These Top 10 Online Poker Tells will help you identify opponents' tendencies at the table, learn how to adjust to certain poker player types, become more skilled at reading poker opponents, and exploit population tendencies in your poker game.

This list is created by Tony Dunst, WPT Commentator, LearnWPT Instructor, professional poker player, WPT Champion, 2x WSOP Bracelet, and 2x WSOP Circuit Ring winner. Tony recently did an in-depth hand history review of a tournament where he made a deep run featuring the Top 10 Online Poker Tells.

Check out his most common notes on opponents below:

► #1 Poker Tell: Opens Too Wide
► #2 Poker Tell: Straightforward in Big Spots
► #3 Poker Tell: Flat Calls Too Wide Preflop
► #4 Poker Tell: Passive Postflop with No Showdown Value
► #5 Poker Tell: Open Shoves Too Wide
► #6 Poker Tell: Flat Call or Small Reraise Instead of Shoving
► #7 Poker Tell: Reshoves Too Wide Preflop
► #8 Poker Tell: Calls Down Too Wide Postflop
► #9 Poker Tell: Bluffs Too Wide Postflop
► #10 Poker Tell: Not ICM Conscious

#1 Poker Tell: Opens Too Wide

This is a note that Tony takes most often, and it refers to catching your opponent's opening with too many hands, which is pretty common in MTTs and poker in general, but especially in poker tournaments since people have a stronger incentive to open wide.

With a solid grasp of what your own opening ranges are supposed to be, you can have a better understanding of what people should be opening. When you are in the early stages of a deep-stacked tournament, Tony suggests 3-betting wider ranges for value.

Opening too wide from an early position makes defending your range almost impossible!

The benefit of using a fairly linear range (i.e. mostly good hands with strong playability post-flop) allows you to systematically broaden your range and take advantage of a poker player opening too wide.

If you see an opponent opening too wide, which is often accompanied by them calling 3-bets too wide, the hands in your linear range for that position become automatic 3-bets.

With a player who opens too wide, you need to take all of the hands that mix calling and shoving and turn them into really profitable shoves.

For example, if the Cutoff opens and you have 25 big blinds in the small blind, Tony suggests to start mixing suited combinations of A9, K9,J9, T8, 98, and KJ offsuit as 3-bets, and flatting A2 and A3 suited against those who open too wide. This is a very simple and profitable adjustment to make against opponents with the tendency to open wider preflop.

#2 Poker Tell: Straightforward in Big Spots

The second most common note Tony takes on his opponents is particularly true at the low to mid-stakes online, and in live poker. This note means that in general, your opponent is going to be under bluffing, particularly when 3-btting, 4-betting, check-raising you on the flop, raising you on the turn, raising over your river bet, or big spots where they have to put in a large percentage of their stack.

This type of player can also be identified through how they talk about poker and hands at the table and are often observed as hesitant and skeptical with regard to both wasting chips and bluffing their stack away.

These opponents are simply way too straightforward in big spots, which provides you with a cheat code and an opportunity to fold everything unless you've got the goods. The counter adjustment is achieved by opening with a tighter range of hands against a player who is straightforward in big spots and folds all of your marginal opens to their 3-bets.

Tony suggests that in heads-up pots vs these kinds of players you can make an exploitative adjustment.

Against this specific player it is acceptable to flat call with pocket aces and allow them to take the lead postflop as they will likely be betting strong with hands they enter the pot with.

#3 Poker Tell: Flat Calls Too Wide Preflop

Tony sees this frequently with the low to medium midstakes players who tend to flat call with too many of the offsuit Ace and offsuit Broadway combinations.

Sometimes players flat pairs in spots where they are too short stacked to do so, so against this type of opponent you can bet wider against them as a bluff, because they often flat too many hands preflop that don't connect.

Consider this example: you're out of position, your opponent flats, you get a scattered flop and you're supposed to mix between betting and checking.

Against a player who's flatting too much wide preflop, you can start to make money by using a much more frequent small C-bet sizing.

Another strategy against opponents who flat too wide preflop is to barrel down (bet out on the flop, turn, and river) wider against them because it is tougher for them to get to turns and rivers with strong hands when their ranges broaden preflop to include many more random second pair or third pair combinations.

You can put a great deal of pressure on these kinds of players on the later streets because they get there with weaker ranges.

#4 Poker Tell: Passive Postflop with No Showdown Value

This is a tendency you see from players who are passive and don't realize that they are supposed to be bluffing fairly often when they have no showdown value.

