David Apostolico - Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour: A Seat at the Table with Pokers Greatest Players

Having played on the Professional Poker Tour, I can say that the field is the toughest I have ever seen. Each table is a whos who of expert seasoned players. Just because all the players are tough, however, does not mean that their playing styles are the same.

I can tell you that many successful styles can work in tournament poker. In fact, at the top level each player has his own unique brand of poker that works for him or her. Playing with these players is the ultimate challenge. Each pot is a battle and every hand teaches a lesson. Now, thanks to David Apostolico, you can have a seat at the table with the worlds best poker players.

Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour offers expert hand analysis across a variety of situations throughout each level of a tournament. When you watch poker on TV, you are missing out on a lot. The TV coverage is typically a much-edited version of the final table. You do not see how each player made it there. You also do not see many of the more subtle hands that do not make great TV yet are critical to success. Poker is a nuanced game. Often the best moves you make are laying down strong hands when you know you are beat and otherwise avoiding trouble or picking up a pattern in an opponent and exploiting it to your advantage.

In this book, David does a great job picking hands that are not obvious but are those hands played in the trenches where poker tournaments are won and lost. He is also not afraid to reveal his mistakes so that you can learn along with him. No matter what your level of experience, much can be learned from Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour. Written in an easy-to-read style, this book is as entertaining as it is insightful. Soak in the knowledge and maybe we will meet at a final table.

Antonio Esfandiari is a World Poker Tour (WPT) champion, three-time WPT finalist, World Series of Poker bracelet winner, and World Series of Poker Circuit finalist. He is the author of World Poker Tour: In the Money, which is one of the best books on the market for winning Texas Holdem cash games. You can find out more about Antonio at www.magicantonio.com.

An enormous part of the appeal of poker is how democratic the competitions are. All the major events have always been open to anyone who is willing to pay the entry fee. For those who cannot afford the entry fee, satellites are available for a fraction of the cost for participants to win their way into the bigger events. In no other field can Joe Everyman or Josephine Everywoman test his or her skill against the best. It would be unheard of for a weekend golfer to walk off his local municipal course into a threesome with Tiger Woods and Ernie Els to compete in the Masters. Yet, anyone can enter the World Series of Poker and sit down across the felt from living legends Doyle Brunson and T. J. Cloutier.

The World Poker Tour first brought poker into our living rooms with its innovative coverage featuring lipstick cameras that could reveal the players hole cards. When a young accountant from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker won a seat in the 2003 World Series of Poker after winning an online satellite that only cost him $40and then went on to win the event in his first live tournamentthe game of poker was changed forever. Tens of millions of people in the United States alone now play poker on a regular basis. That number continues to grow every day. No Limit Texas Holdem Tournaments have replaced Dealers Choice as the game played in every family room and fire station from coast to coast. The number of entries into the major poker tournaments has increased exponentially. In short, poker has exploded in a way nobody could have anticipated.

As the major poker tournaments have expanded from a few hundred to a few thousand, it has become more and more difficult for any one individual to navigate his way through such a wide-open field. With so many new players and styles, these large tournaments can be a minefield for even the most seasoned professional. Keeping this in mind, the folks at the World Poker Tour have revolutionized poker again with the introduction of the Professional Poker Tour or the PPT for short.

The PPT is not meant to take the place of the traditional major events. Those events continue to prosper and grow in popularity. The top players still play them religiously alongside the satellite winners and home-game heroes all too willing to take them on. Rather, the PPT was formed as an additional and unique series of tournaments to bring together the best players in the world to compete against each other. The PPT is not an open event. Similar to the PGA in golf, the strict entry guidelines ensure that only the cream of the crop qualifies to play. As in the PGA, a very limited number of sponsor exemptions are open for each event. I was fortunate to receive a few sponsor exemptions during the initial season of the PPT.

Everything in poker is situational. In tournament play when everything is constantly changing, you must make continuous adjustments. There are a few hard and fast rules. To become a solid tournament player requires experience. Since only so many tournaments are available that each of us can play, much information can be gained from the experience of others. While every situation is unique, looking at specific sample hands can help each of us learn how to develop the correct thought process to face every challenge.

One of the first things a beginning player learns when he gains experience is that there are exceptions to every rule in poker. This concept is an important realization in the learning curve of poker. What an advanced player knows, however, is that you will really not find any rules in poker. General guidelines and strategies are present for sure. However, playing by the book will only get you so far, and your play will soon become transparent. Top players rely on their wealth of experience, size up the mathematics of the play, and then apply their feel for the situation in making the best decision they can. There is no substitute for experience in poker. The possible situations a player can face are endless. Fortunately, though, a lesson learned from one hand can have a wide application to other situations.

TV typically shows the exciting showdowns and big money hands. What is not shown are the less exciting plays when poker tournaments are often won or lost. Chip stacks are built over time through concentration and focus. Avoiding mistakes is crucial to survival. A good lay down can make or break a players chances in a tournament, but it does not make good TV.

While the PPT is limited to the top two hundred or so players in the world, by no means is the style of play limited. From the legends of the game to young newly crowned champions, the styles of the players are as varied as their ages. The only constant from table to table and seat to seat is that everyone is excellent. There are no easy tables.

For example, at the Bellagio PPT event in Las Vegas, the first table I sat down to included living legends Doyle Brunson, Jay Heimowitz, Billy Baxter, and Berry Johnston. Between the four of them, they own twenty-eight World Series of Poker bracelets. Never before has there been a tournament as competitive as those on the PPT. Every day at the PPT is a seminar and every hand dealt a lesson. The lessons I have learned are invaluable. In this book, I share the most memorable. Whether you are looking for an edge in your neighborhood tournament or you are trying to qualify to the PPT yourself, I believe you will find them helpful.