world poker tour 2006

[TruePoker 1]

I am planning on entering a World Poker Tour event in 2006, however I am still practicing and learning to play.Just wondering what people think are the best methods for self improvement in preperation for a tournament like this.Should I be playing lots of online STT / MTT / NL cash games aswell as entering lots of 50 dollar - 100 dollar rebuy tournaments at my B+M.Is it good to be prepared mentally, e.g. increasing session times?Prepared physically e.g. more gym training etcAnyone?

[Ramocita 0]

Honey,You would be the epitome of DEAD MONEY..... :roll:

[custom36 4]

Honey,You would be the epitome of DEAD MONEY..... :roll:

Asshole,You don't even know WHO HE IS.....:roll:

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

I am planning on entering a World Poker Tour event in 2006, however I am still practicing and learning to play.Just wondering what people think are the best methods for self improvement in preperation for a tournament like this.Should I be playing lots of online STT / MTT / NL cash games aswell as entering lots of 50 dollar - 100 dollar rebuy tournaments at my B+M.Is it good to be prepared mentally, e.g. increasing session times?Prepared physically e.g. more gym training etcAnyone?

That's awesome. I was wondering why Raymer was doing all those crunches yesterday at the gym. I can just see this guy doing the Rocky IV workout in the mountains of Russia. Someone asks him why he's training and he says he's playing the Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio (bewildered look on question askers face)

[BeanGW 0]

For the OP: All of the above. Mental and physical fitness are both important, and practice makes perfect. Read some Harrington on Hold Em books as well.

[Royal_Tour 0]

I am planning on entering a World Poker Tour event in 2006, however I am still practicing and learning to play.Just wondering what people think are the best methods for self improvement in preperation for a tournament like this.Should I be playing lots of online STT / MTT / NL cash games aswell as entering lots of 50 dollar - 100 dollar rebuy tournaments at my B+M.Is it good to be prepared mentally, e.g. increasing session times?Prepared physically e.g. more gym training etcAnyone?

TruePoker. Glad to hear it my friend.I think your best bet is to stay relaxed within a week of the event. As far as playing more poker, well of course that always helps.But like anything, you wanna be mentally prepared first. I'd suggest perhaps watching some WPT dvd's, and some WSOP. just get into the feeling.Mentally you need to feel like you're there for a reason, and even though i hate to quote the guy, Phil Hellmuth said it best when playing in the heads up match, just say to yourself "Play good poker, Play good poker"good luck

[Bigkspec 0]

I am planning on entering a World Poker Tour event in 2006, however I am still practicing and learning to play.Just wondering what people think are the best methods for self improvement in preperation for a tournament like this.Should I be playing lots of online STT / MTT / NL cash games aswell as entering lots of 50 dollar - 100 dollar rebuy tournaments at my B+M.Is it good to be prepared mentally, e.g. increasing session times?Prepared physically e.g. more gym training etcAnyone?

They're certainly valid questions, but I think only you can be the judge of a couple of them. If you find yourself exhausted or losing focus after a couple hours, then you probably will need to get in a marathon session to see what you're capable of. A lot of people in the WSOP give their money away on day 2-3 when they're just sick and tired of playing poker and are willing to get in with the worst of it.Unfortunately, I don't think there's really much for you to practice with online or in small casino tournaments. The structures are just too fast. My local casino has a $165 buy-in and the structure jumps ever 20 minutes. The WPT and WSOP, to my recollection, are 90 or 120 minutes levels. The play is (and should) be totally different. MTT are good if you can find a deep stacked slow moving structure. I hear Pokerstars has some good ones, but the sites I've played at (Pacific and Party) won't simulate $10,000 tournament play at all. Within an hour, it's an all-in fest where the average stack is 10-15 BB.The smaller buy-in events normally leading up to the main event at the WPT or WSOP may offer better conditions. It's not deep-stacked, but at least the structure isn't so bad. The bottom line is it's hard to prep for a $10000 or $25000 event. The key is probably quick adaptation once you hit the table.Good luck.

[Ramocita 0]

Honey,You would be the epitome of DEAD MONEY..... :roll:

Asshole,You don't even know WHO HE IS.....:roll:

OMG...... i am a total douche....... i didnt even pay attention... my apologies Jayson..... you usually have your picture up.... GOD IM A BIG FAT LOSER>........... I will from now on FLAME MYSELF...... GOD... what an IDIOT i am

[TruePoker 1]

Neither of us are Jayson....Just for clarification "dont waste your money", I will win my entry into this tournament.Nice reply Ron as always.I think I will probably play 10 - 15 hours a day, at least for the next 4 months. See what level my poker is at and then re-assess.

