Anyone who is serious about playing the game and wants to improve would be wise in learning from one of the best teachers around – Alex Fitzgerald. Alex is a professional poker player with over $650,000 in live winnings, but it’s coaching where he really excels. Alex has written several books about poker strategy and has been a long-term coach.

Alex’s Poker Without Fear course, created alongside his collaborator Steve Blay – who founded AdvancedPokerTraining.com and coached Qui Nguyen to his $8 million Main Event win at the 2016 WSOP – provides the solutions to several of poker players’ most common worries. We spoke to Alex about seven of those problems, and his replies made us want to sign up immediately!

1. If I play aggressively will everyone stop folding to me?

Alex: No. There are specific situations where people consistently fold too much. You do not want to be unaware of those situations.

This makes a lot of sense to us. If we know the situations, then we’re more prepared when they occur. If we know when to be aggressive, we avoid losing and win more when we have the best hand. Now we just need to know the situations.

2. No one ever folds in my games. How can I ever win?

Alex: I guarantee you that your game is beatable. There is a system that can be used. It’s consistent and it works. Sometimes, DREAM games will feature players who never fold. They’re the loose/passive whales. We want them! We just need to know how to tame them.

This is what we always suspected. But this is such a common problem that many players who have started to get good at the game face. It can be funny when variance sucks at the start, but that joke isn’t funny after a while. We want to win. We’re looking forward to looking at the best ways to take advantage of these people.

3. I don’t know how to win big pots without getting dealt a huge hand. How will I ever be able to win?

Alex: You need to expand the situations where you’ll enter a pot and make a hand. You will also need to learn how to play mediocre hands for serious value. Both can be done!

This is why we keep hearing the word ‘range’. Making money from bad hands definitely takes a lot more than we have going for us, so we’re going to need to go into a lot of detail about where and when to make moves with low hands. We’re dropping that favorite hand and adapting our thoughts to only loving one set of hole cards – the eventual winning hand.

4. I have no idea when I’m supposed to re-raise someone without a premium hand. Is it bad for me to never do this?

Alex: Yes, it is. You become too predictable when you only re-raise with premiums. You’ll never get value from your hands! There are skillful situations in which to aggress without a hand. We’ll discuss what those situations are. 

We’ve lost count of the number of times that we’ve won next to nothing with aces or kings. Finding out how to make the most money from hands that have a much better chance of holding to the river is really appealing and would make playing poker so much easier for us.

5. I don’t understand GTO and never have. Will I ever be able to win in this game?

Alex: GTO can be tailored to help you find the best exploitative games. Poker without Fear explains exactly how to do this. 

This is a genuine relief. Everything is about GTO right now, so knowing how to either understand or exploit it – or both! – Is really important to us. We want to know about GTO so that we can make more informed choices about how to win. Understanding GTO within the framework of a more general course of improvement and removing fear from our game is the dream ticket.

6. How do I run a successful bluff when it seems like no one ever folds to me?

Alex: You need to target specific players. Then, you must wait for specific situations. Once you have those two ingredients a whole world of bluffing is unlocked.

This helps already – we’ve previously been thinking too much about what cards that player or those players are holding without considering the player(s) themselves. Thinking of situational poker strategy is scary, but if you’re matching it to players that we can meet, then it makes it more real and instantly translates. Excited to be studying this part.

7. How do I take over a table when nobody wants to fold EVER?

Alex: There is a way to do this! There are action players in every corner of the globe who know how to get players to yield to them. We’ll share their secrets with you.

This is like unlocking the biggest secret of all, making players fold. It’s so cool that one of the biggest action players in the world will reveal how they do it – this will help us win more. One of the first things we learned was that there are two ways to win a pot – winning it by getting to showdown or getting the other player to fold. We really need to do a lot more of the second one.

Buying Poker Without Fear would usually cost $497, but using the code Robbie397  will get you a $100 discount. Before you buy it for $397, be sure to read our full review of the training package and find out exactly what you can learn and how to do it.

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”.

There are far fewer books around that let you know of the poker player’s greatest enemy, namely the mistakes you make. If you could only identify them, you could cut them out of your game. It stands to reason that it is easier to cut out mistakes than learn skills, so why isn’t there a poker book out there that targets those mistakes and bids to remove them from your current poker make-up.

Fortunately for you, there now is.

If you prefer to work from the perspective of eliminating negatives, then The 100 Biggest Mistakes That Poker Players Make by Alex Fitzgerald might well be the book for you.

About the Author

It’s often the footnote on a book such as this, but just as the tome itself references the author first, we wanted to make mention of it in reviewing the masterpiece, because it is undoubtedly that. Alex Fitzgerald not only provides a background of genuine success to call upon, both live and online, where he has starred in World Poker Tour and WCOOP events among others but as a career of being a poker coach par excellence.

Fitzgerald’s name is synonymous with poker coaching and in hundreds of training videos and articles and in his consultancy role, he has doubtless improved the game of poker overall; such has been his impact on those who play it. Ed. note: PLUS, Alex just became a Cardplayer Lifestyle contributor, too!

What’s in the Book?

As you might expect, 100 mistakes is a vast variety of blunders you can make at the felt. The book is — much like the last time this reporter made a final table — a catalogue of errors, and there are going to be plenty of occasions where you think “I’m so glad I don’t do that” while reading one chapter, then blush with guilt at your through-the-fingers enjoyment of the next knowing it is discussing a mistake you definitely do make.

Fitzgerald’s aim is not to humiliate us all for our errors, though. He only seeks to shine a light on them so that they might be identified, scrutinized and eventually, eradicated from our game. Much as a psychotherapist might try many methods in order to access that harrowing memory of missing out on the last sticker that would have completed your 1994/95 Premier League soccer album (or whatever your own trauma might be), Fitzgerald utilizes a number of clever ways in weeding out those mistakes that you’ve pushed under the carpet for too long.

D&B Poker published this hefty 398-page work (including the index), so The 100 Biggest Mistakes That Poker Players Make is not a pocket-sized handbook, but more the kind of poker bible that you should devour before referring back to, like the bible might be if Jesus played poker badly and liked to raise before the flop. As it happens, we reckon the master carpenter would have had the smarts to read this bible all the way through before sitting down and that would be our tip for new players who ask how they should play the game.

Honesty is the Book’s USP

Many of the ways that Fitzgerald highlights what we commonly identify as mistakes made by others is by helping you acknowledge that you’ll sometimes make the same missteps yourself. How many times have you begged the elite pro you watch on television to stop acting like a petulant child, only to find yourself doing similar but in a slightly less grandstanding way when you donk off a stack with four players remaining?

The book makes a sweeping statement in its opening that in the opinion of this reviewer should be writ large in the banner at the top of any poker website or above the door of any casino – never go pro unless you have to.

There are a number of these simplistic tips for how not to become a bad player, but they are expanded on really well and often turn out to be deeper than you may first have thought, leading into techniques for how to avoid making the same mistakes. This method of exploration and self-improvement take place almost without you knowing it and later in the book, there are more detailed breakdowns of specific plays that if you’d started with them, might have felt complicated.

