienced player. It is a worthwhile investment if you want to prepare seriously.

Play Poker!

The last tip is the simplest: play and practice at the felt! Whether online or live, playing will give you practice in different scenarios and stages of tournaments. The WPT World Championship has a starting stack of 200 big blinds, so playing tournaments with similar starting stacks would be ideal.

Let’s study and prepare! As Seneca said: “Good luck comes when preparation meets opportunity”.

Bill Seymour recalls the 1990’s where a $500 tournament with only 227 players had a 1st prize of $45,400

Poker pro/teacher Bill Seymour discusses his book, Life’s Memories, Friendships and a Touch of Poker

NOTE: PLEASE SUBSCRIBE To Bernard’s YouTube page AND LIKE any videos that you enjoy

Bill Seymour

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Podcast Family, Bernard Lee interviews pro poker player, teacher and author, Bill Seymour. Bill recently authored Life’s Memories, Friendships and a Touch of Poker.

At the start of the interview, Bill joins the show and discusses how he got into the world of poker back in the 1990’s. He started in limit poker. Bill recalls how the payout the structure was different in those days, as only the final table was paid (ex: 1995 Four Queens $500 tournament had only 227 players but first prize was $45,400). Bill discusses his poker coaching career which includes working with Jonathan Little and starting PokerCoaching.com.

During the second part of the interview, Bill Seymour talks about starting his Facebook poker group which led to his book, Life’s Memories, Friendships and a Touch of Poker. Bill shares some of his stories and talks about late poker player, Gavin Smith. Bill also recalls the introduction of no-limit hold’em in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

By far the vast majority of us are recreational poker players; we enjoy playing poker, the challenge and social interaction, and we love to win. Many of us don’t just play poker, but also other games that can be found in casinos like video poker or baccarat or perhaps a more social game like craps. Of course, poker and other casino games like these can also be found online at live casino Canada sites or others, but I digress.

In any event, Jonathan Little asks, “Which Type of Player Do You Choose to Be?” Rather than trying to answer his question, I will discuss the differences from my viewpoint as a recreational player…

Recreational Players vs. Sharks

It is only natural to fear the unknown. However, fearing the unknown causes both recreational players and sharks to hesitate when making what could be costly decisions. The sharks are better at dealing with it.

Recreational players are much more likely to play tight. Sharks are geared to play fundamentally solid poker, using outs to help make key decisions.

Recreational players seek the enjoyment (fun) of playing poker, sharks are more concerned with winning money. (They need that income.)

Sharks are adept at observing opponents’ mistakes and then exploiting them in a later hand. Recreational players rarely look for opponents’ mistakes.

Recreational players are primarily concerned with winning chips. Sharks are willing to accept losses begrudgingly when they know they made the wisest decision.

They may not admit it, but recreational players would rather be lucky than good. Sharks have long learned that, while they cannot control luck, their decisions and actions can influence luck in their favor. Recreational players often complain about their “bad luck” but, in reality, create their own bad luck by making worse decisions than their opponents.

Both understand that variance is bound to occur. But recreational players are more likely to go on tilt when variance doesn’t go their way.

Raising is essential to all players, but sharks are bound to be more adept at it. Recreational players and sharks both frequently raise.

Sharks are more likely to value bet on the river. Many recreational players do value bet, but they do so much less often. They are more cautious.

Many recreational players never bluff or do so rarely. Sharks play in higher-limit (or no-limit) games where the size of the bet is an effective weapon. To overcome that short-fall, some recreational players have turned to the Esther Bluff – using seemingly apparent confidence and a reverse tell as a substitute for the big raise.

READ ALSO: Poker Tips By George: The Squeeze Play and the Esther Bluff

Both types of players seek to improve their game over time. However, sharks are more serious about it and work harder at it. After all, they depend on winnings to support themselves and their families.

Among recreational players there are some novices just learning the basics. They seek to develop skills, learning poker strategies and tactics in hope of becoming winners. There are no novice players among the sharks.

At Pokercoaching.com, Jonathan Little and his team of coaches have no such concerns, as they continue to pump out new content daily throughout the various elements of the site.

With that in mind, and with the World Series of Poker about to commence, we here at Cardplayer Lifestyle thought this would be an ideal time to pore through the latest updates to the site and pass along a glance at all they’re doing to make you a better poker player.

