Lena900 seems to run deep in every tourni that he plays, watching him this SCOOP has give me a lot of motivation to work on my game. A few top regs come to mid also, like Darwin and 1_Conor_b_1, but Lena900 really stands out to me.

What makes him crush so consistently? I understand how much a player has to study in terms of range's, ICM, game play dynamics and chip stack logic but what makes these top regs have so much edge in tournaments? What sets them apart from other players?

He obviously runs pretty well compared to other top regs, but he also does a few things different. He applies a ton of pressure on FTs, instead of nitting it up and being a slave to ICM. This is what he said himself in a skype talk on twitch. People just overfold a ton when the pay jumps are big.

Another things which separetes him to others is the experience he has. He's played PLO and other games a bunch as well as cash games which gives a deeper understaning of poker in general.

And besides that he talks a lot of strategy with other world class players like gnetaren, darwin and robinho.

Thanks for the feedback, i bet he applies alot more pressure pre FT also. Ive watched a few of his replays on stars and it seems he doesn't seem that aggressive. Im gona try dig out that twitch stream, thanks for that

I'm not sure watching big final tables will give a true insight into exactly how he plays. ICM is huge, and most people are playing a lot tighter then usual on them.

14/18 in the 1k main
and 7/18 in the 10k main


endboss confirmed

I guess that is true, Ive been railing him in the main event yesterday and he was very aggressive, not shy putting his chips in

Hes a beast, he came back from the dead in the 10k, cant wait to watch him today

Hours and hours of study, day in day out

Apart form learning shoving ranges and ICM, hand history reviews, how do these guys study, like for example, what would be the average day to day study of a good tourni reg, what tools would they use and how would they implement them in a study session? What do they look for and how do they apply it in game.

I know study is important to keep on top of your game but how do you approach it, what is the process. Any input would be fantastic

It was a joke

Get it in good -> hold
Get it in bad -> suck out

ez as that

Sounds easy

You cannot judge a guy's skill from a tournament series or any small sample that includes like 100-200 games. I mean you see playing 180s being monsters one year and thousands of tournaments and then find themselves be breakeven over the next.

He knows how to put a man to the test for all of his chips

So its just a heater? Im not sure what you are saying, my brain isn't as big as most guys in this forum, could you simplify what you just said so i can understand

I like this, he will do this more vs people he plays against on a regular basis rather than a random

I think people overrate how good the upper stakes of poker really is, you'd be surprised at how many "regs" just run on instincts and what they've picked up over the years and do no real studying at all. I'm not saying good poker isn't played, but some would think 100% of these guys playing $150ABIs are living, breathing and walking PIOs.

I'll use Lex and Tonka as examples, both guys who beat high stakes relatively easily, here are some mistakes they've made recently

1.Tonka v a limp from utg with around 30ish BB has 88 on the button, instead of raising it 3.5-4.5x, he makes it 2.5x thinking the guy is trapping with AA/KK/QQ, guy in SB 3bs and instead of just shoving after the limper folded, he takes a flop and gets rivered by AJo

2.It's also ironic because he seems to agonize calling 3bs or just calling in position late in general, like calling k10s on the button or co is awful v utg raise or like calling a 3b w 20-25 bbs is undoable

3.Lex being incredibly shove happy and hunting bounties incredibly wide, shoving k2o for 24 in sb v bb in a non bounty builder, calling 20 bb shoves w q10o because "he has to hunt it," despite the fact that it's a min bounty, calling k4o v an early 10 bb shove in bounty builder and most recently shoving 25 bb 8/12 in the 500k. There is no reason to be this shove happy that deep or call happy for so many chips

4.Then Lex learning about ICM and overfolding JJ v shove+ 2nd all in on a FT because it's only KK+ there, while that may be correct, with blinds going up in a minute, only having 12 bigs and having the chance to be chip leader, this is worth far more than a theoretical $500-1k pay jump as opposed to the 5.5k+ pay jump between 6th and 1st

These spots may not seem that crazy, but at the highest level of anything, the smallest things make the biggest differences since edges are generally not there. Knowing how to raise limpers, knowing what your 3b calling range 18-25 bb is, not shoving just because, not hunting just because, not overfolding when the money doesn't matter to you and you have a range advantage that you might not be able to replicate going forward.

