Bencb Gives Reddit AMA: MTTs, Solvers, Study, Mindset & More
GipsyTeam
7 October, 12:57
Bencb took to Reddit in the days after his $3.9 million dollar victory in the WSOP Online Main Event, giving fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance at tapping into his poker wisdom.
"I am Bencb, poker pro and coach. AMA about strategy, study habits Poker trends or anything else you'd like to know."
Below, we've arranged the questions and answers by topic, so you can sort through the things you want to read.
Bencb's Career
— A lot of pros describe a “turning point” where they went from break even or losing — into a pro profit generator. Do you remember that moment for you? what changed?
I did not have it. For me it was a slow, constant improvement and growth which also reflected in my results.
— Can you just give a progression timeline for your poker career? You’re obviously playing the biggest games now. When did you start and how big were you playing? How fast did you propel to the top?
I started in 2009 grinding $1 SNGs and grinded my way up to $5000 SNGs and then transitioned into Tournaments.
It took me until 2012 or so to make it to $50 – $100 SNGs.
— Did you have a normal job before playing poker professionally? If not, how did you grow your bankroll in the beginning?
I worked in a park and then sitting at a cashier in a supermarket as a side job next to my bachelor studies.
I grew my bankroll grinding $1 SNGs.
— What was your longest ever downswing? did you ever have to adjust strategies during it or did you just thug it out?
Last year I lost like 400 or 500k during the summer?
And in 2012-2013 I had a 400-500 buy ins under EV downswing for approx. 15 months.
Bankroll Management
— How important it is to have bankroll management in poker? And any advice for players on bankroll management?
How do you identify whether a person is cut out to continue pursuing a career in poker despite having a series downswings?
For personal reference , I was up $230k from 2023-2024, however this year I’m down about $160k, I’m unsure if it is sustainable for me in the long run to pursue poker as a career.
Bankroll managment is everything. Usually you want to aim at only investing 1% of your bankroll into 1 tournament, better even 0.5%. Then you move up if you reach 200 buy ins.
Strong mindset, not tilting, no financial pressure, very rational/logical thinking
If you are down $160k this year alone, it looks more like a BRM issue to me. Why don't you drop in stakes earlier?
— If you went completely broke in poker, what would be the first things you would do to get yourself back in a healthy poker position?
Grind $1 SNGs.
— What percentage of “professional” players would you guess are backed/staked?
I really dont know. Maybe 50%-60%?
— Is there anything you would recommend to really instill great bankroll management?? I have many leaks but that might be the worst one 😬
If you cant follow Bankroll management, you shouldn't play poker. It means you have a gamble issue and you can not control yourself.
Mental Game and Discipline
— How do you still care about poker or anything after winning millions?
Because I enjoy the game.
Brutal truth. Those who would retire after winning millions, would very likely never win it in the first place, since they not truly enjoy the game. Thus, don't have the patience and professionalism to make it far in Poker.
Last week, Bencb won the WSOP Online Main Event for $3.9 million. While waiting for a poker play-by-play report from the champion himself, we watched the final table broadcast with commentary from Jeff Gross and Phil Hellmuth.
— I already do gym and cold showers to train discipline outside the game, but it doesn’t always carry over to poker. What’s your approach to developing discipline specifically for in-game decision making under pressure?
Don't do things just because others do it. Do the routines that have a significant impact on you. If it doesn't carry over to Poker, try something else.
Discipline comes from repetition. I practice a lot (www.pairrd.com). That gives me the needed discipline.
— What do you think the main principles are that separate good players from great players?
Great players are more willing to go into the extremes. Extremes in a sense of not being afraid to fold their full range or to bluff their full range. Their exploitative game is simply on another level.
— I wanted to ask, how do you manage mentally? We started more or less the same time many many years ago, but I quit playing because I just couldn’t handle the mental and physical stress, the travel and the insecurity. I’ve been working in the industry though, for over 10 years, and love it.
I am doing pretty well mentally, but I also invested a lot of time and effort outside the tables to work on my mindset. I attended a lot bootcamps, invested into mentors and coaches, mediated a lot and tried different techniques to stay sharp.
Most don't do that, and then wonder why they fall behind.
— Hi Ben! wondering how you avoid burnout and getting tired through long tournament days
How can you burn out from something you enjoy?
Not pointing at you. But many people can play call of duty for 10 hours but cant focus for 2 hours on poker.
It shows me, that most people in fact don't love the game. They only love the stuff that poker brings (money, freedom, lifestyle).