Where it all begins. The PokerCoaching.com Dashboard

The Pokercoaching.com Masterclasses

The most in-depth and thorough content on Pokercoaching.com is Jonathan Little’s Cash Game and Tournament Masterclasses, which contain many hours of content primarily via video lessons and quizzes.

They remain the most popular and successful content on the site, and recently Little gave the Cash Game Masterclass an overhaul, improving on an already outstanding instructional series that is worth not only a first look, but repeated viewings for whatever section of your game needs a tune-up.

Details of the latest incarnation of the Cash Game Masterclass include:

• 32+ hours of instruction through 156 lessons with quizzes dealing with both online and live cash games at 100 BB and deeper stacked play.
• Videos and quizzes broken into sections for preflop, flop, turn, river, deepstack adjustments, and additional topics (straddling, seat selection, rake etc.), then approximately two hours of hand reviews
• Lessons are split into general strategies for each street, then into board-specific strategies

Just a few of the lessons for play on the turn

Along with the Cash Game Masterclass, the Tournament Masterclass remains essential viewing for any PokerCoaching.com student both current or prospective, while Mastering the Fundamentals is a must for newer players and is completely free just for signing up with PokerCoaching.com!

For more complete reviews of each of these Masterclasses, follow the links below:

• Cash Game Masterclass
• Tournament Masterclass
• Mastering the Fundamentals

Pokercoaching.com Classes

The backbone of any poker training site is its selection of classes available to students. With an all-star team of coaches including Little, Matt Affleck, Bert Stevens (Girafganger7), Faraz Jaka, Alex Fitzgerald, Lexy Gavin, Tristan Wade, Jonathan Jaffee, James Romero, Michael Acevedo, Justin Saliba, Evan Jarvis, Brad Wilson, Ryan O’Donnell and more, this section is more than well covered.

READ MORE: 10 PokerCoaching.com Coaches & the Skills They’ll Help You Master

Almost daily a member of the coaching staff is either releasing a class or hosting a live webinar which will be added to PokerCoaching.com for later viewing, with each generally running at least 1-2 hours, with a wide variety of topics ranging from specific aspects of a hand like playing the turn in a check-raised pot to betting concepts like overbetting in deep-stacked cash games.

Several of the classes are multi-part series, such as “ICM Concepts Simplified” with Matt Affleck, “$1-2 Cash Game Strategies” with Tristan Wade, and “High Stakes PIO Solver Review” with Justin Saliba, but each can be easily viewed in segments and need not be viewed all in one sitting.

As of this writing, almost 600 different classes are available on the site, with content from the past week alone including:

• A $2 MTT Student Review with Tristan Wade
• Probing Turns After In-position Checkback Webinar with Michael Acevedo
• $2/$5 Live Cash Game Review with Lexy Gavin
• CO vs BTN in Single-Raised Pots Webinar with Matt Affleck
• Understanding HUDs and HUD Adjustments Webinar with Ryan O’Donnell

Live, online, high, and low stakes, all within one week, and this kind of variety is available throughout PokerCoaching.com so you can quickly find a section of your game to work on at any time.

Just a few of the nearly 600 available classes

Pokercoaching.com Courses

Along with the Masterclasses, which are the grand poobahs of courses available on PokerCoaching.com, there are 72 other shorter collections of classes gathered together in generally 3-10 hour long “courses” focusing on various elements of No-Limit Hold ‘em.

Two of the newest are the “2022 US Poker Open Review” where Little breaks down not just his 2nd place run in a 10k event for $149,000, but other tournaments and key spots in the series from other high-level players including Dan Smith, Chris Brewer, Jeremy Ausmus, Nick Petrangelo, David Peters, Sean Winter, Shannon Shorr and many more.

The 2022 US Poker Open

Also new is the “Crushing Small Stakes Cash Games” course which includes:

• 10 hours of live play and explain videos from online low-stakes cash games with 29 short 5-10 min topic-based lessons.
• Among topics discussed are GTO preflop ranges and play and exploit adjustments.
• The course utilizes the very useful PokerCoaching.com app, which includes preflop charts for various stack sizes.

Crushing small stakes means not being a nit!

As mentioned, there are a total of 72 courses available, teaching both cash game and tournament theory and strategy, but also in the mix is a great series of mindset courses featuring such notable instructors as Dr. Tricia Cardner, Jared Tendler, Elliot Roe and Zachary Elwood.

