Welcome Advanced Poker Training! Building a Strategy

I've just partnered up with the pro team at Advanced Poker Training in developing new content. My first objective is designing new combat training scenarios in which players can develop strategies in the challenging situations they face in the game. In support of that objective, I thought I would write this blog and help those who struggle with how to build a good strategy. 

I've also placed a hyperlink here on my social page if you decide you'd like to try your hand at some of these combat scenarios. You can use the trial version for free to test it out! Now, onto the process of building a strategy. 

A good poker strategy accomplishes a known objective. i.g. To play profitably from the blinds, to improve short-handed play, to increase win rate, etc. So, a strategy then can be defined as a plan of action to accomplish a known objective or handle a particular situation.

The process of my strategy building technique begins with clearly stating my objective of what I'm trying to accomplish in the game situation. I then write down four or five specific action steps (behaviors) that I believe will help me reach my objective. My plan of action. I then move into the effort of testing that strategy for effectiveness. 

Here's an example;

Objective:  To improve my button play by leveraging my advantage.

Strategy:

Pre-Flop:

• When folded to, RAISE with top 75% of hands.
• When facing limpers, RAISE with top 25% of hands. 
• When facing a mid-position raiser, 3Bet with top 1-5% + 10-15% of hands, Flat with 5-10% of hands and fold everything else.

Post-Flop:

• When in a heads up and checked to by the pre-flop raiser, BET all boards that don't contain an Ace or King, regardless of the strength of my hand.

• In multi-way pots, when bet into by the last player before me, RAISE with any pair and draws of 6 outs or more.

There are many game situations in which one could develop sound strategies and tactics. For example;

Defending from the small blind

Playing against a calling station

Playing Ace-Rag

Playing against the passive-aggressive opponent

Playing out of position w 2nd pair on an Ace high board with an SPR of 2.

A strategy is as effective as it accomplishes your objective. Given conscious effort and a proper trial run, evaluate your results to determine if you've met your objective or the strategy needs adapting. 

This is where having a good software program to build, test and evaluate your strategy is essential. It sure beats a trial and error method in real game time situations because it will save you a lot of money and time. So enjoy building your technique and strategies in developing a winning poker game on Advanced Poker Training!

Kenna

PROPER TECHNIQUE - Viewing Your Hand and Handling Your Chips

Many players come to me to study and learn proper poker technique. So, I thought it may be interesting to start a series on the subject. Let me begin with two of the most basic techniques in poker - Looking at your cards and handling your chips. No matter what level you play the game, it can be helpful to learn and re-examine proper technique.

A strategy is a plan of action to reach an objective. - i.e. To bet with a strong intention.
To play a GTO (game theory optimum) strategy so as to maximize my r.o.i. in cash games.

Your technique is the way in which you carry out a particular task. - i.e. how you look at your cards and handle your chips. The line you take in the play of your hand, etc.

VIEWING YOUR HAND - Timing and Protection

An effective strategy, when it comes to looking at your hand, assures your opponent can't see your cards or determine the relative strength of your hand by your reaction to what you see.

When it comes to the technique of looking at your cards, the two main things are your timing and of course how you look at them. When it comes to timing, some players like to look at their cards as soon as they get them, while others wait to look until it is their turn to act. I think the best technique to develop is waiting for your turn to act. This way you can keep your focus up and out and on your opponents as they are looking at their cards. You may even pick up a line on a player who acts after you if they look at their cards right away and give off an indication to what they are likely to do.

The second thing is how you look at your cards. I like the technique in this photo illustration.



The left hand should come up just a little bit higher and the left thumb tucking under a little bit more will provide additional protection. Done correctly, it will appear like you are looking down the rabbit hole!

Conversely, this illustrations below reveals poor technique in looking at a hand.



Holding your cards far out in front of you without adequate protection from the other hand is a bad habit to get into as well as holding your cards up to high and grabbing your chips. This is just a breakdown in proper technique of looking at your hand.

