Hi CardsChat members!

My name is Ashley and I'm so excited to join this community. I've been living in Las Vegas for 10 years now playing cash games and more recently, tournaments. I currently play $5/$10 on the Strip and higher stakes on live streams such as Live at the Bike. I'll buy in to tournaments as low as $300 and as high as $5k (with an exception for the WSOP Main Event, which everyone should try to play at least once!).

I have also traveled for poker events in many other parts of the world, including Europe, the UK, Australia, Canada, Africa and the Caribbean. I can answer a broad range of questions about playing live, traveling for poker events/series, playing on live streams or the general poker lifestyle.

My goal for joining CardsChat is to inspire new people to play poker and to encourage those of you who have a poker bucket list item to go out and do it!

Ask me anything

Welcome to CardsChat Ashley! We are so happy to have you here.

What are your favorite poker rooms in Vegas?

Hi Ashley! Welcome to CardsChat - I'm so excited to get to know you better.

What has been your favorite overseas poker locale?

Welcome to CardsChat and thanks for doing this AMA Ashley!

How much influence from GTO do you see at the stakes you commonly play and is it still possible for a player to succeed at a high level using "old-school" strategies?

What is your opinion of GTO in general, is it something that every poker player who wants to move up needs to be familiar with or is it just another gimmick that will eventually fall out of favor?

Hi Ashley. Happy to have you here at CardsChat.

Have you find big differences in poker skills between the different cities/countries you've played?

Originally Posted by Debi

What are your favorite poker rooms in Vegas?

My favorite room for both cash and tournament poker is the Wynn. The staff are all really friendly, professional and innovative with trying different events. They have great food throughout the property and easy parking right outside the poker room. Plus, it smells great in there

Originally Posted by Tammy

What has been your favorite overseas poker locale?

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

Oh that sounds amazing! Adding to my must do/see list!

Originally Posted by Propane Goat

How much influence from GTO do you see at the stakes you commonly play and is it still possible for a player to succeed at a high level using "old-school" strategies?

What is your opinion of GTO in general, is it something that every poker player who wants to move up needs to be familiar with or is it just another gimmick that will eventually fall out of favor?

The regs in the games I play are the ones who use solvers when trying to improve. It's certainly not something everyone at these stakes is doing though. There is still plenty of money to be made playing a straightforward game that emphasizes getting value from opponents playing weak preflop ranges and folding to people who underbluff postflop.
In my opinion, studying a GTO approach is just a way to have more tools in your poker tool kit. It will certainly sharpen things like: your ability to choose correct bet sizes; which combos of hands are your best bluffs; which board runouts are better for you or better for your opponent, etc. But understanding why solvers play the way they do is more important than memorizing the outputs of one spot. For example: understanding why it chooses certain hands to check/raise bluff on a flop gives you the confidence to pick decent combos when you're actually playing at the table.
All of that being said, since we are human and playing against humans, the 'old-school' strategy (that I think you're referring to) of deciding whether your opponent has it or not will always benefit your game. (ie: If you reeeeeally don't think they EVER bluff certain spots, you can fold your marginal holdings.)
I think GTO is here to stay, but will mostly remain a strategy used at higher stakes.

Originally Posted by FastOne

Have you find big differences in poker skills between the different cities/countries you've played?

Love this question! The answer is a resounding YES. Australian/South African games were very similar to each other....People in both places are talkative, friendly and play loose! They are willing to mix it up and gamble. In Europe/UK, there are a lot more pros if you're in a major poker room during a major poker series. They have more experience with a GTO approach and tend to be solidly aggressive. It's just like in the US, where different cities have player pools that are known for certain styles. (Ex: Vegas cash games are known for being MUCH tighter than LA games Although, recently games have had a lot more action here.)

Hi Ashley, and welcome again to Cardschat! I'm fairly new to poker and am getting frustrated with tournaments. I'm pretty good at cash games. They seem straightforward and playing 6-max is a big plus.

But tournaments are always full-ring. I find those extra 3 or 4 players make all the difference, and not in a good way.

