Interview with Matt Savage discussing the effects of COVID-19 on the poker world.  

WATCH: YouTube Video of the interview

Matt Savage

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Podcast Family, Bernard Lee interviews World Poker Tour’s Executive Tour Director Matt Savage, who ran three consecutive WPT Main Events during the early part of 2020. The final Main Event was 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 which ended in an ICM chop due to COVID-19. Matt describes not only the details of the Bay 101 Main Event (March 11-13, 2020), but the weeks leading up to that WPT event. Matt also discussed the beginning of his career up to winning the GPI Global Award for year’s Best Tournament Director.

0:00Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show as this week’s guest will be World Poker Tour’s Executive Tour Director, Matt Savage.
2:11Red Chip Poker Ad
3:01Bernard welcomes World Poker Tour’s Executive Tour Director, Matt Savage.
3:27Matt joins The Bernard Lee Poker Show.
4:32Matt discusses how he got started in poker as a chip runner, dealer and eventually running tournaments.
6:00Matt notices that everywhere you went the rules were different, which led to his creation of the Tournament Directors Association (TDA).
9:40Matt discusses winning the 2nd Annual Global Poker Awards Tournament Director.
11:50Matt recalls his early days with the WSOP, including during Chris Moneymaker’s win in 2003.
13:36Matt recalls the birth of the World Poker Tour and the current state of the WPT.
17:03Matt reminisces about acting in the 2007 poker movie, “Lucky You.”
20:37Matt discusses how important it will be for him to eventually inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
22:16RunGood Gear Ad
23:00Bernard continues his interview with World Poker Tour’s Executive Tour Director, Matt Savage
28:57Matt recalls how the WPT LA Poker Classic began the process of COVID-19 slowly becoming relevant not only in the poker world, but the entire world as it became a global pandemic.
31:24Matt reveals that regular attendees, including Phil Hellmuth and Jared Jaffee, cancelled their planned trips to LA Poker Classic.
35:20Matt describes the precautions taken by Thunder Valley Casino and the details of the event.
37:27Matt reveals that some Shooting Stars begin to cancel: 8 of the 32 cancelled due to COVID-19.
40:38Matt remembers the significant announcements on Day 1 of Bay 101, March 11, 2020 such as NBA shutdown and Tom Hanks testing positive for the coronavirus.
41:33Matt describes Day 2, which included 8-handed play, unprecedented at Bay 101. He also decided to play additional levels to reduce the Main Event to three days from the original four days. At end of Day 2, Matt ran the ICM numbers in case Bay 101 closed down the next day.
44:20Matt remembers Day 3 an the eventual ICM chop due to COVID-19 concerns including one player not feeling well. Prior guest of the show, Craig Varnell was declared the winner. Later that Day, Bay 101 closed its doors, becoming the first California casino to shut down.
51:45Matt discusses about Club WPT daily bounty events.

 

The ability to play poker online has shifted in recent years from downloadable software on your computer, to club-based poker apps that are accessible from your phone or tablet.

Both the number of poker apps available, and the number of users has been growing steadily, and Cardplayer Lifestyle decided to review PPPoker, Upoker and Pokerbros, the three current popular choices in the market, to see which option is best for players.

PPPoker was one of the first apps on the market after launching on April 11, 2016, and has since welcomed players from more than 150 countries/regions and launched more than 300 version updates. The site is currently on the verge of celebrating its four-year anniversary, which will coincide with over 2.1 million minutes that the app has been running.

Both Upoker and PokerBros are relative newcomers to the club-based poker app, but they are both striving to take their share of the market as players flock to these apps while currently dealing with the lack of live poker options.

Although these three poker apps are similar in many ways, Cardplayer Lifestyle will break down each app across a number of different factors so that you have all the information necessary to make a decision about which poker app to choose.

Why Choose a Club-Based Poker App?

Club-based poker apps offer a lot of different features that you will struggle to find in conventional online poker clients.

With a clue in the name, club-based apps focus on allowing their players to create personalized private clubs, perfect for home games with friends, family and even the wider poker community. You can create play-money games and customize the settings to your exact requirements – a feature that is very rare to find across other types of online poker clients.

As your club grows, there are opportunities to expand its reach and join a Union, to enable bigger player pools, prizes, and of course, a broader community.

Now you know the basics of club-based poker apps, let’s take a look at who offers the best experience.

App/Game Design/Gameplay

All three apps are designed fairly similar, including a lobby that provides access to tables. Once at the tables, each app differs slightly. The gameplay is incredibly smooth across each site with quick access to hand histories and summary, chat, and table settings.

Poker Offerings

Between PPPoker, Upoker, and PokerBros, all three poker apps offer No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and either Short Deck or 6+. PPPoker and PokerBros both offer Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo also. However, it is PPPoker that gives its players the most options as they offer both OFC and a Global Tournament lobby where players can play SpinUp tournament of MTTs with varying buy-in amounts.

PPPoker also announced a new exciting function this year called PPST (PPPoker Super Tournaments), which consists of a series of MTTs that bring together Unions and Clubs to attract thousands of players and create even bigger prize pools.

To add even more spice to the competition for big money prizes, PPPoker has announced the introduction of the PPST Leaderboard, which will see the top five finishers become PPPoker ambassadors and win a bonus live poker fund worth up to $5,000.

Poker club lobbies, from left to right: PPPoker, Upoker, PokerBros

Customer Service Options

Navigating all three poker apps, it is clear that PPPoker is transparent when giving its users information on contacting customer support. Under a user’s profile page, there is a button labelled “About Us” that details information on fair gaming, compliance, terms of service, and four options to contact PPPoker.

Upoker and PokerBros have a virtually identical lobby format that allows users to click a drop-down menu that shows options to review fair gaming and the terms of service. Upoker allows users to access a single email address for contact, while PokerBros doesn’t have that option.

Security and Stability

All three poker apps do provide a notices section that details the latest version of the app and what bug fixes and improvements have been made. For PPPoker and Upoker, the notices section is visible in the lobby, while on PokerBros, it is accessed via the drop-down menu.

PPPoker goes above and beyond when it comes to being transparent. In an effort to help enforce to its users that the poker app is secure and stable, the site provides weekly app updates for continuous improvements. In the blog section on the PPPoker website, the PPPoker System Reliability Report 2020 was recently published that detailed all the efforts PPPoker have made on security and safety. These measures include a dedicated Anti-Cheating team and regular RNG tests.

