When learning a skill from scratch or improving on something you’ve done before, they say you should “trust the process”. Unfortunately, that process usually requires hard work.

Boooooo.

When it comes to poker, it’s always tempting to just play and avoid doing any studying outside of your sessions. And if you’re a casual player who only gets to play once or twice a month, all power to you. Poker should be fun, first and foremost.

But if you’ve always dreamed of taking down a major online title like a World Championship of Online Poker event, or you’re even more ambitious and hope to play professionally one day, it’s important to approach these series the right way.

WCOOP Bootcamp runs from August 4-19 on PokerStars and is designed to help players not only prepare for WCOOP but unlock potential they didn’t even know they had.

By combining WCOOP-style tournaments with free coaching sessions provided by the coaches of the stars, BBZ Poker, our players can truly get themselves championship-ready.

But how should you approach Bootcamp and a WCOOP first-timer? Here, we’ve gone through the schedule – both tournaments and coaching sessions – and pulled out some that we think will prove the most valuable to newcomers. 

PRACTICE WARMING UP AND COOLING DOWN

There’s a lot that goes into competing in a big online series – especially when you’re playing for many days in a row. The top pros don’t simply roll out of bed and start playing; like athletes, they understand the importance of warming up and cooling down before and after their sessions.

For top players, that might mean exercise, meditation, and study before every session, then hand reviews and a long walk afterwards. 

If you’re not sure what you should do to warm up and cool down during WCOOP Bootcamp, we’ve got you covered.

Every day throughout the series, BBZ Poker head coach and founder Jordan “BBZ” Drummond will be getting us all into gear with special sessions designed to get the brain fired up.

Drummond is the coach of Lex Veldhuis, Spraggy, Fintan, Tonkaaaa and many more of poker’s top players. From crash courses on specific spots to general Q&As where you can pick Drummond’s brain, you won’t want to miss these seminar sessions. 

Drummond’s seminars will run daily at 08:00 ET in the BBZ Poker Discord.

LEARN NEW GAMES 

HORSE Strategy Session
Monday, 5th August – 12:30 ET
$5.50 and $55 6-Max events

When you look at the greatest WCOOP and SCOOP players of all time – i.e., those with the most titles – they’ve all got one thing in common: they are top-class at all the different poker variants.

Games outside of no limit hold’em and pot limit omaha are commonly referred to as mixed games as they’re most often played in a rotation of different games. As fewer players know how to play these variants, mixed-game tournaments tend to have smaller fields (and fewer skilled players) making them a goldmine for savvy players seeking title success.

The WCOOP 2024 schedule hasn’t been released yet but we can assure you it will be full of mixed games, so WCOOP Bootcamp is the perfect time to learn some new games. 

SCOOP winner, mixed games crusher and BBZ Poker coach Mason “PyeFacePoker” Pye will be providing some valuable lessons ahead of the $5.50 and $55 HORSE strategy sessions on Monday, 5TH August, getting you up to speed with the five games: hold’em (that’s limit hold’em), omaha hi/lo, razz, stud, and eight-or-better.

Pye’s HORSE Crash Course takes place on Saturday, 3rd August at 09:00 ET in the BBZ Poker Discord.

GET AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Mystery Missions
Wednesday, 7th August – 13:30 ET
$11 and $109 Mystery Bounty events

Mystery Bounty tournaments have taken the poker world by storm, but when it comes to playing them optimally the vast majority of players are none the wiser.

Here’s your chance to get ahead of the pack and study mystery bounty events with one of the best players out there: BBZ coach and SCOOP/WCOOP champ Jargo “bungakat” Alavali.

While the first and longest stage of a mystery bounty tournament plays like a regular MTT, mystery prizes come into play as soon as the bubble bursts and you eliminate an opponent. The skill comes in knowing when to pull the trigger and go for bounties, when to hold back and preserve your stack, and how to navigate your way through such an aggressive hunting ground.

Don’t miss Alavali’s Mystery Bounty Crash Course on Tuesday, 6th August at 12:00 in the BBZ Poker Discord. 

IMPROVE YOUR FUNDAMENTALS

Hyper Turbo PKO Adrenaline
Saturday, 10th August – 17:30 ET
$11 and $109 events

There are several turbo and hyper turbo tournaments throughout the WCOOP Bootcamp, offering players the chance to bank a big score in no time. The problem is that most players in the field simply don’t know how to keep up.

With blinds escalating rapidly and pressure mounting, it’s pivotal that players know how to play a short stack effectively. From shoving and stealing blinds to limping strategies, if you can improve your short stack fundamentals you could see a lot more deep runs in these quick structures.

BBZ Poker coach Brian Fite is running a short-stacks – big antes – PKO coaching session to help you crush these quick tournaments and pick up bounty prizes along the way.

You’ll find his session at 11:00 in the BBZ Poker Discord.

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