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

[Ashley Sleeth]

Hi CardsChat members!

My name is Ashley and I'm so excited to join this community. I've been living in Las Vegas for 10 years now playing cash games and more recently, tournaments. I currently play $5/$10 on the Strip and higher stakes on live streams such as Live at the Bike. I'll buy in to tournaments as low as $300 and as high as $5k (with an exception for the wsop Main Event, which everyone should try to play at least once!).

I have also traveled for poker events in many other parts of the world, including Europe, the UK, Australia, canada, Africa and the Caribbean. I can answer a broad range of questions about playing live, traveling for poker events/series, playing on live streams or the general poker lifestyle.

My goal for joining CardsChat is to inspire new people to play poker and to encourage those of you who have a poker bucket list item to go out and do it!

Ask me anything

 

[Debi]

Welcome to CardsChat Ashley! We are so happy to have you here.

What are your favorite poker rooms in Vegas?

 

[Tammy]

Hi Ashley! Welcome to CardsChat - I'm so excited to get to know you better.

What has been your favorite overseas poker locale?

 

[Propane Goat]

Welcome to CardsChat and thanks for doing this AMA Ashley!

How much influence from GTO do you see at the stakes you commonly play and is it still possible for a player to succeed at a high level using "old-school" strategies?

What is your opinion of GTO in general, is it something that every poker player who wants to move up needs to be familiar with or is it just another gimmick that will eventually fall out of favor?

 

[FastOne]

Hi Ashley. Happy to have you here at CardsChat.

Have you find big differences in poker skills between the different cities/countries you've played?

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

What are your favorite poker rooms in Vegas?

My favorite room for both cash and tournament poker is the Wynn. The staff are all really friendly, professional and innovative with trying different events. They have great food throughout the property and easy parking right outside the poker room. Plus, it smells great in there

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

What has been your favorite overseas poker locale?

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

 

[Tammy]

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

Oh that sounds amazing! Adding to my must do/see list!

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

How much influence from GTO do you see at the stakes you commonly play and is it still possible for a player to succeed at a high level using "old-school" strategies?

What is your opinion of GTO in general, is it something that every poker player who wants to move up needs to be familiar with or is it just another gimmick that will eventually fall out of favor?

The regs in the games I play are the ones who use solvers when trying to improve. It's certainly not something everyone at these stakes is doing though. There is still plenty of money to be made playing a straightforward game that emphasizes getting value from opponents playing weak preflop ranges and folding to people who underbluff postflop.
In my opinion, studying a GTO approach is just a way to have more tools in your poker tool kit. It will certainly sharpen things like: your ability to choose correct bet sizes; which combos of hands are your best bluffs; which board runouts are better for you or better for your opponent, etc. But understanding why solvers play the way they do is more important than memorizing the outputs of one spot. For example: understanding why it chooses certain hands to check/raise bluff on a flop gives you the confidence to pick decent combos when you're actually playing at the table.
All of that being said, since we are human and playing against humans, the 'old-school' strategy (that I think you're referring to) of deciding whether your opponent has it or not will always benefit your game. (ie: If you reeeeeally don't think they EVER bluff certain spots, you can fold your marginal holdings.)
I think GTO is here to stay, but will mostly remain a strategy used at higher stakes.

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Have you find big differences in poker skills between the different cities/countries you've played?

Love this question! The answer is a resounding YES. Australian/South African games were very similar to each other....People in both places are talkative, friendly and play loose! They are willing to mix it up and gamble. In Europe/UK, there are a lot more pros if you're in a major poker room during a major poker series. They have more experience with a GTO approach and tend to be solidly aggressive. It's just like in the US, where different cities have player pools that are known for certain styles. (Ex: Vegas cash games are known for being MUCH tighter than LA games Although, recently games have had a lot more action here.)

 

[JordanH]

Hi Ashley, and welcome again to Cardschat! I'm fairly new to poker and am getting frustrated with tournaments. I'm pretty good at cash games. They seem straightforward and playing 6-max is a big plus.

But tournaments are always full-ring. I find those extra 3 or 4 players make all the difference, and not in a good way.

You mentioned that your experience is mostly with cash games but have recently begun to play more tournaments. How did you make the transition? They seem like totally different games to me.

 

[flail1]

My favorite overseas place to play by far is The Crown in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Aussie Millions tournaments series. There is so much to do! The Australian Open always happens at the same time and you can literally walk to the tennis courts from Crown. If you love breakfast and/or coffee as much as I do, Melbourne tops the list with an amazing variety of places to try. If you're more of a dinner date night person, they have you covered too. The property itself is huge. The poker room is full of friendly dealers and players; Aussies keep the table social and light-hearted. It has a mall, 'gold class' movie theater, food court, tennis courts and amazing high end restaurants. It borders the Yarra River where it does a fire and light show every night on the hour. The beach is a bike ride away. Wine vineyards line the drive all the way to where you can see hoards of penguins! It's just the best city for poker and makes busting tournaments feel quite alright.

I played the APPT final at the Star Casino in Sydney and Sydney was just beautiful. So clean and Aussies so friendly. Great waterfront and so many sites to see. And local Aussies all said - you should see Melbourne if you like Sydney. So it is just great to hear you talk about that city - wish I could have seen it too.

