World Series of Poker Academy

Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun looks at poker students in a two-day seminar on no-limit cash games learn strategy by going to battle, then analyzing it.

One of the participants in last weekend’s World Series of Poker Academy, a two-day instructional camp focusing on no-limit Texas hold ’em cash games, had just asked about the possibility of learning optimal strategy through a chart listing which starting hands to play from various positions.

The essence of Seif’s reply: It wouldn’t work in no-limit hold ’em. Although such charts are commonly used in teaching limit hold ’em, the no-limit version of the game contains many more nuances, rendering the by-the-number, chart-based approach ineffective.

Here’s a more powerful technique, Seif explained as he dealt the next hand. The “live hand demonstration” portion of the poker academy allows the participants to play out sample hands just as they would in a live cash game, and provides for a dissection of the action afterward that touches on important facets of poker theory.

Seif was one of four poker professionals serving as instructors for the latest World Series of Poker Academy, along with Alex Outhred, Mark Gregorich and Michael Gracz. This was only the second camp — and the first in Las Vegas — to focus on Texas hold ’em cash games rather than tournaments, and it drew more than 50 participants. The cost was $1,899 — typical for the seminars, which regularly sell out.

Source: Las Vegas Sun