[elkang 0]

Have a mentor or two...Have a plan... (you only have so many hours in a day)Check on your plan and evaluate how it's going...Modify/tweak your plan...Keep pressing on and repeat this cyle.I'm all for the physical training. Playing these long tourneys requires endurance and toughness. Physical training helps, but it's more mental toughness that makes it through the events. Be glad you're young though.Lately, I feel that physical training helps table image and other aspects of the poker game - like the post-victory partying.

[TruePoker 1]

elkang for president. I am just 18 years old, I think I can definitely handle the mental part of it due to the dedication that I have had with poker since I started playing.I will work on a plan laters.

[Ramocita 0]

Don't you have to 21 to enter... maybe I am wrong with WPT?

[TruePoker 1]

aruba / paris + some other events 18+.Not sure exactly which, paris definitely 18 +

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

elkang for president.  I am just 18 years old, I think I can definitely handle the mental part of it due to the dedication that I have had with poker since I started playing.I will work on a plan laters.

Three things I never thought I'd see in the same sentence.GL for real.

[Royal_Tour 0]

elkang for president.  I am just 18 years old, I think I can definitely handle the mental part of it due to the dedication that I have had with poker since I started playing.I will work on a plan laters.

Three things I never thought I'd see in the same sentence.GL for real.

2 words i never thought i would see in your posts

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

touchedouche

[Royal_Tour 0]

touch me, then douche my ravaged ass

FYPP.S., love you

[RayPowers 0]

I have thought about this a bit since my wife and brother in law keep pushing me to do such a thing. I'm not though, I am just not good enough yet in my opinion. Maybe in ANOTHER year.First, you already play a ton online, and its obvious you have the fundamentals and know how to play. What you should be focusing on is the in person aspect of play.I love pub poker. Flame me all you want, and yes, the majority of these people suck, but its a free MTT in person to learn how to play a MTT tournament structure live and learn how to get a read on people while at the same time learning how to not let people read you. A lot of online players look and act a lot different in a brick and mortar environment, and playing a ton of these gets you comfortable with live play and tournament situations. The down side is that they are often very short (3 hr events based on aggressive blind structures) but most place will run two in a day, so you can just go from one to the next to get used to longer sessions in a live environment. Just keep in mind you are not learning how to pay against good players here, you are learning how to play in a live environment, how to read people, and how to not be read yourself. You are also learning the ebb and flow of a tournament, and when to slow down, and when to speed up.Continuing to play online is required. The number of hands and the situations you see online are so much higher than live that you need to keep working off this experience. That plus the level of play you can find online is greater than that you can find in pub poker.After about three months of pub pokering, move on to once or twice a week brick and mortar casino tournaments, preferably during tourist times. (nights, weekends,etc). At this point you are looking for large fields and long tournaments more than good players. The good players will find you as you rise to the top in these tournament structures. This will get you a better feel for real tournament play with the experience of how to play in a live tournament under your belt. Bankroll management is important here. You want to experiment a lot in these events so that you can see what works for you and what doesn't. This means that you will often not cash in these, and your online play needs to be able to cover the hole in your bankroll this is going to create.Six months out its time to change eating and exercise habits. You want to have a nice half year of new healthy habits under your belt, not two weeks liek some people. They decide to "get healthy" right before the event, and are hungry or sore or otherwise distracted while playing. You want to be well set in your new healthy habits when it comes time to play.Three months out its time to put the game face on and play to win in the brick and mortar events. Cut back to one every couple of weeks, and stop experimenting. You should know what works now and what doesn't. Play like it is a $10K buy in even if its a $10 buy in. Take the full two weeks in between events to analyze your play. Remember every hand you can, blog it and encourage people to suggest other ways you could have played it, and listen to them. Even the idiots who make no sense, because you know what, those idiots will be playing against you in those events, and you want to know how they think. The greatest challenge here is figure out who the idiots are and not taking their advice, but filing it away for future use.HOW you get in is something else, and not something I have enough information on to really be helpful.Uh, Ok, I rambled a lot. I hope it helped at least.

[TruePoker 1]

thats a very informative post and is actually very helpful even though it is long and took a while to go over and re-read. I can see where you are coming from and definitely agree that experience is very valuable. Currently I play 3-4 times a week at B+Ms.I am trying to set up some 30 people tournaments home games, perhaps held in pubs if we can, if not then we can rent out multi-purpose rooms very cheaply.It's quite hard to go over hands, but one of my friends is currently leaning towards playing a WPT event aswell and he is almost as serious as me about playing for a living. He is in a 600 dollar event at our B+M on saturday. We are currently going over hands that he has played in MTT's and STT's over this past week.