The Big Takeaway

For this reason, it bears to read the book with a pretty rigid discipline to the order in which the mistakes are listed. It’s not that you can’t check the mistakes individually and go back and review the ones that apply to you (there’s a final chapter handily devoted to doing just this), but it makes way more sense to read from start to finish. The book comes across like a well-honed classic rock album – every song is in the right place and if listened to in the order it was designed in, will have you singing throughout.

In the end, The 100 Biggest Mistakes That Poker Players Make is the kind of poker book that everyone should have on their bookshelf. Whether you’re a first-time player looking to join in with the most popular card game played for profit worldwide or a honed professional looking to eradicate a couple of mistakes that you’re struggling to identify,

The 100 Biggest Mistakes That Poker Players Make is highly likely to root them out for you. All you then need to do is make sure that you have the wherewithal to put the mistake behind you and – using the book as a strong reference tool – maintain your distance from the error and never make it again. One thing is for sure – buying this book is definitely not a mistake.

If poker players have this knowledge, what is holding them back from its execution? Blay and Fitzgerald believe the cause is very simple: fear.

In order to overcome this crippling roadblock, they have combined their efforts to produce a course with over 20 videos and extensive supplemental materials designed to help the modern player combat fear. Poker without Fear is the most complete package available with the single goal of assisting every player to maximize his or her aggressive potential.

Alex Fitzgerald is a poker professional, long-term coach, and author of several excellent poker books and courses. Steve Blay is a poker coach, author, and the founder of AdvancedPokerTraining.com. He has spent years teaching computers how to play poker at a high level. He was also Qui Nguyen’s poker advisor when Qui won over $8 million at the 2016 WSOP Main Event.

Poker Without Fear: Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Fitzgerald and Blay share a foundational belief: the majority of poker players, regardless of experience, exhibit the same flaws in their games. Their play is based on emotional and personal factors, rather than on quality play rooted in logic, odds, and data. For example, a player may have mastered open raising pre-flop and calling with decent hands in position, but their primary drive is the desire to see the flop and be a part of the action. The FOMO (fear of missing out) principle is high among poker players. If a player folds small, suited connectors to a large raise and then flops a straight with a redraw to the flush, he is distraught. So rather than correctly folding those suited connectors out of position, he calls and ends up losing his 6 high flush to the nut flush on the river.

Conversely, FOLS (fear of looking stupid) is an equally strong driver. FOLS arises when a player realizes that he may get caught in a move which seems illogical to other players and will evoke mocking or scorn. You may know that you should re-raise a c-bettor on a flop that likely missed his range and gave you a 9-high flush draw and a backdoor straight draw. Instead, FOLS makes you convince yourself that he hit a set, and you just call in hopes of hitting your flush, folding when you miss the turn and he bets again.

Throughout this course, Fitzgerald and Blay challenge players to confront these tendencies and rather to rely on proven strategies that lead to greater profits. Blay has devised 10 challenges, illustrated below, that force players to practice aggressive actions until they become more comfortable with this type of play.

Justification of Aggressive Play: The Math and the Data

Unsuccessful bluffs weigh heavily on the memory of poker players. You bet half pot on the river on a blown draw, get called, and feelings of failure linger long. However, how often does the bluff need to work to be the correct move? In fact, it only needs to work one out of every three times you try it to reach the break-even point. In other words, you can lose the bluff twice as often as you win and still break even! If you get 40% folds on half-pot bluffs, you’re profitable (even though you are still losing more often than winning), and if you get 50% folds you are printing money!

Blay provides the mathematical justification for betting scenarios like this one, and presents factors that will help increase your likelihood of success. He also tells you when NOT to bluff. This course will leave little doubt in your mind that well-timed aggression will be extremely profitable in the long run.

Like Blay, Fitzgerald loves data. He will explain that the data of his students consistently supports the fact that playing passively is perilous, and that profitability hinges on assertive play. In these videos, Fitzgerald presents actual profitability tables of his students’ play that compare the success rates of various lines of action. The case is clearly made: aggressive approaches, thoughtfully and carefully executed, are irrefutably more profitable that passive ones.

Poker Without Fear: Techniques

Poker without Fear weaves together multiple strong teaching techniques. Both Blay and Fitzgerald present clear sets of guidelines concerning how to employ aggressive play on all streets. This course offers very specific techniques the player can use across a variety of circumstances.

Fitzgerald and Blay also teach when aggression is ill-advised (e.g., responding to aggressive action from a historically tight player), and when to slow-play (e.g., when you have a monster and your opponent likely holds a callable hand). They create an architecture of principles and approaches to guide your play and hand assessments in a wide variety of situations.

They also share a belief that knowledge without application has limited value. In line with that, Poker without Fear includes dozens of hand examples and quiz questions to teach correct aggressive action in a variety of circumstances. The quizzes include assessment of proper bet sizing, as well as correct action.

Those familiar with Fitzgerald’s previous training videos will recognize his application of repeated drills. He believes that, as a developing player, you need to practice playing in a variety of situations and have a very clear understanding of why you are taking a specific action. Fitzgerald also frequently challenges you to identify the “most important thought” you should be having in determining your action. This meta approach engages you on an advanced level of processing, teaching you to execute the appropriate move with solid justification and an understanding of how that justification was reached.

Fitzgerald’s techniques, as he readily admits, are not for the lazy player. They are provocative, intense, and require an engagement not always typical of poker training videos. In many ways, Fitzgerald’s teaching method is as aggressive as the style of poker play he advocates. Playing quality poker is not easy, and neither is proper preparation.

BIG Updates for 2023

Even not-so-great poker players have upped their game for 2023, so it’s critical that you ramp up your aggression even further this year. To properly equip you, Steve Blay and Alex Fitzgerald have added an additional five hours of content to the course:

• Fitzgerald’s update is called “Seek and Destroy” and is broken up into eight new videos comprising four hours of new material.
• Blay has also added a couple of new videos entitled “How Aggressive Poker Has Changed Recently” and “5 Steps to Win the Maximum This Year”.
• You’ll also get Blay’s 100-page e-book “Seven Days to Better Flop Play”, helping you take your flop game apart and solidify it within just one week.
• Finally, included in the training materials is another 1-hour mini-course from Fitzgerald called “How To Play AGGRESSIVELY Without Everyone HATING You!” After all, if you’re going to be winning your opponents’ money, you want to do it as subtly as possibly, so you might as well learn those important techniques.

Special Discounted Pricing for Poker Without Fear

Altogether, in addition to the aforementioned update material added to the course, Poker without Fear includes:

• 200+ Quizzes To BREAK DOWN Your Old Game And REBUILD It!
• 23 Episodes Of PREMIUM Training Content
• 20+ Hours Of Quality Footage With ZERO FILLER!
• IN-DEPTH Scientific Analysis Of TRUE Aggressive Poker!
• TWO well-known poker coaches offer you multiple views on poker problems
• Simulations based on REAL poker hands where aggressive poker results in HUGE pots!
• A free PDF copy of Steve Blay’s brand new 100-page e-book Seven Days to Better No Limit Hold’em Flop Play, regularly $39!
• And much more!