 

[whiskers77]

Hi Ashley, a very warm welcome also from my side here at CC.
I know, my questions are completely against your opening thread, but I am somehow curious.
Do you also play online poker beside live games? Did you switch to online games during the pandemic time? And if yes, which games did you prefer there?
And how is it going for you with the live games although there is still pandemia.

I started in 2019 to play some live games in the UK and I really enjoyed them and hoped to play several more, but then came Covid, unfortunately....
I hope things will change again in future...

 

[whiskers77]

I hope you are not scared, that a black cat posts post #13. I just realised it.

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

But tournaments are always full-ring. I find those extra 3 or 4 players make all the difference, and not in a good way.

You mentioned that your experience is mostly with cash games but have recently begun to play more tournaments. How did you make the transition? They seem like totally different games to me.

I've put in the most study and play time in tournaments actually. When I played cash, it was casual and recreational.

Yea 9-max can feel like a lot less action because people have to be tighter in those extra 3-4 positions. It's all about what is the most fun for you!

I made the transition to tournaments by watching a lot of Run It Once videos made by their MTT pros. It helps that my fiancé is also a really good pro and coach (Jesse Sylvia) Once you've learned some basic short stack strategy, it's all about playing as many MTTs as you can and keeping your expectations kind of low at first. It's hard to adjust to not coming home with a profit every session, but once you make a deep run and hit a big score, you might be hooked

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Do you also play online poker beside live games? Did you switch to online games during the pandemic time? And if yes, which games did you prefer there?

Yes, during the pandemic I only played online MTTs for about 15 months. I played on ACR, Global (US site) and WSOP.com. Had my biggest score ever on ACR ($85k)- so I'd say it went well.

 

[Propane Goat]

The regs in the games I play are the ones who use solvers when trying to improve. It's certainly not something everyone at these stakes is doing though. There is still plenty of money to be made playing a straightforward game that emphasizes getting value from opponents playing weak preflop ranges and folding to people who underbluff postflop.
In my opinion, studying a GTO approach is just a way to have more tools in your poker tool kit. It will certainly sharpen things like: your ability to choose correct bet sizes; which combos of hands are your best bluffs; which board runouts are better for you or better for your opponent, etc. But understanding why solvers play the way they do is more important than memorizing the outputs of one spot. For example: understanding why it chooses certain hands to check/raise bluff on a flop gives you the confidence to pick decent combos when you're actually playing at the table.
All of that being said, since we are human and playing against humans, the 'old-school' strategy (that I think you're referring to) of deciding whether your opponent has it or not will always benefit your game. (ie: If you reeeeeally don't think they EVER bluff certain spots, you can fold your marginal holdings.)
I think GTO is here to stay, but will mostly remain a strategy used at higher stakes.

Thanks for the tips and the information! Good to hear that I still have a chance

 

[JordanH]

I've put in the most study and play time in tournaments actually. When I played cash, it was casual and recreational.

Yea 9-max can feel like a lot less action because people have to be tighter in those extra 3-4 positions. It's all about what is the most fun for you!

I made the transition to tournaments by watching a lot of Run It Once videos made by their MTT pros. It helps that my fiancé is also a really good pro and coach (Jesse Sylvia) Once you've learned some basic short stack strategy, it's all about playing as many MTTs as you can and keeping your expectations kind of low at first. It's hard to adjust to not coming home with a profit every session, but once you make a deep run and hit a big score, you might be hooked

Thanks Ashley! I don't think my expectations could get any lower so it seems I'm on good footing.

 

[Diverdoug_57]

can you tell me how to find free rolls?

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

can you tell me how to find free rolls?

It depends on which site you're playing, but you can usually filter for freerolls in the tournament section of the site.

 

[ribbybruno]

Have you or your husband ever belonged to a poker stable? I am very curious on how to get involved with such a group. Thanks!

 

[Ashley Sleeth]

Have you or your husband ever belonged to a poker stable? I am very curious on how to get involved with such a group. Thanks!

I mostly just sell action to either a full MTT series or to one bigger event.
But if you're interested in seeking out a stable to join, the people who run them are looking for:
1) a solid win rate (must have graphs on different online sites and in-game stats)
2) someone who puts in a lot of volume (plays poker full time)
3) someone with credibility and a trustworthy reputation
If you play tournaments, you could always start by selling some action to a few people. Once you win your first backers some money and form good relationships with them, you'll start to earn some credibility and potentially get introduced to people who run full stables.

 

[PHX]

Welcome and thank you for joining our community Ashley.

 

[Edgerik]

Welcome aboard, CardsChat is always looking for good talents to help us in this exciting game. Thank you for joining this great team.

 

[ribbybruno]

I mostly just sell action to either a full MTT series or to one bigger event.
But if you're interested in seeking out a stable to join, the people who run them are looking for:
1) a solid win rate (must have graphs on different online sites and in-game stats)
2) someone who puts in a lot of volume (plays poker full time)
3) someone with credibility and a trustworthy reputation
If you play tournaments, you could always start by selling some action to a few people. Once you win your first backers some money and form good relationships with them, you'll start to earn some credibility and potentially get introduced to people who run full stables.

I really appreciate your response.

Selling some action to a few people. Forming relationships with backers. Credibility!
Yes! Exactly what I am interested in. Thanks!

I have been really studying hard on Learn Pro Poker. Ryan LaPlante has done wonders with this site. GTO and Range Trainer Pro helps to add more gears to my game. I just feel with the right backer. We could make history and a lot of money along the way!