What the whaaaat?

Crazy but this just happened...

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

Yes, it was the LearnWPT workshop that I mentioned was coming up in my last post - held at the Commerce Casino in the beautiful city of Commerce in Los Angeles - I spent almost two full days once again immersed in the knowledge tornado wrought by Nick Binger and Lucky Chewy - and it was great, it was awesome, I learned a lot and the class gets better every time.

This was my third seminar of this kind in four years, and the gang at LearnWPT has really refined the advanced curriculum. I felt this time through, even more than the last time in the Mastery class, that all the pieces fell in place and that my game will be stronger than ever before going forward.

That said, I had no illusions about taking down the class ending satellite again.  I had done it in 2017 in Atlantic City - I realized then that the odds were long and I would have to get very lucky.  This time, facing off against three tables of fellow students, I figured it was someone else's turn and I wouldn't have any pressure on myself to "take it down".   This was just poker for fun - if I ran good I figured I might have a chance at the final table or even the second and third place prizes.

Oh yeah, and those prizes were no joke.   A full WPT Workshop for 2nd ($2,000 value) and for 3rd place a full years subscription to their platinum online GTO Solver ($1,000 value and well worth it).

So I would be super happy if I went deep, final table would be great, a lesser prize would be amazing - I never even considered that I could take the top prize AGAIN.

As a reader of this blog I know you are very aware that I have worked super hard on my game - and that even with all the work it still takes a good amount of luck in any given tournament to make a deep run.

Starting Stack - Plus Groovy SWAG Card Protector

Well I confess, I had plenty of run good this time around.

I doubled up very early on - in the second level I believe.  Directly to my left was this nice soft spoken guy that I couldn't help notice had been the subject of two days of interview and b-roll being shot by a LearnWPT camera crew.  He was decked out in Zynga poker SWAG so my guess was that he was a Zynga poker winner of a LearnWPT workshop package.

Anyways, he was a bit intimidating with his sunglasses and headphones, but he also seemed pretty friendly when we weren't in hands together.

I was a little surprised to see him limp under the gun, as prior to this he had been raising aggressively both pre and post-flop.  I was on the big blind and checked my option, with one or two other limpers in between as we saw a flop of 10x4.  I had 104 in the hole (as Sven calls it, the "Good Buddy" hand, 10-4 Good Buddy!  Get it?) and had flopped two pair.  I checked and Zynga guy led out for half pot, it folded to me and I check raised his bet 3x.  He thought for a beat and then shoved the remaining 6K or so of his stack into the middle.  I snapped.

My 10-4 held and I chipped up quite a bit and Mr. Zynga was out.  He got a very nice exit interview that I overheard from my seat.  I was sad to see him go as a nice guy, but as a player I was just as happy to see him exit, as having someone who was aggressive on my direct left (albeit trying to get tricky with KK) is not something I enjoy.

And so the run good continued.  In the course of the tournament I had at least three massive all-ins where my hand held up, including a giant three way collision at the final table where my AK beat QQ and AJ.

Another three way all in saw a standard open from a big stack under the gun, and a shove from a short stack in the cutoff.  I was on the button with AA and so I just called, hoping to induce the UTG to ship it for protection.  Yes, I know - now I'm getting tricky with a premium - but I'm doing it from the button and given the UTG players aggression and poker smarts, I was rather shocked that he then just called my flat.

So we were off to a flop of Jack high rainbow.  With the short stack all in, the UTG big stack checked do me and I bet about half pot, 8K into 15K, the big stack insta-shoved.  I snapped fearing only a set of Jacks, he had pocket Kings which mercifully didn't hit the turn or river.

Chipping up about mid-tournament.

Without that streak of luck I wouldn't have been able to end up on top, that's for sure.  But I also had to get to work as the "bubble" approached.  I really had to apply the pressure, and I'm glad to say I did - even when I didn't have the cards, which was often.

I was very fortunate that a couple of the more aggressive students busted out with coolers and collisions at the final table, and when we were four handed and then after the bubble as well, it was me vs. some students who were quite a bit tighter.

At one point four handed and then again three handed, I didn't pay too much attention to my own hole cards - I just hit the gas and applied pressure as much as I could.

Then one gentleman two seats to my left had had enough and began open shoving with maybe 20 bigs behind, every time I opened on his big blind. I simply waited for a better than average hand and then eventually called with KQ.  I lost to his A7, but by then I had so many chips I was still ok.

After we were "in the money" my two remaining opponents, both really nice guys who were as excited as I was, both had even stacks and I had about double what each of them had, that is, I had about 35 big blinds, still enough to open and maneuver a little bit.

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

The fellow to my right still found a way to open 4x which was pretty ambitious.