Let's think about our technique in betting our chips.




HANDLING YOUR CHIPS

The strategy in handling and betting our chips is to not give off any physical or bet sizing tells that would indicate the true strength of our hand. The physical placement of our chips into the pot tends to be with one or more of the following techniques.

1. Sliding
2. Placing or the methodical drop
2. Cutting
3. Splashing

The next time you watch a poker show on t.v., YouTube, etc. look for the player's technique in betting their chips. Whichever technique you employ, remember to put strong intention behind your consideration before putting them into the pot. This technique will compliment an aggressive strategy that is meant to put an opponent on the defense.










The other thing to keep in mind when putting chips into the pot is your sizing.

Some "experts" say you should be consistent and always size your bets the same to not reveal the strength of your hand. Putting this kind of limiters on your betting to hopefully not reveal something...well for me at least, doesn't allow for optimum bet sizing.

I think the proper technique is to constantly shift your sizing based on your opponent and the specifics of the situation. For example, if I'm facing a calling station on the flop, and I have the best hand, I don't want to limit myself to a standard size C-Bet. I want to go for a heavy bet and more value. As long as you don't fall into predictable patterns like betting small when you're weak and big when you're strong, you'll be okay when mixing it up.

I'll continue this series with more poker techniques and strategies. If you have a suggestion on a technique or strategy you'd like me to write about, please leave it in the comment section below and I'll be glad to help you with it.

Kenna James

COOL HAND LUKE

I found myself in the unenviable position of handling an upset this week. It’s something I do regularly with clients, but this time the tables were turned and the upset I was handling, was with myself.

This past week I played the $300 NL-rebuy event. It was a true rebuy as the field was loose and wild. Rebuys were flying around the room like parakeets. I had gotten to the tournament 15 mins. early, or so I thought, but turns out I misread the start time and I was more like 75 mins. early. I was easy going and accepted my new reality and sat on a nearby couch to read a poker magazine.

The time passed quickly and when I got to my table I was pleasantly surprised to find a great table draw. It had a few players that I knew didn’t play well along with some others that played well but oftentimes didn’t, for one reason or another. And with this being a rebuy event, it would give them the perfect excuse to loosen up and gamble. Sure enough, many of them started off getting their chips in the middle with the worst of it.

With the initial rebuy, which everyone at my table did, the starting stack was 24k in chips. I was up to about 30k rather quickly, smooth sailing and no sign of trouble ahead.

Like dark skies on the horizon of a sea, however, trouble appeared rather quickly in the form of a floor man named Kevin. Kevin comes over and quite unceremoniously removes two players from our table. “I have to move you guys to another table,” he says. Seems innocent enough, except he was taking the action players! Something that was going to make my journey to the winner’s circle a lot more difficult. I wasn’t going to have it. Suddenly my mood switched from being contented to being upset.

“Why is this guy taking the fish out of my basket?” I thought. I used different terms to protest to a few of my other table opponents who didn’t seem the least disturbed by this recent development. And why should they? It’s all part of the game, right?

The very next hand someone new was in the seat. A “young-gun” who was a much tougher player then the one who left. “This is silly! I don’t understand why they do that, move one player only to put in a different one in his place.” I exclaim.

I called the tournament director over and proceeded to ask him about their table balancing procedures. I whined; “Why are you taking multiple players from our table? Is there an order in which tables you draw the players from?”  I asked. He patiently explained that there was a process, random as it may be, to take players from the worst positions at existing tables and form a new table. The reasoning was; “We don’t want players who are signing up late to sit together, so we do it to prevent collusion.” He says. “Humph!” I shrug and shake my head.

My position, which I vehemently wanted to hang onto, was that everyone else in the tournament, that was here on time, is being inconvenienced!  Losing the intel. and data gathering work they’ve done on the opponent’s they are currently sitting with, only to have it ripped away. While changing and adapting is a natural aspect of tournament play, it is usually due to players busting out and having to combine and balance tables. This was the opposite, we all had to change and balance tables because of player tardiness and joining the field late. Wait a minute, I was over an hour early! I thought this unfair and it sent me into protest. Not very effectively I might add as you will see.

