Ashley Sleeth (Vegas MTT pro)- Ask Me Anything About Playing Poker

[dlam]

What your typical cash game sessions schedule. For example do you only play in the evenings /days /weekends /weekdays
How do you find a “good” cash game?
Are there certain regs you avoid or like to play with?

 

[dlam]

Hi Ashley
just an update on my previous post
I was playing when I felt like it and random days

Playing for a month now and finding out that my winning session are on the weekends ( maybe cause more rec players?)
Losing session were on the mondays/tuesday/ evening where there are more "reg" and games are tougher to win

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

1.) Do you play at all online?

Also, random side note: I've played with jesse sylvia a while back HU on 3/6 PLO on WSOP back when chat was still not disabled and we had a pretty long HU session. At the end of our match, I remember he said something like "wow great match! gg" and I remember thinking, man this guy seems like a pretty chill cool dude lol. Just though I'd throw that little story in there.

2.) I've watched a few of your youtube vlogs since I live in Vegas and like to follow a lot of the vegas vloggers out there. Your videos are pretty high quality and well done especially for being a newer poker vlogger to the scene. Just curious how you edit your videos or how you went about finding a good poker video editor as I've been playing around with starting a poker vlog myself and find the entire process extremely tedious and time consuming.

Jesse is the best and as genuine as they come. I’m very lucky
It was easy for me to find an editor because it’s my sister! She went to film school and does Ana amazing job. We are currently outlining a video that is all about the vlog-making process. So keep an eye out for that in the next few weeks on my channel.
Cheers!

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

What your typical cash game sessions schedule. For example do you only play in the evenings /days /weekends /weekdays
How do you find a “good” cash game?
Are there certain regs you avoid or like to play with?

I mostly play tournaments, but will play cash on Fri/Sat nights if there are no series running (or if I busted the Wynn daily already ). I play $2/$5 at the Wynn and Resorts World on those nights. Playing on busy weekend nights is already a good filter for finding ‘good’ games….but I’m just looking for a table that is ordering drinks, chatting and not folding around to the blinds to often. If there isn’t a lot of action for 20-30min I change tables. I don’t avoid any regs in particular. If they were extremely good, they’d play higher stakes than me.

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hi Ashley
just an update on my previous post
I was playing when I felt like it and random days

Playing for a month now and finding out that my winning session are on the weekends ( maybe cause more rec players?)
Losing session were on the mondays/tuesday/ evening where there are more "reg" and games are tougher to win

Sorry for the late response on your questions, but yes I find the same schedule is best for juicier games. Cheers!

 

[Belpster]

Ask me anything

Hi Ashley,

Not really a question, just a thank you for the YouTube vlogs, I really enjoy them, so thanks for making them!!

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hi Ashley,

Not really a question, just a thank you for the YouTube vlogs, I really enjoy them, so thanks for making them!!

That is so sweet. You’re very welcome!! Thanks for watching and taking the time to post here Makes all the hard work worth it.

 

[apLike]

Ashley when will you please us with new posts?) it is interesting to read your posts)

 

[Sheepshaker]

Hey Ashley ! (and hi to everybody for this is my first post at CC!)

Just stumbled upon your "5 Tips for Starting Playing Live Poker" video on YT and happily took the chance of asking you more questions by signing in to CC....;-)
I'm German, almost 50 ys old and a 100% online player - was infected by the NL virus 15 months ago (never had any contact to poker before) and I'm playing online MTT's for approx. a year now (almost every single day I play a $5.50 buy-in $1.500 R&A on 888 and on Sundays I sometimes take a shot on the big 109$/100k or special event series MTTs through qualifiers.....).
I learned a lot through reading books and a of course a lot of online content (mainly Pokercoaching.com stuff) and I think I have a pretty solid understanding of the main strategies now and already can react to player pool tendencies and at least more obvious and coarse player's mistakes I encounter at the "table"....but all that only happens in the online world so far - which I really would like to change as a mid-term perspective.