You mentioned that your experience is mostly with cash games but have recently begun to play more tournaments. How did you make the transition? They seem like totally different games to me.

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

I played the APPT final at the Star Casino in Sydney and Sydney was just beautiful. So clean and Aussies so friendly. Great waterfront and so many sites to see. And local Aussies all said - you should see Melbourne if you like Sydney. So it is just great to hear you talk about that city - wish I could have seen it too.

Hi Ashley, a very warm welcome also from my side here at CC.
I know, my questions are completely against your opening thread, but I am somehow curious.
Do you also play online poker beside live games? Did you switch to online games during the pandemic time? And if yes, which games did you prefer there?
And how is it going for you with the live games although there is still pandemia.

I started in 2019 to play some live games in the UK and I really enjoyed them and hoped to play several more, but then came Covid, unfortunately....
I hope things will change again in future...

I hope you are not scared, that a black cat posts post #13. I just realised it.

Originally Posted by JordanH

But tournaments are always full-ring. I find those extra 3 or 4 players make all the difference, and not in a good way.

You mentioned that your experience is mostly with cash games but have recently begun to play more tournaments. How did you make the transition? They seem like totally different games to me.

I've put in the most study and play time in tournaments actually. When I played cash, it was casual and recreational.

Yea 9-max can feel like a lot less action because people have to be tighter in those extra 3-4 positions. It's all about what is the most fun for you!

I made the transition to tournaments by watching a lot of Run It Once videos made by their MTT pros. It helps that my fiancé is also a really good pro and coach (Jesse Sylvia) Once you've learned some basic short stack strategy, it's all about playing as many MTTs as you can and keeping your expectations kind of low at first. It's hard to adjust to not coming home with a profit every session, but once you make a deep run and hit a big score, you might be hooked

Originally Posted by whiskers77

Do you also play online poker beside live games? Did you switch to online games during the pandemic time? And if yes, which games did you prefer there?

Yes, during the pandemic I only played online MTTs for about 15 months. I played on ACR, Global (US site) and WSOP.com. Had my biggest score ever on ACR ($85k)- so I'd say it went well.

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

The regs in the games I play are the ones who use solvers when trying to improve. It's certainly not something everyone at these stakes is doing though. There is still plenty of money to be made playing a straightforward game that emphasizes getting value from opponents playing weak preflop ranges and folding to people who underbluff postflop.
In my opinion, studying a GTO approach is just a way to have more tools in your poker tool kit. It will certainly sharpen things like: your ability to choose correct bet sizes; which combos of hands are your best bluffs; which board runouts are better for you or better for your opponent, etc. But understanding why solvers play the way they do is more important than memorizing the outputs of one spot. For example: understanding why it chooses certain hands to check/raise bluff on a flop gives you the confidence to pick decent combos when you're actually playing at the table.
All of that being said, since we are human and playing against humans, the 'old-school' strategy (that I think you're referring to) of deciding whether your opponent has it or not will always benefit your game. (ie: If you reeeeeally don't think they EVER bluff certain spots, you can fold your marginal holdings.)
I think GTO is here to stay, but will mostly remain a strategy used at higher stakes.

Thanks for the tips and the information! Good to hear that I still have a chance

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

I've put in the most study and play time in tournaments actually. When I played cash, it was casual and recreational.

Yea 9-max can feel like a lot less action because people have to be tighter in those extra 3-4 positions. It's all about what is the most fun for you!

I made the transition to tournaments by watching a lot of Run It Once videos made by their MTT pros. It helps that my fiancé is also a really good pro and coach (Jesse Sylvia) Once you've learned some basic short stack strategy, it's all about playing as many MTTs as you can and keeping your expectations kind of low at first. It's hard to adjust to not coming home with a profit every session, but once you make a deep run and hit a big score, you might be hooked

Thanks Ashley! I don't think my expectations could get any lower so it seems I'm on good footing.

can you tell me how to find free rolls?

Originally Posted by Diverdoug_57

can you tell me how to find free rolls?

It depends on which site you're playing, but you can usually filter for freerolls in the tournament section of the site.

Have you or your husband ever belonged to a poker stable? I am very curious on how to get involved with such a group. Thanks!

