Hi Ashley! How many hours of learning and practice did it take you to get to a level where you (relatively) consistently make money at that stake?
How does playing online at that stake compare to Vegas live?
Knowing what you know now, what should someone starting out in poker learn / practice and in what order to have an edge at that stake as soon as possible?
Thanks!
Great questions!
1) I wish I had tracked how many hours of play and study it took from the beginning, but I'd guess it took a few years. I was only playing live and started playing before all of these wonderful trainers came out which could speed up your progress. If you're planning on going pro in today's environment, I'd estimate that it would still take at least a year but you'd be at a much higher level in that time. It would take a combination of playing online, using sites like GTO Wizard and using courses/personal coaches. Everyone learns differently so half the battle is figuring out what the most effective way is for you.
2) It depends on the site, but playing online at a certain stake is usually equivalent to playing 2-5x higher stakes live in Vegas. (i.e. If I'm playing $200-$300 MTTs online on
wsop or Global, I'm at a similar skill level as those playing $1-2k MTTs live.)
3) Again, the answer to this will vary depending on how you learn best. Personally, I'd recommend recording your play (if you use a HUD online and have stats on your play, even better!) and hiring a private coach for a few sessions. If you're a beginner, having someone review your play in its entirety will help you understand where the biggest leaks are in your game. I'd recommend that you show them an entire session and not just hands you picked, because a lot of times you'll be making mistakes that you don't know about. A coach is the most efficient way to learn what you personally need to work on. 3-5 sessions should do it. Once you know what mistakes you're making, I'd organize those mistakes in order of most frequent/biggest pots ---> least frequent/smallest pots. That way you're prioritizing the spots that win/lose you the most money. Example: If you have a hard time playing out of position from both the Big Blind and from the HiJack in MTTs, you should certainly study how to play from the BB first since that spot comes up far more often. Basically, don't waste your energy on too many specific details or hands that are rare. Focus your energy on getting good at spots that are common.
As far as specific resources go, I use Floptimal to study preflop, GTO Wizard to train all of my postflop skills and I have bought a few Run It Once courses including The Game Plan for more advanced training. (See the response to IreAce below for more)
Good luck out there!
Is Las Vegas a nice place to live
YES! I love it. There are so many good restaurants, hiking in the mountains, art festivals, stand up comics, cirque de soleil shows, hockey games, concerts etc. The city is always changing and evolving so we never get bored. One misconception is that locals have to go to the Strip to have fun. I only go to the Strip to play poker or if someone is putting on a show I wanted to see. Other than that, we have expansive communities far away from the Strip with plenty to offer
Hi Ashley,
How do you study, and where/what do you recommend for MTT study do you think solver work is now a necessity in this day and age?
Hey there!
I recommend GTO Wizard, Floptimal and Run It Once MTT courses if you are advanced. If you are a beginner/intermediate, I think hiring a coach to help you spot your leaks is the most efficient use of your money. Solver work is very helpful for you to have a big picture understanding of game mechanics. I think it's important to have a strong theoretical foundation (using solvers) so that you can effectively deviate from it based on your opponent's leaks.
A good study plan looks like this:
Step 1: Identify your most costly mistakes (spots that come up the most or spots that have the most money in the pot). For beginners, hire a coach here.
Step 2: Label each of those costly mistakes as beginner, intermediate or advanced level concepts. Then, organize into PREFLOP or POSTFLOP concepts.
Step 3: Start studying PREFLOP conecpts that you labeled as BEGINNER mistakes---> specifying what type of leak it is will naturally help you identify which resource you need. (i.e. if you don't know your 30bb 3bet ranges, you'll know that you need to find a resource that quickly helps you learn that spot. I use Floptimal here to learn the ranges; then GTO Wizard to test whether or not I've learned it well by running drills.) As you improve the beginner concepts, you can move on to the more advanced concepts on your list.
Step 4: After a few months, check in with your game again (or talk to that coach from earlier) and reevaluate what your NEW biggest mistakes are.
Hope that helps!
[You can read the first answer above for more detail on how to get started in poker.]
