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#1
12-01-07, 11:38 PM
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REVIEW: Lessons with Herschel -Chipping up...
I participated in a group lesson with TPF member HerschelW earlier this evening. The focus of this group (6 people) session was to examine chipping up, or growing your stack in the earlier stage of MTT's
(Herschel calrified that this focus is on larger field tournaments. 180ish and up) FORMAT: We were hooked up on Skype and had set up free accounts at pokerxfactor.com. After giving an overview of topics for the session... a. Set out to chip up right away. Never miss an opportunity b. #1 rule of mtt’s is “You must be willing to die in order to live." c. Position! Position! Position! d. Play a wide range in position and a pretty narrow range OOP e. suited connectors f. pocket pairs and implied odds As we went along Herschel used a variety of hands on both PokerXfactor and one from Pocketfives to illustrate different principles. The focus was strategic and the value of what we studied in each hand was clearly irrelevant of the results. Beyond the list of topics, however, Herschel let other concepts develop based on the questions we asked. Two that stood out in my mind were... -the dangers of pot sized bets when have a big hand (driving away players that would call a 1/2 or 2/3 pot bet with a weeker hand). -examining the rate at which you "cash" on tournaments as an indicator of playing to loose or too tight.* *This second point sparked a good conversation with Oceanwaves later on, about the difference between playing to cash and playing to win. Herschel always asked if we had any questions before moving to a noew hand or a new topic, but as a class we varied between passive sponges and active questioners. Something I see a lot of in my life is people who give a response but fail to answer the actual question they were asked (often b/c they did not understand or they want to move on). Herschel did a very good job of patiently answering every question he was asked. I really got a sense that he was working with us at these times. Much of what we looked at eventually began to sort itself into some basic overall themes... 1. making value plays at the right time 2. working in position 3. taking calculated risks Herschel provided links in the chat bar to make it easy for us to get to the hands he wanted us to see. He also gave us simple typed summaries of the key concepts that we studied in differnt sections so that we could cut and paste them to a word processor. This was great b/c I tried to make written notes as well, and given the format of the lessons, that was very hard to do. --------------------------------------------------------------- All in all, I liked it. I definitely want to do more of these classes as they gave me a number of points that I think I can effectively working into my game. (BR will determine when this will happen, so thanks for the opportunity TP). If there is one thing that I would change though, it is the timing. Herschel sets out blocks of time for these sessions and was starting up another lesson as ours was ending. Although I can understand the need for this, and the fact that we paid for a specific period of time, I would have liked to see more of a buffer at the end to allow for question and answer at the end. That being said, we did go over time, so it is not like he kicked our butts out the door when the egg timer went off. One sign of a good lesson is that it generated as many new questions as it answered. I would have liked to have asked about the variation of different principles as applied to other tournament factors like short stacked play, or even ring games. Granted, I am sure that there are entire lessons available on those points. I am a 25 max full ring and $1-$5 tournament player and I found this valuable. I would recommend it. --------------------------------------- footnote: I played two $4.40 / 180 person SNG's after, in an attempt to focus on these principles in the early stages. I busted out of one early and finished 15th in the other. Results aside, I found quite a few situations that directly related to what we had studied.
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poopity, poopity pants. |
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#2
12-02-07, 01:13 AM
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Great review, Invigilator. Thanks.
It sounds like you'd be interested in doing this again. So let me ask you - what type(s) of player(s) do you think would benefit the most from herschelw's lessons? When I say type, I guess I mean skill level...... And herschelw - assuming you are reading this: Do you tailor your lessons to different skill groups? Do you ever do advanced lessons, or do you assume your audience isfull of competant breakeven to winning players? Just wondering. I think these lessons are a really great thing, so I'm happy to suppor them any way I can. Feel free to use any hands ever posted here (including any you may post on your own) as lesson material. It may be especially interesting if you discuss a controversial hand that gets varied responses... Hmmm... I just thought of a great bounty for the league. It would be better if herschelw put it up, but I'll do it anyway. 
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#5
12-02-07, 02:14 AM
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The lessons are generally tailored to intermediate and above. Most start with basics and then cover very advanced concepts. I actually find that most of the top players benefit from the recap of basics. When asked questions during the lesson I tend to ask what level the player plays at and then tailor give a break down for all levels. I have played successfully at the very low limits(won two $4.40 180man's at the same time) to some of the highest limits online with success at all levels. This gives me a unique perspective to be able to explain well at all levels.
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#6
12-02-07, 09:12 AM
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These 2 statements say it for me. Although I learned some new ideas, I also liked reviewing concepts like the position, suited connectors and so on. It is also really nice to hear about some things I already know from a different person.
I guess I couldn't say how useful my particular session would be to players wo are a lot better than me, but I think it would still be usefull, at least in a workshop-roundtable sort of way.
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poopity, poopity pants. |
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#7
12-02-07, 01:54 PM
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Sunday Dec 2nd(today) I will be offering
#9 Winning strategies for 45man turbos at 9pm My 45man stats below(obv sample size is very small, actual roi will be somewhat different from this however this should give you some idea as to what my 45man game is like). During #9 We will be going through one of my $60 45man wins from beginning to end with special focus on the push/fold scenarios on the final table. herschelw 55 $1.94 $11 16% $107 Tilt PokerStars E45-45 S10-15 Spd=T x herschelw 64 $10.88 $25 40% $696 Super Tilt PokerStars E45-45 S20-30 Spd=T x herschelw 21 $64.93 $55 108% $1,364 - PokerStars E45-45 S50-80 Spd=T Monday Dec 3rd I will be offering #2 Chipping up early in NL mtt's at 9pm #8 Short stack play.....Be the ninja!!! **NEW** at 10:30pm |
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#8
12-02-07, 02:10 PM
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Cool - even better. I set it up for three from me, but I'll swaitch it to 2 from you and another from me. Thanks!
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#9
12-02-07, 02:11 PM
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Dude - League starts at 9:35!
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#11
12-04-07, 05:25 AM
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New lesson times Wednesday December 5th.
#8 "Short stack play....Be the ninja!" will be offered at 7pm(est). #9 "Winning strategies for 45man turbos" at 8:30pm #3 "Blind on blind play" at 10pm #8 "Short stack play....Be the ninja" at midnight(est) To reserve a spot ship $15 for one lesson or $50 for 4(to be used at any time) to herschelw on stars or ftp and PM me letting me know which lesson you are reserving a spot for. Please note: I must receive 24 hours notice in order to cancel once you reserve a spot. The new short stack play lesson is focused on offering an advanced strategy for short stack play. It covers shoving and reshoving ranges, reading short stacked opponents, the effect of position on hand selection when short stacked and so much more! Players from intermediate to advanced will benefit greatly from this course. |
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