Originally Posted by ribbybruno

Have you or your husband ever belonged to a poker stable? I am very curious on how to get involved with such a group. Thanks!

I mostly just sell action to either a full MTT series or to one bigger event.
But if you're interested in seeking out a stable to join, the people who run them are looking for:
1) a solid win rate (must have graphs on different online sites and in-game stats)
2) someone who puts in a lot of volume (plays poker full time)
3) someone with credibility and a trustworthy reputation
If you play tournaments, you could always start by selling some action to a few people. Once you win your first backers some money and form good relationships with them, you'll start to earn some credibility and potentially get introduced to people who run full stables.

Welcome and thank you for joining our community Ashley.

Welcome aboard, CardsChat is always looking for good talents to help us in this exciting game. Thank you for joining this great team.

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

I mostly just sell action to either a full MTT series or to one bigger event.
But if you're interested in seeking out a stable to join, the people who run them are looking for:
1) a solid win rate (must have graphs on different online sites and in-game stats)
2) someone who puts in a lot of volume (plays poker full time)
3) someone with credibility and a trustworthy reputation
If you play tournaments, you could always start by selling some action to a few people. Once you win your first backers some money and form good relationships with them, you'll start to earn some credibility and potentially get introduced to people who run full stables.

I really appreciate your response.

Selling some action to a few people. Forming relationships with backers. Credibility!
Yes! Exactly what I am interested in. Thanks!

I have been really studying hard on Learn Pro Poker. Ryan LaPlante has done wonders with this site. GTO and Range Trainer Pro helps to add more gears to my game. I just feel with the right backer. We could make history and a lot of money along the way!

Welcome to CardsChat Ashley!
Glad to have you here, sure you will encourage to the CardsChat's Womans to follow the profesional poker path.

When you go to play Poker Events to another countrys, do you usually have everything previously organized, I mean if you do a schedule of the tournaments that you will play and sell the actions previously, following a strict agenda, or are you more flexible and then you are organizing it or adapting it during the event?

Hey welcome to CardsChat!
In tournaments do you adjust your game to the table? Or do you use some GTO. Like if your table is too foldy you go raise more, if your table is too cally then you go limp more, stuff like that.

Originally Posted by gardin555

When you go to play Poker Events to another countrys, do you usually have everything previously organized, I mean if you do a schedule of the tournaments that you will play and sell the actions previously, following a strict agenda, or are you more flexible and then you are organizing it or adapting it during the event?

Thanks for the warm welcome! I’m pretty flexible with my schedule especially when traveling abroad. It can be tricky to predict whether or not you’ll be jet-lagged etc.
If I sell action to the series, I sell for the maximum amount of tournaments I would play and make sure the investors know that I most likely won’t play 100% of those events. (Money back! Yay!)

Originally Posted by abgvedr

Hey welcome to CardsChat!
In tournaments do you adjust your game to the table? Or do you use some GTO. Like if your table is too foldy you go raise more, if your table is too cally then you go limp more, stuff like that.

Definitely! And to me, that’s what makes poker fun. You never know what type of opponents you’ll run into

Hi Ashley and welcome to the CC forums!

Do you play cash game most of the time or more tournaments, and what would be a good ratio?

I assume cash games support the tourney buy-ins and are a more reliable income stream for a live professional than the swingy bankroll eating multiday mtts?

Greetings

Daniel

Welcome Ashley!

Just your presence here giving us extra inspirations to improve our poker experience

Originally Posted by Daniel72

Hi Ashley and welcome to the CC forums!

Do you play cash game most of the time or more tournaments, and what would be a good ratio?

I assume cash games support the tourney buy-ins and are a more reliable income stream for a live professional than the swingy bankroll eating multiday mtts?