The important factor not to be overlooked in all of this, at least from a competitive point of view, is that I not only let this process affect me, but I let it show. I was in an upset and acting like an amateur.

Pros don’t play in protest, period. A pro player playing his or her “A” game doesn’t get upset by what happens in the game, or if they do, they certainly don’t show it. A Pro plays conscious, alert and in present time. Accepting changes and flows as part of the game with a willingness to adapt their strategy to changes accordingly. I know this, and still, I was falling victim to my own protest.

After about 15 minutes I manage to center myself and was back to focusing on competing. Just then a new challenge emerged. A floor man swings back by with an empty rack, setting it down in front of me. “Time to move,” he says. I laughed at the irony, shook my head and quietly moved.  Surprisingly, I find myself at an even better table then-then one I left! Just to the left of two big fish with chips! Yum-Yum!! Sounds like the perfect poker player’s meal. I went about building my chip stack, happy as a kid with a dish of chocolate pudding.

A friend of mine who was waiting for a seat as an alternate is watching my table. We chat and talk strategy for a few minutes. I tell him that if you like your table, make sure you pay close attention and get through the big blind quickly before they come and nab you and move you to another table. The very next lap around the table I elect to play a marginal hand under the gun. This extends the time before I take the big blind just long enough for me to see Death standing behind me with the all too familiar empty rack. Ahhhh!!! Nooooo!! My protest coming out full bare, “I’m not the big blind!” I yell at him. “Yes, you are. I got to move you.” No, not me again, I think to myself. My frustration building coming to a full froth the pent-up anger bubbling beneath my skin.

This time there was no acknowledgment, just hostility directed towards the floor man giving me the seat card. I snapped up the new seat assignment and proceeded to my new table, leaving a trail of steam and mumbling complaints in my wake. My anger was about to be unleashed.

This time the draw was not so generous and I was like a criminal peeking out from underneath a blindfold standing in front of a firing squad. The bullets to come from the very young guns I was resisting. The harder I tried to center myself and accept my new reality, the more the resistance took hold. Like a Red Hawk whose talons are already in its prey. I was dinner.

It took about 30 minutes before the 30k+ chip stack I had accumulated was reduced to a vacant space of felt just north of me. “Rebuy,” I announced. I replenished my chips and interestingly a sense of calm came over me. The anger that I had released in destroying my chip stack, along with my chips, was gone.

I went on to play well but fell short of cashing. Going out 41^st in a field of 250.

With the loss of this tournament, I realized something very valuable. I realized that to win anything of value is not to take or even desire the easy path. That realization along with knowing the source of my troubles didn’t start with or have anything to do with the floor man. The trouble had to do with me wanting an easy way out and more specifically with my protest of the changes that are simply a part of any game.

Moving forward I will keep in mind Luke (Paul Newman) in the movie  “Cool Hand Luke.” No matter how tough he had it, he always kept his cool. Even when your "card dead" or seem to have nothing going for you, remember, “sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.”

Keep your Cool,   Kenna

Playing with the Fishes

I was in Aruba for the Aruba Classic Poker Championships some years back, I think it was 2005.

I remember because I flew there directly after the Monte Carlo Millions tournament in which I final tabled along with tournament greats John Juanda and Phil Ivey, the eventual winner.

After playing with those sharks I decided to look for clearer waters. I was invited onto a charter flight to Aruba with Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilley, Gavin Smith and a ton of other well known pros who were obviously thinking the same thing. The weather in Monte Carlo was cold, overcast and rainy. What better excuse then to head to a tropical island with plenty of fish!

