Wow.

That was a really impressive first video.

Awesome video. Hopefully you will be making a lot more.

Very good video, keep up the good work. I have a question. How can I get the program that tells you if you should push or fold?

Watching a video where someone teaches the concepts that I subconciously apply when playing will help me further cement them into my play. Very well done.

Thank you for your kind comments, I am glad people have found it a useful learning tool.

THE program for tailoring your push/fold game to maximize $EV is SnG Wizard. However you yourself need to adjust opponent's opening, calling and pushing ranges. That takes experience and can never be 100% accurate, but it's the best you can do, and certainly alot better than using nothing.

Pezrez (my coaching partner who will be publishing his coaching videos on PokerSavvy+ in the near future) and I both save about 3-4 HH's from every 8 hour session. These HH's are generally close push/fold situations, we plug the stack sizes and ranges into SnG wiz, and then look at the result. We then play around with the various ranges to try and get a real feel for how changing ranges affect your decisions.

This takes about 10 minutes at the end of every session, but it is a tremendously effective way to make sure you game is always improving.

Great Video! Cant wait to see more from you!

Amazing video!!! Learned a lot from it.I always thought that it is good to limp with ur medium PP. When will you post the next one?

Sorry for the double post ;/

The next video is on ICM, should be ready the 4th November, give or take a day or 2.

good stuff, I definitely appreciate the psychological discussion and I think that's one of the most overlooked strategic areas for online players.

About 9:45 in you have ATo in sb vs a 5x open from a shorter stack. What if you had AQo there?

That is a good question and a tough question. You could make a convincing case for calling, folding or raising there. I would lean towards calling or raising; Calling would be a good idea because you have a strong hand, and you don't want to build a big pot early on in a SnG. Raising is also a good option because your hand is strong, your out of position, and you have your opponent covered by a resonable amount.

I would probably just go for a raise, but I wouldn't criticise anyone for doing any of the 3 options.

On an unrelated note, the ICM video is nearly done, and should be published on about the 10th.

One of the most informative and useful instructional videos I've ever watched. The reasoning behind your decisions and moves, are so well presented and done so in such a clear and concise manner, that it helped me not only by improving my general overall understanding of game theory, but it helped me pinpoint and understand very specific areas of weaknesses in my game. I can't thank you enough. Outstanding job. Michael Fowlkes

I've watched Part 1 and Part 2 several times. Each time, I get a little better understanding as the material starts to actually sink in. Again, I can't thank you enough. I've been playing 6 - 45 man sit n goes as practice for playing in live tournaments. It seems to me that the vast majority of what your teaching here, for sit n go play, is totally applicable for bigger tournament play. Is this correct, or are there subtle differences between what your teaching here and how I should be playing in bigger tournaments?

There are 2 points of view on this matter, though most people fall somewhere in the middle.

POV1: Play tight early when the blinds are small, always do what will be +$EV and you will have the best expected profit in the tournament.

It is hard to argue with this point of view, it makes $EV sense and common sense.

POV2: Mix it up early to try and get an early chip lead

This attitude also makes sense, if you mix it up and gain a big stack, you can wield your stack as a weapon, and keep builing your lead, especially as the bubble approaches, and all those players looking for +$EV spots sit tight and let you steal. By getting involved in many pots, you are more likely to be paid off when you do hit a big hand or big flop as well.

Often the people who subscribe to this point of view are professionals with large Bankrolls, and they have another reason for this attitude. They mainly play live, and it is not worth investing hours/days of their time in a tournament where they are unlikely to make a major cash, so it is better to 'Boom-or-Bust' early, so they can spend there time profitably (either by being a big stack or by doing something else if busted). to them, One buy-in is no big deal.

