How I Made My First Million From Poker
Tri "Slowhabit" Nguyen
How much is too much when purchasing a poker book? This is a question many players will be asking before purchasing Slowhabit's new book "How I Made My First Million From Poker" and if you are one of the players asking that question then you're asking the wrong question! Here's a secret that a lot of great players already know: you can get pretty much all the poker knowledge ever written legally for free somewhere on the internet. It will not be easy; in fact it might take you 100s of hours to compile the information and then another 100 hours to find out if what has been written is true.
So instead of asking is it "too much" ask how much is your time worth? If you could fast forward your mental game today by a thousand hours of research and reading, is that worth $100? While I was reading "First Million" the first thought that came to mind was most definitely and it will only cost $47 for the Ebook. No, the information presented in the book is not entirely unique but it is presented in such a unique way that it will improve your mental game so much more than the initial purchase price. Many times more but you probably wont realize the value until weeks, months or even years down the line after you've mastered your mental game thanks in large part to "First Million."
While most of the examples came from players who play professionally at the mid and high stakes, all of the concepts can be extrapolated quite easily to include grinders at all stakes. "First Million" will not teach you which hands to play from what position, what situations to check raise with postflop or how to play in 3-bet pots. But it will teach you and motivate you to figure out these things for yourself: a priceless learning tool.
In my opinion, the question shouldn't be "how much does it cost?" In reality this book is worth a lot more than the asking price. Instead I would ask: What are you waiting for?
Order the book today. For $87.30 you will receive the Paperback copy of "How I Made My First Million From Poker." Get the Ebook for only $47 and read Slowhabit's new book on your iPad or Kindle with full search functionality.
Read the Grinderschool exclusive excerpt from Slowhabit's "How I Made My First Million From Poker" below:
Let's Beat Phil Ivey
As of today, Phil Ivey is considered by the poker community to be the best poker player in the world. Through my conversations with people who play similar stakes to Ivey, they agree. Now, what if I told you that you can be a better poker player than Phil Ivey, the undisputed number one poker player in the world? You must think I'm joking but I'm not.Phil Ivey is the master of adjusting against his opponents, but if we were to play no-limit hold'em where stack sizes are 10 big blinds deep, we could have an edge on Ivey if we did our homework. Although Ivey is a great player, 10BB-deep NL is a relatively simple game, so if you know all the math -- including what hands to call, what hands to raise, and what hands to fold -- you will be a better player than he is. Of course, what we know is relatively simple and once Ivey were to take enough time to learn the math and hand ranges, he would know the strategies that we know. However, for a moment in time, you could say you were better than Ivey.
So how does knowing how to play a relatively simple 10 big blinds poker game makes you a better poker player?
There are many facets to being a poker player. There are different things we can work to improve our game. My favorite one is in any session that you play, pick one facet of your game that you would like to work on.
For example, one of my favorite exercises is to try to be the best button versus cutoff player at my stakes. What this means is whenever the cutoff is in the pot and I'm on the button, I want to win the most money in this particular situation out of anyone at my stakes.
Why is this important?
There are different facets of your game that right now make you a better player than a fish. You can value-bet better, you can fold better, you can hand select better, just to name a few. But as you move up in stakes, you are going to face tougher opponents. How are you going to beat them?
Well, you have to learn how to beat a tough opponent at one thing at a time. For example, I know Phil Galfond is a better poker player than I am, but I can strive to game select better than him. I know his post-flop game is better than mine and to make up for it, I strive to be a better pre-flop player than him. Pre-flop is simple enough with 100BB stacks that I can work on various situations and prepare how best to play. If I put more work in than him, I'll be a better pre-flop player. Of course, Galfond is a great player so it won't take him long to notice that I'm playing better than him pre-flop and he'll soon work on his game to outclass me. Now I'm back to square one, but at least I have a world-class pre-flop game and my edge will be bigger against those who aren't as smart as Galfond.
It's an enormous amount of pressure to wake up tomorrow looking to be better than Phil Galfond. It's not going to happen any time soon. However, when you know there's one part of his game that you can beat, it motivates you to study more and to work harder. You are better than Phil Galfond at pre-flop! And knowing that you are better than a world-class player gives you tons of confidence to conquer other leaks in your game.
After you are done being the best pre-flop player in the world, you can now work on being the best player on the flop when the board is monotone. Basically, when the board comes the same suit, you will dominate your opponents. You may play average on other boards but when the board brings cards of the same suit, you have everything figured out. You have done the analysis. You have the math on your side. It's going to be pretty tough to outclass you.
Then you can work on being the best player when the board is dry. When the flop is A72 or K83, no one is better than you at your stakes.
Then you expand to other facets of your game.
The process is not unlike what happens when a bodybuilder works out. He doesn't come in and say I'm going to work on everything today. No, today he's going to work on his chest. He's going to work hard at it until he has the best looking chest in the gym. Then he's going to move to his abs. He's going to have abs that look like they were sculpted by Michelangelo. Then he's going to work on his shoulders. And so on.
That's how you should work on your game. You don't have to do everything today. Pick a situation and become a monster at it. Become such a beast in this particular spot that the next time you play against someone, he knows he's about to be abused and he can't do anything about it.
This is what world-class players mean when they say they work on their game. They examine various situations that make them feel uncomfortable to such an extent that they no longer make them feel uncomfortable. They know they can't stop working because the moment they stop, other players will pass them by.
Here are a couple of other things you can work on that will increase your win rate.
I want you to become the best player when you have the button. So next time the CO opens, I want you to play every pot against him. You have position. The CO's ranges are also wide, so he's going to have weak hands most of the time. Keep doing this over and over again until you are the best player on the button.
Then I want you to be the best big blind player when the small blind opens the pot. You have a huge positional advantage. Additionally, most players' opening range in this spot is also wide, so you can take advantage of this fact.
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