All of the above is offered for $497, but if you want to order Poker Without Fear, be sure to use the code Robbie397 you will save $100 and get the discounted price of $397.

The Final Word on Poker Without Fear

Fitzgerald and Blay are clearly after two things in this training course:

1. To alter your attitude and natural tendencies toward more aggressive lines of play, and
2. To model the thought processes and skill sets to execute these lines.

Poker without Fear is a workout, containing volumes of data, specific technical information, and dozens of hand applications and quizzes. Be prepared to put in the work. You will be glad you did.

There are a few of these multi-lesson challenges available, but in this review we’re looking at the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge. For 30 consecutive days a new video lesson was released, accompanied by a short quiz upon completion to test your newfound skills. Now, as mentioned, all 30 days of content are available on demand, and can be consumed in whichever order you choose. First, here’s a look at the list of all 30 lessons:

1. Learning Your Opponents Through Preflop play – Jonathan Jaffe (35 min)
2. 3-betting at Different Stack Depths – Jonathan Little (12 min)
3. Exploitative Plays to Crush Live Tournaments part 1 – Faraz Jaka (62 min)
4. Short Stack Preflop Play – Matt Affleck (80 min)
5. Exploitative Plays to Crush Live Tournaments part 2 – Jaka (50 min)
6. Short Stack Post-flop Play – Affleck (64 min)
7. $10k Bellagio Day 1 & 2 Review – Jaffe (83 min)
8. Live Play & Explain Part 1 – Little (38 min)
9. Button vs Big Blind Play – Jaffe (91 min)
10. Advanced Big Blind Defence Strategies in Tournaments – Affleck (73 min)
11. Review of Blaz $10 Online Tournament Win Part 1 – Little (21 min)
12. Review of Blaz $10 Online Tournament Win Part 2 – Little (23 min)
13. Review of Blaz $10 Online Tournament Win Part 3 – Little (18 min)
14. How to Complete PokerCoaching Homework – Little (24 min)
15. Complete October 2019 Tournament Homework – Little (37 min)
16. Reviewing Jonathan’s Deep Run in the Online $1k Freezeout Part 1 – Michael Acevedo/Little (61 min)
17. Reviewing Jonathan’s Deep Run in the Online $1k Freezeout Part 2 – Acevedo/Little (102 min)
18. Live Play & Explain Part 2 – Little (49 min)
19. Mastering the HUD: VPIP & PFR – Alex Fitzgerald (33 min)
20. Mastering the HUD: C-Bet Statistics – Fitzgerald (35 min)
21. Mastering the HUD: Fold to C-Bet Statistic – Fitzgerald (12 min)
22. Mastering the HUD: Check-Raise Statistic – Fitzgerald (13 min)
23. Mastering the HUD: Test Your Skills – Fitzgerald (72 min)
24. Live Play & Explain Part 3 – Little (50 min)
25. Bubble Thoughts – Little (22 min)
26. Introduction to ICM – Affleck (92 min)
27. Mastering High Roller Final Tables Intro & Part 1 – Little (30 min)
28. Mastering High Roller Final Tables Part 2 – Little (27 min)
29. Mastering High Roller Final Tables Part 3 – Little (27 min)
30. Tips to Crush Small Stakes Tournaments & Final Exam (30 questions) – Little (63 min)

In total, this adds up to almost 24 hours worth of elite No Limit Hold ‘em training content.

My recommendation for consuming this challenge would be to tackle it in one of two ways: either as originally intended with one lesson per day over 30 days, which is the most easily digestible process, or by combining the multi-part lessons and consuming those together in slightly longer chunks.

For example, Faraz Jaka’s 2-part series on Exploitative Plays to Crush Live Tournaments could be watched together. Moreover, Days 11-13 could easily be watched in one sitting, as they are a 3-part hand history review. Also, if you wanted to merge lessons on pre- and post-flop short stacked play, Matt Affleck’s Day 4 and 6 lessons could be watched together.

There are other examples of this as well, and for the purposes of a more easy-to-follow review of the content, I’ll be combining those lessons and reviewing them one section at a time, with their days of the challenge denoted at the top of each section.

Now, with that all said, let’s dive into it!

Day 1: Learning Your Opponents Through Pre-flop Play

I was very happy to see this lesson, which I’ve discussed in previous reviews, included in the challenge, and even kicking it off on Day 1 no less.

Jonathan Jaffe takes students through a series of pre-flop situations and provides analysis of what tendencies a player will have based on their actions. A super light raise from early position obviously suggests a loose/maniacal player, but there can be a lot more behind that raise. Getting reads on your opponents is critical, and Jaffe guides the student through the multitude of other things to consider. This is a lesson that’s useful for players of all skill levels.

Day 2: 3-betting at Different Stack Depths

Jonathan Little brings us an intensive crash course on how you should be 3-betting, outlining the many different strategies required based on your stack size. Range charts are provided for a variety of stack depths, from 15 BB to 75 BB and up, along with a chart breaking down what 3-bet sizing you should be using, based on your stack depth.

The importance of 3-betting with good blockers when short stacked vs. 3-betting with a more linear range when deep is discussed, along with what stack size your 3-bets should be an all-in.

Plus, Little lays out the situations in which you should defend more and not 3-bet from the big blind when short.

Days 3 & 5: Exploitative Plays to Crush Live Tournaments Parts 1 & 2

Given that this review was being written during the COVID-19 pandemic with live tournament poker at a minimum around the world, I’ll admit that I saved these videos for last. And wow, was I pleasantly surprised by how much of these videos are also applicable to the online game, notably smaller stakes where players are very exploitable!

Part 1 focuses on pre-flop exploits, such as how to target weak opponents, exploitative blind stealing, 3-bet attacks, and the ever popular psychological warfare! Getting too boggled down in the specifics would take too much time, but I will mention one critical concept of playing strong exploitative poker: you are going to be playing more hands. Maybe not as many as Faraz Jaka is known to, but to play this style effectively, you will be widening your ranges. (Jaka will explain where and when are the best spots for this throughout – it actually ties together nicely with theories from Jaffe’s lesson on learning your opponents’ pre-flop play. The supposed maniac raising suited Kx in early position? Well here he is.) As such, YOU MUST BE FOCUSED and paying incredible attention to the table and know how to potentially exploit each player.

Of note in part 1, easily the coolest slide I’ve seen in any poker training material out there is Jaka’s section on psychological warfare. That’s right, sorry to disappoint, but you don’t want to be the Macho Man when you’re playing. Oooooooooh…no?

Part 2 goes into post-flop play, with a lot of discussion on downbetting and smaller post-flop bet sizes, except when you can exploitatively use larger sizing against the non-believers to maximize value. The importance of recognizing and overfolding against players who are completely unbalanced in their ranges is also discussed.

Jaka wraps the series by analyzing several live hands he’s played, including a cool hand against Jessica Dawley at the final table of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, and why at a table with just them and three amateurs, he felt she was the player he could most successfully exploit.

Days 4 & 6: Short Stack Pre-flop and Post-flop Play

If I was compelled to pick something as the best or most important section of the series, Matt Affleck’s videos on short-stacked play would get my vote. This is mainly because, as Affleck himself notes, of any element of tournament poker short stack is what you’ll be playing the most, and it’s an area where you can create more EV than the majority of your opponents.