PPPoker makes it very clear that they take cheating and deception very seriously. Collusion and bots are problems that affect every major poker client around today, and there are several ways that PPPoker combat this. Their Anti-Cheating team monitors tables 24/7 for any suspicious activities. They are able to ascertain whether or not a player at the tables is cheating using several sophisticated solutions.

PPPoker uses over 80 unique key indicators to detect and prevent bots from using their software, including the use of third-party software whilst playing. They do this because the integrity of games on PPPoker is key to the players’ enjoyment, and this is what drives the company going forward. There is an absolute zero-tolerance approach to cheating on PPPoker, with accounts where there is evidence of cheating permanently banned. This hard-line response means that players can rest assured that they are playing against real players and not bots or scripts.

PPPoker also analyzes whether players are playing at the same table with the same GPS information or IP address to ensure that collusion does not hamper efforts to ensure fair play on the app.

Ease of Use

When signing up to PPPoker, Upoker, or PokerBros, you are prompted with a registration or log-in page. For first-time users, the registration process is as simple as creating your username and password. Once complete, you are taken directly to the main lobby page of each poker app.

Both Upoker and PokerBros award new users with 10,000 in gold coins, but PPPoker steps it up by offering 3 million in gold coins as well as an immediate tutorial of the poker app. Following the tutorial gives new users the information to navigate the lobby, and then instructs them on how to join a table – something that Upoker and PokerBros lack.

poker offerings comparison

Poker club offerings, from left to right: PPPoker, Upoker, PokerBros

Promotions

All three poker apps offer VIP privileges that are on a varying scale and can be unlocked with diamonds. Diamonds can be earned through gameplay, and also bought through each app’s shop where 60 diamonds cost $0.99.

PPPoker also has “Missions” available that reward users with gold coins for completing tasks throughout gameplay. These range in difficulty from winning three hands to playing in high stakes. Each reward users with a certain number of gold coins, and helps in keeping users engaged and playing on PPPoker.

There are several other major promotions that PPPoker offer its players – Chip Storm, SpinUp, and EVChop. Chip Storm is all about raining chips! At random times during Chip Storm hours, PP Chips will fall onto club tables giving all players the chance to win. There is also a grand prize worth 10,000 PP Chips. SpinUp is a three-handed Global tournament game where you can win up to 400 million gold coins. Buy-ins range and in each game, there is an opportunity to hit a 10,000-multiplier jackpot. EVChop allows players to combat variance as all-in players are offered the chance to take their share of the pot in relation to their hand’s equity.

Social Media Presence

Social media in the poker industry is the biggest advertising tool for poker companies. Not only does it help with brand awareness in a competitive market, but it helps in attracting new players, and providing customer service to their own club members.

PPPokerUpokerPokerBros
Facebook@pppoker123@upokersupport@pokerbrosappofficial
Twitter@pppokerofficial@upokerglobal
Instagram@pppokerglobal@upoker_official

 

All three poker apps are active on social media and interact with their users. Upoker is nearly non-existent on Twitter with only a handful of tweets and followers, but they have stronger numbers on Facebook and Instagram with 1k and 500+ followers, respectively. PokerBros have no official Twitter and Instagram as of publication; however, their Union agents have created accounts for promotion and communication.

PPPoker stands alone on top of the social media mountain with (as of publication) over 55,000 followers on Facebook and over 14,000 followers on Instagram. With just over 1,000 followers on Twitter, they are significantly more active than Upoker or PokerBros as they are not only producing advertising tweets but are also helping their users with valuable information in multiple languages.

Also, PPPoker has a unique hand forum that allows players to share their favorite hands each day, with comments and likes available. These hands, as well as a selection of the day’s ‘Hot’ and ‘Featured’ hands, can be watched in the app or online.

Worth noting, however, is that for club-based poker apps, the majority of their social media engagement and interaction stems from their agents, in different club accounts, and their ability to recruit new players to the app as well as continuing to provide service to their own club members.

Live Events

Both Upoker and PokerBros currently don’t have any scheduled live events, but PPPoker runs its own live event brand – PPPoker World Championship (PPWC) and PPPoker Festival.

The PPWC tournament brand features a promise of low buy-ins and high guaranteed prize pools with the highlight of the series being the PPWC Main Event. Also, the unique Team Event sees players from all around the globe come together to battle across different poker formats for the overall team title.

As well as this, PPPoker Festivals have been run over 20 events around the world, including South America, Asia and Europe. PPPoker Festivals encourage the app users to expand their relationships into the live poker scene, and an opportunity for the PPPoker community to expand from online to offline.

Overall Product Comparison

Although PPPoker, Upoker, and PokerBros are very similar in gameplay and app design, when you take a deeper look into each app, it is obvious that PPPoker is the leader in club-based poker apps.

PPPoker is a truly global poker app that has welcomed players from over 150 countries and regions while also diversifying their marketing team across five continents in an effort to meet face-to-face with club owners and players from over 50 countries.

The site has been dealing with many challenges following this new wave of competition, but they continue to strive to offer the purest poker experience to their users. Alongside an offering of more promotions to their users, they also offer more game choices along with a Global Tournament lobby. The one aspect that clearly sets PPPoker apart from Upoker and PokerBros are the live events the site runs, which include 20 PPPoker Festivals and the PPWC.

PPPoker is also more transparent in the way they conduct their business from customer support options to notices on updates regarding bug fixes and app improvements. The site has executed over 300 version updates and continue to safeguards the love for poker of their players, and strongly stand behind their core competency to provide a 100% pure poker ecology for players.

These reasons reinforce that PPPoker is, in this publication’s opinion, the worldwide leader in club-based poker apps for 2020.

*Disclaimers, for regulatory compliance:

Players are sheltered behind a mountain of chips. A stack of game plaques indicates the games in the rotation. While the dealer is pitching more cards then they are accustomed too, players are laughing, sharing stories, and tipping in abundance.

Welcome to the world of low-limit mixed games!

Poker rooms around the world have forever been dominated by hold’em and Omaha, but the rise in popularity of mixed games continues as players are looking for more. They’re not all looking at becoming the next GTO wizard, some are seeking out a fun game to play among friends – or soon to be friends.

Low-limit mixed games are more than just gambling – for that you should head to the best slots casino bonus Canada – they are place to try your luck at new draw and stud poker variants, play an abundance of hands, and enjoy the social atmosphere that all low-limit mixed games provide.