This kind of player calls out of the big blind when you open in late position, and will continue vs a c-bet fairly often while holding a capped wide range when something favorable hits your range on the board, such as King-High or Ace-High.

When the river misses your hand and most of the plausible draws and your opponent has not shown aggression, you might start contemplating bluffing them off it.

Against these players, Tony suggests taking more showdowns with high card hands instead of trying to bluff them.

Here is an example to illustrate this concept further: You open a 87 Suited, you see that the flop is bad for your range, the turn and river is a brick, but you don't beat the draws and your opponent checks to you. Since now it's clear that this player is very passive with no showdown hands, they have gotten to this river and checked to you with more hands that don't really have showdown value. In this spot you should turn more of these types of hands into bluffs against the passive player type.

In addition, you should focus on being more passive with any hand that can showdown and win vs a player who takes a passive line postflop with hands that have no showdown value, and at the same time become more aggressive with the hands that you can absolutely never showdown.

#5 Poker Tell: Open Shoves Too Wide

This is a pretty common mistake amongst MTT players and many still have outdated ideas about shoving ranges.

For instance, if someone has 10 big blinds in the middle position, many players would assume any Ace is acceptable to shove all-in with preflop, and that's not actually the case.

With 10 big blinds in Middle Position 2 (MP2) you should mostly be folding A2 through A6, as well as hands including JT, QT and KT. If you spot players open shoving too wide in the 10-15 blind zone, it may fold to you in the Small or Big Blind, and you now have a significant advantage especially if you can identify the types of hands that they open or shove too wide with.

As another example, if you do see a wide opponent shove from an early position with 10 big blinds and it folds you in the big blind with A6, now you have a clear call. Against players who are shoving too tight, who jam 10 big blinds from an early position and you're in the Big Blind with a hand as weak as A6, there are a lot of players you should go ahead and make that fold against.

Having players at your table who open shove too wide is actually beneficial, as you will be able to make more money off of those players as they present you with opportunity to call getting good odds.

#6 Poker Tell: Flat Call or Small Reraise Instead of Shoving

Tony says he takes this note in tournaments 'all day long'.

Most players who make this mistake don't even realize that they are playing face up when they do it, and you will see this happen all the time in tournaments.

Here is a common scenario to help illustrate the concept: The player on the button has 18 to 22 big blinds and a stack that is mostly flatting or jamming, without any hands that 3-bet with a small sizing in their range. You're supposed to jam a lot of the pairs, the suited broadways, both strong offsuit aces and suited low aces including A5 suited, as well as a mix of the A4, A3 and A7 suited combinations.

As observed by Tony, many players jam a lot of these medium-strong hands and 3-bet small with only aces and kings, and they never balance that by 3-betting small with a hand like A9 offsuit for instance.

Another common example to illustrate this concept is a scenario where you open raise, and an opponent calls. You get the flop with top pair and continuation bet, they call, you barrel the turn intending to barrel down for value, and instead of calling, your opponent hits you with a min-raise on the turn.

Once you identify a player using these small raises when they should be shoving, it's safe to assume that they will not find the bluffs until proven otherwise and that you should overfold these spots. This opponent is doing you a favor, just turning their hand face up, and you must be observant to this and make some very snug folds as an adjustment.

#7 Poker Tell: Reshoves Too Wide Preflop

While this tell is not quite as common as some of the others Tony has listed, this tendency is definitely something you want to keep an eye on.

Consider a scenario with 20 big blinds deep in the Small Blind facing an open raise vs the Cutoff. In this scenario, you're jamming all the pairs, all of the suited broadways, mostly except KJs and including A9, A8o, K9s, Q9s, K8s, plus some suited connectors such as 98s.

You will definitely catch players who reshove this spot way too wide, jamming, reshoving too many off-suit ace combos anytime they have a broadway combo. While these hands may seem like attractive and profitable reshoves in this spot, these hands actually don't fare really well with low to medium offsuit Aces as reshoves, because they have bad equity against the calling ranges of the opener.

When you spot somebody reshoving with a high frequency using offsuit Aces, all of the pairs that you were borderline become calls, and all of the medium aces become automatic calls.

Widen your calling ranges and be careful with broadway combos like KQ in your range if your opponent is observed reshoving offsuit aces too much, assuming it's not a suited broadway that retains a lot of equity.

#8 Poker Tell: Calls Down Too Wide Postflop

Not everybody who calls down too wide postflop is just a flat-out fishy calling station, however, a lot of players have a tendency to get a bit too sticky to top-pair hands, when their relative hand strength has been negated from the runout on the board.