The pre-flop video discusses the hugely important concept of ‘lazy shoves’ and how to better play a 15-20 BB stack by using split ranges. Sure, just piling in your 15 BB stack with KQo in the hijack is profitable, but if you take a more strategic polarized/linear approach, there is much more EV to be made.

Affleck breaks down which hands to instead min-raise and call off to a 3-bet shove, which hands to min-raise/fold, and which are still just a straight shove.

Re-jamming is also discussed thoroughly, with the key concepts of getting hands you dominate to call and getting hands that dominate you to fold!

Why are we 3-bet shoving A9s, A5s and A4s along with AKs and AQs, but not AJs and ATs?

These are solid GTO baselines for 3-bet jamming, but Affleck also notes that there are plenty of opponent-based exploits that must be considered as well.

The short stack post-flop video uses a lot of PioSolver and hand breakdowns to analyze what your best options are with a shallow stack-to-pot ratio (SPR). I think many amateur players would be surprised how much play you have on a sub-25 BB stack. Protection and equity denial is king, and every 4-5 BB pot you can drag when short stacked is a huge win. Affleck guides you through when your top pair is a monster, when your 2nd pair is safe and when it isn’t, which draws are worth applying pressure with, and which blockers can be bluffed to steal a key pot for you.

I can honestly say I am infinitely more comfortable playing a short stack since studying these videos. There are spots I wouldn’t have taken before that have now kept my stack alive and grown it repeatedly at key points in a tournament. Recently I navigated my way into the money of the WPT Poker Industry Invitational despite being on a 15-20 BB stack with 30 players left and 15 making the money. Affleck’s teachings kept me alive, got my stack healthy, and gave me the best opportunities possible to run my stack up. I even got my 2nd pair in dominant for a potential 36 BB double up with 11 left, until the 2-outer came for my opponent on the river. But hey, I got it in good, thanks to what I learned from this training.

Day 7: 10k Bellagio Day 1 & 2 Review

The first week of lessons wraps up with what kind of felt like an extended version of one of PokerCoaching.com’s hand quizzes. Jonathan Jaffe is back with a review of hands he played on the first two days of his 6th place run in the 2019 Bellagio Five Diamond Main Event.

Hands are all from earlier levels with deeper stacked play and, as such, Jaffe explains how he likes to play these levels more like a cash game (more PokerCoaching.com Cash Game resources here), making his opponents uncomfortable by playing bigger pots than they may have liked or expected to. He goes deep into his thought process of each hand, analyzing his decisions street by street. Throughout the video, Jaffe takes questions from students on each hand, also discussing how he would have played alternate runouts on certain hands.

He discusses various concepts, including the importance at higher stakes of having some ace/wheel bluffs in early position against other early position opponents.

There are plenty of fun and interesting hands to dissect, including a wild one four ways with AJo on the BTN vs. a UTG raise, a UTG+1 call, and then a call from the SB. How good do you feel on an A87 rainbow flop, and how do you proceed?

Days 8, 18, 24: Live Play and Explain Parts 1, 2, & 3

Recently, Jonathan Little has been streaming his Sunday online tournament sessions, and naturally he saw this as an opportunity to teach his students how to better grind the online streets.

The 3-part series is a cool look at, and explanation of, Little’s Sunday grind, firing tournament after tournament with tables covering every corner of his computer monitor.

If you’re not a multi-tabler, this series will definitely boost your comfort level of adding volume to your sessions. In general, I wasn’t, but since watching this series I’m more comfortable adding three or four tables to my sessions, and am still seeing my winrate move in the right direction.

Little provides plenty of advice and tips throughout including…

• Play as many tables as you’re comfortable with.
• Use a HUD if you can.
• Organize and prioritize your tables to keep track more easily.
• Don’t waste time sweating results, just make the best decision and move on.
• Don’t let bad runouts on smaller buy-in tables tilt you and impact your decisions on higher priority tables.
• Multi-tabling is not about improving skills. It’s about utilizing strategies and maximizing volume.
• If you’re rebuying or buying in short, there will be more variance. Be ready for it.
• Don’t just register everything. Game select and find the best games to maximize your ROI.

Lower priority tables cascaded top left. Higher priority tables separate.

It really is impressive to watch Little playing 10+ tables and having no issues keeping track and playing as optimally as possible. While he admits that occasionally he does make mistakes, and that will come with mass multi-tabling, his focus and decision making is almost always on point. It was very cool to see him recognize a spot where he needed to fold a flush in one of his smaller buy-in tourneys where a lesser player would have just gone ‘oh, flush, call’, before clicking on to the next decision.

Day 9: Button vs. Big Blind Play

Jonathan Jaffe says he considers button vs. big blind play the most complex area of No Limit Hold ‘em because you’re dealing with such wide ranges in both spots, leading to difficult situations. I’ll happily agree with him. Range analysis in this scenario is very difficult, but Jaffe does a good job as he runs through a simulated session with two of his students using PokerStars play money home game software.

To be honest, this was a bit confusing to follow at times because it was set up visually as a heads up match, with the button player instructed to act as if there was an imaginary small blind between himself and the simulated big blind. There are a bunch of different scenarios presented, but I would recommend primarily listening to Jaffe’s commentary as opposed to watching the action to avoid the visual confusion.

Day 10: Advanced Big Blind Strategies in Tournaments

Day 10 brings another meaty and thorough class with Matt Affleck, which was also one of my favourites in the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge.

Remember the good old days when the big blind would fold too much because they didn’t want to play a junk hand out of position? Remember when it was then determined that it was mathematically correct to defend the BB with a wide range because the pot odds dictated it? Well, now the problem with most players is that they’re defending too wide, and you likely are too, especially multiway!

Affleck discusses how most poker players make a lot of mistakes in the big blind because they assume their pot odds are correct to be seeing a flop in almost any situation that hasn’t been 3-bet. Position of the raise, and the size of the raise are not fully considered, leading to players getting themselves into horrific spots. And just because your pot odds are so fantastic with five players in the pot by no means justifies flicking in a few more chips with a junk hand that can easily be dominated if you hit the board.

The coordination between raw equity, EV, and equity realization % is broken down, with Equilab used to illustrate the key points.

One solution to poor big blind play is to increase your 3-betting. As much as players over defend the big blind by calling, they’re under 3-betting grossly in spots that are very profitable. Most players just default to calling, again ‘since they’re getting such a great price’, but there are plenty of hands that can be 3-bet, and Affleck shows you where and why. Some theories referenced in his short stack videos are applicable here as well, as we’re now 3-betting weak aces to get medium aces to fold. Some marginal suited hands can be 3-bet as well because most people just are not calling enough 3-bets in general, and many hands that would have you dominated are now folding!

Finally, while fewer hands should be defended from the big blind with deeper stacks, the opposite is true with a short stack! It may seem counter-intuitive to defend a higher percentage of your stack when short, but that’s just it. If you’re short, you can happily get your stack in with pairs and good draws, whereas it would be heinous to commit a larger stack with the same hand strength.

