Happy New Year to APT Members!

We at APT wanted to take a moment to wish all of our members a Happy New Year. We also want to thank you for continuing to be members and adding to the APT community. From sending personal emails, to commenting in our discussion forums, playing in live tournaments, and reading this blog, you all contribute so much.

Some of you have helped others through hand review feedback in the forum. Others have aided all members by making great suggestions for enhancements to the site. We wish we could bring all suggestions to fruition. We are working as hard as possible to get to as many as we can.

APT has evolved in many exciting ways in 2017. The last two WSOP Main event champions have blessed the APT community by contributing to our content. We continue to add features and key capabilities on a weekly basis.

Here are some of the developments form 2017 that we are particularly proud of.

Forum Discussions

In 2017, we rebooted the APT forum with great results. Hand review discussions have provided members great feedback. Suggestions for APT enhancements have generated tangible changes to the site. For anyone who has not yet visited and participated in our forums, come on over!

Additional Tournaments

Our members wanted more tournaments and APT responded. Instead of a single daily tournament, we now offer two each day. Tournaments are a great place to test out your expanding skills.

Additional and Enhanced Tools

The year has brought several new resources to our member toolbox. Our Odds Charts provides a quick visual of your odds in key Hold’em situations. The Tournament Chop Tool offers a method for determining an equitable division of money at the end of tournaments given ICM considerations. The Shove-Fold tool allows you to assess the appropriate end of tournament decisions given chip stacks, pot size, and opponent hand ranges.

The Beat the Pro Challenges are one of my favorite APT features. The Prince of Poker himself, Scotty Nguyen, joined an already impressive list of pros by putting together two early stage MTT challenges. David Williams and Ed Miller also added new Challenges this year.

Leaderboards

While we all want self-improvement for its own sake, we want to be the best as well! APT introduced Leaderboards in 2017, showing you how you stack up against other APT members. Results don’t tell the whole story, but it’s never bad to be at the top of the heap.

Increased Blog Posts

Lots of blog material in 2017 from Heather Allen and myself. We’ve tried to keep you informed on recent poker happenings such as new tournament guidelines and the start of the 2017 WSOP. We’ve also weighed in on various issues such at bankroll management, the ethics of Will Kassouf’s table talk, and the impact of tournament size on play. Next week we’re going to tackle a new card room innovation, the button ante.

Steamin’ Steve Hand Reviews

Steve Blay responded to those of us asking to hear how he breaks down hands. Now we have a great regular feature with Steve taking hands submitted to the forum and walking us through his process. Steve even utilizes the APT tools to show how these assessments can be done. I’m a fan and I’m sure if you check them out, you will become one too.

From Vietnam to Vegas!: How I Won the World Series of Poker Main Event

Qui Nguyen put on a thrilling exhibition at the WSOP Main Event in 2016. Steve had the great opportunity to be a part of Qui’s team during the final table. Steve then collaborated with Qui again, analyzing all the key hands from the final table for this book. Qui also provided his own personal story of how he developed as a poker player and a person. This book was a major endeavor for Qui and Steve that I’m sure you will enjoy.

Scott Blumstein’s WSOP Final Table Hand Reviews

Qui was a tough act to follow, but Scott Blumstein was up to the task. At the 2017 WSOP, Scott put on a display of well timed aggression and big stack poker that was riveting to watch. For APT members, Scott selected 10 key hands from the final table and walked through them with Steve. The first four hands are available, and the remaining six will be rolled out early in 2018.

Retry Button

Toward the end of 2017, the Retry Button was added to all cash and tournament simulations. Rather than just replaying a particularly challenging hand, you can now rethink and attempt it over and over again. It is interesting and educational to see how different lines lead to different actions by opponents. I think this feature is going to become a key component to everyone’s training at APT.

APT is not resting on its laurels. We will continue to improve and add new features in 2018. For now, thank you for being a part of APT. And of course, the best of luck at the tables in 2018!

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