Mixed Games

The rise in popularity of mixed games has unfortunately not been greeted with table space in a lot of poker rooms. Casinos such as the Wynn, South Point, and ARIA in Las Vegas have been players’ first stop to get a mixed game going, and newer rooms like the ones at Westgate and Sahara had occasionally offered them before the COVID-19 shutdown, but it is time for other casinos to follow in their lead and join the mixed game movement. Of course the examples given above are just specific to Las Vegas. It would be wonderful to see the mixed game movement spread beyond the confines of poker’s Mecca. With all that said, here are our top five reasons why more poker rooms should spread low-limit mixed games.

1. Your Dealers Become More Skilled and Versatile

Dealers will always have the basic skills to deal mixed games as they all fall under a flop, draw, or stud variant. However, will they know how to deal 2-7 Drawmaha when it comes up in the rotation? Running mixed games will force dealers to learn these obscure games, and once they have learnt them and begun to understand them, they soon become more skilled and versatile assets for the poker room.

Big O

2. There’s Nothing Better Than Home Field

Mixed game players are a very loyal crew. They’re not just seeking out the best promotions and the softest games, they want to be treated well. Although that may mean good comps and a low rake, it also means that they want all aspects of the game to run smoothly.

When mixed game players are taken care of and are provided with reliable dealers, they won’t have wandering eyes when it comes to the next game. “Same time, new day” is their motto, and having a mixed game locked in for not just hours but sometimes days, means everyone benefits. Waitresses, dealers, and food runners will be taken care of, and the jovial and social vibe that the table oozes attracts eyes from the other tables in the room.

3. New Players Feel Comfortable

When a table in the middle of the poker room has drinks flowing and persistent laughs and jokes, other players are easily lured in to see what’s going on. Although understanding the games can be difficult, new players are quick to feel comfortable once they take a seat as mixed game players are always keen to teach the games.

They all know first-hand what it was like to be the new player and always want players to latch on to these games so the player field grows. Unlike hold’em games where inexperienced players will often be intimidated as players sit round them covered in hoodies, hidden behind sunglasses, or buried under a hat and headphones – mixed games are the complete opposite. Although these new players may leave the game a buck or two lighter from when they sat down, their experience will always be memorable, and a kind word will follow for the poker room.

4. Fill the Gap in Limits

Unlike in hold’em or Omaha where limits are evenly spread out ($1-2, $2-5, $5-10, etc), this is not the case with mixed games. In some Las Vegas casinos there may be a $200-400 mixed game and then a $40-80 mixed game. That’s it.

Casual players can’t jump straight into the $40-80 game, they need limits substantially lower. Spreading $4-8 or $6-12 mixed games are the perfect entry-level for not just casual players, but other poker players looking to try something new. Spreading these lower limits will attract more players and sometimes have a trickle up and down effect. If the poker room normally just runs a $30/60 mixed game but now has a $4/8 and a $8/16 game going, players who can’t sit in the bigger game may drop down in limits while they wait. On the flip side, players who might be running good in the lower limit game might take their shot in the bigger game.

More mixed games will most likely lead to the player pool all congregating in your poker room as that will be the place to find all the mixed game action.

dealer's choice mixed game

Friendly low-stakes mixed game fun in Las Vegas

5. Keep the Staff Happy

You might be surprised to learn this, but the biggest fans of mixed games are often the dealers! Not only can the tips be better in a good game, but they also love to play. Running mixed games in your poker room means that your dealers will often flock to get a seat in the game when they’re done with their shift.

Dealers always tip dealers well, and that rubs off on other players in the game. There’s no need to send your staff to a competitor’s poker room when you can keep them on the property driving the action in your own mixed game while simultaneously helping other businesses in the casino such as food and dining.

In Conclusion

Poker rooms will always spread hold’em and Omaha, but why not stand out and fill the niche market of mixed games?

There is only upside for spreading low-stakes mixed games in your poker room. The dealers become more skilled and versatile, players will respect you for catering to their needs and be incredibly loyal, and new players will have a great first-time experience.

Embrace the mixed game movement and start spreading low-limit mixed games today!

Alec Torelli

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Podcast Family, Bernard Lee interviews professional poker player Alec Torelli, who currently lives in Northern Italy, only 24 miles away from where Italy’s Patient One was diagnosed. Alec discusses his experience amidst COVID-19 in Italy, which has been hit hard by the global pandemic.  Alec has written several columns on his blog predicting future events in the U.S. based on his experience in Northern Italy, which is weeks ahead in terms of the pandemic timeline. During his career, Alec has won over $1.5 million and was formerly sponsored by Doyle’s Room.

NOTE: Interview took place on March 25, 2020.

0:00Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show as this week’s guest will be professional poker player Alec Torelli, who currently lives in Northern Italy.
1:52Bernard announces that some of his interviews including this one with Alec Torelli can be found on his YouTube Page.
4:30RunGood Gear Ad
5:13Bernard welcomes professional poker player Alec Torelli, who currently lives in Northern Italy.
6:25Alec joins The Bernard Lee Poker Show.  Alec lives only 24 miles away from where Italy’s Patient One was diagnosed, in Codogno.
7:40Alec discusses his blogs online and on his YouTube pages with significant content on COVID-19.
12:12Alec talks about the current hospital situation in Italy and exponential growth.
17:40Alec discusses Italy’s and U.S. health care system how that affects patient testing and care.
21:20Alec discusses the stages of restrictions in Italy and how it relates to the U.S. as the Italy is ahead with regards to timeline.
28:34Share My Pair Ad
29:06Bernard continues his interview with professional poker player Alec Torelli, who currently lives in Northern Italy. Alec discusses relaxing the social distancing measures leads to resurgence of virus.
36:21Alec discusses the rush to the grocery stores and delivery services, but this did not include toilet paper which occurred in the U.S.
44:38Alec discusses the community coming together for group sing or applause for medical community.
51:17Alec reacts to online poker booming across the globe and the prospect of online poker gaining traction for regulation in the U.S. due to this surge of online poker.

 

Alec Torelli

The RecPoker panel of Steve Fredlund, Jim Reid, Chris Jones, Rob Washam, John Somsky, and Andrew Feist discuss what they have been learning, struggling with, and working on in regard to recent on-line poker experience. They also take a look at a hand history from the Russia Super High Roller Bowl.