Against this kind of player, Tony suggests doing more of the value betting yourself and less balancing through checking when you're the out-of-position player.

This recommendation is because there are a lot of situations where we open in the middle position, a player calls us on the button, and we mix betting and checking.

Be cautious in this spot not to bet the hands that may be a mix of combos in this player’s bluffing range, as well as to bet and barrel the hands that are top pair more frequently. In a spot where for example you open AJ and flop top pair, and get flat called on the flop and turn, you just need to bet the river for value.

As this type of player enters with more second-best hands and gets married to those second-best hands postflop, you should look to bet in order to maximize the value of your strong or medium-strong hands, as well as to bluff them a lot less frequently. When facing an opponent who loves to call down, it’s critical to not try and bluff them.

#9 Poker Tell: Bluffs Too Wide Postflop

While this is a far less common tell than most, there is a specific player type that will favor bluffing postflop with a too high of a frequency.

Against this type of player, we want to mix between betting and checking.

Tony suggests checking many more of our strong hands and sometimes hands with moderate showdown value, often having to take many more hands to showdown vs larger bet sizing on average.

Once you identify somebody who loves bluffing too much postflop, it might be beneficial to let them have the lead as often as possible. With our strongest hands against these opponents, we can start playing more lines where we check/call flops, call turn, and raise the river.

When you're in doubt whether this player is going to do enough betting for you to get max value on a big hand, Tony suggests checking to them frequently, given that you have a hand that's happy to call down.

When you find yourself on a turn or a river and you're facing a tough decision to call and you have a hand with showdown value, these spots start to become automatic calls.

Against frequent bluffers with wide ranges you can set up opponents by just checking to them over and over again, letting them spew right on into you.

#10 Poker Tell: Player Not ICM Conscious

With the Independent Chip Model or ICM Poker being crucial when it comes to improving your game and forming valuable strategies, this is an approach Tony says he pays a lot of attention to.

For both on bubble situations and at final tables, ICM has a very strong influence on decision making and the way stack sizes can be played. If for example, we're the big chip leader in a tournament field where everyone is very ICM conscious, we get to pummel opponents because they know they're supposed to fold.

However, if you are a big chip leader and everyone around you is not concerned with making money, and it's just players calling off preflop shoving way too wide, then you end up being more constricted and you should tighten it up.

Against players who are not ICM conscious, if you keep playing aggressive opponents will push back on you and you end up being the one who's responsible for those ICM mistakes.

Consequently, it is critical to remember that if you're a big stack and the players around you are not ICM conscious, you won't be able to exploit that situation as much as you'd like.

ICM is an area of poker study that most MTT players should focus on more, as these strategies will be one of the best ways to increase your profit against these fields.

Simply by sitting back and waiting for other players to get involved, you'll be able to make progress at the final table as players will bust earlier than they should and ultimately help you ladder up the pay scale.

Using these winning strategies and Tony Dunst’s Top 10 Online Poker Tells to your best advantage during your next poker event, you’ll continue to minimize mistakes and maximize your opportunity to accumulate chips and ultimately win tournaments!

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Bounty Poker Tournaments are a fun way to add variety to your poker tournament schedule. The real money bounty awarded for knocking out each player creates extra action plus it gives every poker player a chance to win some cash in most cases without needing to finish inside the bubble.

Your friends at LearnWPT, The Official Poker Education Platform of The World Poker Tour, are here with expert tips to help you adjust poker strategy for each of the 3 types of bounty poker tournaments:

1. Traditional Bounty Tournaments
2. PKO Tournaments
3. Lottery Style Bounty Tournaments

Traditional Bounty Poker Tournaments

Take a deep dive into the traditional bounty poker tournament format and learn how professional poker players adjust their play to account for the bounties when making decisions at the table.

Binger’s Bounty Equity Shortcut for Calling All-Ins:

• Convert the bounty to tournament chips based on percentage of buy-in
  • $1,000 buy-in tournament, $250 of each buy-in is the bounty (bounty is 25% of buy-in)
  • 10,000 in starting chips x 25% = 2500 in tournament chips
  • Therefore 1 bounty = 2500 in tournament chips
• Add the value of the bounty in terms of chips to the total pot
  • Ex: Pot size 17,500 + 2,500 = 20,000 bounty adjusted pot size
• Calculate your equity based on the bounty adjusted pot size
• Your calling range will naturally be wider based on the increased pot size

Progressive Knockout (PKO) Tournaments

Progressive Knockouts, or PKO’s have become very popular in online poker because of the escalating values for each player’s bounty as they eliminate others from the tournament. While this style of tournament is not common in live poker, it’s incredibly popular online and you need to be aware of the strategic adjustments involved.