How many hours per week you spend on a) playing, b) studying c) other poker business (like working on your stream, arranging trips, sponsor stuff, etc.)
Your schedule is very different from "normal peoples" daily schedule. How does it interfere with your social life like family and friends?
Are you (still) enjoying poker? Or is it simply a thing you are extremely good at and you treat it as your job?
For how long you wanna continue playing poker? You have any goal you wanna reach and then end it? Or play as long as you can enjoy/endure (depending on 3) it?
Assuming there is an end somewhere, what would you do afterwards? Still something poker related, e.g. coaching, commentary, or general poker business? Or something else you really wanna dive into? Or just relax on the beach?
1. I play only Sundays and then during major series 3-4 a week and I combine my studying with creating content for our members at Raiseyouredge, which is around 15-20 hours a week. Then I spend 10-15 hours a week on Acend Club (esports) and 5-10 hours on other projects.
2. I work a lot but I am also a lot more flexible. I can work 12 hours a day for 3 days and then take 2-3 days off. And I enjoy it.
3. Yes of course I still enjoy i.t
4. I don't have an end goal. Money is just a byproduct.
5. I don't think like that. I don't know when and if there is an end. I wanna do things where I can grow the most and of course earn good money.
— How much % did you have on the main? will you take some deserved time off from it / what will you do with the money and what is your personal goal, after you already achieved so much?
Enough ;)
I don't need time off. From what? Playing the game I enjoy? Surely going to have a celebration or a vacation at some point.
— I've played poker for 20 years, I studied the game. I studied GTO. And the more I study the more i think it´s just a game of luck. What´s your take on that?
If you would study Exploitative Poker, you would realize how little luck it needs.
— How do you keep yourself from making autopilot mistakes? Especially when mixing so many different types of games in Vanilla, PKO and Mystery Bounty?
On days I grind I work out, I meditate, I do breathing exercises and then during the breaks I walk around, getting my blood flow. That prevents me from auto piloting.
We've distilled 40 of Chance Kornuth's Twitter posts into 20 poker tips and 20 mindset tips. From a high-roller and poker coach, this is free wisdom that you shouldn't miss.
— Hi Ben, this was my first year playing poker full time (low stakes cash player about to move to mid stakes). Can you give me any wisdom or advice? What are your study habits?
Take it slow. Don't be afraid to move down again. Stay hard and strict with your bankroll management. Most people fail because their Ego takes over and they go broke by not being able to move down in stakes.
Keep your studying realistic. Study based on what people do (that's how/why we build pairrd.com). Try to find new exploits and review with friends/coaches.
— When playing do you use your intuition/gut feeling? Or do you focus only in the +ev decision even if it feels off?
Besides ROI%, do you check BB/100 and Adjusted BB/100 to consider someone a winning player?
I never check BB/100 stats. Very misleading for Tournament players.
I prefer feedback from poker buddies. And then constantly working on improving my game with www.pairrd.com
Constantly quizzing/practicing chEV/ICM spots Preflop and Postflop and getting real time feedback.
Then also analyzing a bunch of exploitative spots. I always try to find new exploits.
I mostly focus on +EV decision all the time. That also includes listening to my gut feeling.
— Hi Ben, aspiring poker pro here.
Is private coaching a must? Or is only self study enough?
Best tools for studying? I have thought in: HRC and Drilling in Pairrd/GTOW, this good enough?
1. No, but it is a shortcut
2. You got everything you need.
GL champ
What do you think about using ChatGPT (or similar) for reviewing hands / training for beginner poker logic mistakes? If you skeptical, can you elaborate why?
Terrible. I would not try to learn Poker with Chat GPT.
I am not skeptical. I tried it myself.
It can help with understanding certain terms and very basic stuff. But everything beyond, like reviewing hands or getting feedback on a hand is just very bad advice (maybe it will get better).
— When using MDA to build exploitive heuristics on player pools, do you have recommendations on how to methodologically going through the data and build usable resources for an individual?
First, it is important to understand the thresholds.
For example, you need to know what is the "GTO" data for defending vs 3-bets, lets say BU vs CO. You can check this with any kind of preflop ranges and/or solver. Then you go through your own data to see, if you are over- or under-calling.
NOW, this is important. You have to now check the population if they are even 3-betting "GTO".
They might not 3-bet enough, therefore a high fold to 3-bet is recommended.
To sum it up:
Understand what's the GTO threshold.
Look into your own data/stats/HUD how far you deviate from it.
Analyze your player pool if your deviation is good or bad.
That's the only way to truly figure out if you adjust well to the pool or not.