I forget the production company's name, but they were shooting some show called "Extreme Poker" and the premise was to play poker in all these intense situations and environments. 30,000 feet in the air, skydiving, underwater scuba diving, etc. which made sense because at the time the general public couldn't get enough of poker and it seemed to be on multiple channels every night of the week. Anyway, once we were in Aruba, a few of us were invited to strap on some air tanks and head to the bottom of the Caribbean for a game of poker for this show. A special water proof deck of cards, a weighted down poker table, special chips, etc. were all put into play. 

Ironically, we were playing in an area where there were a lot of beautifully colored fish. And the locals warned us that the fish liked to nip at your hair. Especially if you had blonde hair. Turns out fish aren't that different then a lot of guys I know. In a nice twist of fate it was the fish eating at and playing with the poker pros instead of the other way around. And as long as you let them have their way, they would have their nibble and go about their way. 

If memory recalls, I think Phil Laak won that underwater tournament, but I could be wrong. Either way, he was on his way to collecting a lot of clams. It was so much fun, playing poker with the fishes. And the donkey's! We often laughed at ourselves and called ourselves donkey's for some of the plays we'd make and the things we did. I remember playing in a pretty big mix game, maybe 100-200 or 200-400 with Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack and a bunch of the other regulars. Phil was steaming as he usually did back then at his unlucky plight as everybody poked fun at his tirades. I remember one game in particular I played with Mike Matusaw and Miami John in which they laughed at me and called me a donkey for not knowing even what I had in one particular hand. We all laughed so hard. That one even made t.v. 

In those days calling each other donkey's or fishes was fun because it was amongst peers and we all understood that from time to time, we are all donkey's or we were all fishes at one time or other. Today, however, it seems the tone is quite different. The game has taken on such a serious tone. The players a rank of stated superiority over others less skilled. The ego's inflated to the degree that some denigrate and put down publicly the unsuspecting new or novice player. The players who do this seem to have never learned one of the basic principles in playing with the fishes. "Don't tap the glass!" When you do it scares the fish and they swim away. 

I don't have much patience for so called "good players," who demean other players at the table and openly question their play just because they got lucky and won a hand or sucked out on them. It happened the other night in a game I was playing. The unsuspecting tourist who was buried in the game and he was looking at his hand to figure out what he had exactly. Another player in the game, who was not in that particular hand exclaimed "if you got a club in your hand you got a flush," something he obviously shouldn't have said, but neither player was very schooled at the game, in etiquette or the rules. The tourist then turned over his hand, in fact showing a club (probably a deuce lol) and won the pot. The so called "good player" started chastising the weaker players for not playing right and before you know it, the game that was good became bad as they both got up and left and a short time later the game broke. 

When a weak or novice player comes into a game, makes mistakes, or gets lucky, please encourage them don't ridicule or demean them. Realize that without fish, our poker game will be like our planet, dying. Not only for the sake and growth of the game, but also because it is the right thing to do. Remember when you came into the game and someone took a moment to help or show you something you didn't know or understand that improved your game. Think of those times as your debt, in which you should now pay it forward.

I'm not saying you have to coach and help others to beat you. Just be kind and understanding in that your fellow competitor is also on a journey you were once on. Be compassionate to someone who is learning the game and don't treat them as if they were a rag doll for you to beat up on and throw around for your own amusement. Sure it hurts to lose, but if you don't know how to lose or can't see the forest through the trees, then in the long run you'll have no chance anyway. For poker, like life, is naturally full of loss. Deal with it. For those that are too young or too narrow minded or near sighted to see this, then they are themselves the fish or the donkey that they claim to despise. Projecting out what they reject within. 

So, as you swim out to your next poker game, before you take a deep breath and dive beneath the surface, please remember; There will be some beautiful fish down there that may nibble at your head. Let them be and have their way with you and in so doing you'll enjoy the game a lot more. You may just come up to the surface like my friend Phil Laak, a winner with many more clams then you can carry.

Enjoy the waves,

Kenna

How to Deal with "Running Bad!"