ITM ($800k to 5th/$3.7 mil 1st), FT, 5 left. Folds to us (Adrian Mateos, chip leader at 3.4 million at the 15k/30k/30k level) in SB. We open QsQc to 65k. BB (Timothy Adams 1.8 million behind) defends. There is one short stack at table (about 650k, rest of table besides Mateos is all around 1.6-1.8 million). Flop is 8d6d3s. Mateos leads for 100k. Adams raises to 320k. This is the spot I want to talk about. It’s a spot where I flat almost 100% of the time, and I plan to continue big on turns that aren’t death such as 5d, 7d, 9d. But Mateos shoves. Is this purely an ICM move? What should Adams be calling with here? Is this a better play than flatting? Is this a flat in different spots, but not here? Or is this potentially a mistake? (IRL, Adams calls with Kd10d and spikes a K on the river).

Important announcements from our partners — these and more are available at rec.poker/resources
Get one week free of CORE from Red Chip Poker by visiting Rechippoker.com and using the code “RECPOKER.”
Learn Pro Poker is offering their package at discount this week. You can get their normal $40/month program for only $30/month or $300/year.

Time Stamps

0:00Welcome & Introduction
1:05RecPoker “Top Two”
2:13Panel check-in: Learnings, wrestlings, and focus areas playing online recently
28:45Poker hand analysis: Hand from Russia Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB)
56:14Home Game Updates (including Social Distancing Series)
58:10RecPoker Membership Content Updates: Seminar & Premium Partner Content Sharing
1:01:01Closing Comments
1:06:14Final Announcements

In my last article, I discussed the importance of tracking your profitability and gave you simple measurements to do so.

I’m sure all you tournament players would love to increase your return on investment by 15%, 50%, or even 500%, right? And you cash game players would love to have higher winnings per hour or higher BB/100 hands won as well.

Here, then, are five strategies to help you increase your profitability now. They’re listed in order of simplicity; from easy to implement to hard to do. With that said, the harder it is to do, the more profit potential it has.

profit

5. Play the Stakes You are Bankrolled For

It’s critical that you play within your bankroll to avoid having a “scared money” mentality. It’s quite stressful when a quarter of your bankroll is sitting on the table in front of you (e.g., $500 with a $2,000 roll). With so much at risk, making aggressive, chip-committing plays is scary and can be hard to do. For example, bluff check-raising for $120 means committing 1/4 of your stack, but it would also mean committing 1/16 of your entire roll. Talk about a stressful play!

So, whichever gaming site you choose to play at online, you can keep your stress as minimal as possible by playing stakes where you don’t feel the pressure of loss. Drop down to $1/2 as necessary or online play $10 buy-ins. Build that bankroll so you can more comfortably play bigger games.

4. Choose the Lower Rake Option

I have two card rooms in town. One has a max rake of $6 per hand and the other has a max of $7 per hand. I also play at two different online sites, one with a better rake structure than the other. Guess which card room and site I play on? Yeppers, the lower raked ones.

I don’t begrudge the poker rooms taking rake. They have to turn a profit to stay in business, right? But with all things equal (player pools, availability of action, enjoyment of the poker room, etc.), playing with lower rake makes the cost of poker cheaper. And in poker, just as in life, a penny saved is a penny earned.

Dragging 10 pots at the $7 rake card room during a 3-hour session will lower my hourly win rate by $3.33/hour. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s the difference between earning $15/hour and $11.67/hour. I choose to earn more.

And if you prefer to play poker online, look for sites that offer rakeback. Rakeback is an incentive that sites offer to get players “in the door”. In essence, the site returns a portion of the rake to you on a weekly basis. This is basically a discount for playing on their site.

3. Ditch Distractions

Poker time is poker time. It’s time to focus on implementing the skills you’re learning off the felt, to pay attention to the action, to learn about your opponents and devise ways to exploit their tendencies.

It’s NOT time to watch SportsCenter, play Candy Crush, or respond to emails. These things take up valuable mental real estate that should be used for making great decisions.

If boredom leads to distraction, try to force yourself to pay attention to all the information coming your way. Even if you fold, continue watching the action. Take poker notes: who 3-bets, who limps and calls, who c-bet bluffs a lot, and who never folds their draws. Watch every showdown and rerun the action of the hand through your mind to help you understand the logic your opponents use in their decisions. This information is invaluable to making profitable plays and building your chip stack.

2. Target the Lesser-Skilled Players at Your Table

As a winning player, a majority of your profits come from weak, inexperienced players… the “Fish”. These types of players play too many hands pre-flop, they limp and call with any “pretty” holding, they love flops and are willing to stay in with just about any pair or draw.

Your poker profits come from making better decisions than they do. But, in order for your skill edge to win chips, you must play hands against them. Look for every opportunity to see the flop, heads-up, against these lesser-skilled players while holding a hand superior to their range of hands (e.g., holding Ace-Ten when they can hold every Ace-X, King-X, and Queen-X hand).

Here are 3 strategies for “facing the fish” heads-up:

It’s critical to remember that these lesser-skilled players are your friends.  You want them happy and willing to play with you, so never “tap the aquarium” by berating them.

1. Study to Plug Your Poker Leaks

This final strategy of increasing your profitability is all about decreasing your losses. You do this by finding areas of weakness, or what I call, your poker leaks. Once you find a weakness, you must study profitable strategies and play with purpose to implement them.

Maybe you’ve realized that pre-flop, you’re profitable when open-raising but losing too much money when calling an open-raise. This is a common poker leak. You must find videos, articles, podcasts or books that can teach you proper strategy around making profitable pre-flop calls.

Once you find an item to study, do so and (again) take notes! Play your next few sessions with the goal of implementing your newfound strategies whenever it seems like a profitable opportunity. Revisit your notes daily, or study a new item the next day. Take notes again, work to implement the strategies, rinse and repeat.

Poker Notes Live

I hope these five strategies help improve your profitability. Implement them one at a time and track your profitability as the weeks go on to see what effect they have on your bottom line at the felt.

For more great coaching, strategies and tips from Sky Matsuhashi, check out his poker training site, The Poker Forge. Here’s our review.

Back in the early 2000s, many poker players managed to quickly move up in stakes and build big bankrolls from virtually zero, and this played a huge role in poker booming. While the “good old easy days” are over, you can still decide to playing poker for a living and achieve success if you are ready to work (hard!) on your game.