Day 11-13: Review of Blaz $10 Online Tournament Win

As mentioned earlier, this 3-part miniseries can be ripped through in a little over an hour, as Little reviews a student’s win in a $10 6-handed tournament. Despite the relatively short runtimes of each of the three videos, there are still many key strategies to take away. None is bigger than the simple reminder that just because a tournament is short-handed, it does not justify opening ranges unnecessarily wide. A 6-handed table is just like a 9-handed table, just that the first 3 players have folded.

Case in point, one of the student’s opponents is playing a ridiculous 79% VPIP with a 13% PFR. Several pots are contested against this player, with maximally exploitative lines discussed in both small and large pots. Plus, not only are they an absolute muffin to play against, a blatant bet-sizing tell is picked up, too!

Once that player is disposed of, other situations are analyzed, including vs. a player the exact opposite of our 79/13 friend. What adjustments need to be made against a far more aggressive player with a high 3-bet percentage?

At the final table, an ICM suicide is narrowly averted thanks to the opponent folding vs. the student’s overplay of third pair with an open-ended straight flush draw on the turn.

Oh, you got called and the 4 of diamonds rolled off? Cool 3rd pair bro.

Days 14 & 15: How to Complete Poker Coaching Homework & October 2019 Tournament Homework

A staple of any PokerCoaching.com curriculum is the monthly homework assignments, and the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge is no exception.

Using the PokerCoaching.com Range Analyzer, students input their own ranges into a chart based on a hand scenario provided by Little. The student first creates a pre-flop action chart, saves it, then adjusts it street by street, based on the community cards and opponent actions of the hand.  Hand combinations are categorized into ranges for premium made hands, marginal made hands, draws, and junk.

The Day 14 video is a tutorial on how to create your charts and save them in the PokerCoaching.com forum for review during the monthly homework webinars hosted by Little. On Day 15 you’ll actually create a series of range charts, and then compare them to the analysis provided in the accompanying video.

Little will suggest how you should balance your betting and checking ranges, by adding or removing hands from the various categories. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with them though before jumping into these homework assignments. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by them, but have since learned to love them as a great way to study ranges and work on GTO range balancing.

Days 16 & 17: Reviewing Jonathan’s Deep Run in the Online $1k Freezeout Parts 1 & 2

In this pair of videos, PokerCoaching.com’s GTO wizard Michael Acevedo dissects Little’s play in a deep run against a table full of online killers.

A warning before you dive into these videos. This is VERY high-level GTO hand analysis between Acevedo and Little. Acevedo analyzes mostly to Little’s level of understanding, not necessarily to a student of the site. PioSolver is used frequently, and not explained to the layman poker player at all. You will need to be somewhat familiar with the program.

With that said, indeed, this is some VERY high-level GTO hand analysis!

REVIEW: Michael Acevedo’s Modern Poker Theory Video Packs

It’s fascinating to observe their poker minds at work, breaking down a queen-high river call, discussing the merits of min raising vs. slightly bumping up raise sizes, analyzing when a 15-20 BB shove is recommended (contrary to other short stack lessons), range betting vs. pot control, and tons more.

Remember, this is an elite player analyzing an elite player, playing against other elite players. This is NOT the review of the $10 tourney. There is some discussion of exploitative plays that could be applicable to smaller stakes tournaments, but for the most part we’re flying way above the rim here.

Day 19-23: Mastering the HUD (VPIP & PFR, C-bet, Fold to C-bet, Check-Raise, Test Your Skills)

It’s nearly three weeks into the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge before Alex Fitzgerald makes his first appearance, but the Assassinato’s entire course on Mastering the HUD gets a full five days worth of attention and it’s invaluable.

NOTE: Importantly, if you don’t play in an online poker room that allows HUDs, the 30-day challenge essentially just became a 25-day challenge. You can skip it entirely.

Fitzgerald admits he hated using a HUD at first and actually didn’t for five years. However, if you play on a site allowing HUDs and are not using one, you’re at a tremendous disadvantage against players who are.

Lots of numbers and colors can be scary, but once you learn them you’ll be the one they fear!

You’ll learn the ins and outs of the key numbers, learning how to play optimally against, and maximally exploit your opponents, based on their statistical tendencies. Fitzgerald acknowledges that unless you’re playing regularly with the same players your sample sizes will be small, but that will still tell you at least as much as in a live tournament setting.

Plenty of hand examples are provided in each section (especially Day 23) for students to consider, not just based on their potential opponent’s stats, but on other players and factors.

After watching this course, I’ve revamped my own HUD and am using it much more effectively. It’s undeniable that the difference in how the game feels based on using or not using a HUD is pretty large. With that said, if you can gain that advantage in decision making based on live analytics, it really is something you should be doing, and this section will prepare you thoroughly.

Day 25: Bubble Thoughts

Little’s 22-minute Bubble Thoughts class is all about pressure, pressure and more pressure; determining if your opponents care about sliding into the money, and if so, making life as uncomfortable for them as possible.

Find out where they don’t want to go, then make them go there!

Jonathan Little

There are obviously specifics to consider, such as stack sizes, position, and player type, and Little will go through what to look for that will give you the green light to attack. Reading weakness is always key to playing aggressive poker, but no time more so than on the bubble.

Several examples are analyzed, including an interesting situation showing how drastically a button shoving range changes on the bubble, depending on the quality of opponents in the blinds. A 64% range dropping down to 8%, sounds extreme, but it is justified against players who will call off too wide.

This section also leads into the next part of the challenge with some ICM discussion, and a reminder to pass on those tiny edges if you have a skill advantage, because ICM doesn’t take skill into consideration.

Day 26: Introduction to ICM

In this section you’ll dive deep into ICM with Matt Affleck. The title may say ‘Introduction’, but this class has heaps of great info throughout the beefy 92-minute runtime.

For those completely unfamiliar, Affleck starts off with a brief discussion on the difference between chip EV and $ EV, with a simple example of a winner-take-all sit n’ go payout vs. a top 3 payout.

The very cool concept of ‘Risk Premiums’ takes up a good chunk of the lesson. Affleck assigns an added percentage to a player’s pot odds when determining whether to make a call (think of it like a calling tax). We know a big stack is risking very little by calling a shove against a short stack, but to see specific formulas incorporated into various all-in situations based on stack sizes is a very cool guide to consider.

Post-flop ICM consideration with regard to bet sizing is compared to Risk Premiums, as the larger the bet you face, the higher the risk premium. You may seemingly only need 25% pot odds to make a call, but considering ICM and your risk premium, you need as much as 45-50% to justify putting your stack at risk.

Plenty of in-game examples are dissected through ICMizer to determine the profitability of potential all-ins. Consideration of risk premiums are thoroughly incorporated and considered.

Of note, Affleck discusses how risk premiums are even higher in satellite play. In a recent WSOP Online satellite, I was in a lengthy stretch of play with a ton of smallish/medium stacks (myself included) at the table as the bubble approached. Accounting for risk premiums saved my stack in a couple of key spots, whereas had I only considered the pot odds, I would have made an incorrect and tournament-ending decision. Instead, I made tighter folds, where others committed ICM suicide. As a result, I made it to the target tourney while others did not.