Greetings

Daniel

Hey Daniel-

I mostly play tournaments and will fit in cash sessions when games are social and fun. (No sitting at miserable or nitty tables for me!) Bankroll management as a tourney player is all about reducing variance as much as possible. To reduce those swings, we have to play smaller fields at a high frequency. Playing huge fields with a big 1st place prize is thrilling, but creates higher variance in your results because you don't win them as often. So I'd say that my smaller field online events are what keep me afloat in between big live scores

Hello Ashley I'm pretty geeked to see you here! lol Welcome
I was wondering, did you happen to play at Caesars Windsor when you were in Canada? If so, what did you think of the place?
Also, what do you think is your biggest adjustment when switching from cash to tournament play? I have to admit, cash games make me nervous..

Originally Posted by DizzyDeb717

Hello Ashley I'm pretty geeked to see you here! lol Welcome
I was wondering, did you happen to play at Caesars Windsor when you were in Canada? If so, what did you think of the place?
Also, what do you think is your biggest adjustment when switching from cash to tournament play? I have to admit, cash games make me nervous..

Hey Deb! Thanks for the welcome
The only place I’ve played in Canada is Playground in Montreal. Honestly, I need to see and play in wayyy more of your country.
The biggest adjustment switching from cash to tournaments has been widening my preflop ranges and learning how to play with a short stack. I think cash game players tend to give up when they get short stacked and tournament players know that it comes with the territory

Welcome to CardsChat, Ashley! It is so good to have you join us!

How long have you been playing poker? and how did you get into it?
Did you begin online? or jump right into the live games?
Which tournaments do you look forward to the most?

(I have a boatload to ask but want to save some questions for the podcast. )

Hi Ashley. I'm also happy to see you here, joining our community.

I realised that you have a partner who also plays poker. That's awesome! How we can imagine poker-life between you two? Are you competitve or helpful to each other?

You said that you want to inspire others, do you think poker is a never-ending learning proccess where you always have to trying to have your own joy in it, despite of the money that you can earn from it?

How often do you get to play in larger tournaments?
We were at a final table together at the Rio a couple of years ago for the circuit and I was very impressed by your play!
What tips do you have for the Ladies as far as being patient and very long tournaments?
Thanks!
Chris Read

What are your thoughts on chopping or adjusting the final table prize amounts?

Originally Posted by kltwomey

What are your thoughts on chopping or adjusting the final table prize amounts?

If everyone agrees to chop and agrees on the amounts, then I think it's a great way to reduce variance. I wouldn't chop at venues that don't facilitate it though (i.e. WSOP) because you have to trust the person to hand you the money at the cage.
Also, someone who doesn't want to chop should not be harassed or badgered by the other players after they've said no.

Originally Posted by Shells

Welcome to CardsChat, Ashley! It is so good to have you join us!

How long have you been playing poker? and how did you get into it?
Did you begin online? or jump right into the live games?
Which tournaments do you look forward to the most?

(I have a boatload to ask but want to save some questions for the podcast. )

Hi Shells!

Thanks for the warm welcome. I was first taught poker in 2011 and have been playing professionally since 2017. My fiance is a professional and taught me how to play so I knew what he and his friends were talking about all the time!! I started by playing online SNGs and then played live for the first time at a random MGM ladies event. I got butterflies in my stomach whenever I played live for the first 2 years probably!

The tournaments I look forward to the most are ones held at the Wynn because I love the staff and property. Also, you can't beat the excitement of the tournaments at the WSOP! It's like summer camp (or in this year's case, a fall festival ).

I hope the podcast was able to answer some of your other questions! Robbie and I talked for over an hour

Originally Posted by dallam

Hi Ashley. I'm also happy to see you here, joining our community.

I realised that you have a partner who also plays poker. That's awesome! How we can imagine poker-life between you two? Are you competitve or helpful to each other?

You said that you want to inspire others, do you think poker is a never-ending learning proccess where you always have to trying to have your own joy in it, despite of the money that you can earn from it?

Hi dallam-

My partner and I are definitely helpful to each other when it comes to poker. But if we're playing a small stakes friendly game at the same table, we get SUPER competitive

To me, the learning process is never-ending in poker. At time it gets really tough, especially on a downswing. But I like to remind myself how much freedom and mobility poker has given me and that brightens my spirits again.