 Peter, a local Vegas poker player came up to me in the card room yesterday and said; “Kenna, I’ve been looking for you for 3 months. I’ve been wanting to ask you something important! How long can someone run bad?” “Hmmm,” I paused considering the source. “Well, I know it’s a lot longer than 3 months,” I told him. I wanted to give him more hope, but looking at him I feared he couldn’t have it, so I assured him it could go on for quite some time. My statement took, as he looked relieved in recognition, nodding in approval.

Anybody who sits in the swamp of “running bad” wonders “How long can this go on!? When you’re in it, it actually feels more like quicksand then a swamp. Which gave me the idea to pick up a stick, I mean a pen, and write about the subject of “How does one deal with “Running Bad?” instead.

To the first part of the question in regards to length of time. A poker professional who had played for decades once said to me that he had been running bad for more than 3 years! At the time he told me this I was winning a tournament every other month. So I just shook my head in bewilderment, not able to relate to the absurdity of that statement. I was much younger back then and now that I’m on the other side of 50 I see a parallel to the statement to the age of the person muttering the consideration. “Luck is wasted on the youth,” I think to myself. I say “wasted,” because all too often the spoils that go with it will be duly squandered on worthless momentary objects of desire. Later, when the appreciation for the finer things in life appear, the “luck” like an old water well, may run a bit dry and all too often the bucket will come up empty. So, what to do?

First, recognize that when you catch yourself saying “I’m running bad,” that you’re always talking about the past. Never the present moment. And yet, we sell it as if it were our fate. Something that we should prepare ourselves for as if we were destined to walk this path for quite some time. And I do mean “Sell it,” to anyone who will listen the bemoaning of our fate. Unlucky for us that we find a sympathetic ear because I believe the more our cries land on these sympathetic victims, the more we propel our fateful journey. Stop, listen to yourself and as if you were going to change direction on a walking path, turn around and let your victims go. Do it in mid-sentence and consciously choose to go a different direction. Don’t allow yourself to continue perpetuating the story.

YOU are the biggest reason you are running bad, not the cards, I hate to tell you.

With that wake up call, comes the practical dealing with the emotional roller coaster we all ride when we choose to play this thrilling game.

The second thing you want to recognize is the specifics of the emotion you are feeling. Don’t be general with your upset. Define the emotion you are feeling and work your way up and out of the quagmire!  What exactly are you feeling and displaying?  Is it Anger at your results, or Frustration of players continually sucking out on you? Are you Worried that your “bad run,” is going to outlast your bankroll, or are you secretly Afraid that your game isn’t good enough to survive? While you may be feeling a combination of all of these emotions, each one is different and where you reside most of the time will usually be one specific one. So, what emotion are you really suffering from?

Here’s a list of emotions to help you pinpoint how you’re feeling about Running Bad;

Anger  – Frustration – Resentment – Worry – Fear – Apathy

Any of these ring a bell? If not, perhaps you can ask your friends. They probably have a better perspective then you do. 

Let me give you some hope. The farther you are to the right, on the above scale, the farther one tends to have drifted off the “winner’s path.” But, since you are reading this article, you’re most likely are not yet down on the bottom rung of Apathy. How do I know this? Well, in the emotional state of apathy, reading this articles about your demise would just become too burdensome and pointless. So, the hope is in the fact that you’re reading this (and not having it read to you) and you’re not in apathy. With a little bit of conscious effort on your part you may just be able to climb out of this pit of despair and get yourself back onto the winning path.

After you’ve identified where you are at on the emotional scale, you can use it as a guide to start climbing the ladder to the left end of the scale towards anger. Yes, that’s right, ANGER! You’re going to have to allow yourself to get angry about running bad if you want to climb out of the swamp. Your opponent’s certainly aren’t going to help you. You’re going to have to help yourself. If you’re afraid of getting angry, well then you are in a pickle aren’t you? Well, you don’t have to start there, start moving out of Fear by worrying! For example, If you’re really afraid that your running bad is going to outlast your bankroll, just start worrying about what you’re going to do when it does!