Days 27-29: Mastering High Roller Final Tables

We’re into the home stretch as we hit Day 27, and after almost four weeks of hard work this part of the series almost feels like the end of a school year when you’d get treated to watching a movie in class.

Yes, there is obviously a lot of high level poker that can be studied and learned from here, but you can also just kick back and enjoy watching some of the very best in the world play a $2,000 online final table.

Little had not actually watched this final table before doing the commentary on it, so it’s fun to watch him analyze the play in real time.

Since it is an online high roller final table with plenty of wizards, there is a lot to be taken away from it, notably the almost universally EXCELLENT play. Things you’ll see that Little discuses and analyzes include:

• Lots of GTO play
• Additional thoughts on min-raising vs. raising slightly more
• Players knowing when to check their marginal hands
• Tiny C-bets that make it difficult for opponents to defend properly against, instead of ‘betting to make your opponent fold’
• No blind C-betting – lots of consideration of opponents’ ranges
• Proper ICM-related decisions and play
• Minimal over-aggression and unnecessary 3-betting
• Good river decisions; recognizing showdown value and not needing to bluff
• Developing a final table limping range
• High level exploitative plays
• Head- up strategies and ranges

Day 30: Tips to Crush Small Stakes Tournaments and Final Exam

Congratulations! You made it to Day 30!

But before you can say you’ve completed the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge, there’s one more lesson with three tips to crush small stakes tournaments.

Oh… and the final exam!

You’ll have to check out the video for all the details, but the three tips are:

1. Exploit wide ranges! Low-stakes players don’t play well with wide ranges. Little will teach you how to combat these players most effectively, especially in late position.
2. Maximally exploit weak players! As you get deeper in tourneys, the stakes get higher and many players will get uncomfortable.
3. Play optimally on pay jumps! Your timebank is your friend. No, tanking isn’t sexy, but if it’s the difference in making a pay jump and boosting your ROI, then it’s tank time, baby!

After Little goes through these points, he wraps up with a 40-minute Q & A session with students on a wide variety of topics.

The final exam consists of 30 multiple choice questions, similar to the short quizzes at the end of each day’s lesson. Many of them aren’t too tough, but there are a few that might catch you. But really, if you’ve paid attention and have absorbed the information provided, you should have no problem registering a strong score (ahem…)

Aced it!

PokerCoaching.com 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge: Worth the Price!

As I have mentioned a couple of times in this review, I’ve had immediate success implementing the teachings of the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge, to my own game.

One test of the effectiveness of a training course is how quickly it pays for itself. Well, while working through the challenge for this review, it paid for itself multiple times over! With so many different aspects of tournament play discussed in this series, its an invaluable resource that can be enjoyed by signing up for just 1 month of PokerCoaching.com Premium access.

If you take on the 30-Day Tournament Preparation Challenge and put in the work, improved tournament results are a virtual certainty.

As PokerCoaching.com’s impressive roster of coaches has now grown to a team of 10 incredibly talented and diverse poker players, we celebrate this milestone with a deep dive into the impressive roster, and take a closer look at what each poker coach brings to the table.

The three main elements of PokerCoaching.com training are Courses (series of multiple videos covering a topic), Classes (standalone videos or webinars covering a topic), and Quizzes (hand breakdown videos with multiple-choice questions attached to key elements of the hand, with answers broken down by coaches). There are also monthly Homework Challenges and other webinars done exclusively by Little, but we’ll discuss those specifically in his section.

Cue Sirius / Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project… and in my best Ray Clay voice…. AAAAAAAAAAND NOW! THE STARTING LINEUP FOR YOUR MULTI-TIME CHAMPION…. POKERCOACHING.COM COACHES!!!!

Jonathan Little

• Courses: The vast majority of the multi-video series are taught by Little. The library of courses he’s built over the years is truly impressive. There really is something for everyone (both tournament and cash games), from his outstanding Cash Game MasterClass (see my review here), to beating wild games, combating limpers, beating online 6-max, WSOP prep, WSOP Final table reviews, High Roller Final tables, and MANY more!
• Classes: The bulk of PokerCoaching.com Classes are taught by Little as well, with over 90 individual videos available on every conceivable topic in areas of No Limit Hold ‘Em, both on and off the felt.
• Quizzes: of the near 900 available quizzes, over half are guided by Little, with hands coming from every stake (live and online), both cash and tournament, from $1/2 cash to $25k tournaments, and everything in between.

Since PokerCoaching.com was founded by Little, it’s no surprise that so much of the content comes from him.

The huge amount of coaching he alone provides would be worth the subscription price, and that’s without even mentioning the monthly Homework Challenge webinars and the multitude of situational charts on the site.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the regular content he provides for free via YouTube and his social media channels (shout out to Mr. James and Mr. Thomas!).

Little’s contribution to teaching poker to the world is undeniable. But his ability to grow his roster of coaches to expand on his teachings and provide their own unique perspectives is a key reason why PokerCoaching.com has become such an outstanding resource for those looking to expand their knowledge of No Limit Hold ‘Em.

So let’s look at the rest of that roster…

Matt Affleck

• Courses: Advanced Deep Stacked strategies, Deep Stacked Tournament Strategies
• Classes: 40+ (2nd only to Little). Affleck’s classes also cover a wide range of topics, including hand history reviews for tournament and cash games both live and online, situational play, range composition, WSOP preparation and review, and several videos utilising tools such as Equilab, PioSolver, and Hold’Em Resource Calculator.
• Quizzes: 150+ ranging from low-/mid-stakes cash, and low to high buy-in tourneys up to $10k (both live and online).

As Lead Coach at PokerCoaching.com, Affleck’s volume of content is second only to Little’s, and he can be counted on to provide at least one class or quiz per week, sometimes more. Like Little, the amount and variety of coaching he provides is really appealing, especially if you’re an online player. Recently, Affleck even did a near 90-minute hand review webinar of a member’s $5 online tourney! Hand reviews from a wide range of buy-ins form most of Affleck’s classes, but there are plenty of other classes on good decision making, situational strategies, and technical play as well.

Alex Fitzgerald

• Courses: Blind Defense, Neutralize Their Position
• Classes: 5 – Cutoff Play, 5 Post-flop Tricks, Barrelling Theory, Exploitative C-bet Sizing, 3-betting Out of Position
• Quizzes: 150+ (tourneys from low-/mid-stakes online to mid-/high-stakes live)

Alex “Assassinato” Fitzgerald’s content on PokerCoaching.com may be the best value available for standard and trial members because almost all of his content is available for the lower tiers of membership! Fitzgerald is a veteran tournament coach with a long resume of success, especially online. I’ve said this in previous articles I’ve mentioned him in, but at first I found his delivery a little, shall we say, smug? But as his name suggests, He’s a freakin’ Tournament Assassin! If I were as good as Fitzgerald, and knew as much about poker as he does, yeah, I’d be sounding pretty damn confident, too!

As I’ve watched more and more of his content (and read his outstanding books), I’ve become a huge fan. Fitzgerald’s knowledge is evident in every piece of content on PokerCoaching.com, and I continually look forward to learning from the brilliant and creative ways he’s laid waste to whatever new opponent he’s faced.