I see the merits of both approaches, though I think skill level needs to come into it as well. You can only mix it up early profitably if you are a very good player and have lots of experience, otherwise you will inevitably fish yourself. I don't know which is correct, or if indeed there is any way you could say one is better than the other. You could decide on a tourney by tourney basis, depending on your skill level, and the type of table you are at perhaps.

md261

That makes perfect sense. As a beginner, I've been playing tight, early on, loosing up as the tournament progresses, but always seem to end up on the bubble. My friends started calling me bubble boy, which sucks and is so frustrating to constantly end up there or on the bottom half of the money. But watching your videos, over and over, and adjusting from tight passive, to tight aggressive, and looking for those opportunities to get in cheap, in position, with the suited Aces and small pairs, has really help build my stack going into the final table. Add to that, you explaining ICM, it's giving me the confidence to play position and stack, as opposed to playing my cards. Thank you for getting back to me and I can hardly wait for your next videos. You're awesome!

That makes perfect sense. As a beginner, I've been playing tight, early on, loosing up as the tournament progresses, but always seem to end up on the bubble. My friends started calling me bubble boy, which sucks and is so frustrating to constantly end up there or on the bottom half of the money. But watching your videos, over and over, and adjusting from tight passive, to tight aggressive, and looking for those opportunities to get in cheap, in position, with the suited Aces and small pairs, has really help build my stack going into the final table. Add to that, you explaining ICM, it's giving me the confidence to play position and stack, as opposed to playing my cards. Thank you for getting back to me and I can hardly wait for your next videos. You're awesome!

Absolutely quality, and the pleasing thing for me is that nearly everything you say is what I do already, which is really encouraging for me. so I put down the difference in results mainly to not getting as many aces! lol

Probably the only hand I would have played differently would be the Q9 suited against the short stack when you were BB (50) and he raised to 3xBB (150)in position just because it's a hand that does well on the flop, but then again it can get you in trouble if A and 9 came on the flop, what do you think?

another point that I thought was a bit confusing for me was that at the start of the video you mentioned that in tournaments like this you should defend your blinds weakly, which is absolutely in line with the 'don't risk survival with marginal hands' principle, but then towards the end when the blinds are worth stealing you say you should try and steal from someone who is mousy and timid when it comes to defending their blinds, which again makes complete sense, but if you defend your blinds weakly you are going to be the person everybody wants to steal from, so how do you adjust for that? do you just adjust to the dynamics, like reraise every so often if you think they're maybe making a habit of it?

Take care mate

Absolutely quality, and the pleasing thing for me is that nearly everything you say is what I do already, which is really encouraging for me. so I put down the difference in results mainly to not getting as many aces! lol

Probably the only hand I would have played differently would be the Q9 suited against the short stack when you were BB (50) and he raised to 3xBB (150)in position just because it's a hand that does well on the flop, but then again it can get you in trouble if A and 9 came on the flop, what do you think?

another point that I thought was a bit confusing for me was that at the start of the video you mentioned that in tournaments like this you should defend your blinds weakly, which is absolutely in line with the 'don't risk survival with marginal hands' principle, but then towards the end when the blinds are worth stealing you say you should try and steal from someone who is mousy and timid when it comes to defending their blinds, which again makes complete sense, but if you defend your blinds weakly you are going to be the person everybody wants to steal from, so how do you adjust for that? do you just adjust to the dynamics, like reraise every so often if you think they're maybe making a habit of it?

Take care mate

Absolutely quality, and the pleasing thing for me is that nearly everything you say is what I do already, which is really encouraging for me. so I put down the difference in results mainly to not getting as many aces! lol

Probably the only hand I would have played differently would be the Q9 suited against the short stack when you were BB (50) and he raised to 3xBB (150)in position just because it's a hand that does well on the flop, but then again it can get you in trouble if A and 9 came on the flop, what do you think?

another point that I thought was a bit confusing for me was that at the start of the video you mentioned that in tournaments like this you should defend your blinds weakly, which is absolutely in line with the 'don't risk survival with marginal hands' principle, but then towards the end when the blinds are worth stealing you say you should try and steal from someone who is mousy and timid when it comes to defending their blinds, which again makes complete sense, but if you defend your blinds weakly you are going to be the person everybody wants to steal from, so how do you adjust for that? do you just adjust to the dynamics, like reraise every so often if you think they're maybe making a habit of it?

Take care mate

sorry guys looks like i clicked post 3 times for the same comment and now can't delete it lol

Very good video, thank you!