ScotFish said
I love your logic on this, and I think it’s great to remember that sometimes it’s ok to play poker for fun, and not expect to profit! As for scraping rust of your game this is a great start, but have you ever thought of putting a small amount of money on an un-regulated site and donking around there to put some of the things you learn in to practice?   

What sites are you referring to? If you are referring to a site like Bovada, I don’t think that fits what I am trying to accomplish. I say this because from everything I have heard (and seen in a tourney hand review of a Bovada event on TPE in which opposing players seemed to do a lot of really donkish play versus the better TPE pro), the level of play is way below what I will face at the WSOP. It seems to me that what I would face on Bovada is completely different than how the game is played at the highest level of players at the WSOP. Yes, there will be some rec players at the WSOP, but there will be a much higher percentage of high level players at the WSOP than on a site like Bovada (or other unregulated sites). Since my blueprint is to only play at the WSOP for fun (as opposed to looking for the softest games possible in order to make money) I feel that playing on a site like Bovada will encourage/reward a style of play that will not work/be exploitable at the WSOP.

Your thought would make sense if I were just trying to start at the bottom and slowly grind my way up through each level of play. But given the fact that I intend to jump into the deep end of the poker swimming pool, I feel that playing on an unregulated site against much weaker players would encourage bad habits on my part.

I realize that just plowing through TPE training and then showing up at the WSOP is not a ticket to the final table, but I think my best bet is to tailor my thinking/studying to preparing for the WSOP. What I am trying to accomplish is to learn as much as possible so that I can recognize what WSOP players are doing when I play there. I don’t think that playing on unregulated sites will do that for me. My goal is to be as prepared as possible for what I will face at the WSOP rather than mapping out a plan to grind my way through the various levels of the poker world. I think the best way to do that is to watch the TPE training videos and pay attention to the thought processes of the TPE pros.

Right now I think I am going to grind my way through TPE’s University. I have finished stages 1 and 2 in a month. At this pace I will get pretty deep into the content well before the start of the WSOP. At that point I think I will play in some MTTs at nearby/regional casinos prior to the WSOP. I think this will be more representative of what I will face at the WSOP than an unregulated site. It won’t be a perfect match for the WSOP since my past experience is that these live tournaments (where surprisingly I have consistently final tabled in the past) are still softer than what I expect to face at the WSOP, but I think it is closer to the WSOP level than unregulated sites.

Also, if I am going to be playing live at the WSOP, playing online will get me dependent on things that won’t be available to me live (HUD, chip totals always readable, etc.)

If you or others on this site feel that playing on an unregulated site has some benefits to me that I am not thinking of I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks, Joel. I am familiar with SnapShove and have been using it to work to learn the different shoving ranges based upon table position and BBs remaining. It does seem extremely useful.