Evan Jarvis

• Courses: Five Pillars of Peak Poker Performance, How I applied the 5 Pillars
• Classes: 4 – Maximizing Study EV, A Deeper Dive into Position, Aggression and Poker, Hand Selection
• Quizzes: 80+ low-stakes cash

First, a quick aside… I just want to say it baffles my mind that I’ve never once crossed paths with Evan Jarvis, as he lives in Toronto and plays in the same casinos regularly that I do. Heck, he even goes to the same Float Spa that I do! Forget figuring out high-level GTO play, THIS is the aspect of poker that blows my mind!

Anyway, “Gripsed” is probably my personal favourite coach on the PokerCaching.com roster, and yes, it is primarily because of the reasons mentioned above. However, his teachings are extremely relatable to small-mid stakes players. $1/2, $1/3, and $2/$5 cash game quizzes are his primary contribution to the site, which are tremendously helpful for players at that stake. But his mindset work, which is featured in his ‘5 Pillars’ courses, is something I’m a big believer in as well. I really believe that a healthy lifestyle away from the tables, and having a healthy mindset and focus when it comes to your poker, is invaluable! Mindset coaching is a huge part of the game that’s really been developed in recent years, and I know it can help any player’s game.

Tristan Wade

• Classes: 9 – Mostly tournament hand history reviews, also Deep Stacked Fundamentals, Transitioning from Cash to Tourneys, When to Triple Barrel Bluff
• Quizzes: 8 – $2/5 cash game quizzes

Wade is another hugely successful player with experience in coaching. While his content here is primarily hand reviews (not a bad thing by any means, they are one of my favourite study methods, and Wade’s are very thorough), his other classes are solidly on point as well. His most recent class on triple barrel bluffing was something that piqued my interest, as I’ll fully admit to having a tendency to barrel off unsuccessfully in bad spots. This is now being worked on, thanks to Wade’s excellent teachings. Oh, and his PowerPoint game is as strong as his coaching!

Jonathan Jaffe

• Classes: 9 – Overbetting for Value / as a Bluff (2 videos), Learning Your Opponents Through Pre-flop Play, When to Check Raise Flops, Common Flop Mistakes, Button vs. BB play, $10k Bellagio 5 Diamond Review

Jaffe’s collection of classes cover a really interesting mix of topics. I was especially impressed with his videos on overbetting. It’s a topic I’ve really not seen much content on specifically. Sure, it gets mentioned here and there in hand history reviews, where spots come up for an overbet as an option, but to really get a solid deep dive into it was appreciated. His class on learning opponents through pre-flop play was also a favourite of mine. Getting reads on your opponents is crucial, and Jaffe provides a ton of things to look for early that will be useful for players of all skill levels.

Michael Acevedo

• Courses: Mastering GTO short stack play
• Classes: 11 – Lessons from the GTO Master (w/ Jonathan Little), 2-part review w/ Little on $1k online tourney, 2 on Short stacked strategy, 3 on final table ICM strategy ($5k WCOOP final table review), playing out of position as the pre-flop raiser, 2 on check-raising monotone boards from BB

You want to learn GTO? Here’s your guy! As Little even says himself in Acevedo’s debut video with PokerCoaching.com, Acevedo is a GTO master (he’s literally written the book on it!). With his videos, you’ll be diving headfirst into the solvers, as Acevedo breaks down GTO play. Acevedo’s classes include several hand reviews, including a very cool series with Little, as Acevedo analyses Little’s play in a recent tournament against some of the online world’s very best.

Be warned though, this is some high-level stuff. If, however, you are ready to dive into GTO, or even just want to get a good glimpse at how solvers are used effectively, Acevedo’s teachings are the way to go.

Lexy Gavin

• Classes: 6 – When to C-bet, 3-betting Strategy, Check Raising Strategy, How to Play Overpairs, Pre-flop Hand Ranges for NL Cash Games
• Quizzes: 7 – variety of cash and tourney stakes

My feelings on Lexy Gavin’s coaching are extra warm and fuzzy; because I recently watched some of her videos immediately after watching Michael Acevedo teach GTO. They were a breath of fresh air, to say the least (high level GTO is haaaaard!).

To be fair, the content of their classes is of course worlds apart. Gavin’s classes are more focused on single, specific areas of No Limit Hold ‘Em, which is still tremendously valuable, and I’d certainly recommend her classes for players looking to build really strong fundamentals.

As a bonus to ‘Standard’ level PokerCoaching.com members, Gavin’s content is all available to you! Of note in her quizzes, a really interesting $25/50 NL hand she played against Cate Hall is included, which is a great example of not blasting off with an overpair, and recognizing range and nut advantages.

LISTEN: Interview with Lexy Gavin

Faraz Jaka

• Classes: 5 – 5k WCCOP hand review (3 videos), Exploitative Plays to crush live tourneys (2 videos)
• Quizzes: 4 from mid-stakes tourneys

Jaka has been in the lab since coming back to poker last year after taking a couple of years off to work on a start-up company, and it shows, in a very good way. He still has the aggressive, exploitative mindset he’s known for, but he breaks out the PioSolver less than 15 min into his WCOOP review to deeply analyze a flop bet sizing that he didn’t like. Jaka is fiercely critical of his own play, and recognizes he’s still got work to put in in the lab.

It’s really interesting to see such a creative player break down how he played a hand in the moment, then dive right into self-analysis and watch him learn along with you. I’m really looking forward to seeing the continuing rebirth of “The Toilet”.

James Romero

Romero is the latest addition to the PokerCoaching.com roster, having signed on at the beginning of April. He brings six years of online and three years of live experience to the table, with millions of dollars in earnings in each format.

Though he hasn’t created any content just yet, Romero has done a Q&A “getting to know you” session with Little on his background, and what we can expect from him. In it, Romero described himself as originally a GTO-based player, but he is now exploring more variations and adjustments. He says he played too much PioSolver-based GTO theory, and now believes a general understanding of poker theory is more important than finding exact solutions based on solvers.

Romero’s first sessions with PokerCoaching.com will be a 5-part series of webinars, which will be released monthly. These will include:

• Pre-flop fundamentals
• Post-flop fundamentals
• Micro strategies (in-game)
• Macro strategies (out of game)
• Database review / HUDs

Please welcome the newest @PokerCoaching_ Coach, @skielanskis, to the team! I’m very excited for our students to have the opportunity to learn from one of the best players in the world. To start things off we’ll be hosting a live webinar today at 4pm EST:https://t.co/9xQiaVdsXA pic.twitter.com/dWEcW3B5ql

— Jonathan Little (@JonathanLittle) April 9, 2020

A Winning Team of Poker Coaches

Before the year is done, this outstanding roster of coaches will have created 300+ new hand quizzes, 24 new video classes, 12 new live challenge webinars, 48+ new live coaching webinars, and much more!

That’s like the poker training equivalent of the ’97 Bulls putting up 200 on the Clippers! How could you not get on board with that?!

If you’re looking to boost your No Limit Hold ‘Em game, there really is no better group of coaches to get you to your goals than the team at PokerCoaching.com!