Whether it’s a topical course like prepping for the WSOP Main Event, or learning how to beat wild cash games like the recent Hustler Casino Live stream; or just improving your win rate on the Sunday grind, or eliminating tilt from your game, there is a course for you on PokerCoaching.com.

Pokercoaching.com Challenges

Along with the Courses, another student-friendly ‘guided learning’ style presentation on PokerCoaching.com is the series of Challenges structured around a time-based learning module.

Examples of these include:

• 5 day preflop challenge
• 7 day 3-betting challenge
• 30 day cash game challenge
• 30 day tournament prep challenge

Up for a multi-day challenge?

Challenges are built through a variety of areas on the site including sections of classes, webinars, quizzes, and even Masterclasses.

The time commitment varies from day to day depending on the day’s content (with few taking more than an hour). But the combination of a variety of content and the structure of daily presentation is some of the most appealing training for any student, especially those that may be new to poker training sites.

Play and Explain

With the popularity of poker streamers on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, PokerCoaching.com has tapped into that with over 70 videos of multi-hour sessions from some of the very best in the world of online poker playing and explaining their thought processes for students.

Among the coaches to watch crushing their sessions are the aforementioned Jonathan Little, Bert Stevens (Girafganger7), Matt Affleck, Faraz Jaka, Tristan Wade, and Brad Wilson.

Watch a few minutes at a time or watch eight hours, it’s up to you, with hundreds of hours of online play available on demand.

Tens of hours of Girafganger7 in action

Pokercoaching.com Quizzes

The most plentiful and easy-to-digest content on PokerCoaching.com is the massive library of quizzes available to students.

As of this writing, the site is now approaching 1,700 individual short quizzes designed to test and teach students in a highly consumable, multiple-choice, street-by-street format with one of the coaches guiding you through a single hand from either a tournament or cash game.

Players are graded on their choices at each decision point, with a total score awarded at the completion of the hand.

Each quiz generally takes no more than five minutes, so if you’re strapped for time but want to get a quick bit of learning in, quizzes provide the ideal outlet for a fast bit of No-Limit Hold ’em knowledge.

Just one of the nearly 1,700 quizzes available

Hand History Reviews

While some of the courses or webinars on PokerCoaching.com include hand history reviews, if those are your preferred method of learning, they’re also organized exclusively into one section for students.

Just under 200 hand history reviews are available from coaches covering stakes ranging from $2 online MTTs to $10k live tourneys and micro to high stakes online and live cash game reviews

Hundreds of hours of hand histories

Tools and Community

Whether you’re building up your poker skills or just laying the foundation, you’re going to need some tools and PokerCoaching.com has a workshop full of them.

GTO preflop charts, push/fold charts, a range analyzer, a Progressive Knockout (PKO) Tournament bounty calculator, and even Jonathan Little’s own online HUD settings are available to students, along with a thriving Discord community for students to discuss hands, strategies, and all things poker.

GTO charts galore. Just don’t use while playing!

Conclusion

With the World Series of Poker just around the corner and poker booming worldwide, there’s no better time to get working on your game.

PokerCoaching.com continues to be the front-runner in cutting-edge, student-friendly poker training for No-Limit Hold’em players of all levels.

2021 WSOP Ladies Championship Winner, Lara Eisenberg was knocked out & unconscious while skydiving

2021 WSOP Ladies Champ, Lara Eisenberg discusses poker strategies for women & WSOP bracelet win

NOTE: PLEASE SUBSCRIBE To Bernard’s YouTube channel AND LIKE any videos that you enjoy

Lara Eisenberg

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Podcast Family, Bernard Lee continues to celebrate Women’s History Month by interviewing Lara Eisenberg, 2021 WSOP Ladies Championship Winner.

At the start of the interview, Lara discusses how special it was to win her WSOP ring in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 2019. Lara talks about she initially got into poker and improved her game. Lara discusses her unique hobby and world record in skydiving.

During the second part of the interview, Lara explains how critical it was to have final table experience and to try to have no expectations. Lara talks about some advice to women to give poker a try and some strategies for WSOP Ladies Championship. Lara discusses the final table of the WSOP Ladies Championship, including heads-up. Finally, Lara talks about her WSOP bracelet and the sizing.

