16 Jan 12

No Limit Coach NeverBluffing30 Joins PokerStrategy.com

Mike "NeverBluffing30" Battle is a successful cash game player and poker coach. His first video for PokerStrategy.com will be available later this week, but for now check out this interview to hear some great advice about how to train away from the tables.

NeverBluffing30

This week Mike "NeverBluffing30" Battle joined PokerStrategy.com as our newest coach.

NeverBluffing30 is an American poker pro who plays between $2/$4 and $25/$50 6-max No-Limit Hold'em.

Despite the fact that his screen name states that he's never bluffing, his first video for PokerStrategy.com focuses on the theory behind 4-bet and 5-bet bluffs and all-ins.

This video is for Gold+ members.

Watch NeverBluffing30's First Video!

We spoke to NeverBluffing30 to learn more about his poker career and his charitable endeavors away from the felt.


PokerStrategy.com: Welcome to the PokerStrategy.com team! First off, how did you get started playing poker?

NeverBluffing30: For about a year I was a hobby player (aka live fish, lol) a few days each month in the Minneapolis area. I took some time off from my work in the non-profit world in August of 2008 and decided I'd give poker a try to earn a little side income. I loaded a few hundred dollars on Bodog and started playing 100NL. Then I joined a training site and started watching a couple of videos a day. After running good for a while, in January I was a regular at 600NL and 1000NL on Full Tilt. By April, I was a semi-regular at 5000NL (when those games ran a few days per week) in addition to mid-stakes games.

"Intensive training gives me the most impact per hour spent"

Mike's rather impressive cash game graph. (Click to enlarge)

PokerStrategy.com: Your ascent from low-stakes to mid-stakes games happened fairly quickly; what do you think helped you to make this leap?

NeverBluffing30: The training sites were key for me from the beginning. I've always enjoyed watching videos and have found it intellectually stimulating to listen to the ideas of top coaches and then challenge those ideas myself. I would do some problem-solving away from the tables, and then develop a study/review plan for turning those weaknesses into what JaredTendler would call skills of unconscious competence. I've also had some good coaches along the way, and I think talking hands with other good players is important in order to detect flaws in your own logic and thought process.

A little run good early on helped too!

Later on, the biggest leaps in my game and increases in my winrate occurred when I started learning and applying the concepts of "deliberate practice." Today, most of my training time is spent doing a systematic Hand-Reading drill, an equity estimation drill using Equilab, running several EV calculations at once in Excel, or doing a drill with Flopzilla. All of this is filtered to zero in on plugging a very specific leak that day. At this point, I'm fairly sure that this sort of intensive training gives me the most impact per hour spent, although I do still spent a decent amount of time watching training videos.

"Training should be done in a systematic, focused way."

Do you let other things distract you from training?

PokerStrategy.com: What kind of advice would you give to players who are trying to make the same jump to mid-stakes?

NeverBluffing30: There's simply no substitute for hard work away from the tables. That said, it's also important to be very strategic and disciplined with how you go about training and improving your game.

I have students who, when I initially ask what they do to train, initially seem to be training in a passive manner. They'll just casually watch a training video with their Skype or IM open in the background. Or maybe they take a few notes but then never do anything to think through those ideas and really figure out where exactly to apply each concept. Their training is all over the place; one minute they're looking at 3-barrelling on different board textures, the next minute they're debating a hero call on the river, and later they're thinking about 3-bet pots.

In my opinion, the vast majority of your training should be done in a systematic, focused way. For example, it should take you more than 40 minutes to watch a 40-minute training video. With a live-play video, you should be pausing the video at each key decision point, quizzing yourself on how you would play this spot and why, and then resuming the video to compare your actions and thought processes with those of the coach. Or, you could watch each section of the video with the sound off and write down how you would play each hand and why, then rewind and listen to the instructor.

From time to time you should record video/audio of your own session where you are talking through your thought process. Then, watch the video back and when you find yourself hesitating with a decision or piece of logic you're not confident in, or you find yourself stumbling over your thought process, that's where your leaks are!