I am a relatively new player to the game, so when I say I was already a winning player I don’t mean to say I was banking a few hundred grand annually. Rather I just mean I was slowly increasing my bankroll — and I mean slowly. And when I say that I now dominate I don’t mean I am on par with the superstars of the game; far from it. Rather, I feel excited to have learned plays the superstars have most likely known for years. I am thrilled that my win rate has increased, and I owe it directly to Alex’s book, published by the venerable D&B Poker.

I have studied poker for a little more than five years now, and I have a pretty solid foundation. So, what’s next? Time to start building on the foundation. It isn’t time to stop and take a break, I am just getting started. Everything I learn moving forward takes my play to the next level to where I can start to say I am learning to use some of the tools that the superstars have in their tool box. Start at the ground level and build my way up to the penthouse! Alex’s book is the architect’s blueprints. The thing about it is his book doesn’t read like a complex construction diagram for trained professional carpenters. Instead, it is easy to read and understand, like Lego instructions. If you want the engineering behind it, be sure to check out his other book The Myth of Poker Talent, which I already ordered. I did a review for the video series last year.

Who Is This Poker Book For?

My game was somewhat passive, I would say. I never really used aggression because I didn’t understand when to use it. This book explains what to look for so you can apply well-timed pressure. The result is twofold: first, I get to pick up more blinds per hour without much resistance, and second, the field perceives me as much more of a threat now. They are not trying to steal the blinds from the button or 3-betting my early open nearly as much. If you don’t understand how or why that is a benefit, you need this book really badly!

In the long run, the difference between being a just-above-break-even player and a winning player is precisely the few extra blinds per hour you either pick up or leave behind. This is especially true for you live casino tournament players out there. I am a cash game player so now when I double up on those deep stack clashes, I double up with far more chips in my stack than before because now I am slowly chipping up every orbit whereas before I was more or less just playing my cards. You hear people talking about “playing the player” or “playing your position,” but until you figure out what they are talking about you can’t take advantage and capitalize on it. I once saw a video where someone won a sit and go covering up their hole cards with a sticky note. They were applying the principles illustrated in Alex’s book.

A Highly Recommended Read You Won’t Soon Regret

I don’t know about you, but I am never going to be satisfied with where my poker game is. I must admit I don’t know what I don’t know. I have to go out there and find the answers to the questions I don’t even know that I have. I don’t want to just grab any old book from any old shelf and learn any old information. I want to learn the best from the best.

I am telling you: Alex Fitzgerald is the best of the best.

Not only because of his poker knowledge, but because he has a talent for expressing and conveying his poker knowledge to the reader. He speaks my language and I am going to go out on a limb and wager that he speaks your language as well. If you are the kind of person who loves the game of poker so much you read poker blogs like Cardplayer Lifestyle, then I can make that wager with confidence!

Alex doesn’t beat around the bush, he is straight forward and doesn’t get lost following rabbit trails. I also really like the way he challenges his readers. He really pushes me to go for it… or, alternatively, settle for being a “loser.” That kind of encouragement motivates me! I don’t want to be a loser! I don’t want to settle for “passive just above break even.” I want to sit down at the table and dominate. Alex Fitzgerald’s book Exploitative Play in Live Poker: How to Manipulate your Opponents into Making Mistakes gives you the weapons in your arsenal to not only win but dominate the table. After reading this book you will never be the same.

Fitzgerald worked several dead end jobs before making it big. One of them could have cost him his life. He returned to his birthplace of Alaska to work as a commercial fisherman, the nation’s deadliest job according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He endured treacherous weather, backbreaking work and the threat of falling overboard – the second leading cause of death among fishermen. In 2009, commercial fishermen were killed at a rate more than 50 times higher than workers in other industries. Still a teenager, Fitzgerald gambled with his life to earn the cash he’d need to become a full-time poker pro.

Now 26, the poker world knows Alex Fitzgerald as “Assassinato.” That screen name itself sounds like it belongs to a winner, doesn’t it? Fitzgerald has amassed nearly $3.5 million in lifetime winnings since he watched the movie Rounders with his father and started outwitting his high school classmates. You, like I, may have hired Alex for private coaching or attended one of his wildly popular webinars. Fitzgerald is now one of the most sought after poker coaches in the world. More than 600 students have benefited from Fitzgerald’s unparalleled approach to the game. He’s logged more than 2,000 hours of coaching and spends hours preparing for his lessons.

What’s It Like to Learn Poker from a Top Pro?

Students learn quickly that they don’t have to be flawless to become accomplished poker pros. “I used to say, ‘I’ve never won a live tournament.’ That was true up until a year ago. I am not great at math. It was my worst subject, by far, in high school.” Why is Fitzgerald so quick to draw attention to his imperfections? He wants students intimidated by poker math to understand that all they need is a basic understanding of algebra to succeed. “I get the idea many of them think I’m messing with them, but after they see some of the basic math behind really flashy plays they understand poker is just a game. Other people want you to think it’s complicated, so they can keep selling you on how smart they are. Anyone with dedication can learn how to play real bad ass No Limit Hold’em.”

Not everyone is a fan of Fitzgerald’s teaching methods though. He has haters in the professional poker community who say he’s giving away too much information. They’re so outraged, Fitzgerald says, that some have even threatened him physically. His response: to give away more of their so-called “secrets” so his students know the truth about the game. “Those who tell you it’s a flow thing or a natural instinct are sorely mistaken. Surely, you need ‘table feel,’ which can only come from experience, but many of my inexperienced students take out so many of the supposed naturals with a counteractive strategy that wasn’t even hard to compose.”

Running on all cylinders, Fitzgerald quickly transitions from private coaching, to producing critically acclaimed training videos and blogging on his website, Poker Head Rush. Fitzgerald produced a series of videos during 2014 SCOOP (PokerStars’ annual Spring Championship of Online Poker tournament series) that contained more than 70 hours of content. He reviewed sessions live, from the first hand down to the several final tables he would go on to make. Fitzgerald gave away his strategies, explained the motives behind his actions and evaluated his opponents’ play. The day after I started watching the videos, I successfully replicated one of Fitzgerald’s moves. I executed a check-raise bluff and took down a large pot. He has since released a WCOOP (PokerStars’ annual World Championship of Online Poker tournament series) series, and another entitled, “You Flat Too Much.”

An Example Worth Emulating at and Away from the Poker Tables

Alex Fitzgerald is a true example of how a person can pursue their passion and create a sustainable business model at the same time. As a coach, he has an income not dependent on his own poker play. At the tables, he is feared. Just this year, Fitzgerald made four major Sunday final tables, one a SCOOP high rollers tournament. Now, in his eighth year in the business of poker, he has valuable insight to offer. “Players on the way up need to recognize it’s not about winning the most. It’s about winning consistently. Many guys have more earnings and countless more first place finishes, but nothing to show for it. Save your money, and parlay what you’re doing in poker into other fields.”

For coaching, you can contact Alex at Assassinatocoaching@gmail.com. Many of his articles and videos are available at pokerheadrush.com as well as at Pocket Fives. You can listen to Alex’s podcast on Oneouter.com.