For the sixth consecutive year, Cardplayer Lifestyle is proud to offer our readers this Holiday Gift Guide for Poker Players. In much of the developed world, things seem to finally be heading back towards what we knew as normal, and there’s a lot to give thanks for. Thus, it’s important to try and focus on things that can make us happy and bring us smiles.

As always, we’ve put together a wide variety of gift giving ideas for you to consider this holiday season, including a number of new, creative entries on our list as well as some annual stalwarts.

Moreover, many of our featured vendors are offering exclusive holiday discounts to Cardplayer Lifestyle readers, so whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for your poker-loving partner or, alternatively, just want to treat yourself to something nice, be sure to take advantage!

We hope you enjoy this year’s guide!

SKIP TO: 1. DIGITAL POKER TABLES | 2. THE GTO+ SOLVER BUNDLE BY RED CHIP POKER | 3. THE MENTAL GAME TUNE UP FOR TOURNAMENT POKER | 4. RUN IT ONCE TRAINING | 5. FADED SPADE PLAYING CARDS | 6. CAESARS PALACE POKER ROOM | 7. SHUFFLE TECH MDS-6 MULTI-DECK SHUFFLER | 8. D&B POKER BOOKS | 9. POKERCOACHING PREMIUM | 10. THE POKER FORGE | 11. FLOPZILLA PRO CUSTOM SPLITSUIT EDITION | 12. RUNGOODGEAR APPAREL |

DIGITAL POKER TABLES

Take your home game to the next level with your very own Digital Poker Table. This holiday season is the perfect time to purchase your very own electronic gaming table, where you can play up to 18 different poker variants at the touch of a button.

No cards or chips necessary! Just an outlet, WiFi, and you’re ready to play poker with your buddies!

Whether you opt for the 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, or 10-seat Digital Poker Table, you’ll always have access to the latest software updates and upgrades.

Choose to play limit, pot limit, or no-limit, whether in cash game or tournament format.

Best of all, the Digital Poker Table doubles as a family gaming table! You can play popular favorites like Rummikub, Trivia, and more with your kids, neighbors, and even invite the grandparents over for game night.

Don’t have room in your home for a table? No problem — for just $25/month you can purchase a premium subscription to the Digital Poker Table software and play on your iOS devices, even broadcasting the game onto your Apple TV!

Visit DigitalPokerTable.com or call (702) 628-1900 to order in time for the holidays, and be sure to mention Cardplayer Lifestyle!

THE GTO+ SOLVER BUNDLE BY RED CHIP POKER

Red Chip Poker has officially partnered up with GTO+ to offer you the best introduction to GTO. As game theory optimal (GTO) poker continues to increase in popularity and importance, now is the time to invest in a quality solver and training. So their new GTO+ Bundle includes a lifetime license to the GTO+ solver AND a complete course so you know exactly how to set up the tool, explore the trees, and analyze solves like a pro.

GTO+ allows you to do everything from simple solves to complex bet sizing exploration. Plus, you can “play against the solver” to test your skills between sessions. And for the more advanced players, this solver allows for node locking, various display methods, and even scripting.

Buy the GTO+ bundle for the poker player in your life (or as a nice holiday gift for yourself!) to start seeing GTO poker more clearly.

THE MENTAL GAME TUNE UP FOR TOURNAMENT POKER

The Mental Game Tune Up for Tournament Poker is a video-based course that walks players through the same steps that Jared Tendler takes his clients through to prepare for tournament play. Comprehensive yet simple, it consists of eight modules covering key topics, such as tilt, handling swings in variance, burnout, and distractions.

The most popular feature of the course are the unscripted coaching sessions called “Coaching the Pros” featuring two notable professional poker players: Diego Ventura and Matt Affleck. Go inside to see how top online and live professionals think and prepare for WCOOP and the WSOP. Now is the time to get yourself ready for 2022. Don’t wait until the next series to get started. Invest in your game and let Jared guide you through the steps to get it in shape.

“I can’t recommend the Mental Game Tune Up course and Jared’s work highly enough. I really found it valuable to work through leading up to my last WSOP trip which was my most successful trip by far. Thanks for another amazing product Jared!”

Lara Eiesenberg, 2021 WSOP Ladies Champion

Claim your special $125 discount this Holiday Season by using promo code CPL125 when you enroll in Jared’s course.