Becoming a successful player in today’s climate takes a lot of time and effort, which is why you no longer hear nearly as many great “rags to riches” poker stories. However, the poker dream still isn’t dead. As a matter of fact, with the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic ranging, we’ve borne witness to how popular poker remains, seeing massive surges of popularity for the game online while people are on lockdown.

In a nutshell, if you decide to utilize your time effectively to study poker, you can certainly come out as a stronger player. Plus, if you been considering playing poker more seriously, now could be the perfect time to take action. Maybe these tips will help you out in working towards starting to play poker for a living.

poker time clock

Be Realistic About Your Skill Level

The first thing you need to do is assess your skill level. As mentioned, the golden era of poker is a bit behind us, and beating the games these days is no longer a walk in the park.

However, that could also be a good thing since many players will not commit enough time and effort to master the game, and this opens the doors to ones who are determined to win.

This is especially true in an online setting where competition is getting tougher, and only serious players stand a chance to succeed in the long run.

To play poker for a living in 2020, you’ll need to figure out where you’re at skill-wise. It’s harder than it sounds because players tend to overestimate their skill level, which could be a costly mistake.

It goes without saying that this type of mistake could be quite dangerous, with dire consequences because you’ll be making a significant change in your life and potentially putting a sizable amount of money at risk.

If you have not seriously played poker before, it would be wise to dedicate yourself to studying Texas Holdem strategy rather than jumping into the heat of the action. Moreover, you probably want to keep your regular day job for the time being until you’ve mastered at least the basics, so as to ensure a steady flow of income.

Of course, if you are already beating your stakes and just want to dedicate more time to poker so that you could take it more seriously,  taking a leap of faith and following your dream sounds like an okay risk to take.

via GIPHY

Poker isn’t going anywhere, so whether try starting to play for a living right now or in a couple of months, it won’t make much of a difference in terms of what you need to win. On the other hand, taking that extra time to get prepared and go into it as ready as you can be could be the thing that defines your success.

Utilize Available Resources to Improve

If you determine that you might not be there just yet results-wise, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on your plans to someday play poker for a living. There are plenty of great resources out there you can use to improve your skills and get better in whatever format you’re looking to play (MTTs, cash games, or sit and gos).

Spending some time and some money enrolling in courses from some of the best poker sites out there will be an invaluable step in your transition to playing poker for a living. With so much fierce competition out there, you want to give yourself the best chance to start on the right foot, and learning the latest strategies will help you achieve that goal.

Many coaching platforms will help you understand the kind of mindset you’ll need to develop if you’re set on becoming a professional poker player. You may not think you need this advice right now, but once you make a move and get started on the grind, you’ll realize just how helpful these tips can be.

via GIPHY

Understand What It Takes

Just as important as learning about the game is understanding what it means to be a professional poker player. This isn’t just about sitting down and playing poker many hours each week. Sure, this is an integral part of the process, but it’s only one part. There is much more to playing poker professionally.

You need to devote some time to study on top of your playing sessions as well as manage your whole day yourself and build proper habits, all of which is probably harder than you might think it is at the outset.

via GIPHY

You also need to get used to the variance that comes with the game and make your plans around it. This means always maintaining a healthy bankroll and making sure you have plenty of buy-ins behind for the games you’re playing.

It also means learning how to deal with all the emotions that come with the lifestyle. Just as you’ll feel at the top of the world after a great session or after winning a tournament, you’re likely to feel down when things don’t go your way.

While these emotions are entirely normal, it is essential to learn how to keep them under control and don’t let them influence your decisions at the table and, more importantly, don’t let them spill into your private life.

Craig Varnell

In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the Cardplayer Lifestyle Podcast Family, Bernard Lee interviews Craig Varnell, who recently took home 1st place at 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event. Due to the concern over Coronavirus, the final table agreed to a chop and named Craig Varnell the winner as he was the chip leader. Craig discusses the tournament, specially that final day which resulted in the final table chop. During his career, Craig has won almost $2.5 million including the 2018 $565 Pot Limit Omaha WSOP bracelet.

0:00Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show as this week’s guest will be Craig Varnell, 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event 1st place finisher.
2:18Poker professional David “Doc” Sands announced via Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19.
4:04RunGood Gear Ad
4:47Bernard welcomes Craig Varnell, 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event 1st place finisher.
5:18Craig joins The Bernard Lee Poker Show.
5:58Craig, who lives on the Las Vegas Strip, describes the eeriness of an empty Las Vegas during the Coronavirus pandemic.
8:33Craig talks about the boom of online poker during the Coronavirus pandemic, especially in Nevada where online poker is legal.
11:19Craig recalls how he got started playing poker in Colorado and online poker and how it changed his life. He also discusses winning his first WSOP circuit ring in 2014 in Black Hawk, Colorado and riding the momentum in the live circuit.
19:04Craig discusses his personal fit with PLO and shares some tips.
25:26Craig reminisces about winning his 2018 $565 WSOP bracelet in PLO.
27:37Craig describes recovering from a severe injury, fracturing his skull, in June of 2019.
30:39Share My Pair Ad
31:11Bernard continues his interview with Craig Varnell, 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event 1st place finisher.
32:56Craig discusses his decision to play in the 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event.
36:05Craig recalls the events during the 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event  (March 11-13, 2020).
38:38Craig recalls the events during the final day (Day 3) of the 2020 Shooting Star Bay 101 Main Event (March 13, 2020) and the discussion of the eventual chop.
45:05Craig talks about playing poker online in Nevada and watching lots of television programs.

 

PokerNerve logo

Professional poker player Kelvin “Acesup” Beattie runs a poker website by the name of PokerNerve which specializes in the teaching of tournament poker. Kelvin, who has been a professional poker player for over 15 years, has amassed over $4 million in online winnings and was formerly the number 1 player in Australia.

Some of you may or may not have heard of PokerNerve, but their popularity is on the rise, and there is a lot you can learn from their content. So here are 7 different ways that PokerNerve can help improve your game, many of which are entirely for free.

Take their free 5-day email course

PokerNerve provides a free 5-day email course that features 1.5 hours of free video training designed to help you improve your tournament poker game. The course focuses on the “underused” skills and tactics that will help you hone in on some of the most common leaks of your average opponent.

PokerNerve MTT Skills

These three skills include lead betting, overbetting, and check raising. Just to recap:

These are some plays that you will not see used nearly enough at the poker table. If you do see them used, they are in many cases being used incorrectly or in the wrong situations, particularly the lead bet and the overbet. Check the email course out to make sure that you aren’t using them in the same way as the bad regs!

