Thinking in Terms of Ranges: Gareth James' Interactive WCOOP Review
The 2019 World Championship of Online Poker on PokerStars is over, with the 219 events having produced countless exciting moments. The series has also produced many opportunities to discuss tournament strategy, which is what poker pro Gareth James has done with a review of some of the more intriguing hands he played during WCOOP.
Following a short introduction of himself and a discussion of poker coaching and the interactive nature of his approach, James moves through five interesting WCOOP hands he played, analyzing each while responding to viewers' questions via chat. Thus while he shares his own thoughts about the decisions each hand presents, he's also incorporating the feedback and thoughts of those who viewed the webinar when it initially aired.
The video is great for a number of reasons, including showing viewers how to think more about ranges — both our own and our opponents' — when proceeding street-by-street in a hand. With each decision James also stops and asks the viewer to think about what he or she would do at every turn, thus inviting the viewer to think actively about the situations and concepts being discussed (rather than view passively).
Here's an overview of what James covers:
| 0:07 | Hello and welcome. Gareth introduces the structure of the webinar |
| 4:14 | Gareth explains the interactive nature of the webinar as he plans for participant feedback at each decision point |
| 6:34 | Hand 1: Q♠J♥ - single-raised pot, 20 BB, EP vs. BB on J♣8♠9♣ |
| * Should we open preflop? | |
| * What does our strategy and bet sizing look like for our range on this board and why? | |
| * What should our continuing range look like versus the check raise? | |
| 17:15 | PIO analysis of the Q♠J♥ hand |
| 19:11 | Hand 2: 7♦7♣ - 3-bet pot, 40 BB, LJ vs. HJ on 5♣6♥10♠ |
| * What do we do preflop versus the 3-bet? | |
| * What hands are we 4-bet jamming preflop? | |
| * What hands are we looking to raise or jam on this flop? | |
| * What should we do on the turn versus the jam? | |
| 28:21 | Hand 3: 2♥2♠ - single-raised pot, 25 BB, BB vs. HJ on 2♣9♦4♥ |
| * What should we do preflop? | |
| * What adjustments should we make for a tight opponent? | |
| * What does our flop strategy look like versus the c-bet? | |
| * Should we ever lead the turn? | |
| * What does our river strategy look like? | |
| 38:56 | Hand 4: A♥10♠ - single-raised pot, 14 BB, EP vss BB on J♣K♣4♣ |
| * Playing monotone boards in position | |
| * Should we double-barrel or not? | |
| * Can we value bet the river? | |
| 49:20 | Hand 5: A♣K♠ - 3-bet pot, 45 BB, LJ vs. EP on K♥10♦3♠ |
| * Should we value bet the turn? | |
| * What are we targeting on the river? | |
| * What's the worst hand that you'd call in villain's shoes? | |
| 1:02:46 | Gareth introduces MTT Game Changer, a group coaching program |
And here's the video:
Gareth James is the co-author with Dr. Tricia Cardner of Purposeful Practice for Poker. Visit MTT Poker School to learn more about his new MTT Game Changer Group Coaching Program.
The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in iBus Media
