2024 WSOP buildup: February 20, 2024
The long, slow, excruciating slog toward GTO competence

I finally finish the last of the post-flop poker masterclass training videos. A whopping 50 videos in all. Which means … I still have no idea how to play half the betting rounds in a GTO approved manner. I peak ahead and see that 32 turn videos still await me, menacingly followed by 20 river videos.

As Confucius once said, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

A few things are becoming abundantly clear. Yes, I think I will be able to get through the turn and river videos prior to my trip to the WSOP. But just barely, and to do so I will need to stay disciplined and plow my way through the content every night. It would be nice if I finish early enough to re-read all of my notes that will probably be three notebooks deep by the time I finish – I envision myself on my flight to Las Vegas, furiously reading through these notebooks like I am back in college the night before a final exam. Any nonsensical bluster on my part about hitting Vegas ready to relentlessly play GTO poker is clearly not practical. Even though I have put in a lot of hours of study for a recreational player, what I know about GTO will fit in a thimble compared to players that are more wizardly than me. I have my doubts that I will be ready to play a pure GTO style. And by I have my doubts, I mean something akin to I have my doubts that I will win the next Mega Millions lottery.

Loving this thread rppoker -- best of luck out at the WSOP and looking forward to more reports. As a fellow scribe I appreciate the writing. I'll be there starting June 5 and I will buy you a soda pop should our paths cross.

Just a thought on your GTO journey: Try not to think of it as an on/off switch of whether you're trying to play "GTO" or not. The dirty secret of learning GTO poker is literally no one is playing GTO, unless they are cheating. It's not possible. Instead, think of GTO as a baseline. From there, you want to deviate because your opponents are playing too many hands, too few hands, raising too much, folding too much, etc. It's actually not all that different from what you're saying -- but the idea of studying GTO is you have an sense of the "correct" way to play a spot through the baseline. I also think studying solvers helps you think through spots in terms of your range vs opponent's range, and not just your hand.

My other piece of unsolicited advice with a week to go: Preflop is also the most important thing to drill down on (even if it's also the most boring). Simple things like your RFI ranges: What hands do you open from what position at various stack depths. And while preflop charts won't give you ranges against 4 limpers, I think your strategy of tightening up when you raise and then blasting with strong hands is right (I'd have gone bigger than 1800 w/ AA, fwiw).

Anyway, that's just my two cents, from a fellow rec who has tried to embrace studying poker (and playing it!) as a fun side hobby since the pandemic got me back into playing online.

Thanks, Pucks.

Yes, in real time, I have come around to what you are saying about GTO. What I have written is what I was thinking on the date at the top of the post. Part of what I am trying to convey in this portion of my trip report is the study grind leading up to the WSOP. It's not as exciting as the WSOP sections, but what I am trying to do is describe my entire buildup to the WSOP covering numerous months.

As for the AA hand where I raised to 1,800 after so many people limped in ahead of me, yes I agree with your assessment that I actually should have gone bigger. That's all the more reason it was so surprising/disappointing that everyone folded.

I hope you run well in your WSOP journey.

That's pretty good. I signed up for two months of Little's coaching site. so far I've taken 1 1/2 hand quizzes and watched exactly zero coaching videos. The site is horribly organized. It's like a mish-mash of forums like this one with stuff randomly arrayed. That's not the reason I haven't spent 30 minutes studying, but it makes me feel better about it. I was just kidding myself anyway, I can't remember squat even if I did watch them.

We’re only ever 1 tournament away from creating the next trendy playing style.

DHSB will take off like wild fire this summer!

I think Little's 180-video tournament masterclass is very well organized. I learned a lot and the order of the videos flowed very well. I feel that his training site was good for my level of poker understanding. I never felt overwhelmed or in timidated.

Your comment about the overall site being a bit of a mish-mash has validity. I think to get the most out of it a person has to be proactive in deciding for themself what part of their game they want to work on and then search the site for content that addresses that part of the game. I will agree that once I finished up the tournament masterclass followed up by some other big blocks of guided study, it then became a little challenging to decide what I wanted to study next. This took place about a week ago, so I decided to stop studying for the time being to clear my head for my imminent WSOP.

I will probably start up the study grind again post-WSOP when I will try to identify where there are holes in my game (everwhere?) afterward and identify content accordingly.

The best training has a learning pathway. Learn this first, then this, etc. If there's such a thing on Little's site, they are doing a great job of hiding it.

My last post was a response to pig4bill in real time. This trip report will now return to last February where the story was being told.

2024 WSOP buildup: February 21-27, 2024
And just like that, I am behind schedule

I guess my optimism was misguided.