The buy-in structure for a Progressive Knockout splits the buy-in in half and assigns half to the prize pool and half to the player’s individual bounty. As the tournament progresses you knock players out, half of their bounty is yours to keep, while the other half is added to your bounty.

Remembers these tips when playing in a PKO Tournament:

• Because bounty values change based on each player's number of knockouts, some players are worth much more than others to knock out
• Players are incentivized to widen their ranges and go after opponents when they have a high bounty value
• Start PKO Tournaments on time and avoiding late registration is critical to maximize your chances of winning the most bounties
• It's often profitable to call with any 2 cards in PKO Tournaments when your opponent's bounty value is high
• This style of tournament has become extremely popular over the last year because it encourages so much action!

Make sure you download your free PKO Equity Reduction chart ↓ ↓ after you watch the Strategy Episode!

The PKO Equity Reduction Reference Guide is an easy and quick way to determine your equity in PKO Tournaments

Lottery Style Bounty Poker Tournaments

The most recent innovation in tournament bounty poker that has caused great excitement among poker players is the Lottery Style Bounty Tournament.

In this type of event (more commonly known as a Mystery Bounty or Bounty Confidential) players who make Day 2 and eliminate a player draw an envelope with the bounty amount hidden inside. Bounty amounts range from slightly less than a buy-in, all the way to 50 times the buy-in based on the total number of tournament entries.

Bounty Confidential Tournament at Thunder Valley Casino Resort

To maximize your chances at grabbing a massive bounty there are specific strategy reminders you should be conscious of during your next Lottery Style bounty event. Check out LearnWPT Instructor and Poker Legend Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger’s key lessons for Lottery Style Bounty Tournaments below:

3 Lessons from LuckyChewy on Lottery Style Bounty Tournaments:

➧ Lesson #1: Making Day 2 in a Lottery Style Bounty Tournament is very important, but getting there with a big stack is critical to maximizing return on investment. Take thinner edges on Day 1 and focus on spots to accumulate chips before you reach the money so that you can have a better shot at accumulating bounties once you are in the money.

➧ Lesson #2: Bounties usually make up roughly one third of the prize pool. They are of most value when the average bounty amount in dollars is larger than the minimum cash and quite a bit larger than any pay jumps. Keeping track of which larger bounties have been won already is essential to making the highest expected value decisions in these types of events.

➧ Lesson #3: As the average bounty value decreases and you get deeper in the tournament where the prize money and associated pay jumps in the actual prize pool are larger than the average bounty amount, winning a bounty should be much less of an important factor in your decision making. Where previously you might have made a thin call to potentially win a huge bounty, you should instead evaluate this spot in terms of your overall tournament.

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Check out Tony Dunst's latest blog post as he talks about the game's increasing popularity and the momentum currently building for online poker in America.

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• PKO (Progressive Knockout) tournaments are fun, unique events where a dynamic bounty is placed on each player
• As you knock out other players, typically you are paid 50% of their bounty and the other 50% is added to your total bounty
• Unlike regular knockout tournaments the value of the bounties can grow
• If you are the victor in a PKO Tourney you win in multiple ways:
  • Win the amount in the general prize pool for 1st place
  • Win the bounties you earned over the course of the event
  • Keep the full amount of the bounty that is on your head
    

SHOULD I PLAY A PKO DIFFERENTLY?

Yes! The strategy for playing PKOs is very different from regular bounty tournament strategy.

Click below to view an in-depth Strategy Episode from LearnWPT Instructor Nick Binger to learn valuable math shortcuts and strategy tips to improve your play in PKO events.

Remembers these tips when playing in a PKO Tournament:

• Because bounty values change based on each player's number of knockouts, some players are worth much more than others to knock out
• Players are incentivized to widen their ranges and go after opponents when they have a high bounty value
• Starting PKO Tournaments on time and avoiding late registration is critical to maximize your chances of winning the most bounties
• It's often profitable to call with any 2 cards in PKO Tournaments when your opponent's bounty value is high
• This style of tournament has become extremely popular over the last year because it encourages so much action!
• Download the PKO Equity Reduction Reference Guide for an easy and quick way to determine your equity in PKO Tournaments
  
  

Have Questions about LearnWPT? Send an email to our Support Team at [email protected] or click the red CONTACT US button and they will be happy to help!

July has been a very successful month for LearnWPT Pros!

