Let’s try something different! One of my students writes down essentially every hand he plays (as I suggest all studious players do) and he then sends me the hands to review. Here is his entire $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event hand history with my comments in Red. Check it out and let me know what you think!
If you are interested, I currently charge $200 per hour for this service, which is a bit cheaper than my $300 per hour coaching price due to being able to review the hand histories in my spare time.
I like this format. Usually at least one clear takeaway point per hand reviewed.
Thanks!
I added it up and he averaged playing 8 hands per level. How many hands per hour do you think are dealt there? I don’t think the average person/rec will realize that you are going to be sitting and doing nothing other than being a spectator a good percentage of the time. Players becoming impatient I think is still one of the major leaks in people’s game.
Overall it was a very interesting thing to read. Thanks for posting
It is difficult to say, but if you see 30 hands per hour, you may play 20% of them, so that is about 6 hands per hour.
From my student:
With respect to the comments that have been posted from people who reviewed my WSOP hands on your blog, one person commented that I only played 8 hands per level (on average). He is correct. What the data shows is that I played (on average) fewer than 2 hands per orbit, and that my VPIP was about 13%, which is low but not exceedingly low for that event in my view, given the depth of the stacks.
As you know from the summary charts I compiled at the end of the hand history (which you did not include in what you posted) I played 157 hands in 20+ levels. Each level was 2 hours long. If you assume 30 hands dealt per hour, that translates to 1200 hands (40 hours X 30 hands per hour). 157/1200= 13% VPIP.
Viewed another way, 157 hands/40 hours = 3.925 hands played per hour. We were mostly 9-handed (sometimes fewer). If the dealers put out 30 hands per hour, that means we played 3.3 orbits per hour (30/9=3.33). Since I played 3.925 hands per hour, and there were 3.3 orbits dealt per hour, that means I played 1.775 hands per orbit on average.
this format was very helpful in putting the knowledge/ideas I got from your book into practical use for learning away from the table…thanks
This is super interesting. I made it to day 3, and I can say definitively I didnt see half the # of great hands that this guy did. I dont think he played particularly well, to be honest, but its hard to argue with a decent result. Thanks a lot for posting this; was a fascinating read.
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
any suggestions on a good way to loosen up in the late stages of a tournament. I’ll be playing in the gulf coast championship next month and I always seem to tighten up in late stages regardless of my stack size
Thank you for all you do for you fans
You simply have to do it. Don’t be afraid. Worst case, you lose. That isn’t so bad!
I’m only about 20% through the hands, but it’s very well done.
Sitting at the table did you take notes in paper notebook (re: JL’s video on taking notes) or on phone or tablet. If you used electronics did you use a particular note taking app?
He used paper and pen, exactly as I do.
This is absolutely awesome. For each hand, my approach was to read the student’s hand description while covering up your answer. I would try to formulate my own analysis on how I would play each hand. Then I would look at your answers and try to further analyze where I differed from your answers. Very thought provoking!! I do have two questions that emerged from this.
First, on pre-flop three betting, the student made several 2.5x-2.7x three-bets, which almost always got called. You recommend at least 3x on three-bets to better induce folds. How often do you think you can get away with getting out of line by betting 2.5x on your premium three-bets and betting 3x on your bluff three-bets?
Second, I noticed as the blinds increased, the opening raises were around the pretty standard 2.2x. The Assassinato, in his quizzes, likes opening raises of around 3.5x to 4x. He says its to discourage opponent 3-betting. I believe it would also discourage the blinds from calling, which happened a lot with the 2.2x raises. What are your thoughts on the bigger opening raise sizes, especially as we move to the middle and later stages of a tournament?
Again, this hand history/commentary post was excellent and I hope you post more of these in the future.
I agree that slightly larger 3-bets tend to be better. As for preflop raise sizes, I prefer somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5x throughout the tournament, decreasing as your stack gets shorter.
Really enjoy this format Jonathan – it’s almost like several months worth of weekly poker hands!
Thanks!!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Be sure to check out PokerCoaching.com.