Unfortunately many Coaches, especially Database Coaches don't know how to properly adjust. They will tell you you need to defend more vs 3-bets (for example), when in reality the players on your stakes are not 3-betting enough.
— I wasn't aware of your recent score, congrats, but you have been a big name in the online tournament world for some time now. Would you care to share any unusual poker anecdotes?
What do you think is the #1 thing that new or struggling professional players fail to do well?
Also do you think that cash games are better than tourneys for new players in general?
Thanks man!
I don't really have any banger Poker anecdotes TBH.
#1 Mistakes will always be Tilt, Poor Bankroll management and underestimating Variance.
From a more technical POV I would say that most players fail to understand the importance of Exploitative Poker and are too afraid to play in extremes, ie Range Calling or Range Folding or going crazy with bluff 3bets.
I wouldn't say one is better than the other. It depends on your circumstances. If you have a fulltime job, cash games might be better since you can not afford grinding 10 hour Tournament sessions.
— What would you say are the most important habits and topics to study to continue to improve and become a proper "crusher" at low stakes cash games?
1. Proper Preflop Fundamentals
2. Value betting
3. Exploiting other regulars
4. Exploiting tendencies of recreationals
— Hi Ben. What’s your setup when it comes to table layout on multiple monitors and all your keyboard shortcuts? I have keyboard shortcuts setup but I’m curious what a crusher like yourself has that you think is most useful / optimal
Also what software do you use while playing and to analyze your sessions afterwards?
I simply put on table next to each other so that they don't overlap too much :D
I just Jurojin and then a stream deck when I record/stream my sessions.
For analyzing I use PIO and then Pairrd.com for practicing. (mostly pairrd.com to be honest).
— Which tools and resources would you recommend for someone looking to solidify their MTT game and willing to invest:
Low budget / couple bucks a month
Mid budget / up to 50 USD a month
Unlimited budget
Lets start here:
No budget: www.raiseyouredge.com/free www.raiseyouredge.com/playbook www.pairrd.com. You can get access for free to my Tournament Course, to my Profit Playbook as well as Mindset course and practice daily for free with Pairrd.
Low budget: I don't know what you can get for a couple of bucks to be honest.
Mid Budget: Crusher Sub at www.pairrd.com
Unlimited Budget: Yearly Champions Sub at www.pairrd.com, HRC Sub, GTO Wizard Sub, Private Coach
— Thanks Ben! Big fan of the YT channel and a purchaser of your course on RYE.
My question: In a poker environment where solvers are "the way" to study, how do you balance learning this fundamental theoretical strategy over honing your exploitative game, especially when you're mainly playing live tournaments where your opponents are deviating so dramatically from theory?
Thanks man! Glad you enjoy our stuff.
Solvers are not the way to study, at least not for beginners.
As you said, many players deviate so heavily, that you need to understand basic theory but quickly transition into an exploitative style. Review spots, see what "GTO" wants you to do BUT ALWAYS check if its realistic for your games and then draw the proper conclusions.
It is okay to check preflop or postflop spots with GTO, but most players don't have the understanding to interpret the outputs properly.
Ben Rolle (Bencb) gives advice on how to use a solver most effectively when starting out in poker. In his opinion, a student should always have an experienced instructor sitting next to him, and independent work at an early stage is much more likely to do harm than good.
— Congrats on your Main Event win! My question is what would you prioritize what to study to be successful in NLHE MTTs? Also, what kind of routines do you have in your daily life that you think leads to your success?
Thanks man!
Preflop Fundamentels BUT understand them. Don't try to memorize and learn in which spots you can deviate heavily (flat call more, 3bet more, 3bet less etc.. and more importantly understand the WHY)
VALUEBETTING!!!!
ICM
Meditating, goal setting, journaling/reviewing always helped me to stay grounded and reflected which is very important to me in Poker.
— In solver trainers I perform well and understand the concepts, but in real online play I often become too passive, call too much, and don’t follow the strategy I know. It feels like my knowledge doesn’t transfer into execution. How would you recommend bridging this gap between study and actual play?
Well, my friend, sorry to tell you the truth. But you are studying the wrong way.
Out there, you play vs bad players, who have a ton of leaks. A solver does not teach you to exploit. You play against an unrealistic opponent that doesn't exist.
All winning players make their money from bad players. Do you know how to exploit bad players?
Let go studying with solvers. Learn from someone who can teach you how to make money with Poker and how to exploit bad players whilst not losing money vs other good opponents. That's the secret. A solver will never do that.