Originally Posted by saintsfangirl

How often do you get to play in larger tournaments?
We were at a final table together at the Rio a couple of years ago for the circuit and I was very impressed by your play!
What tips do you have for the Ladies as far as being patient and very long tournaments?
Thanks!
Chris Read

Wow that's awesome! and Thanks

Yeah I get to play a lot of large tournaments living in Vegas. There's always some series running at the Venetian or Wynn.

Advice for ladies in long tournaments: mentally break up the tournament into sections so it feels like you're accomplishing small milestones along the way. Perhaps every break you make it to is another milestone; then dinner break, then bagging chips for day 2....etc. At each of these 'milestones' mentally let go of any mistakes you made in previous levels and reset. Give yourself a pep talk that includes some adjustments you'd like to make during the next 2 hours of play. Then, run really hot and win

Hope that helps!

How did you realize that you will connect your path with poker? Were there any factors that stopped you?

Thank you for creating this thread! Any advice for playing the midnight daily game at the Flamingo? Have you played it? What are some good overall tips? Not so much a poker question related (but would love any!), but just about the game there. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Ashley Sleeth

Hi CardsChat members!

My name is Ashley and I'm so excited to join this community. I've been living in Las Vegas for 10 years now playing cash games and more recently, tournaments. I currently play $5/$10 on the Strip and higher stakes on live streams such as Live at the Bike. I'll buy in to tournaments as low as $300 and as high as $5k (with an exception for the WSOP Main Event, which everyone should try to play at least once!).

I have also traveled for poker events in many other parts of the world, including Europe, the UK, Australia, Canada, Africa and the Caribbean. I can answer a broad range of questions about playing live, traveling for poker events/series, playing on live streams or the general poker lifestyle.

My goal for joining CardsChat is to inspire new people to play poker and to encourage those of you who have a poker bucket list item to go out and do it!

Ask me anything

Hi Ashley,

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. I usually play on WSOP, as I live in Vegas. I have won four tournaments, but I still make stupid mistakes. Any advice for those of us still trying to make it to the next level? Thanks so much. Tamra

I just had to say hi Ashley and tell you that the story on the podcast about how you met Jesse...on a date with someone else...is fantastic!! So glad to have you among us here and looking forward to seeing more content from you!

Originally Posted by LoveAndPoker

How did you realize that you will connect your path with poker? Were there any factors that stopped you?

I realized that I wanted to play poker full time when I started playing tournaments. I just love all the dynamics that go on throughout an event.

The only factors that held me back were thinking that I could never be elite at the game. Then I realized that learning means making mistakes (and being able to admit to them). It's the only way to get better. If other people could study a ton and get better, I realized I could do that too. That's where I'm at now- trying to get better and proving to others that they can too.

Originally Posted by Pokerstudy

Thank you for creating this thread! Any advice for playing the midnight daily game at the Flamingo? Have you played it? What are some good overall tips? Not so much a poker question related (but would love any!), but just about the game there. Thanks!

Hey pokerstudy- I've never played the daily at Flamingo, but I'm assuming it's full of recreational players. My general tips for playing against that player type is to GET VALUE. Bet bigger than you think you should (especially preflop) with value hands because they like to call Good luck!

Originally Posted by Vegas77

Hi Ashley,

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. I usually play on WSOP, as I live in Vegas. I have won four tournaments, but I still make stupid mistakes. Any advice for those of us still trying to make it to the next level? Thanks so much. Tamra

Hey Tamra!
Congrats on all of your wins Sounds like you're doing some things right.

If you find yourself making 'stupid mistakes' a lot, consider jotting down what happened beforehand that led up to those bad plays. (Were you tilted? Were you getting tired? Were you card dead and then overplayed the first good hand you saw?) After a while, you might find a pattern and can stop yourself before the mistakes happen and reset.

Also, for me, if I pretend that I'm telling a friend what I think the opponent has throughout the entire hand, then I'm much less likely to make random plays.

hope that helps!

Originally Posted by CRStals

I just had to say hi Ashley and tell you that the story on the podcast about how you met Jesse...on a date with someone else...is fantastic!! So glad to have you among us here and looking forward to seeing more content from you!

Haha, thanks CR! Glad you found it entertaining