
Next week, I have the distinct honor of teaching Tim Ferris (the "4-hour man") poker for a week for his awesome new television show, "The Tim Ferris Experiment". In this show, Tim goes from zero to hero by taking lessons in some subject for a week and intensely focusing on improvement. For instance, in the first episode, he takes drum lessons from Stewart Copeland (drummer for the Police) for a week and then, miraculously, performs on stage with Foreigner. Quite impressive.
I've been thinking quite extensively on how to go about my 168 hour sprint with Tim to give him the biggest chance at improvement. Complicating matters is the fact the 1 week of intense lessons has to be boiled down to 23 minutes of airtime. I wanted to frame his lessons with a pithy, accurate, single sentence. Here is what I've come up with:
Play your position and your opponents, not your cards.
Sound positional play.
Pay attention to opponents ranges.
Pick on the weak.
I think if he can master these concepts, I can get him about 80% of the way to proficiency. Sure, there is some math, pot odds, etc. That is all fine, and I'll be teaching that stuff too. But, I think that one concept is really the essence of playing good, solid, winning poker.
So, what do you think? Can you think of a more accurate encapsulation? If so, please share it. Lessons start Monday morning. If you're down at Caeser's poker room this week, come by and say hello. I'll be at the table next to Tim working with him on his game. My prediction: He'll be easy money until about Tuesday afternoon, and then you won't want to play against him.
Phil Gordon
I've been thinking quite extensively on how to go about my 168 hour sprint with Tim to give him the biggest chance at improvement. Complicating matters is the fact the 1 week of intense lessons has to be boiled down to 23 minutes of airtime. I wanted to frame his lessons with a pithy, accurate, single sentence. Here is what I've come up with:
Play your position and your opponents, not your cards.
Sound positional play.
Pay attention to opponents ranges.
Pick on the weak.
I think if he can master these concepts, I can get him about 80% of the way to proficiency. Sure, there is some math, pot odds, etc. That is all fine, and I'll be teaching that stuff too. But, I think that one concept is really the essence of playing good, solid, winning poker.
So, what do you think? Can you think of a more accurate encapsulation? If so, please share it. Lessons start Monday morning. If you're down at Caeser's poker room this week, come by and say hello. I'll be at the table next to Tim working with him on his game. My prediction: He'll be easy money until about Tuesday afternoon, and then you won't want to play against him.
Phil Gordon