Email to Jonathan Little

Beth bought me an hour of coaching with Jonathan Little for my birthday back in April.  A lot has changed since - I'm WAY more serious about poker now, I got fired from my job, and I'm trying to make a living playing.  I've been slacking getting back to him and setting something up.  I have been struggling between wanting to do a coaching session, but I'm also struggling to determine what information I should pass along to him before our session to make it productive.  I can't imagine a single hour of coaching will be very helpful, but Jonathan looks to be one of the best around at coaching and I know he's helped a ton of people.  I'm really excited to meet up with him, and I'll post again later to let you know how it went.  I'm not expecting a miracle but hopefully this takes my poker game up a notch, or at least helps me understand what I need to do to make it to the next level.

Below is the email I sent to Jonathan, in case you want to see my thought process in setting up this coaching session.

Hi Jonathan,

Beth (my wife) bought an hour of coaching for me a while back and I’d like to set up a time with you soon.  I’m not sure of the best way to proceed here, but I’ll include some information that may help in our coaching session.  If there is additional/different information I can provide that will make our time more productive please let me know.  I would be happy to meet in person while you’re in town as well - I live in downtown Las Vegas and am happy to meet whenever/wherever.

Here are a few sample hands (all at live 2/5 NL):

Hand 1:

I raise KQo in middle position to $20 after a limper in early position.  Tight guy to my left calls.  Flop is 764 with 2 hearts (I have no hearts).  The limper checks and I check.  Guy behind bets $40, we both fold.

I was c-betting 100% of flops and I’ve dialed it back to c-betting 100% when I flop a pair (or raised with one) or if I have any other equity - flush draw, gutshot, etc.  Should I cbet flops like this one, or is it OK to pass on these?

Hand 2:

I’m in the small blind with 3h3d and call $13 more.  4 people see the flop - 994 with 2 clubs.  Checks to the raiser who bets $20 and it folds back to me (nobody else left in the pot).  I fold.

I’m primarily set mining with pairs if I just call preflop.  Should I start calling a 1/3 or less pot size bet on flops like this to see what happens on the turn, and basically fold to another bet?  Or is it fine to fold here?  I’m taking this approach to limit my risk out of position since the rest of the hand will be difficult to play unless I spike that 3.

Hand 3:

I player limps and I raise AcKs to $25.  The limper and one of the blinds call.  Flop is JdJhTd.  It checks to me and I bet $40, small blind calls.  Turn is the 5s, we both check.  River is the 7d, we both check, he wins with 33.  

Should I continue to bet the turn?  I beat any draw, and there are a lot of draws out there.  At the time I thought I’d just check because he already called me and nothing really changed on the turn.  Also - bluff river?   

The specific hands above aren’t super important to me but they bring up a few situations I’m working through right now - ie. when to cbet optimally, when to continue with weak hands after the flop.

Please note that I was recently fired from my job (software engineer / tech executive) and I plan on dedicating myself 100% to poker over the next 6 months to see if I can make a living at this.  I tried 10 years ago, failed, and I’m giving it another shot.  I’m not looking for a quick fix, but any tips on how to continue to improve my game are appreciated.  Identifying specific things I should focus on when studying/playing would be very helpful to me.

I look forward to our coaching session, and GL in the main event this week!

Thanks,

Mark

@BluffMeat (Twitter)