We had TWO Instructors each take home their 2nd illustrious Gold Bracelet and a 3rd place finish in the WSOP Main Event! 🏆🙌

Take a look at how Nick, Tony, and LuckyChewy fared….

Lead Instructor for LearnWPT and the World Poker Tour Nick Binger outlasted a massive 2,408 entry field to win his 2nd WSOP bracelet and took home an impressive $133K first prize at the World Series of Poker Event# 24 8-Hand No-Limit Hold'em Tournament.

If you’ve ever watched one of his Strategy Episodes, attended a Live Workshop and heard his lecture, or had the pleasure of sitting at one of his Lab Day tables, you know how dedicated LearnWPT Lead Instructor Nick Binger is to teaching his students.

Nick has dedicated over 12 years perfecting his poker instruction skills with the WPT and enjoys teaching as much as he enjoys playing.

Nick has helped many students reach their goals and achieve success in the game they love. Click below to learn more about Nick...

LearnWPT Instructor Tony Dunst took home his 2nd bracelet when he outlasted a massive 1,361 entry field and scored a huge $168K 1st prize during the World Series of Poker Event#21 $777 buy-in 6-Hand No-Limit Hold'em Tournament.

As a high-stakes pro and co-commentator for the World Poker Tour, Tony who has spent over eight seasons analyzing some of the most pivotal hands from World Poker Tour events.

Away from the bright lights of the WPT set, Tony is a force to be reckoned with both at the live and online felt. Tony has been putting in the work and getting great results.

Tony's experience grinding the Tournament and Cash Game scene make him a huge resource and asset for LearnWPT Members and Students. Click below to learn more about Tony...

LearnWPT Instructor Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger took 3rd place and scored $140K in the huge 2,126 entry field World Series of Poker Event#31 $1,000 buy-in Championship Main Event!

LuckyChewy is one of the best all-around players in the game today and had 8 cashes in major live tournaments in 2019 alone.

Chewy has been tearing up the virtual felt and continues to evolve and improve his game dominating both online tournament and cash games.

LuckyChewy's experience, positive mentality, and success make him a powerful resource and asset for LearnWPT Members and Students. Click below to learn more about Chewy...

LearnWPT Platinum Member and Live Workshop Student Bryant Morrison has been putting in the work and seeing big results at the poker tables!

Bryant recently conquered a field of 322 players to win his first WSOP Circuit Ring in the Seniors Event at the Choctaw Durant stop.

The $250 buy-in tournament generated a $64,400 prize-pool and as victor, Bryant was awarded $13,948 and a coveted World Series of Poker gold Ring.

We asked Bryant about his recent win, how LearnWPT has helped his game, and more…

LearnWPT: Do you play many live tournaments? Why did you pick this specific event to play?

Bryant: I only play live tournaments but I practice at LearnWPT.com using the GTO trainer more and more now. I do not play cash games to speak of unless I am waiting for a tournament to start.

I chose the Choctaw event because it fit my schedule during the Christmas break. I play WSOP in the summer, again on break, and this circuit event was close enough to drive to.

LearnWPT: You’ve attended two LearnWPT Live Workshops. How would you say these live events have helped your game?

Bryant: Both workshops added to my understanding of the game on a theoretical level. I constantly refer to handouts even now as I develop a playing strategy for different situations. Being able to ask questions and listen to other player's questions greatly increased my knowledge of the game. The best time for learning at the second workshop was the laboratory work where we all played our hands openly with the instructors advising and critiquing our play. That one day is worth all the money in [my] opinion.

The greatest take away from both workshops was the fact that they made me reconsider what my game was doing. Then, after working at home to unscramble my brain, my game would improve to a better understanding of certain aspects of the game that I was repeatedly seeing at the tables.

LearnWPT: How often do you use LearnWPT.com to improve your game? What specific features do you like about the online training site?

Bryant: About 6 weeks before I go to a tournament setting I begin to use LearnWPT.com extensively, every day if possible. I am not a professional so I have to plan when I can play and that includes when I can practice as well. Right now I only play at 2 times a year: WSOP summer and any circuit events during Christmas break. I might add Spring Break this year to that schedule since there are now more WSOP circuit events planned.

I have created my own constantly updated index of all the episodes so that I can drill into any specific element of poker. Using this index I can review cbetting, 3rd bullets, stack to pot ratios, speculative calling, exceptions to these rules, and many other situations that might confuse me at the table. Having these episodes available 24/7 at my beck and call has proved tremendously useful to keeping my play sharp. If I had to learn this at the tables through actual play I would never be where I am now.