No sooner did I tell myself that I think I am on pace to finish my tournament masterclass in time for the start of the WSOP a little over three months from now … 24 hours later I come down with food poisoning. End of the world food poisoning. As in, you don’t want to know the details. As in, you REALLY don’t want to know the details. I banish myself to the back bedroom to spare Mrs. rppoker the horror. Even worse, it is long lasting food poisoning. I always thought that food poisoning only lasted a day or two. I can’t even think of eating anything until Day 3, surviving on nothing more than electrolytes and water the first two days (brought to me by Mrs. rppoker because there is no way I have the strength to walk downstairs to the kitchen). Even my dog Astro seems to have the good sense to stay away from me. On day 3 when I feel mildly adventurous and finally eat some crackers (only because my wife insisted), then Astro joins me to beg for food.

I don’t feel up to watching any masterclass poker training videos for a good week. At some point I will need to make up for lost time, but the time is not now.

I tell myself that I’ll pick up the pace when I feel better. Please, please, please let me feel better. Intellectually, I know I am not going to die of food poisoning (although at the absolute height of my misery I put the odds at 20 percent).

In situations like this, I like to take the glass is half full outlook. And the glass is half full outlook is … is … is … well, hell, even I seem to be having a tough time finding an optimistic perspective.

Must … look … for … silver … lining.

I recall a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

Find a reason to rejoice, not complain. I think and I think and I think. I’ve got nothing. I think some more. Still nothing. And then it hits me.

It could have been way worse. I could have come down with food poisoning during the WSOP instead.

I’m starting think the real MVP of this thread should be Mrs. rppoker.

Still married at the ripe age of 61, supportive and encouraging of a poker hobby, takes care of you when sick. Gave birth to a beautiful daughter who provides a lucky rock card protector.

We’d all be blessed to be so fortunate in life.

You are spot on, TJ. My positive variance rungood in life is off the charts amazing. I consider myself incredibly fortunate.

Meaning I should quit whining about the river cards negative variance I experienced at the 2019 WSOP (but I probably won't).

2024 WSOP buildup: March 14, 2024
Nose to the grindstone

I am a poker studying fiend. Once I recover from food poisoning, I am determined to get back on schedule when it comes to the poker masterclass on my poker training site. I relentlessly and tirelessly crank through the 32-video section on turn strategy. I do so by studying seven days/nights a week. I put in added hours on week nights, and put in really long hours on weekends. I know the NCAA basketball tournament is getting close, which will eat into my poker study time, so I bank my poker studying hours now while I can. Even with the NCAA tournament just around the corner, I am certain I will complete the poker masterclass well before I head to the WSOP.

When I conclude the turn strategy section of videos, I am surprised that no reporters from Cardplayer or PokerNews call me for an interview to discuss my progress.

In addition to all of my training site studying, I have also found time to re-read Paully’s Tao of Poker daily columns from the 2010 WSOP (absolute poker writing brilliance), as well as poker books Take Me To The River by Peter Alson, Positively Fifth Street by James McManus, and Big Deal by Anthony Holden. It’s been a long time since I read these the first time. I don’t read them as part of my 2024 WSOP preparation. I re-read them now because poker is what I find most interesting at the moment.

My poker frenzy is definitely starting to border on obsession.

The 2024 WSOP feels like it is never going to get here.

They actually used to make 500 and 1000 dollar bills which of course today would be the equivalent of 10 times that or more.

They're still technically legal tender although it would be a bad move to spend them.

Makes transporting of cash from illegal ventures too easy

Really good book! Although the fact that the author made FT must be the biggest stroke of luck in poker history, given his flawed thinking and seeing monsters under the bed in every hand. Not to mention losing his mind on the stone bubble just because a hand combination is symbolic to him.

What I have noticed when reading the poker classics right now is the poker thinking in them seems so archaic. I kept telling myself to enjoy the books for the stories they tell and don't focus on the poker decision making in them which today seems so out of date. If only we could take our poker knowledge of today and go back in time to use it against the basic thinking that was used on the felt at the time.

I envy you your word-count output. If you were to put all of your poasts in a blog and connect it to Google Analytics it's possible they would pay you in ACM (Actual Cash Money).

He was never good but still better than average back then. Games were definitely soft!

eobmtns, thank you for the suggestion.

I tend to be new technology averse unless I have someone who can teach me what to do it.

The other thing is, I like for my hobbies to be just for my own entertainment value. As an example, when I was in my 40s I studied under a French artist and eventually had a couple of gallery shows of my art. I also had paintings of mine published in a number of art journals/books. That said, I have never really tried to market/sell my art. That sounds too much like work. I usually give the artwork away to friends and family free of charge.

Here are some of my paintings. I'll start with a series I did revolving around music.

Here are paintings of mine from a series I did on children:

Here is a series of colored pencil drawings I did of animals using a pointilism (dot art) style:

A series of pencil drawings of mine titled "Escape from Reality."

A series I did of silhouette pencil drawings:

OK, I didn't plan on posting an online art show today, but that is now concluded, and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming (poker).

Bravo. Really enjoy the pencil drawings.