Join their email list and browse their blog

PokerNerve publishes and sends out 1-2 emails per month to their email list on the various topics from the world of tournament poker. Topics vary from the “niche” of using GTO poker solvers to an extensive list of everything you need to know to take on the game of poker.

PokerNerve Community

Their most recent blog posts cover bounty poker tournaments, which will give you an excellent grounding in this game type if you want to add them into your schedule.

Other recent posts include mastering the big blind position (advanced) and poker hand combinations (basics), so there is something for everyone to glean from it.

Click here to join their email list.

Check out their YouTube channel

PokerNerve’s YouTube channel is full of videos on the topic of MTTs. A good one to check out would be the heads up battle with Acesup and Aki (another professional poker player from Japan), which includes over 30 minutes of “cards exposed” play.

There is tons to learn in this video, including how you might go about changing your strategy in subtle ways to exploit your opponent. The video fittingly ends in true PokerNerve style with a royal flush to boot.

Alternatively, you can find some recent content about how to factor in poker bounty rewards or how to effectively use the squeeze play. Again, there’s tons of great, informative content to learn from on their YouTube channel, so it’s worth subscribing to.

Join their Facebook group

PokerNerve’s Facebook group is also is an excellent place to post hand histories, share your wins, and get replies from Acesup himself. There’s also a chance for members to win free giveaways. Just last week a free Bounty Hunter course and some PokerStars tournament tickets were given away to three lucky people.

PokerNerve giveaway

Join the Road To Success course

PokerNerve has an in-depth poker course on tournament poker called the Road To Success. This course will take you the full length of the poker journey, from learning the fundamentals of tournament poker all the way understanding and being able to use advanced multi-table tournament plays. The course is organized similar to that of a university course taking you from the basics to up to the most up-to-date skills with over 80 hours of video content. Here is a summary of what’s included in the course:

Road to Success PokerNerve

Many of PokerNerve’s students have seen great success since completing the course, including 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Jack Sinclair, who has over $4 million in tournament winnings since taking the course. Here is what he had to say about the course:

Two years ago, I was struggling to beat the low stakes. Getting on the Road to Success was the best decision I ever made. It taught me the skills I needed, not just to beat the low stakes, but to go on to crush the mid- & even the highest stakes available.

Jack Sinclair

The course currently comes with a 7-day trial, and therefore you can test out the tournament training with unrestricted access before you pay. The Road To Success course is particularly suitable for players who are playing low to mid-stakes either online or live and want to take their game to a higher level.

You can pick up the starter course for $104 or go for the full premium course for $517. Both of these prices include a 25% discount which you can get by using code CPL at checkout. If you’re still not convinced, check out our full review of PokerNerve’s Road to Success course.

Take the Bounty Hunter Course

Progressive knockout (PKO) tournaments have become crazy popular across all online poker sites and continue to grow. They now make up a considerable percentage of the average poker players volume, so having the right skill set for them is crucial for your success as a poker player. Yet, amazingly players don’t dedicate the proper amount of time to studying this tournament format. Have you?

PokerNerve’s Bounty Hunter course is a new addition to what’s on offer in the online poker course world. This course transitions you from a “standard” MTT game plan to one specialized for progressive knockout tournaments created in a similar style to the Road To Success course with a professional yet fun style.

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter Course

After completing the course, you’ll be ready for PKO action! Feeling confident with all manner of PKO decisions and quickly accounting for varying bounties in play. Thanks to easy, fast and accurate calculation methods taught, factoring in bounties is a breeze.

This course has over 40 lessons and 100 hand examples, allowing you to see all the skills in action with clear, concise demonstrations. These examples help to get players correctly implementing the skills in their games, quickly.

Acesup is one of the few players to win titles in the PokerStars $109 Bounty Builder, $215 Bounty Builder, and $530 Bounty Builder. A full analysis of the $530 Bounty Builder win is included in the course so you can see exactly how a poker pro tackles this tournament type from start to finish.

You can pick up this course for $375 using discount code CPL (which gets you 25% off). This course doesn’t include a free trial but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee if for any reason you are not happy with the course. You can also see our full review of this course here.

Private coaching

If you are interested in going a level deeper than an online course allows, you can get private coaching from Kelvin “Acesup” Beattie himself. Acesup has helped dozens of MTT players achieve better results over the course of his 15-year poker career.

In private coaching sessions, Acesup examines some of your play you’d like reviewed and finds leaks in your game. He helps players eradicate leaks by getting to the root of their poker problems and correcting any bad habits they may have picked up. Along with his experience, Acesup provides cutting-edge strategy advice by using tools such as PIOSolver and Simple GTO Trainer. This provides GTO and exploitative strategies so an accurate winning solution can be found for any situation.

Click here to find out more about private coaching.

To say that the RunGood Poker Series is still going strong might be a massive understatement.

In 2012, RunGood founder Tana Karnchanakphan had a vision to start a poker clothing company. That vision began with the launch of RunGoodGear apparel, which evolved into the earliest iteration of the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS).

The RGPS ended up making three stops as a poker tour in 2014. Fast forward to 2020, and the RGPS is still growing, both in number of annual events and geographical scope.

RunGood Poker Series Tana Karn

Tana Karn accepts the 2019 Global Poker Award for Best Mid-Major Series | Image courtesy: Poker Central

I had the opportunity to soak in the RunGood experience for the first time this past February, live reporting for PokerNews from the 2020 RunGood Poker Series Jamul Casino Main Event. That marked the first time the RGPS had run an event in California, with San Diego’s Jamul Casino playing host.

“To be honest, we really didn’t know what to expect,” said Karnchanakphan, who’s known as Tana Karn to the poker world.  “California was the furthest West we’ve ever been so we knew our traveling fan-base in the Midwest and South wouldn’t be in force.

“But San Diego did not disappoint. The poker scene in Southern California showed up to support and we made sure to give them a ‘Best Mid-Major’ show. The event was a huge success, not only by the numbers but the positive feedback from players on their first-ever RunGood experience being different from what they’ve played before.”

ICYMI, the RunGood Poker Series goes BACK TO BACK as Best Mid-Major Poker Tour at the Global Poker Awards hosted by @PokerGO! You can find a full list of winners via @PokerNews here: https://t.co/aVv4y1WPIX#OnePokerFamily ♥️ pic.twitter.com/rTli7DFbUS

— RunGoodGear.com (@RunGoodGear) March 8, 2020

The Best Mid-Major Show Experience

The RunGood Poker Series is a two-time consecutive winner of the Mid-Major Tour/Circuit of the Year award at the Global Poker Awards, taking that honor for both 2018 and 2019.