This most useful element of the website has been the addition of the GTO trainer. I did not enjoy it at first, constantly being graded down with losing points for errors, until I understood the tool’s usefulness. I am not supposed to win; I am supposed to develop a pattern of play that minimizes my losses in each different scenario.

Then, later at the tables, when I recognize the same situation, I will know the proper move based on stack size, position, stack to pot ratio, and the other factors taught at the workshops. Then it is up to me to decide whether it is the proper moment to DEVIATE from perfect play to maximize my exploitation of the situation. It is at that moment in the tournament that the training pays off: you realize your opponent is just not that good after all. Viola! The chips slide your way. Next hand please!

The GTO trainer never makes a mistake so you know you are learning the proper action EVERY TIME. Build knowledge off of that and table play becomes much more readable.

LearnWPT: Can you name a few specific skills or techniques from the LearnWPT game plan that helped you win this WSOP ring? Can you talk about how or why they helped?

Bryant: One of the basic skills reinforced at LearnWPT.com and the workshops is thinking of stack size as BBs and adjusting your play accordingly. Knowing where you are in the tournament helps make decisions so much easier. If it is time to shove all in with A2o (my winning hand) then make the play.

In my specific winning hand my opponent had 8 bbs left... I knew he had to be pushing ALL IN with wide open ranges so when I had the A and was only risking a few more bbs to end the tourney my second card was less relevant to me. A in the window and the ring was mine.

I would never have thought like that before LearnWPT. My cards would have been the most important item in my equation. Instead, looking at the stack sizes, position, time, stack to pot ratio, reads, and the reward my call with a weak A was practically automatic. Move the clock back and his stack is larger proportionately so the call would be less likely but with only those few bbs left it was an opportunity I could not pass up. I doubt I would ever have thought about poker like this without training at LearnWPT.com.

LearnWPT: $13,948 for a $250 buy-in is an impressive return on investment. Do you have any plans for future tournaments? Where will we see you next?

Bryant: Future tournaments will be WSOP summer events that fit my schedule. The money is not the motivation; the competition is. $1000 buy-in at WSOP returns hundreds of thousands and the higher events, with higher skill levels, return more. The math is the same for ROI but the “life changing” amounts are not going to appear for me. I am already settled into the retirement life style, just not completely yet.

Look for me at WSOP in the summer events but hopefully you won’t recognize me and future I am just an old timer, the OMC type, who is just playing his cards as he gets them. ABC with a little luck, that’s what I want you to see when you see me. Meanwhile, back at LearnWPT.com I will have put in multiple hour days on the trainer, updated my index, reviewed and drilled certain elements, attended another workshop (probably, based on schedule), and hopefully added a few more tools to my war chest.

LearnWPT: Do you have any advice for players trying to learn and improve their No-Limit Hold’em game?

Bryant: The key to improving is to actually use the tools you have. Playing is one way but it is slow, expensive, and time consuming. The GTO trainer is on all the time and is free with unlimited use when you buy into the monthly program. You can even but in, practice, play, resign and come back later when you plan on playing your next tournament with no penalty. Thus, you can plan your own time instead of having the tournament schedules run your life. Your wife and family will appreciate your presence in the “off” seasons.

While I also suggest a workshop they are expensive and will “break your game” until you recollect your thoughts and adjust to what the new information gives you. Well worth the time and money but be prepared to have at least a week off after the workshop to work the material into your game before you play. Now I may be slow and perhaps you can adjust faster than this poor old man but you do need some time to change your game.

LearnWPT: Aside from poker, what else do you do for fun?

Bryant: Ahhh… the back-story, personal part of this interview. As a window into my life let me summarize by saying that in my long life I have not been idle. I have practiced law, taught history (still doing this one), piloted my own aircrafts with a multi-engine instrument commercial license, instructed accelerated freefall skydiving with over 1,000 jumps, scuba dived to a depth of 350 feet on a salvage attempt, sailed the Caribbean as a bareboat charter captain, raced downhill slalom (very briefly), written 6 books (4 published), traded commodities, played golf down to a 12 handicap, raised 2 children to be better than me, kept a wife 12 years younger than me happy for the past 30 years, and besides just playing poker I now find pleasure in studying and practicing the game. And I’m not done yet!

As an educator, Bryant understands the importance of study, the effort needed to improve your game, and mental fortitude to be successful in poker and life.

Bryant is a true student of the game and we couldn’t be more proud of his accomplishment. We can't wait to see what is in store next for Bryant.