Tournament Wisdom
— Vanilla, PKO or Mystery Bounty what do you prefer?
Vanilla
— What are the best adjustments to make when you have a big stack?
You play looser. But be careful. Some people wont give in since they expect you to play looser.
— What do you think the biggest leak in the 109-215 online tournament pool is, and what adjustment would you make to maximize your ev considering that leak.
Being impatient, therefore value betting thinner and betting bigger with good hands.
— What made you switch from SNGs to MTTs? Do you miss the good old days of grinding for SNE?
PokerStars abandoning the Super Nova Elite System and SNGs basically dying.
So I was kind of forced to switch formats which turned out to be quite lucky for me.
Imagine if Stars would have not stopped SNE. I might still grind SNGs and Raise Your Edge would have never existed ;)
I wouldn't say "missing" them. I call it reminiscing.
— I asked similar questions to Sam greenwood but would like your take:
How hard is it for someone to study now and become a good winning player in mid to high stakes mtts
What % of live SHR players do you think are actually winning
ROI of good winning SHR live MTT players? How about mid stakes live like $1-5ks?
Best live MTT players right now from a pure technical perspective?
1. Hard is relative. I would say it is still quite easy to establish yourself on mid-stakes. But here I only speak from experience and feedback from our students, who, once they made it, often share, "It was easier than I thought". It is still hard, don't get me wrong. But a lot of people make it a lot more complicated than it has to be (Especially around having to play GTO)
2. I am not experienced in live to be honest, so I can be way off here, but I would guess 15%-30% (of the total playerpool)
3. Again, I am the wrong person for that live stuff :D But from what I have heard 50%+ ROI in these soft mistakes live tourneys should be feasible. Many good regs easily get over 100%
4. Mikita (Fish2013), Steven Chidwick, Adrian Mateos.
— What is the best site to play MTTS on based on player pool strength for low stakes?
Softest: CoinPoker Biggest Schedule / Guarantees: GG Poker
— Thanks for doing this Ben, always enjoyed your training content over the years. Because it can be challenging to get enough volume to overcome variance in live MTTs, how should live MTT players analyze their results and decide when to move up or down in stakes?
If I would play live I would try to get into a group of poker friends and review a ton of hands. Live is so much more about exploits.
You should always be strict with your BRM and if you hit a big score, keep grinding your normal stakes to see if you really beat them or you just got lucky. Many players move up too quickly after a big score.
— I’m a winning online MTT player. Grinding live MTTs as well. Feels like I’m running into a roadblock live where I play ICM 25-33 ranges when we’re that close to the money, but opponents seem to be playing chip EV ranges. What adjustments if any should I make?
If people play chEV in ICM critical stages, you play tighter.
Your money comes from "free laddering".
You will win fewer tournaments overall, but you make more money in the long term.
— Is it true you are one of the weakest regs in online HSMTTs?
Absolutely. I am being exploited left and right. Luckily I got sunrunner accounts on all major poker sites.
Life on easy mode.
— Hey Ben thanks for doing this, I'm getting back into the grind after take a 10 year break from poker, will take your free course to help me, what kind of bankroll would you recommend for me to start grinding small stakes tournaments, something like 10$ and under maybe and what kind of volume should I be putting on a daily basis? I'll be playing in a geo fenced pool (Ontario) and the average tournament will probably have 100 or 150 entries at the very most, I'll avoid the bigger guarantees at the beginning to avoid the bigger fields, thanks for your time and congrats on the big score.
I would start very small like $1 – $2 max.
At the beginning it is about learning the game, not making money. Put in as much as you can afford (time wise). Whats stopping you? Why setting a limit?
I think its smart to play smaller fields. You will gain more late game experience. It is important to review and practice those critical near money bubble, money bubble, ITM, f2t and Final Table scenarios.
1. What is the most valuable advice you have for tournament poker players?
2. How much poker do you play in a week? On average.
1. Patience
2. Only Sundays. During a big series, 3-4 days a week.
1. Online, when you're in position and the river card favors villains (flush gets there, board pairs, straight gets there, etc), do you think in general, it's better to check back when checked to? Feels like going for thin value goes punished much more often online, but am curious what your thoughts are especially for the long run. Obviously hand history and tendencies matter, so I guess this question is with no previous information about villain(s)
2. What do you think are generally the biggest leaks losing and break even players could fix to improve?
1. It depends if you have a value bet or not. Usually 1 pair hands and overpairs aren't good enough anymore. So I would usually only valuebet trips and better since most players cant fold top pairs or overpairs themselves even if the board runs out badly.