I'm final-tabling "my daily" $1.500 (payout!) MTT usually played by approx. 150 players mentioned above on a regular basis, had some wins and top 3's and so I'm doing pretty good (aside from still keeping shoving it in too much PreFlop).
Aside from not having the luxury of having my wife being a coaching poker pro as you do now I'm feeling that I want to try exploring the "real deal" - which is playing live poker tournaments some day.
But approaching the live poker idea I really see quite a pile of obstacles or better said challenges due to facing so many "handling" issues with real chips, real cards etc.. some of them which you've adressed in your video...

All of that never played a role so far because inevitably online poker clients do all those things automatically - especially counting / calculating / observing chip stacks, bet sizes, pot sizes etc - just take the always relative bb factor view alone which makes it soooo convenient and effortless playing online.....
But everything I've learned so far and I've implemented into my game strategy-wise was based on bb ratios or multiples of 1BB and percentual pot sizes etc etc.....which now doesn't apply anymore or at least is hard to manage and translate to live poker....

Aside from the fact that here in germany for protecting people from gambling-addiction it is regulated by law that you only can play poker (for real money) in a certain kind of casinos - and there are not many and the few that do exist hardly offer any useful events for beginners (usually 500 Euros buy-ins or more) which doesn't make doing some shy first steps even more difficuilt. I could travel to some adjacent countries like the netherlands that have better offers someday - but I really want to be prepared then.
In order to get any idea of what live poker could feell like I recently visited a MTT sunday event nearby (playing tournaments for prices that are NOT "direct" money like a mobile phone is legal) with 8 tables of 10 players. Being there for some hours really proved me right that this is

a) much more vivid and fascinating than online play at home

b) such a different game from the online game I'm used to - especially regarding the calculation aspects mentioned above ! Before this experience I was not aware of that the (actual and total) pot size is not being shown or called out loud at all....!

So after all of this novel-writing.... here's my question(s), hoping that it doesn't appear too dumb to you....:

a) How do you deal with keeping track of what's in the pot(s) during the betting rounds....which I - coming from pure online play - really find VERY hard to follow especially when there's a lot of re-raising multiway....!
Do you have kind of a "side calculation buffer" running in your head all the time that you stack up / actualize after every round? Or do you estimate it by looking at the chips on the table (the pot in the middle / nearby the dealer)? Or do you do something totally different?

b) Do you ever take notes on players and if yes how and in which format ?

c) Do you "think" in "bb values" and pot % bet sizings at all in live play ?

d) Do you have any tips for training getting used to the blinds progressions and adapting to it ? How did you start out back then adressing all of these calculating / sizing issues ? Which btw seem to be very prone of distracting from the game action itself and of being overwhelming at first.....

Sorry for being so lengthy but I wanted you to get what I mean and English is not my native language so I wanted to avoid too many misunderstandings....

Kind regards, Uli

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hey Ashley ! (and hi to everybody for this is my first post at CC!)

Just stumbled upon your "5 Tips for Starting Playing Live Poker" video on YT and happily took the chance of asking you more questions by signing in to CC....;-)
I'm German, almost 50 ys old and a 100% online player - was infected by the NL virus 15 months ago (never had any contact to poker before) and I'm playing online MTT's for approx. a year now (almost every single day I play a $5.50 buy-in $1.500 R&A on 888 and on Sundays I sometimes take a shot on the big 109$/100k or special event series MTTs through qualifiers.....).
I learned a lot through reading books and a of course a lot of online content (mainly Pokercoaching.com stuff) and I think I have a pretty solid understanding of the main strategies now and already can react to player pool tendencies and at least more obvious and coarse player's mistakes I encounter at the "table"....but all that only happens in the online world so far - which I really would like to change as a mid-term perspective.