[RayPowers 0]

thats a very informative post and is actually very helpful even though it is long and took a while to go over and re-read. I can see where you are coming from and definitely agree that experience is very valuable.  Currently I play 3-4 times a week at B+Ms.I am trying to set up some 30 people tournaments home games, perhaps held in pubs if we can, if not then we can rent out multi-purpose rooms very cheaply.It's quite hard to go over hands, but one of my friends is currently leaning towards playing a WPT event aswell and he is almost as serious as me about playing for a living. He is in a 600 dollar event at our B+M on saturday. We are currently going over hands that he has played in MTT's and STT's over this past week.

Yeah, I was keeping in mind i know very little about your play habits so I went with the low end basics and took it from there. I assumed some would not apply to you, but not having a point of reference I figured more was better than less.Having someone to evaluate hands with you is amazingly important. I have a mail list of my friends who all play 'seriously' at any level and we go over hands all the time. They are at different levels and have different styles, so its always educational even if I don't agree with them. I get the feeling of "Oh, Steve is super tight and this is his response, I'm going to file it away for something a rock would do in this situation."I am not sure STT's really have the same benefit personally. STT's are often played from the perspective of getting to the money, and play out a lot differently than MTT's in terms of flow and play styles, in my experience at least...Ray

[PMJackson21 0]

thats a very informative post and is actually very helpful even though it is long and took a while to go over and re-read. I can see where you are coming from and definitely agree that experience is very valuable.  Currently I play 3-4 times a week at B+Ms.I am trying to set up some 30 people tournaments home games, perhaps held in pubs if we can, if not then we can rent out multi-purpose rooms very cheaply.It's quite hard to go over hands, but one of my friends is currently leaning towards playing a WPT event aswell and he is almost as serious as me about playing for a living. He is in a 600 dollar event at our B+M on saturday. We are currently going over hands that he has played in MTT's and STT's over this past week.

Elkang's suggestions were good ones up above, as well as others in the thread. Find a mentor, or at least someone who has played in higher buy-in live events, and soak up as much knowledge as you can. The only thing I can add, is try to get as much practice in as possible playing deep stack poker. The WCOOP events are good practice, and as a much cheaper alternative, the $10+1 rebuy on Stars nightly is as well. With so many rebuys, there is a great deal of chips in play. If you can accumulate a big stack in the first hour, then you will be able to get the deep stack practice in that you need. Also, the RGP Open Main event will be 10k in chips, and 40 minute levels, with the blind structure following that of the WSOP ME, so that is also a great opportunity to get in some deep stack play.Here's something else that might be useful to you :http://www.conjelco.com/wsop97/bloch.htmlThat was Andy Bloch's first WSOP ME, and does a good job of detailing his experience.Patrick

[Drwnded 0]

I definitely think playing a lot of STT's is a very bad way to prepare for a deep-stacked slow-moving event like a WPT NLHE MTT. I play a lot of NLHE STT's online and earn a significant positive return on my money, but I find when I play a big MTT after playing only STT's for a while, I really have to focus a lot more on being patient, playing tight, waiting for an optimal spot to get my money in, and limiting my attempts to try and bluff too much. Your play in STT's has to be very fluid, and your moves are governed by the very rapidly rising blinds/falling M's at an increasingly short-handed table, to the point where after a few rounds the only move left to you is fold or move in preflop. I will say STT's are useful in preparing you for playing at a final table of an MTT though, should you manage to make it that far.

[kennyboy 0]

Speaking of physical fitness...I'm curious.How is it that most high profile poker players don't look like Raymer? You'd think with all the sitting around for hours, stress levels...etcDaniel, as well as most players seem to be a pretty fit guys. Brunson and Cloutier aren't exactly, but they're gettin' old.Is it the cocaine? The purging after eating KFC at 3 am?

[Batch 0]

thats a very informative post and is actually very helpful even though it is long and took a while to go over and re-read. I can see where you are coming from and definitely agree that experience is very valuable.  Currently I play 3-4 times a week at B+Ms.I am trying to set up some 30 people tournaments home games, perhaps held in pubs if we can, if not then we can rent out multi-purpose rooms very cheaply.It's quite hard to go over hands, but one of my friends is currently leaning towards playing a WPT event aswell and he is almost as serious as me about playing for a living. He is in a 600 dollar event at our B+M on saturday. We are currently going over hands that he has played in MTT's and STT's over this past week.

what the hell is a b and m

[PMJackson21 0]

what the hell is a b and m

Brick & Mortar.Patrick