In 2015, Nick “Caecilius” Petrangelo won over $3.4 million playing cards.

I know. It knocks one’s socks off.

He’s won the PokerStars Sunday Million. He’s won a World Series of Poker bracelet. In 2015 alone, he cashed for over $100,000 nine times.

He’s currently in Florida trying to include a couple of bucks to that bankroll at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Acid Rock Poker Open.

He’s not doing badly. A few days ago, he won the $2,200 No-Limit Hold ’em 8 Max occasion for $93,208.

So what is his secret to success? What recommendations would he provide to others? What would he do if he had 10,000 hours to invest dealing with anything?

Let’s find out, shall we?

Beginner Poker Mistakes

Lee Davy: Who is Nick Petrangelo, and how did he enter poker?

Nick Petrangelo: I’m from a town in Western Massachusetts. I matured as an earnest hockey player and golf enthusiast, and those were my significant passions for the majority of my life.

When I was 14, I left the house to attend a boarding school in Connecticut called Loomis Chaffee to pursue college sports. I ultimately ended up at Skidmore College in upstate New York, where I finished with a double major in Economics and Service and a minor in English.

While in boarding school, I was thinking about poker’s competitors and psychology, and my roomie presented me to his youth friend Jonathan Jaffe.

At the time, Jonathan was making his way through the ranks of the heads-up sit & go world on PokerStars. I was impressed at his success and bothered him persistently to let me enjoy his play.

Eventually, he consented to let me see him play, which resulted in him training me and finally offering me a backing offer for low-stakes online tournaments.

He continued to coach and back me for several years till he backed me for the highest-stakes live and online tournaments.

Though he is no longer backing me, he is still among my buddies in the world and the number someone I go to talk poker. Without Jon, I absolutely would not be in expert poker.

LD: Describe your game five years back.

NP: 5 years ago, I was a lot less essentially sound than I am now. I played a lot more exploitatively and made some enormous fundamental mistakes and ICM mistakes deep in competitions.

Due to the advancement of high-stakes tournaments, I was required to fortify those leaks and develop a better mathematical foundation.

LD: Explain your game two years back.

NP: I’ve played much more sound games for the past two years than I performed in the past.

I have a much better understanding of when it is OK to deviate from good mathematical play, and I do a much better task of making decisions as they come to me and not forcing things or getting ahead of myself.

LD: What is the biggest mistake you see novices making pre-flop?

NP: I think, in general, novices and recreational gamers are often too passive pre-flop, call too large attempting to see flops, call or defend when they must be shoving, and do not 3-bet and 4-bet enough.

LD: On the flop?

NP: On the flop, many newbies frequently fold prematurely in hand to flop and turn aggressiveness when they have the correct equity to call or semi-bluff.

Some do the opposite, continuing with very weak holdings without any genuine preparation for the remainder of the hand. It’s every player reliant.

LD: On the turn?

NP: I think it’s a beautiful requirement that beginners select to wager the flop and river for worth when they have a two-street worth hand since they want to make sure the board goes out safely before they value wager the river when often the flop and turn are the optimal two streets for worth.

I see this exceptionally typically in lower-stakes competitions from newbies, and it is tough for them to represent bluffs with these lines. They usually cost themselves a chance to get paid for more than one street.

LD: On the river?

NP: When facing a river bet, many novices immediately enter into the mode where they are either calling or folding. They usually give these details up with pronounced physical behavior.

They do not afford themselves the chance to turn their hand into a bluff, which is sometimes a better choice than calling or folding in these areas, but they never actually consider it.

LD: Have you check out any non-poker books that have helped your poker profession? If so, what?

NP: When I played college hockey, my coach recommended I read a sports psychology book called Mind Gym.

I re-read it a couple of years earlier because I was getting far too ahead of myself in the decision-making procedure; now, I do a better task of taking things one hand or a decision at a time.

LD: What do you see when you take a look at the poker world?

NP: These days, I believe the climate moves a lot more towards live poker, live tournaments, and live cash video games. Online is ending up being less and less a part of the majority of specialists’ long-lasting strategies.

As a result, I think in general, the online generation is becoming a lot more friendly and personable at the table. For the most part, many people are chuckling, joking, yapping, and having fun at the tables.

LD: Provide an amateur poker player some guidance.

NP: Don’t over-complicate poker or overthink decisions vs. “pros.” A number of the amateur gamers I come across are very brilliant and have the opportunity to play poker recreationally since they’ve been ultra-successful in other locations of life.

Most people have the mental capacity to play poker at a very high level; I believe often they get in their way, making it more complex than it has to be.

LD: If I offered you 10,000 hours to do anything, what would you do and why?

NP: I would go back to school and get my Master’s degree in English. English was my only academic and first enthusiasm, but I deserted it to study Economics because I was encouraged that I was required to do to get a task.

I would enjoy going back to the kind of prep school I went to and teach English and coach hockey and golf eventually in the future.