Have a success you’d like to share? Let us know by emailing the LearnWPT Team at [email protected].

When we created LearnWPT.com our goal was to provide a place that empowers players to ask questions, help get them focused, and provide the tools for a solid game-plan to bring to the table every time they sit down.

Some of the ways we accomplish this is by:

• Empowering Students to train, practice, and play on the WPT GTO Trainer to get real EV loss of their play to help find leaks fast
• Hosting 2-Day and 3-Day Live Workshops for Students to learn and interact with the LearnWPT Instructors in person
• Teaching and presenting examples of proven, winning concepts through our Strategy Episodes (instructional videos)
• Providing a place where Members can send questions to receive answers and guidance with the Ask a Pro Feature and Community Forums

Not a Member? Click below to join (just $5 your first month!) and start improving your game today:

LearnWPT Students Scott and Lisa Roberts have been on a tear at the poker tables in recent months adding on to their impressive combined $125,000 in tournament winnings.

The World Poker Tour recently interviewed and featured Team Roberts in an article highlighting their phenomenal summer.

Click here or read more about Scott and Lisa's poker journey below

By Sean Chaffin

The couple that plays together, stays together. At least that’s the case for Scott and Lisa Roberts. This poker-playing pair have been married 37 years and is affectionately known as Team Roberts. The recreational players from Atlanta, Georgia, have been on a tear at the poker tables in recent months – and credit much of their success to strategies and techniques they’ve learned attending several LearnWPT events.

The Roberts have apparently been good students. Scott, 62, works as a real estate investor and has more than $89,000 in live tournament winnings. Lisa, 63, is a retired personal trainer and has $35,000 in tournament winnings.

For Scott and Lisa, working with LearnWPT has definitely transferred to the tables. They now hope to keep that mojo going.

Poker Power Couple

It was an especially nice September for Team Roberts at the WSOP Circuit stop at Seminole Coconut Creek in Florida where Scott won a $400 event for $6,994. Lisa notched a runner-up finish in a $250 seniors event for $5,284 and took sixth in a $600 turbo for $2,100.

“It was very frustrating coming in second,” she says laughing. “But I was very happy.”

At the turbo final table, Lisa was also joined by Scott and he took runner-up for $8,096. He followed up the runner-up finish with yet another second-place finish in a $250 DeepStack event for $4,486.

In total, Scott finished with four cashes for $20,182 and was named the player of the series. His background as a LearnWPT student certainly helped, he says, and everything seemed to come together.

“It was one of those times where I was using moves to make moves and running well too,” he says. “When those two go together you can be unstoppable. It was just a really good trip.”

The couple, who have two grown children and a grandchild on the way, have family in the area and spent some time with them during the trip. Scott didn’t even realize he was in contention to be casino champion.

“We didn’t play a lot of the events just because we were seeing family,” he says. “We skipped several events, but if I had known I was in contention I definitely would have played a few more.”

Scott began playing poker in 2005 with some friends and online. He cashed in smaller tournaments and then won a $235 event in Las Vegas in 2017 for $20,108 followed by another big win a year later for $11,348.

Lisa wasn’t into the game like her husband however, and it took her a while to appreciate poker.

“I’d sit behind him when I was done playing Blackjack after losing money,” she says. “The TV was always on the poker channel [the WPT included], and I wasn’t really watching him play, but I started knowing all the players because of all the little vignettes they ran about them. Scott would come over while he was playing online and say, ‘Look I have such and such hand. What do you think the nuts would be right now?’”

Lisa would answer and often would be correct. She didn’t have much interest in the game but seemed to be picking it up. To her, the game just looked boring with the people looking “all serious and unfriendly.”

One night at a casino, Lisa planned to play Blackjack but her husband convinced her to take a seat at the tables. That first night she played Limit Hold’em holding a card with the ranking of hands.

“I won four hands in a row at one point,” she says. “I couldn’t even stack them fast enough because I didn’t know how to handle chips. I was so excited.”

She left the tables with some winnings, and some confidence. Her poker life took off from there – and that hand ranking card hasn’t been needed since.

Hitting the Books and Crushing the Tables

The Roberts figured out early that working on their game with some outside help would be a good idea. Team Roberts has attended several LearnWPT events, spending many hours with instructors Nick Binger and Andrew Lichtenberger.

“I took a couple classes and realized how much I didn’t know,” Scott says. “Then we took one together with Nick and it just kind of opened our eyes up. It was just incredible how different the pros play from how we were playing.”

“After the first day, I was thinking, ‘This guy’s nuts. This is not going to work. Why did we take this class?’”