RUN IT ONCE TRAINING

If you want to start taking your game seriously in 2022 you’ll find everything you need to back up your commitment at Run It Once Training. Launched in 2012 by high stakes legend Phil Galfond, Run It Once has always been the place for dedicated poker players to advance to the next level and stay ahead of their opponents.

The slogan ‘Train With the Best’ doesn’t only reflect that you’ll learn from the highest tier coaches like Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, Kevin Rabichow, or Phil Galfond himself. It also means you’ll benefit from a community of students that have the highest aspirations in poker and are often professional players themselves.

Members of Run It Once Training Plans get access to an expansive library of over 6,500 training videos, with two brand new videos every single day to make sure you’re always learning the newest strategies. No matter which form of poker you play or which area of your game you need to work on, Run It Once has you covered.

Just starting out in poker or want to transition to a new game format? Run It Once Courses were specifically designed for new players who want to start learning poker from the beginning, the right way. The courses follow a carefully crafted learning journey until you have the proper foundation you need to expand your game to the highest levels.

If you need help planning the perfect poker gift for your loved ones, reach out to Run It Once Support and we’ll assist you every step of the way.

FADED SPADE PLAYING CARDS

As the preferred playing cards of the World Poker Tour, Faded Spade has fast become the most popular playing card brand for poker players across the globe.

Poker players in many countries and continents have switched to Faded Spade playing cards for their poker home games. The cards are known for their modern face card designs and high quality 100% plastic that has an intentional balance of strength and flexibility. Two-deck sets are available in Poker Size 2.0 (Wide), Bridge Size 2.0 (Narrow), and 4-Color 2.0.

Beyond WPT programming, you might have also played with Faded Spade cards at your local poker room! Plus, you may have seen Faded Spade poker playing cards on many popular poker live stream shows or in play on NBC Sports, PokerGO, and more during poker programs like Poker After Dark, Super High Roller Bowl, Poker Masters, and the U.S. Poker Open.

CAESARS PALACE POKER ROOM

There’s perhaps no more enjoyable time to take a poker trip than the Holiday season, and similarly there’s perhaps no more enjoyable poker room to play in than the one at Caesars Palace! Once you hit Las Vegas, head straight to the center of the famed Las Vegas Strip to the one-of-a-kind Caesars Palace Poker Room.

With 18 tables, and located right next to the casino’s sportsbook, the 4,500-square-foot poker room offers all the action you can handle at limits ranging from $1-3 right up to the nosebleeds. Comps are offered at $2 per hour, with Caesars Rewards Members also earning 34 tier points/hour.

Beyond cash games, the room also offers multiple tournaments each day and is staffed by some of the most professional, friendly dealers and floorpeople you’ll find in the city.

Staff are happy to speak with you anytime, so feel free to call (866) 227-5938 and get your name on the waiting lists this holiday season at Caesars Palace, home of champions!

SHUFFLE TECH MDS-6 MULTI-DECK SHUFFLER

The new Shuffle Tech MDS-6 is perfect for this upcoming Holiday Season. As you gather with friends and family to spend time together and play games, this makes a perfect addition to your game night.

This multi-deck card shuffler can shuffle up to 6 full decks of playing cards. Whether you play canasta, blackjack, or any other multi-deck card game, this will streamline your hand shuffling. Paper cards will shuffle, but not as well as with 100% plastic playing cards. So, quality playing cards are always recommended. And as always, our products come with a 1-year warranty.

The MDS-6 runs both on direct power or battery operated (4 x D-sized). Plus, as with all Shuffle Tech products, you also get a 1-year warranty!

We ship worldwide! For more information, visit www.shuffletech.com.

D&B POKER BOOKS

D&B Poker produces the best poker books out there and their latest publication from the highly successful coach and author Jonathan Little is no exception. Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker: The Essential Guide can rightly claim to be the definitive guide to tournament poker. As per our own review, “The poker world was ready for an age-defining poker book in a period of global flux; it has found it in this book.”

This holiday season, you can get your hands on either the beautiful hardcover edition, the ebook, or the audiobook (recorded by Jonathan), all of which can be found HERE.

