WINNING POKER| @ TOURNAMENTS ONE HAND AT A TIME Cee od Cen ee iar) Ca eoiar( eee eu Ceasar avg Men eC Cee ang ERIC “RIZEN® LYNCH ON as TOI EMNE Iy Ada Penis Ub Ln amen eat eo OGRE ue LeU mie eine |4 Winning Poker Tournaments aeee About the Authors Eric “Rizen” Lynch Eric “Rizen™ Lynch is recognized as one of the top tournament players in the world in both live and Internet play. In just two years at the World Series of Poker, he has seven cashes, including a 2nd and 3rd place finish. He finished 26th in the 2006 main event, winning $494,000, his biggest prize so far. His lifetime total for cash finishes in live tourna- ments is a little shy of $1 million. Online, Eric has over 50 wins, made 300 final tables, and has won over $1.5 million. In 2007, he won one of the major Sunday tournaments, beating out thousands for a prize of $156K. Eric writes a popular blog found at www.rizenpoker.com and is a colum- nist for Bluff magazine. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner Well-known for his online prowess, Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, who also plays online under the name PearlJammed, actually got his start playing live games in Raleigh, NC, and then later in Las Vegas. He won the 2007 Internet Player ‘of the Year award, tracked by woww,InternetPokerRankings.com, after a 3rd place finish in 2006. He consistently ranks in the top 10 players at www.PocketFives.com- Over the last couple of years, PearlJammer has amassed an impressive online resume: He has over 100 wins, made 600 final tables, and won almost $2 million. In 2007, he placed. second in one of the major Sunday tournaments to win his biggest online cash prize of $100,000, a Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet imc ” os oluuhe ian ae ea playing professionally in 2004 y jege, and quickly moved up the ranks i calle pe ae He ranked in the top 20 in Bail 3008 ret www.IntemetPokerRankings.com. i metPoke ings. . He consistently ranks highly al www.PocketFives.com and i: ‘ : Gown aed. is a two-time winner of their Triple ee se to $2 million playing in tournaments online, including i inal tables and 70 wins. His bi; i : : € Fi iggest online cas! i $135K when he finished 2nd in a major Sunday uae niece8 Wha) Pie mci t ahd Acknowledgments Eric Lynch | would like to thank my beautiful wife Shauna and our bwo wonderful children; Corbin and Kira. | know the time and sacrifices they have made for both my profession and this book were numerous, and | appreciate their support more than they will ever know. Without their blessing this book could never have been. completed. 1 would also like to thank the rest of my family for their constant words of support and encourage- ment throughout both the writing of this book and my life, as they have always believed in me and made sure I believed in myself, Also thanks to all the fellow poker players who have taken time out of their lives to discuss hands and situations with me, especially those | talk with every night (you know who you are). 1 hope that you all have learned half as much from me as I have from you. Finally, | would like to thank all of the fans out there (either of me or poker in general) who have made this. book possible. The passion you all show for this simple card game we all Jove not only makes books like this possible, but helps keep those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to play it for a living reminded why we started playing in the first place, a fact that can easily be forgotten during the day to day grind of a being a professional poker player, Jon Turner Thanks to my parents who continue to support my passion for poker. ‘Thanks to my friends, family, and especially my girlfriend, Tracey, who convinced me to take on this project and helped keep me motivated throughout the process. Jon Van Fleet I'd like to thank Danny Neylon, whose advice, ideas, and writing skills were essential in helping me put together my section of the book. | also want to thank Stephen Chidwick who helped review my section and provided valuable feedback. Matthew Hilger I would like to thank sev: i ae eral people who contributed to putting this book Neil Myers and Julie Risi Andrew and Eva Kuezyn: it for style and copyediting. bere: i for typesetting and desi c raig Ditman for the cover design and Seee mee Susan Myers for cover copy. . Also, thanks to all of the members of the Forum at wivw. IntemetTexasHoldem,com. ares m.com. I wouldn't be a player and poker author without all of your ne as successful asIntroduction: How this Book Was Created and What it Will Do for You by Matthew Hilger Early in 2007, [ was looking to work on another joint project for the publishing company I founded. [had thoroughly enjoyed working with Jan Taylor, my co-author and the brains behind The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success, That book was well received in the marketplace, gaining a great deal of positive feedback from the poker world, and I really enjoyed the exchange of ideas that occurred while working with another poker player on a joint project. A book focused on hands played in poker tournaments seemed like a great next project, but only with the right experts with whom I could work. Around the same time, I read an article by Rizen titled “Beyond Harrington”. In that article, Eric taught the reader how to adapt to the ever-changing poker landscape. I was most impressed by Eric's clear writing style, and how he described new ideas and concepts. Contacting Erie resulted in a fruitful meeting of minds, and this book (and others in the series) began to take shape. As Eric and I brainstormed the project, we discussed other potential coauthors for the book. Since Trun the site www.JntemetPokerRankings.com (IPR), it was logical that I start there to find some of the top-ranked players drawn from the site's Internet Player of the Year race. Players’ rankings are based on their finishes in all of the major online tournaments. Those who, week on week, month on month, and year on year finish near the top of the leader board were clearly and consistently doing things that separated them from the rest of field. ‘One such player was Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, PearlJammer had finished 3" in the 2006 Internet Player of the Year race, and won the race in 2007. Eric and Jon knew each other, and Eric thought he would be a great fit for the project. | called PearlJammer, and the next day he said he was on board—definitely someone who knows how to make a quick decision! I then asked PearlJammer and Eric to each create a short-list er players who would be suitable cx thors. To my delight, the Player topped both their lists; Jon “Apesiyles” Van Fleet. uiJammer has a style similar to my own: Early in a tournament, he 08 on managing the size of the pot to minimize his risk until he can trap for his opponents. He is willing to accept smaller pots early for the sake of minimizing his risk. Later, he will start to open up his in the right spots, but is generally a more conservative player than 4 Rizen or Apestyles. PearWammer is always focused and rarely i out of line during play. ‘Apostyles has a more aggressive approach and really turns up the heat ii the bubble. He looks to build a stack quickly by taking an aggressive {ine against opponents who are more cautious in the early stages of a fournament, Apestyles is not afraid to take advantage of the smallest of edges, He also has a clear and carefully defined strategy on how to play figninst various stack sizes. Rizen has more gears to his game than most. He is very focused on his image and his opponents' style of play, and then picks a style or strategy which is best for a specific situation, in that particular moment, against 4 particular opponent. Rizen plays a conservative sit-back approach at times, but he is willing to mix it up with you and take it to another level when game conditions demand it, Rizen takes risks, but generally only does so in low-risk, high-reward situations. This book is the first volume in a two volume set. Volume | covers hands up until the money bubble. Volume II, will look at. hands in the money, with a focus on final table play. Rizen and PearlJammer discuss 50 hands they have selected from their own play. Apestyles discusses 30.of his hands, and then another 24 hands devoted solely to a single tournament where he was on the bubble. One of the goals of the book was to try to select players with different styles so that you, the reader, may observe contrasting styles in similar poker situations, To further illustrate these contrasts, I also selected 20 of my own hands, and asked all three authors to comment on how they would play the hand, Some of the hands were chosen to demonstrate consensus on important concepts, while other hands were chosen in the