It’s the 2017 edition of the awards, however, that still sticks with Karn.

“There are a bunch of emotions on having the tour go back-to-back in the Global Poker Awards,” Karn said. “In 2017, we were nominated for the award and lost to WPT DeepStacks. That will be the awards show that I will ALWAYS remember.”

“It fueled the fire on how we could be better and deliver bigger. Every year when we start to design a season and game plan, we create it on the question of ‘Will it take us back to the Global Poker Awards?’”.

We’re gonna need a bigger podium. @tkarn421 @gpi pic.twitter.com/0SWAFj83v0

— brentharrington (@BrentHarrington) March 8, 2020


In that quest to give poker players that “Best Mid-Major” experience, the RGPS reinvents itself each year.

The 2020 tour is officially branded as RunGood Poker Series All-Stars Presented by PokerGO. All 2020 RGPS events play toward an end-of-year, 64-player tournament that will take place at the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas.

RunGood All Stars

This year’s series was designed to award 32 of those 64 seats to that $550 buy-in event to qualifiers from RGPS events. From each stop, the Main Event champion, as well as the Casino Champion points winner, automatically qualify, with the other half of the field filled by poker pros and celebrities invited by RGPS.

“I came from working in the NBA and WNBA before entering the poker industry,” Karn said “The concept of creating an All-Stars event and executing one had been brewing for quite some time.”

“With the right sponsor, like PokerGO, it was perfect timing to make it come to life. Being in the sports industry, I remember the excitement fans had watching their team’s “All-Stars” play during the season break. We would throw watch parties and the excitement in the room would be electric. We wanted to create that same electricity but now in each poker room community the tour travels to as they get to watch their own peers compete on a filmed event.”

The RGPS Jamul Casino event offered a glimpse at what that final All-Star event could look like. The Main Event field for Day 1a featured sports stars like Steve Beuerlein, Nick Barnett, Brett Boone and Jeremy Roenick, along with poker notables like 2017 WSOP Main Event champion Scott Blumstein, Jeff Platt, and Jamie Kerstetter.

Outlook for 2020 and Beyond

What that final lineup for the December RGPS finale will really look like is up in the air for now. RGPS events, along with all other live poker events, are on hold for the near future in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Karn has some words of encouragement for poker players in a time of uncertainty for the industry.

“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,” Karn said. “And I know for certain that the game of poker creates some very tough people. With all the highs and the lows, the bad beats, the two-outers, the money bubbles, the poker industry is filled with some incredibly tough individuals.”

When the poker world does get back to normal, the RGPS has big plans for the future.

“We definitely have some options for expansion in 2021,” Karn said. “The beauty of our growth is that it has always been from referrals or word of mouth. I’ve always believed in the fact that if you truly have a great product it will be just a matter of time before word gets out.”

“We started with a backpack full of shirts and turned it into a tour stop in 2014. Fast forward to 2021, we’re ready with a lot more backpacks.”

This. Thank you. ♥️🔥 #BackToBack #BestMidMajor 🏆 pic.twitter.com/mdgvDacTeE

— Tana Karn (@tkarn421) March 7, 2020

It’s plain for all to see that whole swathes of civilization seem to have ground to a halt over the past few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social and sporting events have been almost entirely called off, and as a pastime that spans the two disciplines, poker has been hit particularly hard. Just about every tournament in March and April has been either postponed , cancelled, or transitioned into an online series.

Yet this is also a time when out of necessity, if anything else, we make more time for game playing than ever. Fortunately, even if you can’t physically pitch up in Vegas or your local poker room for a tournament, there are plenty of ways to indulge your hobby, keep your game sharp and maybe even pocket some winnings.

poker lockdown

Play Online

Where there are properly regulated online games available to you, this is the obvious solution. The online gaming sites are among the few sectors that are continuing to thrive in these uncertain times. There’s plenty to choose from, and new providers like Mr Gold Casino are keeping the more established names on their toes with some interesting promotions. In the absence of formal tournaments, you can always have a game of three card poker or Caribbean Stud against one of the live dealers. 

Watch Poker Training Videos

Poker training videos are still a valuable tool for improving your game. There are a number of poker training sites offering live streams, including Pokercode, Run it Once, Pokercoaching.com, Red Chip Poker, and Upswing Poker to name a few. Of course, all of these require some financial outlay, but there are also some free resources out there. Venture down the rabbit hole that is YouTube and you never know what you might find. Belgian pro Fried Meulders’ channel is a great place to start.

Try a New Type of Poker Variant

Read interviews with the big names in poker and for the most part if they’re discussing specific hands it’ll be about nothing but no-limit Hold’em. Boring, boring, boring! The beauty of poker is in its variations, and if you’re willing to broaden your horizons, there is enormous value to be had in other disciplines. Most likely there will never be a better time to sit down and get to grips with a new poker variant. Once live poker and the tournament circuit open up again, being skilled at non-Hold’em poker variants will give you so many more options for winning at the felt, as well as keep game play fresh.

Read a Poker Book

If poker training videos aren’t your cup of tea, you can always pick up a classic poker book to do your learning. Some poker literature has gotten a bit dated, but it’s often still full of great tips. While you’re locked down, you might as well get reading. If you need a starting point, Super System by poker legend Doyle Brunson was first published more than 40 years ago and is still regarded as the definitive poker strategy guide. As a more contemporary option, Moorman: The Inside Story provide intriguing insights on the 21st century game. Venerable poker book publisher D&B Poker has plenty of other great titles to choose and learn from as well. 

Try a Poker Solver

If you’ve always been a bit hesitant to get into the solver game, now’s as good a time as any to get your feet wet. Of course, poker solvers are not just for newbies. Advanced ones like MonkerSolver and PIOsolver can provide strategic insights that even a seasoned pro will find handy. They can be confusing to work with at first, but if you can’t find the time now to get your head around one, the chances are you never will!

There are many different poker formats out there. Every single one of them entails certain strategy adjustments and changes to playing style. In the world of multi-table tournaments (MTTs), one particular format has become quite popular as of late because it adds extra dynamics to the game-plan right from the first hand. The format is usually known as the “Progressive Knockout” or “Bounty Hunter” and that’s exactly what the latest PokerNerve Bounty Hunter course, is all about.