Also due out in the coming weeks is an addition to D&B’s Mastering Small Stakes series, Evan Jarvis‘ Mastering Small Stakes Cash Games. Evan’s reputation as a top notch coach at Gripsed.com is well established and in this book he brings his full arsenal of knowledge and skills to help players master cash game play. Evan takes a holistic approach, recognizing that being able to master people and master yourself are equally important in order to achieve poker success.

This book makes for an excellent stocking stuffer, as the paperback edition will be publishing in December in UK/Europe and January in the US, with the ebook due out in January.

POKERCOACHING PREMIUM

This holiday season PokerCoaching.com is rolling out the red carpet and giving you up to 61% off on PREMIUM memberships!

Beyond their already massive suite of training materials, you’ll also get FREE access to two of Jonathan Little‘s exclusive courses — the all-new Cash Game Masterclass and his Tournament Masterclass — PLUS his vast library of 1-on-1 coaching videos!

Cash Game Masterclass

• 32+ hours
• 156 lessons

In this completely new course, Little teaches you everything you need to know to crush small and medium stakes cash games. Via numerous hand examples and quizzes, you’ll internalize how to consistently win in both online and live cash games, with starting stacks of 100 and 200 big blinds.

Tournament Masterclass

• 30+ hours
• 180 lessons

In this highly regarded course, Little teaches you everything you need to know to play every stage of a poker tournament optimally, maximally exploit your opponents, and maximize your tournament equity.

1-on-1 Coaching Videos

Best of all, if you act now and join PokerCoaching Premium, you’ll get FREE ACCESS to 240+ hours Jonathan Little’s 1-on-1 coaching videos!

Ring in the holidays by joining the 120,000+ poker players who are using PokerCoaching.com to increase their win rate through active learning!

THE POKER FORGE

The Poker Forge helps online small-stakes players build valuable skills for a fun and profitable journey. You will go through 9 Masterclass courses that teach foundational and advanced poker strategies in a logical progression. This will build you up as a player with useful skills one upon the other, while helping you avoid poker overwhelm: That feeling of having too much to study and not enough time. The Poker Forge helps you learn where you must focus your efforts and guides you in that direction.

You can start booking wins right away with course #1, the Quick Wins Gameplans, which help you earn quick profits with easy-to-use strategies. Or, you can bounce around from course to course. Maybe start with the Hand Reading Course (to learn poker’s #1 skill) or the Finding the Fold Course (to plug that costly leak of poor post-flop calling). The journey is up to you, but along the way the Poker Forge gives you checklists, calendars and study guides to keep you on track.

All Poker Forge training is built upon the idea of “learn then apply”. Each video teaches you important strategies to use in-game or during your study time. Plus, every video gives you action steps to take that force you to practice what you just learned because… action is the greatest teacher.

Give yourself or the poker player in your life the gift of a profitable and fun online poker journey with The Poker Forge.

FLOPZILLA PRO CUSTOM SPLITSUIT EDITION

One of the best tools for poker study is Flopzilla Pro. Flopzilla can do everything from analyzing single hands to complex ranges, break down post-flop situations statistically, and even do advanced range-vs.-range analysis.

If you’ve never used this app before, here’s an example of using Flopzilla Pro to study a common $2/$5 hand:

To make things even better, the SPLITSUIT EDITION of Flopzilla Pro not only includes a lifetime license for the software, but it also includes custom range presets and additional training videos. This bundle sets every poker player up for success to make off-table time easier and on-table time more profitable.

Get the SplitSuit Edition of Flopzilla Pro today and book yourself a winning holiday season!

RUNGOODGEAR APPAREL

This holiday season it’s time to scroll past the parody shirts send your favorite poker player something they want to wear both at and away from the tables.

Since 2012, poker players have been gearing up with RunGood, the industry’s leading apparel company. Focused on producing clothing with an emphasis on comfort and style, the RunGoodGear brand is a popular sight in poker rooms around the United States, with a wide variety of hats, hoodies, and shirts available online.

“As a poker player, we don’t make anything we wouldn’t wear ourselves on or off the table.” says Tana Karn, Founder of RunGoodGear. There is a reason items become out of stock, don’t delay and pick up an item today.

Also, be sure to visit www.RunGoodGear.com to see what’s happening next with the multi-time GPI Award-Winning Mid-Major Tour, the RunGood Poker Series, while picking up your next hat or hoodie.

Wishing all of our readers here at Cardplayer Lifestyle a happy holiday season!