2. There is a big difference between losing and break even players: Losing players: Tilt, No Brankroll management, Playing too many hands, Not caring about odds/pot odds Break Even players: Not necessarily tilting so much, but often too weak. Not value betting thin enough. Still some preflop flaws. Not aggressive enough in deeper stages. Poor ICM Fundamentals.
— What’s the best way to respond to a kindergarten suck out?
Rebuy.
— I have 6.5bb/100 over 75k hands/1,100 MTTs. $15 ABI, Large fields.
I’ve had -24% ROI in this sample. Am i just a losing player or is bb/100 relevant at all?
bb/100 is often misleading.
Looks like you struggle in deeper stages, perhaps mis-playing many ICM situations. You should focus more on the later stages.
— Do you think that taking "strange lines" has merit in MTTs?
For example, raising the flop after a c-bet IP (being the preflop caller).
Some people might argue, if the player c-betting is bluffing too much, let him bluff, but on the other hand, if you only call, you are exposing yourself to a bad runout.
I believe that most GTO solves will tell you to call with most of your continuing range, but as you mention most of the time, we are playing against humans.
I keep it simple.
If I have a good hand and can get 3 streets of value, then I raise. I don't care what a solver tells me.
If I think my opponent will bluff enough and I get more money through bluffs, then I just call.
If I think my opponent is too weak by betting OOP since he would check a lot of good hands, then I would bluff raise a lot.
Of course a lot comes from experience and studying, but overall that's my basic approach.
— When do you limp with AA,KK? and if facing a raise from the blinds with callers behind, with what frequency do you 4 bet or flat?
Only limp AA/KK in very high ICM situations and/or my opponent being extremely aggressive.
I don't understand your 2nd question.
Poker Sites
— How did you come up with the idea of CoinMasters with Pads? Do you think it’s about bringing back the poker dream for players, or more for regs looking for some extra value? Still a sick idea btw!!!
Yeah it was a very cool idea and I am happy Coinpoker listened to our feedback.
At the beginning, it was more about $$$ as prizes until Pads and I had the idea to give a Poker Career to one Winner.
That's what everyone is dreaming of right?
— What drew you to CoinPoker and choosing to become an ambassador for the site? Thanks and congrats!
Their vision is to invest heavily in tournaments and offer healthy guarantees, as well as run ongoing promotions. And of course their willingness to invest into events for our community on a monthly basis.
Also from all the poker sites next to GG they have a real shot on closing the gap.
— Hi, can you please tell me what is the best way for getting to 10K$ for example on CoinPoker, I mostly play MTT, I am not kind of cash game guy..
— Who do you think is the most underrated HS player, because they lack big scores?
Elmerixx (even though he recently had a big score in the MillyMaker). But to me, the most underrated player.
Elmerixx
— Are there any particular poker players that you are impressed with these days? Maybe being ahead of the curve or doing things slightly unorthodox that have impressed you?
Guys like €uropean or Mateos always stand out to me. They always play very solid (which is still rare these days) almost at 100% perfection and still find crazy good exploits against different player types.
There a lot of good regs winning a lot of money and some of them do that by purely being solid or by purely being "crazy".
But what I admire if someone is overall very solid, yet, can be crazy/maniac (in a good way) if needed.
— Coolest or nicest professional player? Who’s the biggest pecker head?
Chidwick.
What is a pecker head?
Everything Else
— Hey Ben, big fan. I studied the RYE course and had results straight away. My question is why don’t u play more live events ? I saw u did a few WSOP events a couple of years ago and that was it.
I am too busy with Raiseyouredge as well as Acend Club (my Esports Org).
I also enjoy the online grind a lot more. So I am not really "craving" playing those Triton Events.
And honestly online is also a lot tougher, where I feel I can improve a lot faster.
— Hi Ben, will we ever see you on the Triton tour?
Very likely not in the near future.
I am too busy with RaiseYourEdge as well as Acend Club (my Esports Org).
I also enjoy the online grind a lot more. So I am not really "craving" playing those Triton Events.
And honestly online is also a lot tougher, where I feel I can improve a lot faster.
The Acend Club Valorant team
— I would like to ask you about poker trends--where do you see the game as a whole going--especially for tourney grinders if the new law isn't repealed?
Which law? It depends on each country individually.
I think Tournaments have a great future. We see record breaking player fields and guaranteed from year to year. A lot of marketing budget is being put into promoting big Tournament series. So I am very optimistic (for online and live).
— This is epic...eighty questions and he has not answered one🤣
Because the AMA starts today Einstein :)
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