The gentleman on my left, who previously had been the one 3-bet shoving, was opening a more standard 2.5x, I was able to tussle with him a few times.  This is the one hand I remember well.

I opened 2x on the button and he defended from the SB, the big blind also came along.

I had J3o, flop was 210Q rainbow.  My opponent in the SB led out into me a tiny bet - about 1/4 pot.  The Big Blind folded.  I knew this lead meant the SB likely wasn't very strong.  The problem was that there was not enough chips left behind for him if I just called and tried to take it away later, if he bet again on the turn he would be committed - the time to act was now.  I held my breath and shoved all in.

He tanked a bit and then eventually folded a 10 face up.  Whew!  I didn't think he was that strong, but I was relieved that my aggression had worked.

I knew at that moment that there was a good chance I could win this thing, barring any catastrophic bad luck.

The man on my right soon busted when he got tangled up with the other fellow - I was super excited, even though my remaining opponent now had doubled up and had almost as many chips as I had.

We were were now heads up.  Gary was his name, and he had shown himself to be a tough opponent, especially when he used his whole stack to counter my aggression.

I was therefore a bit surprised when he suddenly tightened up considerably in heads-up play.

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

After I had opened 2.5x three times in a row and he had folded every time, and after he had limped his button every time as well - I started to really pour on the aggression. He had tightened up a lot as compared to three way play - in almost no time at all he had about 20K compared to my 120K.

Now it was the waiting game - I wasn't just going to hand over my chips, I had to have a decent hand.

I found it in short order with the Hollywood Park Nuts.   Side note: I had been telling my fellow players more than once at the final table, after finding out that none of them were from Los Angeles (pretty crazy) that I had opened several times with "the Hollywood Park Nuts". They were bemused and bewildered, having no idea what hand I was talking about.

If you play poker in SoCal you of course know what the HP Nuts are - Jack King Off.  Suit.

I opened, my opponent shoved with Q10 and I snapped.

A bunch of broadway cards came out on the flop, along with a nine, but somehow I managed to flop top pair and hold - game over!

Photo Courtesy LearnWPT

I was fairly flabbergasted - and truthfully, even now almost 24 hours later, I still am!   How did this happen?

It is really crazy, because though I have certainly worked on my game - I haven't dedicated myself fully, the way I would if this were my profession or my livelihood.  I study twice a week, and I play online when I can.  Then of course on the weekends I will play once or maybe twice if my schedule allows.

My mind boggles when I think how good I've gotten with merely a part time application of myself to studying the game.

I know a TON of my good results are because of LearnWPT.

Private poker coaches, even the lesser known ones, typically are $200 an hour or more.   LearnWPT gives two FULL days of immersive instruction and comprehensive and coherent strategy for a fraction of that price, and it's instructors are well known pros with proven results.  Even top of the line coaches often will simply talk in stream of consciousness or simply review hands - LearnWPT has an entire strategic system that is mathematically driven and carefully crafted and forged from over a decade of formal instruction.

Why a bunch of my fellow amateur poker players haven't jumped on board the LearnWPT train, I honestly don't know.  I'm sure they flinch at the 'cost' - but really, with $7000 of satellite winnings now under my belt after me not paying even half of that for the seminars, the instruction has MORE than paid for itself.   And let's not forget my other results since taking my first workshop in 2017.

Half a dozen $2000+ scores at SoCal casinos.   Five Moose Lodge tournament wins, including the Multi-League Overlay Championship and SLR Tournament of Champions - both for over $1000.
The World Series of Poker 2018 Main Event - I entered for a $1225 satellite and cashed for $15000.  The World Series of Poker 2019 Colossus - 313th out of 13,000+ for almost $2000.

These results to me are pretty astounding, considering how infrequently I play card room tournaments and for that matter only play at the Moose Lodge maybe twice a month at the most.

I am super super happy with where my game is at - and I'm beyond excited at the prospect of another shot at a WPT Main Event.

Not sure where I'm going to play - right now I've got my eyeball on the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa this May 1st, but we will see.  It will likely cost upwards of $1500 in travel and lodging, which isn't the biggest deal, but I would really like to figure out if there's a more economical option on the table.  If not - I'm still taking my shot!

If I do go to Tampa in May, it means rededicating myself to studying and playing as much as I can between now and then.

The WPT GTO solver has been great these past two weeks - I've gotten up to over 500 hands with just an hour or so of time a couple nights a week.  I will keep on with that - and I also need to really start writing down hands when I get back on the felt.

Speaking of being back on the felt, I think that's going to happen this Thursday night at the Moose - I'll also be playing this weekend in Phoenix after watching baseball in the day with my family.  I've got my eye on a tournament on Saturday night, and some cash game play for Sunday night.  Hope I continue to run and play good!