I'm final-tabling "my daily" $1.500 (payout!) MTT usually played by approx. 150 players mentioned above on a regular basis, had some wins and top 3's and so I'm doing pretty good (aside from still keeping shoving it in too much PreFlop).
Aside from not having the luxury of having my wife being a coaching poker pro as you do now I'm feeling that I want to try exploring the "real deal" - which is playing live poker tournaments some day.
But approaching the live poker idea I really see quite a pile of obstacles or better said challenges due to facing so many "handling" issues with real chips, real cards etc.. some of them which you've adressed in your video...

All of that never played a role so far because inevitably online poker clients do all those things automatically - especially counting / calculating / observing chip stacks, bet sizes, pot sizes etc - just take the always relative bb factor view alone which makes it soooo convenient and effortless playing online.....
But everything I've learned so far and I've implemented into my game strategy-wise was based on bb ratios or multiples of 1BB and percentual pot sizes etc etc.....which now doesn't apply anymore or at least is hard to manage and translate to live poker....

Aside from the fact that here in Germany for protecting people from gambling-addiction it is regulated by law that you only can play poker (for real money) in a certain kind of casinos - and there are not many and the few that do exist hardly offer any useful events for beginners (usually 500 Euros buy-ins or more) which doesn't make doing some shy first steps even more difficuilt. I could travel to some adjacent countries like the Netherlands that have better offers someday - but I really want to be prepared then.
In order to get any idea of what live poker could feell like I recently visited a MTT sunday event nearby (playing tournaments for prices that are NOT "direct" money like a mobile phone is legal) with 8 tables of 10 players. Being there for some hours really proved me right that this is

a) much more vivid and fascinating than online play at home

b) such a different game from the online game I'm used to - especially regarding the calculation aspects mentioned above ! Before this experience I was not aware of that the (actual and total) pot size is not being shown or called out loud at all....!

So after all of this novel-writing.... here's my question(s), hoping that it doesn't appear too dumb to you....:

a) How do you deal with keeping track of what's in the pot(s) during the betting rounds....which I - coming from pure online play - really find VERY hard to follow especially when there's a lot of re-raising multiway....!
Do you have kind of a "side calculation buffer" running in your head all the time that you stack up / actualize after every round? Or do you estimate it by looking at the chips on the table (the pot in the middle / nearby the dealer)? Or do you do something totally different?

b) Do you ever take notes on players and if yes how and in which format ?

c) Do you "think" in "bb values" and pot % bet sizings at all in live play ?

d) Do you have any tips for training getting used to the blinds progressions and adapting to it ? How did you start out back then adressing all of these calculating / sizing issues ? Which btw seem to be very prone of distracting from the game action itself and of being overwhelming at first.....

Sorry for being so lengthy but I wanted you to get what I mean and English is not my native language so I wanted to avoid too many misunderstandings....

Kind regards, Uli

Congrats for trying out live for the first time! It’s a whole new world isn’t it?

I think that a response to all of your questions deserves a video. I’ll make one today and let you know when it’s posted to the CardsChat YouTube channel.

I will go more in depth in the video, but basically, YES I am always doing math in my head at the table. Always adding the pot on every street and then basing my bet size off of that. My preflop ‘mental routine’ is to narrate (in my head) who is opening (what position?), what is their stack size (chips first, then estimate bbs) and what range of hands should they be opening (and does this player have more or less hands than that).

Postflop, I do the same thing on every street. It takes a lot of practice but it soon becomes second nature. Eventually, you can quickly glance at a stack and know instantly how many bbs they have. Thanks for the question… now I’m off to make a more in-depth video about it.

 

[Sheepshaker]

Thanks Ashley - that's very cool that you turn your answers into a video explanation right away....

Btw I really think that there might be quite some online playing fellows that will appreciate that big time !

If I might ask you for that PLEASE tell us about your mental routine and your calculation habits as detailed and "for dummies" in a step-by-step manner as possible !
And if you have any idea how to practice that "off the felt" that would be great, too !