Finally, you need to be talking about poker with other good players on a fairly consistent basis. Reach out to a few really good regulars at your stakes and create a small study group. With coaching, find someone who doesn't just tell you "do X in this spot" but instead is thorough in their thought process and uncovers all layers of a hand.

"I played some live cash games in Macau"

PokerStrategy.com: How has Black Friday affected you, and have you traveled away from the US to continue playing poker?

NeverBluffing30: Well, my bankroll took a hit, not to mention the lost potential income. I played some live cash games in Macau until early October, and during that time I started playing online again on Party Poker.

I actually enjoy playing live. It's definitely a lot more relaxed, and the social element makes it much easier to put in long sessions. Playing in smoke-filled rooms was an adjustment. The games in Macau are pretty good and the player pool is a little "friendlier" than what you would find online, but there are now many online grinders who are coming and going from overseas. From what I hear from those who have been playing there since the Wynn started spreading poker, it sounds like many of the local players have gotten better and better over the past few years.

Macau is definitely a cool place, with good spots to go out, etc. There's a pretty significant language barrier for me as an English speaker, which kind of sucks.

The 100K Fish Frying System

PokerStrategy.com: You're the creator of the "100K Fish Frying System" video course which was designed to help players get maximum value from weak opponents. How did you like coaching on that topic?

NeverBluffing30: I really enjoyed producing the video e-book course and discussing the concepts of inducing spew versus maniacs and the art of extracting maximum value versus calling stations. Even though it was a lot of work, I learned a lot in the process. I'm intrigued by the process of solving so many different poker problems specific to 6-Max NLHE cash games, so for future videos I'll just continue to seek out which things will be most useful and directly applicable to improving the NLHE games of PokerStrategy.com members.

"Many will find that they're missing a ton of EV and being exploited by being too nitty when facing a 4-bet"

PokerStrategy.com: Your first video for PokerStrategy.com focuses on 5-bet all-ins. What types of players do you think would benefit most from it, and do you have any ideas already for videos we can look forward to seeing from you in the future?

NeverBluffing30: I think it's useful for any small-stakes or mid-stakes NLHE grinders who are playing in games where regs are at least capable of 4-bet bluffing on the button or cutoff after facing a resteal. It may be a little less applicable at the micros, but I think even there it's relevant for games in 2012. The things I've found from researching my database and looking at what ranges regs are actually (not theoretically) 4-betting with in today's games and how often they're folding to 5-bets might surprise people. Many will find that they're missing a ton of EV and being exploited by being too nitty when facing a 4-bet in these spots.

The series will focus on the 4-Bet & 5-Bet game in today's environment. The focus will always remain on systematically trying to figure out what the most +EV line is, rather than playing a guessing game based only on feel.

"I offer a 50% discount off of my coaching rate to anyone who donates $125 to Oxfam, CARE, Malaria No More..."

PokerStrategy.com: You've done a lot for charities since finding success in poker; can you tell us about some of the work you've done?

Mike doing charity work in Tanzania

NeverBluffing30: I spent several weeks in Tanzania working on a malaria prevention project. That experience impacted me a lot, seeing a little kid struggling to survive because he got bit by a mosquito and his parents couldn't even afford a $5 course of medicine to save his life, even though they were both working full-time jobs. Luckily there are now some great organizations on the ground producing some great results on these issues.

I think it's really important for people to help the less fortunate, and for that reason I offer a 50% discount off of my coaching rate to anyone who donates $125 to Oxfam, CARE, Malaria No More, or any other reputable, effective international charity of your choice that works on health, education, clean water, or sustainable development projects. Likewise, if players donate $50, I'll give them a free analysis of 2 hand histories.

Forum thread: NeverBluffing30 Coaching

PokerStrategy.com: We hope a lot of PokerStrategists will take you up on that offer and improve the lives of the less fortunate while improving their poker games.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, and we greatly look forward to your first video!


by Matt Kaufman