How to create habits that help us win at poker

Here’s a question for you:

Do you think you could develop a habit if you only repeated the behavior once or twice a week?

Whether it’s physical activity, meditation, or studying poker, it’s always better to do something rather than nothing, right?

But it can be hard to see the benefits of a behavior if you only do it sporadically. One 5K run a week, while good for you, isn’t going to change your body dramatically. Likewise, one 15-minute poker study session a week isn’t going to have a big impact on your skill level or win rate.

So when it comes to making a habit of studying poker, what steps can we take to ensure we not only do it more often but enjoy it and look forward to it when we do?

This a topic that BBZ Poker’s performance coach Frank Hamel recently covered in a Daily Seminar session.

“When you do something every day, it eventually becomes automatic,” he says. “We don’t have to think about it as much. Automaticity is one of the key elements in creating behavioral habits.”

Hamel admits that, for him, if he only does something once a week, he finds it easier to skip it or find any excuse not to do it. Whereas if it’s something he does every day he doesn’t even question whether he’s going to do it or not. He just does it.

When Turbo Kings announced it was joining forces with BBZ Poker, it was great news for everyone. Not only did former Turbo Kings students now have access to more training content at a cheaper cost, but BBZ students also gained two new and experienced coaches.

Turbo Kings founder Brian Fite wasn’t the only coach introduced to the BBZ fold. The man known only as “Spades” has also joined and is a regular on our Daily Seminars schedule.

We know Spades is 47 years old and lives in Germany, but little else is known about the guy who has taken students from $2 MTTs to winning $2 million.

So we sat down for a chat with one of BBZ Poker’s newest coaches: Spades.

When did you first start getting into poker seriously?

Spades: I always enjoyed poker but I wasn’t really into tournaments until I met Brian [Fite] about six years ago. We had some common ground: he had just started staking people and needed someone to manage it, and that’s something I’m good at, so we started working together managing the stable of players as well as running Turbokings Coaching together. I was more in an organizational background role at the start.

How did you go from manager to poker coach?

Spades: Since we staked players it only made sense for me to actually play in similar games that our players play, to experience the same fields etc.

I needed to learn the ropes of MTTs first though.

I started playing tons of multi-table Sit and Go’s on PokerStars, mostly 180-player SNGs and later the 90-player PKOs.

I never really had any mass volume at single-table tournaments as the goal was really to acquire the skills needed for MTTs as fast as possible, and 90/180 SNGs were literally fast and small tournaments that I could play a ton of every day.

So I started with those and played a lot of them, into five figures, successfully. As I gathered experience I used the daily grind to study with practical examples.

How did playing so many small MTTs help you develop?

Spades: Yeah. For the first year or two it was not unusual for me to review literally every single final table I made daily. As I was only playing 90/180 player tournaments there were a lot of final tables on a daily basis.

So I was reviewing every hand, running HRC for every single final table I was on, for every single hand I was dealt in, whether I played the hand or not. I played the “what if game.” What would I do if I was in this spot? What if the stacks were different? What if it was unopened? What if this guy jammed? What if this guy was shorter? Etc.

This approach allowed me to get quite good at ICM really fast.

I’m a guy though that likes to learn in a methodical way and what was missing at that time was a bit more structure around the non-final table portions. What does the theory look like? What are we supposed to do on these boards? Etc.

How familiar were you with BBZ Poker before the merger?

Spades: Brian and Jordan were always pretty close as Jordan had staked Brian before, so back then it was natural for me to reach out and learn from Jordan as well. So in my first year or so, right after BBZ opened the gates to the public, I was actually a seminar attendee and learned the ropes with Jordan. I was fascinated right away by the possibilities of solvers and started running my own sims and getting better at theory then.

When did you start coaching poker?

Spades: By now I’ve probably run over 300K sims myself and filled plenty of hard drives with those.

In the process, I’ve met quite a few people who I had the privilege of working with and learning from. One of those is Patrick Leonard who is obviously and rightfully one of the best in the business. He liked my approach and my work with solvers so much that he allowed me to play a small part in his Pads on Pads course. The majority of the sims and the data used for the course came from my work, and I’m very happy I was able to work with him during that time, which obviously didn’t hurt my poker skills either. Having access to his brain on a daily basis for a prolonged time is something I am thankful for.

As Turbokings was getting more staked players and more students, and my skillset was increasing, my role inside the company grew with time as well. Quite quickly I had my own coaching seminars inside TK as people enjoyed my style and I have quite a good ability to present the information in a way that people find easy to consume.

What are your proudest moments as a poker coach?

Spades: Those certainly come from the successes of my students. I am at a stage in my life where poker is fun, I do take it seriously but I don’t need poker to generate the income I need to live a happy and fulfilled life. So while I always took it seriously, I was never a hardcore full-time grinder apart from the time I took to learn the ropes and to get better in order to help Turbokings and our students.

One of our very first staked players started with us playing $2 MTTs and SNGs. He was always very gifted and with proper work was able to rise in the stakes. I was extremely happy to see him win over $2 million and a WSOP online bracelet in a time span of a few months, roughly three years into his poker journey with us.

Another proud moment was when a student who was grinding an ABI of $30 took down a $500 Christmas tournament for over $800K.

Being able to play a tiny part in their success and in their way to life-changing money was very fulfilling. There are more stories but those two certainly stand out.

When did you feel confident coaching others?

Spades: The feedback and success of my students plays a huge part in my confidence as a coach. I learned the ropes of MTTs quite recently too, as everything happened in the last five or six years. So I am very confident in the use of all the tools out there, and not shy to admit what I don’t know. Whatever I don’t know, I know how to find it out.

I’ve done a lot of work on population data for the stakes most of my students play, and a lot of work on how to adjust our play compared to theory, so I feel very confident in that part.

Learn from Spades and the entire BBZ coaching crew. The BBZ Daily Seminars give you 8 live coaching sessions per week with Spades, Jordan, Brian Fite, and the full team. Start with a 7-day free trial.

SCHEDULE YOUR STUDY SESSIONS

If you only have one hour a week to study, do you dread that hour?

Sometimes it’s more challenging to do something when you don’t do it every day, or every other day. It can feel daunting.

Scheduling daily study sessions – even for just 15 minutes – has really helped BBZ members improve.

“It’s there, always present,” says Hamel. “A reminder to repeat the activity. This makes it easier.”

MAKE IT ENJOYABLE

One BBZ student says they try hard to make studying poker a pleasant experience.

“This is one of the most fundamental aspects of creating habits and taking action,” Hamel confirms. “Make it enjoyable, interesting, satisfying.”

But how?

Well, you can not only switch up what you study, but how.

Perhaps you have a deep run saved that you’re excited to look back through. Or your favorite BBZ coach has released a new seminar. Or you’ve had a spot stuck in your head that you can’t wait to solve.

“The more interest I have in an activity is directly proportional to it becoming a habit,” another BBZ student added.

Enjoyment and pleasure are things we want to rely on as much as possible when studying poker.

“Going through a period of pure obsession,” was another student’s answer.

A good indicator of sustainability and longevity in poker is the obsession, interest and curiosity you have for the game, according to Hamel.

FLEXIBILITY IN YOUR STUDY

Mixing up the content and methods you use to study can keep things interesting and exciting, ensuring you want to keep doing it on the regular.

“If you feel you have to study in a certain way, you might feel handcuffed and stuck in a box,” says Hamel. “That’s far less enjoyable.”