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Ashley when will you please us with new posts?) it is interesting to read your posts)

thanks! i have a lot more time now post-wsop so be on the look out for new threads coming soon

 

[apLike]

thanks! i have a lot more time now post-WSOP so be on the look out for new threads coming soon

I'm really looking forward to it and I wish you inspiration))

 

[ScoobyEdu]

Very amazing your last video, I commented on YT and here on the forum and in my VIP...
I'm starting to play live... and the two videos were fundamental... I loved it a lot
Thank you for the tips.
I have a question about pre-game preparation...
How should we prepare ourselves mentally and physically... to achieve a good performance...
I have my warm up ritual online, some mentalizations, stretching and such.. but how to prepare for the live.
Thank you so much !!!!

 

[AndreyBudnik]

Hi Ashley,

Not really a question, just a thank you for the YouTube vlogs, I really enjoy them, so thanks for making them!!

Can please share link, for me also interested

 

[AndreyBudnik]

Hi Ashley, are you playing in some Mexican tournament or cash?
if yes, where? in CDMX or Cancun ?

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Very amazing your last video, I commented on YT and here on the forum and in my VIP...
I'm starting to play live... and the two videos were fundamental... I loved it a lot
Thank you for the tips.
I have a question about pre-game preparation...
How should we prepare ourselves mentally and physically... to achieve a good performance...
I have my warm up ritual online, some mentalizations, stretching and such.. but how to prepare for the live.
Thank you so much !!!!

Thanks for the kind words Scooby!

It’s great that you already have an online warm up routine! You could simply use that for live play as well. If you’d like to feel even more prepared, you could plan to bring some food or snacks and focus on stretching a little every break. It’s a much longer day than the online grind, but you will get better every time you play. Hope that helps and good luck at the tables! 😊

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hi Ashley, are you playing in some Mexican tournament or cash?
if yes, where? in CDMX or Cancun ?

Hey Andrey- I don’t have any plans to play in mexico any time soon. Would love if the WPT did a big series there though!

 

[Debi]

Thank you for the fun game last night - your live stream was amazing! If anyone missed it here you go:

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Thank you for the fun game last night - your live stream was amazing! If anyone missed it here you go:

Thanks Debi!! Had a blast doing it 🤗

 

[jonaselloco]

Thanks Debi!! Had a blast doing it 🤗

Thanks for doing it Ashley, we really enjoyed it.
And I told Debi that as a gentleman that I am I let you finish in position 24, in front of me that I finished 25 hahahaha
Next time I'll be crueler hahaha
Outside of joking, it was a pleasure for those of us who don't have the possibility, to have played with the Pro members of the site.
Just thank you and never lose that beautiful smile.
Greetings, Carlos from argentina

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hey guys,
Just a quick update on my poker schedule for the rest of 2022:

October- playing the Wynn Fall Series (Las Vegas)
November- playing the WSOP Circuit at Harvey's (Lake Tahoe)
December- playing the WPT Series at the Wynn (Las Vegas)

Come say hi if you see me! Good luck at the tables.
💛

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Thanks for doing it Ashley, we really enjoyed it.
And I told Debi that as a gentleman that I am I let you finish in position 24, in front of me that I finished 25 hahahaha
Next time I'll be crueler hahaha
Outside of joking, it was a pleasure for those of us who don't have the possibility, to have played with the Pro members of the site.
Just thank you and never lose that beautiful smile.
Greetings, Carlos from Argentina

Thanks Carlos! Looking forward to more of those streams in the future.

 

[Luvepoker]

Hi Ashley,

If you would not mind I have a question. What tools do you and would recommend using for studying poker? I am happy with how my study challenge is going and would love to know what s professional like you would use. Please do forgive me if this is rude or asking to much, I am really enjoying learning the deeper aspects of the game and want more.

Ken

 

[Amblo]

Hi, nice to meet you Ashley. What would be a sustainable bankroll management for playing live poker?
In live poker there are extra expenses with food and sometimes with accommodation, how do you organize this aspect?