If you’re lucky enough to already be worried or anxious, then start voicing your complaints and you’ll soon find yourself filled with Resentment. Those who are Frustrated with players whining and complaining, consider yourself lucky! You’re already a few rungs up the ladder and you just need to take out your frustration by getting angry. Hit a punching bag, rip up the cards, get a penalty! When you do, at least something you’ll be doing will be starting to work! Players get stuck in frustration because nothing they do seems to be working. Pros who are clever will actually use Anger to drive them even farther Up tone and back onto the winning path which begins with the emotional tone of becoming interested once again and connecting to the present moment. There is nothing as certain as the angry person and often they get what they focus their mind on, which is usually the chips of their opponents who are hopelessly sitting in Frustration or Fear and who are left scratching their heads wondering how long this is going to last.

I say to my poker friend Peter. “Don’t get frustrated, get even!” In the meantime, while you’re waiting, stop resisting this beautiful night. Have patience and learn to appreciate the stars and before you know it, the darkness of the night will fade away and you will clearly see and be on the winner’s path once again.”

I sat down in a poker game and without concern or another thought, booked a win without even trying.

Enjoy the Journey!

Kenna

PLAYING THE PLAYER - Choose your battles...

There are many battles to be won if you’re going to win the war. None bigger, however, then the one in which you will battle your self. In my personal observations, I find that many players are defeated not as much by the cards or the dealers (as they would have you believe), as they are by themselves. It’s as if the ego will not let them see past the cards their dealt. 

The defeatist is one who readily accepts defeat. She lays down and gives up the battle. He surrenders the pot too easily without adequately confronting his adversaries. Together they look for a way out-of instead of in-to, or standing their ground when the going gets tough. And it does get tough. Especially when it comes to personal battles with self-discipline, patience and understanding. Poker tournaments especially can be emotionally, physically and mentally tough.  

That is why I always thought that real life soldiers and military personal in general would be great at this game. They have trained themselves to exhibit a level of discipline and courage that would seem to serve them well at the poker table. After working and playing with them, however, I realize it is a different type of battle. It’s not the same as fighting on the battlefields of yesteryear, where the enemy was easily identified as the one firing the bullets at you. The game of poker is more like todays type of terrorist urban warfare where locating and identifying the enemy is becoming an increasingly more difficult task.

It may be easy to not differentiate and say that everyone is your enemy at the poker table, but that is simply not true. Which is one of the reasons why sometimes playing poker competitively can become confusing. There are many times in which you form allies in poker, even if it is unspoken. For example, in a poker tournament when you are playing short-handed and the third guy is short on chips, it is common for the other two players to form a “secret” alliance and gang up on the short stack in order to improve their position. Many of us have been on both ends of that experience of being the hunter and the hunted at the end of a tournament.

There are many other times, albeit a lot less obvious, in which subtle moves and shifts of strategy are made in which to avoid conflict and align with one player and target another. In cash games the regular pros at the table often lay down against each other, only to play against the tourist or the “fish.” These secret alliances are not so much spoken as they are understood by the veterans who play the game. Which may be  one reason an isolated young “pro” who feels she is on the outside would walk around confused, frustrated and befuddled in her plight to forge a career in this business.

There is a mutual understanding and respect that can develop among peers that has been earned through the many battles that are fought along the way. Many times it is not until you have been battle tested and earned your stripes, so to speak, that you are invited into this type of alliance. Again, not by formal invitation, but by actions that take place in which you both recognize the truth. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in this position, respect and honor it. Don't take it for granted and leverage it in pursuit of your own self-interest. Just like with any war you don't drop allies in the middle of it, less you find yourself surrounded on all sides, disrespected and alone. There is honor among thieves. So, as the saying goes, “choose your battles wisely.”

Now, once your common enemy is defeated, well then, a new war may begin.