Full Tilt Poker Academy – Pre-Flop Play Challenge

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail, Full Tilt Poker Academy

My trek through the world of the Full Tilt Poker Academy continued when I chose Chris Ferguson’s Pre-Flop Play Challenge. Meant to enforce proper pre-flop discipline, the challenge has tasks based on your position and hole cards. The different strategies are discussed in the session video and a good place for you to start.

When I first looked at the challenge, I didn’t see much that would be too taxing since most of the principles are already firmly entrenched in my head. Bet sizing and pre-flop hand selection were some of the tasks as well as the Pro Play was could be summed up nicely as NO LIMPING. The longest part of the challenge was finding the action folded to my position when playing micro-stakes.

I fired through the challenge pretty quickly and my experiences are after the jump.

The challenge started with the following tasks to be completed in any order:

In early position (UTG, UTG+1, playing 9- or 8-handed), open min-raise (double the big blind) 3 times with the following hands: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, T-T, 9-9, 8-8, A-K, A-Q.
In middle position (UTG+2, UTG+3, UTG+4, playing 9- or 8-handed), open-raise to 2.5 times the big blind 3 times with the following hands: A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, T-T, 9-9, 8-8, 7-7, A-K, A-Q, A-J.
In late position (cutoff, button, playing 9- or 8-handed), open-raise to exactly 3 times the big blind 3 times with hands other than A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, T-T, A-K, A-Q.
Steal the blinds 5 times from middle or late position in a 9- or 8-handed no-limit Hold’em cash game.
The Pro Play - Play 100 consecutive hands without open limping. Raise or fold if it’s been folded to you. Repeat 5 times.

The tasks required that they be completed in NLHE cash games, any limit, any order but the tables needed to be 8 or 9-handed. It’s been a long time since I put in any serious time with the local push monkeys (as I previously stated, I prefer limit which instead involves button mashers). With the Pro Play requiring 500 hands alone I knew I was going to get a baptism by fire.

I figured the toughest task to complete would be catching the right hands in mid/late postition AND having the action fold around to me. If you’ve spent any time at these levels you know there is a ton of limping and min-raises from any and all positions. Oddly enough, the two tasks I completed first were the late-position raise and blind steals. In a weird state of variance flux I caught the hands needed and picked up a steal at the same time.

The Pro-Play and mid-position actions took care of themselves over time. It was necessary to grind out the 500 hands and even blind dumb luck will get me some of those hands in the right conditions. What I never counted on was how long it took me to catch a big hand in early position. I played nearly 800 hands before I finally hit Kings UTG to complete the tasks and challenge.

Naturally Mother Variance had one last joke to play on me, I did just what I seem to do on a regular basis. I stuck all my chips in the middle pre-flop with KK straight into two red Aces. She does have a sense of humor.

I was generally 3 or 4-tabling the micro-stake NLHE games depending on my level of distraction from the DVR. Basically a continuation of the Bankroll Management fundamentals combined with an increased need to beat myself up. The play is mostly unimaginative and can be beat with your basic ABC poker supplied by the tenants of the Full Tilt Poker Academy.

Next up I will talk Phil Gordon’s 5 Common Hold’em Leaks.

Other posts about the Full Tilt Poker Academy and challenges:

Full Tilt Poker Academy – A First Look
Full Tilt Poker Academy – First Challenge
Full Tilt Poker Academy – Bankroll Management Challenge

Tags: AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Full Tilt Poker Academy

Permalink | May 12th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

4 Responses to “Full Tilt Poker Academy – Pre-Flop Play Challenge”

Mr Poker Says:
May 24th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Can I also join this challenge?

Edit from AlCantHang: Anyone can join the Full Tilt Poker Academy Challenge by signing up (click on the link). All lessons, sessions, and challenges are free.
Trimming1 Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Unfoutunatly I have been unable to complete this challenge for two reasons.1) MY bankroll was decimated by donkeys calling with crap and getting lucky, 2)I can`t reload in the conventional way ie pre-paid cc.
BabyFreshNuggz Says:
October 17th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
I guess I’m what you would call a donk newb fish. I have been playing online for about a year now. I have probably lost about $1000 maybe a little more all in 10$ at a time deposits (out of my own pocket) I don’t include money that I have won only to lose later which is probably somewhere in the $5000 range. I feel like I am getting better and I base this knowledge on a few things. I recently won 1st place in a 3$ Knockout MTT among 90 players. I don’t know if that is an accomplishment but for me is is major and prior to that I won 4th place in a 4$ Rush poker 135 man tournament. I have also noticed that playing the free roll tournaments gives me good practice, but I am still at the point where I couldn’t imagine making it to the final table of one of those tournaments.

My question is this
Is it realistic to make a pack to myself only to play with money earned from the free roll tournaments or is there an easier way to build a bankroll?

Edit by AlCantHang: I would suggest loading on of the poker management software packages to track your bankroll building and stick to a solid bankroll management philosphy. The Chris Ferguson Challenge has some great criteria for when to move up and down in stakes. Of course the Full Tilt Academy has a ton of great lessons for free. Good luck in the future.
Pokerhorst Says:
February 22nd, 2011 at 3:06 pm
You’re right, pre flop play is probably the most important thing to consider especially in tournaments!