What makes these tournaments different from traditional knockout tournaments (KOs) is the fact the players’ bounties increase with every opponent they eliminate, so bounties aren’t static. You probably don’t need a poker expert to tell you that this will influence how you act in certain scenarios. Naturally, however, having an expert (or two) explain what these scenarios are and what adjustments you need to make is very helpful.

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter

Over the course of several hours’ worth of video lessons (almost 20 hours altogether), Kelvin ‘Acesup’ Beattie and Ben Hayles break down every single aspect of Progressive Knockout tournaments (PKOs), using mathematical calculations and actual hand examples to create an excellent guide for this particular format.

Special for Cardplayer Lifestyle readers! Use promo code CPL to save 25%!

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter Course: Understanding What PKOs Are All About

The introductory video is a must-watch for anyone interested in improving their play in Progressive Knockouts. In it, “Acesup” explains the fundamental differences between PKOs and regular MTTs and how you can use a fairly simple formula to adjust your equities to account for the bounties.

The video offers a really good overview of how PKOs work and how the bounty pool changes as players bust. This is an essential introduction to everything that comes after in the course and it’s an excellent resource even if you’re completely new to bounty hunter tournaments. It really explains the format well and what you need to pay most attention to when playing.

Breakdown By Tournament Stages

Several segments of the PokerNerve Bounty Hunter course offer an excellent overview of game play at the three main stages of every tournament, namely:

These videos are best watched in order. Every segment contains several lessons on particular subtopics, and videos are usually about 15 minutes long, so they’re easy to keep up with. Worth noting, both Beattie and Hayles do a good job of keeping things light and entertaining as much as possible, which definitely helps you maintain your focus while learning.

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter

In the early stage videos, you’ll find a wealth of resources on how to approach bounty hunters during the period of play where the Independent Chip Model (ICM) is almost irrelevant. The segment is broken down by the stack depth, explaining necessary adjustments you’ll need to make vs. short, medium, and large stacks during early levels of a PKO.

The course utilizes Hold’em Resources Calculator (HRC) to come up with adjusted ranges for specific KO situations. The poker software does a pretty good job of this and you’ll be able to see in real time how adding or removing bounties changes calling and shoving ranges in particular scenarios.

Importantly, the course creators do account for the fact that HRC isn’t perfect as it doesn’t have the ability to account for new possibilities that open up once you have accumulated a really big stack in a PKO. Having a big stack in these tournaments is often of much bigger significance than having a big stack in a regular MTT where there isn’t the additional prize money to worry about.

After looking at early stage play, the PokerNerve Bounty Hunter Course moves on to middle stage play. In this phase, the ICM does start to have some influence but it’s still not a huge factor. Thus, you can still put a lot of focus on winning bounties.

In this section, “Acesup” explains how things start to change as players accumulate more bounties and how you can adjust your stealing and re-stealing ranges to account for these changing dynamics. He also explains the Bounty Factor (BF), a number that helps you make decisions on the spot and understand how equity requirements change.

Finally, the course talks about late stage and final table play. This is where ICM begins to really have an impact. To demonstrate the impact of ICM, “Acesup” compares bubble play in a regular $109 tournament on PokerStars and optimal play in a $109 bounty hunter tournament.

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter

In this section, you’ll find a lot of good advice on how to make certain adjustments in the final stages of the tournament and take advantage of those players who fail to make such adjustments. With bounties in play, calling ranges become wider, which calls for tightening up and adjusting your shoving ranges.

A particularly interesting video in this section is the one on deal making. “Acesup” explains what things you should think about when making a deal and how different live and online poker rooms have different rules when it comes to bounties once a deal is struck. To put yourself in the best possible spot, you need to know these rules and account for them when making your decision.

Special for Cardplayer Lifestyle readers! Use promo code CPL to save 25%!

Isolating

After going through stage by stageplay, the PokerNerve Bounty Hunter course moves to a topic that’s important in MTTs in general but is especially significant in PKOs: isolating. With the added money from bounties, there is an additional incentive to play heads-up pots against shorter stacks and bust them. But, what’s the correct strategy here?

Focusing on four important factors, Beattie explains everything you need to know about potential isolation opportunities:

In this section, you’ll also find out about some strategies specific to PKOs in light of isolation opportunities. For example, limping in becomes a much more viable approach in certain scenarios whereas this strategy is almost never used in regular MTTs. Added bounty dynamics make limping with the threat of isolation shoving a good option in certain scenarios.

Covering vs. Non-covering and Multi-way Pots

The final two sections of the PokerNerve Bounty Hunter course discuss how to adjust your play in situations depending on whether you cover or don’t cover your opponent and how to approach multi-way pots in PKO tournaments.

In terms of covering vs. not covering, you’ll pretty much be able to make many correct assumptions yourself by this point in the course. When you have a covering stack in pre-flop situations, you’ll be able to play looser, whether you’re the first in the pot or are calling or defending from the blinds.

PokerNerve Bounty Hunter

In post-flop scenarios, when you have a player covered, you’ll want to build pots faster and not slow-play too much. Of course, you’ll find out what this means via concrete examples and what strategies to apply to achieve these results.

It’s worth mentioning that once you’re done with all the lessons, there is an in-depth review of a $530 online bounty builder tournament as played by “Acesup”. This provides a great summary of everything that’s been discussed as you can see many concepts as applied in actual play.

Summary: How Good is the PokerNerve Bounty Hunter Course?

PokerNerve’s Bounty Hunter course is definitely an interesting and rather unique product. They took a special niche within the MTT world and gave it an excellent, in-depth treatment. As some would say, the course “does what it says on the tin” and delivers on the promise to teach you about intricacies of playing progressive KOs.

Although you’ll find a fair bit of theory, formulas, and calculations (which are hardly ever too interesting to go through), Beattie and Hayles have really done a great job of keeping things light and easy to follow throughout. While the course is focused on a particular type of MTTs, you’ll also find a lot of general advice in there in terms of ranges and adjustments, so watching the videos is definitely worth your while even if PKOs aren’t your main focus.

In sum, if you want to develop a deeper understanding of bounty hunters and improve your ROI in these tournaments, this product will help you get there, and with a $374 price tag (a 25% discount from the regular price of $499) it’s a worthwhile investment to make in your poker game.

Bounty Builder GIF

Special for Cardplayer Lifestyle readers! Use promo code CPL to save 25%!