However, they stuck it out for the second day of training. The concepts Binger was presenting began making more sense. They headed to the Venetian that night and used some strategies they’d been taught at the tables. One thing Binger told the couple to practice in a tournament or two was raising on the button every time action folded to them, no matter what cards they had. If one of the blinds three-bet, he told them to four-bet. This overly aggressive strategy would take them out of their comfort zone of passive play.

“I told him I was going to need a few drinks before I played the tournament,” he says.

The coaching worked and Lisa made the final table that night and they won $10,000 playing tournaments that week.

“I was very unaggressive,” Lisa says of her play before attending LearnWPT events. “I didn’t know what to do with anything. I’d limp, call, and maybe I’d raise. For me, I learned when to be aggressive and when to feel okay with being aggressive in the right situation regardless of your cards sometimes. I didn’t have any of that in my arsenal – I had no arsenal.”

For Scott, opening hand ranges was an idea he had never much considered. He may have put a player on a certain hand but had trouble adjusting his game to those kinds of scenarios.

The new concepts made his game more complex. Team Roberts also learned more about playing in position to maximize profits. They’ve gone on to take more advanced classes with each session building on others. The lab days are a particular favorite of theirs, where a group plays at a table and break down hands played with instructors.

“It ties everything together from what you learned the two days before in the class,” Scott says.

Would they recommend LearnWPT to other players?

“If they’re people we play against, definitely not,” Scott says laughing.

Lisa adds: “I think it is the best poker money that we’ve ever spent. I know we were hesitant the first time, but it made major changes for us as far as winning. It’s an incredible class. You don’t really know what you don’t know until you take it.”

As recreational players, they try to find events that fit in Scott’s schedule running his real estate business. He plans to retire within the next five years and then the Roberts will play even more including some WPT tournaments. In the meantime, they plan on keeping their recent success going, and continue working on their game with LearnWPT sessions.

As Lisa notes: “There’s always more to learn.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. He also writes feature stories and tournament coverage for WPT.com. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. For story assignments, email [email protected].

Whether you are a tournament or cash game player, looking to advance your move arsenal, or ready to master the game, attending a LearnWPT Live Strategy Workshop is the quickest and most effective way to expand your No-Limit Hold’em game plan and get you on a path to success.

If you are ready for better results at the tables it’s time for you to take action and get a proven winning game plan to help get you there.

Hey, maybe you’ll be our next success story just like Scott and Lisa 😉.

Questions? Contact the Support Team (888) 600-5593 or [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

DECISION POINT: You are playing Day 2 of the WPT World Championship and blinds are 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. It's early in the day and there is still approximately 50% of the field remaining. The average stack at your table is around 40BBs except for the Button who has 100BBs. You raise to 12,000 from UTG with J♠J♣. A Middle Position player calls, the Cutoff calls, the Button reraises to 60,000, and action is back on you.

What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing early on Day 2 of the WPT World Championship event. We still have around 50% of the field remaining and the blinds are 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. We have just under 40 big blinds, as does most of the table except the Button who has 100 big blinds. We are dealt pocket jacks Under the Gun and make a standard open for this level to 12,000 chips (2BBs). Two players in Middle Position call the open and action folds to the Button who reraises to 60,000. Everyone else folds and the action is on us.

Much of our decision in this spot comes down to our assessment of the Button and whether they are capable of making a move with a wider range. If we assume that they are a skilled and studied opponent then they definitely should be showing up with some A5s/KTs type of squeeze semi-bluffs in this situation in addition to stronger hands. Based on that assumed range this is a slam dunk shove with pocket jacks. Taking a closer look at this hand using a solver, the result shows it’s a pretty clear +EV move to shove here against a GTO opponent.

During situations at the table like this in real-time it’s useful to ask “Does our opponent ever have a hand here that we dominate?”, such as TT or AJ in this instance.

If the answer is yes, we have a very compelling reason to continue with all the likely dead money in the pot since the middle position stacks are unlikely to have hands they can continue with here. If the answer is no and we believe the Button is raising a tighter range to include only premium pairs such as AA-JJ plus AK and AQ, then we could consider exploitatively folding.

In the $10K buy-in WPT World Championship event, most of our opponents are likely to be more than capable of including some semi-bluffs in their 3-bet squeezing range here, making our hand a fairly trivial all-in. Using the framework of asking ourselves the question “Does my opponent ever have hands I dominate?” will help us exploitatively adjust in the event that we do run into an opponent who has an extremely narrow range in this situation.

Moving all-in is the best play.