These are things that the Darwins, Bencbs, Lenas and other misc crushers do incredibly well and also keep in mind that Tonka and Lex EASILY BEAT the games, so these aren't the worst players who are just dumb dumbs, but even they make big mistakes, I doubt the same level of mistakes happen to the biggest guys.

Apart from that I think they all play similar enoughISH ranges, 3b ranges, cb ranges, xr ranges that that's not where the money lies for them. The real money is in your exploits, your understanding of marginal spots and your overall understanding of the totality of the game in a holistic sense.

This sh.it right here is what i was looking for thank you for your input m8, i will read this a few times so it sinks in

How much for coaching?

Lena900 TF 10k Main

Lena900: raises 385000 to 735000
JayP-AA: folds
Tankanza: folds
nailuj90: calls 385000
** FLOP ** [Qc 4h 5h]
nailuj90: checks
Lena900: bets 675200
nailuj90: calls 675200
** TURN ** [Qc 4h 5h] [9d]
nailuj90: checks
Lena900: bets 2146480
nailuj90: calls 2146480
** RIVER ** [Qc 4h 5h 9d] [Qh]
nailuj90: checks
Lena900: bets 16251137 and is all-in
nailuj90: calls 6367957 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (9883180) returned to Lena900
** SHOW DOWN **
Lena900: shows [Ah 2h] (a flush, Ace high)
nailuj90: shows [Qd 9s] (a full house, Queens full of Nines)
nailuj90 collected 20249274 from pot
** SUMMARY **

guess julian studied harder

lena came back from the dead i this tourni, he can do it again

PokerStars Hand #186747170549: Tournament #2271585937, $10000+$300 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXXVII (250000/500000) - 2018/05/22 22:25:27 WET [2018/05/22 17:25:27 ET]
Table '2271585937 14' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: nailuj90 (29545745 in chips)
Seat 2: Tankanza (27093307 in chips)
Seat 3: JayP-AA (12593436 in chips)
Seat 4: Lena900 (8323180 in chips)
Seat 5: caaaaamel (2801206 in chips)
Seat 6: Big Huni (23941805 in chips)
Seat 7: ULOSEMFKR!! (8799809 in chips)
Seat 8: mikki696 (9154836 in chips)
Seat 9: WushuTM (41246676 in chips)
nailuj90: posts the ante 62500
Tankanza: posts the ante 62500
JayP-AA: posts the ante 62500
Lena900: posts the ante 62500
caaaaamel: posts the ante 62500
Big Huni: posts the ante 62500
ULOSEMFKR!!: posts the ante 62500
mikki696: posts the ante 62500
WushuTM: posts the ante 62500
Big Huni: posts small blind 250000
ULOSEMFKR!!: posts big blind 500000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
mikki696: folds
WushuTM: raises 560000 to 1060000
nailuj90: folds
Tankanza: folds
JayP-AA: folds
Lena900: raises 7200680 to 8260680 and is all-in
caaaaamel: folds
Big Huni: folds
ULOSEMFKR!!: folds
WushuTM: calls 7200680
*** FLOP *** [Qc Js Ks]
*** TURN *** [Qc Js Ks] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [Qc Js Ks 9s] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WushuTM: shows [Kh Ad] (a pair of Kings)
Lena900: shows [Kc As] (a flush, Ace high)
Lena900 collected 17833860 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 17833860 | Rake 0
Board [Qc Js Ks 9s 3s]
Seat 1: nailuj90 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Tankanza folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: JayP-AA folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Lena900 showed [Kc As] and won (17833860) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: caaaaamel (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Big Huni (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: ULOSEMFKR!! (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: mikki696 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: WushuTM showed [Kh Ad] and lost with a pair of Kings

Lena didn't skip free roll study day

GG Lena, was a pleasure

Lex and tonka dont have much of a clue whats going on. They aren't professional players, they are professional streamers. You cannot even begin to compare them to guys like darwin or even a really solid mistakes reg. It's very questionable as to whether they are +ev in the tougher tournaments they play, despite some results.

Lena is clearly very smart, plays very well and gets a lot of attention because he plays high volume at high stakes. He probably does study reasonably hard, but the fact that he's smarter than most will carry him very far. A reg with average intelligence can study with solvers all day every day and he'll still be no where near the level of the guy who puts in a quarter of that work but has the superior brain power and experience.