<SPAN>I thought this might be useful to others, so I figured I would post it here too.<SPAN> </SPAN>This is entry on my blog at Pokermentors.com.<SPAN> </SPAN>I started a blog as a student there to help me track my own progress. Over the last few months I've learned a ton of valuable lessons from Pokermentors, as well as from past sessions I've had with Todd Arnold, RPT, from PokerXFactor and from reading posts daily here on P5s.
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It's a little long, so I won't be offended if you don't read the whole thing. If you're a student of the game, hopefully you'll pull out a few nuggets. Enjoy.

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I�ve been working with Pet Monster (Eric Napoleon) for the last few months and I�ve also attended a few of the seminars put on by PearlJam1012 and Willis NYC. The seminars are great, but nothing replaces having a mentor there for ghosting and emailing hand histories. Eric has been a great mentor and I�d recommend him to anyone.

Prior to working with Eric, I was already a pretty solid player but had trouble keeping a big stack late in tournaments and the few times I did reach a final table, I was always short stacked and never really in a position to win it. Coincidentally, in 1� years of playing poker, I was yet to win a tournament. Since being a Pokermentors student, my game has improved tremendously. Just within the last 2 months, my stats are:

Wins: 3
Top 3: 6
Final tables: 12

Keep in mind that I don�t play that frequently, so these are not based on just playing a ton of tournaments. The other interesting stat is that my ITM% has stayed about 27%, but my FT% has gone from about 6.5% to almost 10%.

Could I just be on a nice run? Maybe, but during the last few months I�ve had some pretty sick losing streaks (20 tournaments in a row without a cash). So for me to still show an overall improvement, I�m confident that I�ve gained new skills and taken my game to the next level. Here are a few lessons I�ve learned that have helped me get to this level:

Don�t shy away from opportunities that put you in a position to win
This is probably the biggest lesson I�ve learned. I used to read all this advice about avoiding coinflips and close gambles and I would apply that to all tournament situations. While that is still sound advice for very early and deep stacked play, it only makes sense for about a small % of online tournament situations. EVERY situation is different and the decision to potentially be gambling for all your chips is dependent on many different factors. One of those main factors is your stack size relative to the blinds. There is a ton that I could write here but a very quick example is a situation where I used to either call or fold (playing too passively), when really the best move is to push all-in. Let�s say it�s a $20 tournament with 800 people. Blinds are 50/100 and you have 1600 on the button with 88. It folds to an aggressive player with a big stack in late/middle position who raises to 400. His range of hands most likely contains big over-cards (i.e. AK, AQ, etc.), but could also include a few pairs that have you crushed. Folding is too weak here and calling is going to put you in a tough position against an aggressive player who will likely bet the flop. If an over-card hits, you�re gonna have to fold leaving you with a pretty short stack. If you were in the blinds a stop-n-go is a possible option, but on the button your best option is to push. Are you gambling? Maybe. But you likely have the best hand and if you call and miss, you are taking a lot of play away from your stack. In my opinion, pushing gives you the best opportunity to win the hand and put yourself in a position to win the tournament. You can win two ways�him folding or your hand holding up. He�s getting about 1.8 to 1 odds, so if he�s just stealing with a hand like KJs he may fold. If he has AK, he�s probably calling and that�s okay. It�s early, so if you lose the hand, no big deal. You haven�t invested that much time yet anyway. But if he calls and you win, you are now sitting at 3350, which is over 20M. You can now pick up many more pots by stealing and being aggressive, which with a 1600 stack is much more limited (especially if the blinds are increasing soon).

Don�t pass an opportunity to steal
Stealing blinds and antes is HUGE in tournament play where the blinds are high relative to the stack sizes. I used to only steal with good hands, which is obviously counterintuitive to the term �steal�. I�m certainly not advocating that every time you are on the button you should be raising, no matter what cards you hold. There is an art to managing your image, timing and picking who to steal from. But one thing I�ve done since working with Eric is opening up my hand requirements when a stealing opportunity comes along. In addition to premium high-cards and pairs, I now include hands like Ax, Kxs, QT, J9, 78s, etc.

Don�t give up on the flop
Obviously you don�t want to become predictable and there are definitely situations where it may be smart NOT to continuation bet. But, one thing I used to do was come in for a steal and then if I got called and an Ace flopped I would get scared and check behind, allowing someone to bet me out of the pot on the turn. You have to read the player and the texture of the flop, but if it comes something like A83 rainbow and it�s checked to you, that is open license to represent the Ace. Could they be trapping? Sure. But the likelihood of their check meaning they missed the flop is far greater than it being a trap, so you are losing money in the long run if you don�t bet.

Don�t be a passive short stack (aka �F� the Bubble)
You can�t wait around for Aces all tournament. I won�t go into specific short-stacked strategies, but one principle I�ve learned from Eric is that you will win more in the long run by being aggressive as a short stack than getting blinded down and pushing with 3bb left. Once I start hitting around 8-10bb, I�m looking for opportunities to get all my chips in the middle. I�m not saying I want a call every time, but if I�m presented with an opportunity to pick up a pot I�m going to take it. Stealing the blinds by being aggressive as a short-stack is critical because you basically earn a full rotation to wait for a bigger hand that you actually want a call with.

ALWAYS put someone on a range of hands
I used to always think about my cards first. Even though I had read not to do this many, many times before my tendency when put into a tough decision was to revert back to thinking about my cards. I think many of you probably still do this. But when you are faced with a critical decision, it is important to think about your cards LAST. Take a second to focus, then run through the other factors first (tournament situation, pot size, stack sizes, your opponent�s possible cards, etc.). And one thing that I�ve learned that is very important is to never put your opponent on a specific hand. Always put them on a range of possible holdings based on how they have played the hand thus far, and then make your decision after analyzing the entire situation.

Control the Pot Size
If you are always raising 4xbb and betting the pot on the flop, you are probably committing too many of your chips in situations where you are beaten. Some people keep their bets the same size and some vary it up to make it hard to read them. Either way is fine so you do not become readable, but be conscious of how much of your stack you are committing and how juicy the pot is becoming for your opponents. This concept applies in many situations including stealing/continuation betting as well as when you are betting with the second best hand and need to minimize your losses. It also applies if you have the nuts and think you�ll get called down by a lesser hand. I'm not saying to necessarily always keep the pot small, I'm saying to maximze your wins and minimize your losses. There is a lot I could go into here, but the main thing is to always be conscious of how big the pot is and how big you want it to be depending on the situation.

Don�t overthink things
Don't overthink situations when it is late in the tournament. If you make the right play and run into a monster, it's just unfortunate. Overthinking not only causes you to fold the best hand sometimes, it also makes you second guess your decisions after the hand is over.

Don�t Second Guess Yourself
Never focus on the results. Focus on making smart decisions and use that to judge your skill. If you base the confidence in your abilities based on the results of a specific hand you could end up in a mental institution.

Confidence
While this isn�t a �lesson� per se, it�s been a big part of what has helped me improve my game. I�m more confident both because success builds on success, but also because I�ve had Eric there to validate my thought processes regarding tournament scenarios and my reads of certain situations. Having confidence is huge when it comes time to trust your gut and make decisions.

great post, ty

--tc

Awsome post

thanks

Very useful! Thanks for taking the time to provide this to us.

Could you be my mentor?

Great post!

:-)

I've actually talked with Pokermentors about working with beginning players. There are obviously way more experienced players on their list of mentors, but if you are serious feel free to PM me.

It was good playing with you the other day Donovan. And nice post.

J