If i had to make my first $1,000,000 in poker all over again, this is exactly what i'd do.
These are the 9 lessons i wish i knew when i first started playing.
1. Throw Away Balance
In rock, paper, scissors: if our opponents are throwing rock just 10% too much, we should throw paper 100% of the time until they adjust.
Same idea in poker. All of our opponents are fundamentally unbalanced. it's up to us to figure out how:
– If they underbluff, we should fold EVERY bluff catcher
– If they overbluff, we should call EVERY bluff catcher
– If they overfold, we should MASSIVELY overbluff
– If they overcall, we should MASSIVELY underbluff
2. Maximizing Every Edge Can Minimize Profit
I wish i could have beaten this into the head of my younger self!
– Think LONG term
– Table changing doesn't exist at high stakes
– Seat changing doesn't exist at high stakes
– If you do either of the two above, the big spots won't want to play with you – they're not dumb!
– Fast roll the recreational players, you're not gaining anything from seeing whatever god forsaken combo they're bluffing with
Basically: don't be an ass, be good for the game, the money will come to you eventually, you don't need to chase every tiny edge!
3. Good Poker is UGLY
Be willing to look stupid! Lines that "aren't a thing" are often great against weak players!
– Donking multiway with strong hands when there are fish between you and the PFR
– Small river sizes IP as a bluff
– 8-10x XR when out of position
– Trapping preflop when a pro opens and there are fish behind
None of these "are a thing" at equilibrium, but no one playing live poker knows how to spell equilibrium.
4. Be Authentic
I always used to try to deny i was a pro. i would tell everyone I still worked in music, when I hadn't been actively making music for years. I didn't want the secret to get out!
The truth: even fish know who's good/bad. i just came across as slimy. you can be honest without talking strategy at table/being bad for game.
Now: I give away all my secrets on the internet and I'm open about playing for profit, and I have more invites to high stakes/stream games/private games then ever. I would have given half a lung for seats in these games years ago!
Don't be scared to be open about what you're doing + document your journey. Authenticity wins.
5. The Carter 2 Theorem
Lil Wayne said on shooter on the Carter 2 about southern rappers: "If we too simple, yall don't get the basics"
Don't overcomplicate things. don't chase shiny objects. Work on the following, and nothing else:
1) Learn how to range
2) Build a set of defaults to save brain power
3) Build a repeatable thought process – a list of questions you ask in every hand to help you come to the right decision
Get this down and you'll crush. Everything else is just NOISE.
6. Poker Isn't Freedom, It's Work
Poker isn't going to give you "freedom" from the 9 to 5. You're going to have to work 3x as hard for the same results. because you don't have a boss you're going to have to be the most disciplined boss of yourself in the entire world.
If you want "freedom", find freedom in the process, because you're going to be working 60+ hour weeks for a long, long time. If you want "work/life" balance – do something else.
- Increased first deposit bonus
- Increased rakeback and reloads
- Help with deposits and cashouts
- Access to private freerolls
- Round-the-clock support
7. We Are Not the Hero
Our opponents are the main character in their own poker stories, and we are but an extra. they are NOT adjusting based on what YOU do. instead, they are adjusting based on what happens to THEM.
Not important: you just ran a 3 street bluff against someone else at the table and got caught.
Important: they just get stacked. Or, they're up for the day and about to leave. or, they just got a bluff windmilled in their face.
Adjust how you play vs them based on what has happened to THEM today, not based on what you think they think of YOU. they don't even know you exist.
8. Respect is Expensive
In live poker most players are weak, and playing too much defense will cost us more than playing offense. example:
We open BTN A3s, SB nit 3b.
In equilibrium, we should be 4b here a good amount! Equilibrium is DEFENSE.
If this player is truly a nit, we are LIGHTING MONEY ON FIRE by playing defense. Instead, we should realize:
GTO = exploit
Exploit = GTO
If you give a solver an opponents strategy, it will be the best exploit player in the world!
It costs us LESS to assume live poker players are weak + underbluffing + make a ton of mistakes than it does to assume they're strong. If they're strong, make them prove it.
Play offense first.
9. The Sky Isn't Falling
After my first MAJOR downswing (600+ hours when i moved up from $5/5 to $5/10/20) i wanted to quit.
My girlfriend at the time (now wife) said something that changed my life and stuck with me forever: whenever something gets hard you quit.
So, i set out to prove her wrong. i played 70+ hours a week, playing from 10am – 11pm 6+ days a week for seveal months – and guess what? i busted out of the downswing very quickly.
Just remember: you're going to be upstuck 90% of the time as a live poker player. you're almost always going to have less money right NOW than you did 5 hands ago, or last session, or even last week/month.
Zoom out, and look at your long term results. focus on what you can control, and the results will come.
I'm eternally grateful she didn't let me quit when things got tough.
