Ep 551 - Chats: Mark Zhang and Combatting MTT Variance

This week Jim Reid and the RecPoker RECing Crew interviewed recent RECing Crew addition Mark “Mr. Bullet” Zhang! Mark talked about growing up in Luxembourg and his early experiences with poker, from playing with friends in high school to using it as a means to pay rent during university. He explained how a pivotal win during the EPT in Barcelona convinced him to pursue a career as a professional poker player, and reflected on his mother's initial disapproval of his career choice and how her attitude changed after he achieved significant success in the game. Mark also mentioned his preference for online poker due to the higher volume of hands he can play compared to live games.

The conversation featured a detailed discussion about post-flop play, with Mark sharing insights on the challenges of navigating various bet sizes and opponent tendencies. The discussion also included analyzing opponents' playing styles, coaching resources, and common mistakes in poker strategy, with examples from poker vloggers and Mark’s own personal experiences. Mark also shared some thoughts on some recent scandals involving online cheating.

Plus of course we gave away a free prize at the end for folks in the YouTube chat. Join us LIVE on YouTube next Monday at 7:30 ET for free to ask our guests questions in real time, and you can win too!

Find out more about Mark at his RECing Crew page here:https://rec.poker/mrbullet/

Work with Mark and other RECing Crew coaches here: https://rec.poker/shop/coaching/

We also went over this week's home game results and discussed these topics:

How to help us out - https://rec.poker/support/

Home Games - https://rec.poker/homegame/

Go Premium! - https://rec.poker/premium/

Timestamps:

05:38 Mark shares how he started getting into poker

11:24 Mark talks about his great success

14:03 Tools Mark uses to analyze his play

20:20 Mark on combating variance

22:39 Mark’s evolution in poker: was there any point of inflection?

27:52 Online game preparations vs live game

30:23 Moment where Mark decided to progress more and be a pro

34:04 Poker in general: nothing is black and white, it’s actually a lot of grey

45:26 Thoughts on some recent scandals involving online cheating

49:23The importance of being coached

52:52 Stake, Study, or Stack with Mark

59:54 John: Home Game Result updates

Find our free videos at: http://youtube.com/c/RecPokerCommunity

Join the Discord group here: https://discord.gg/9aYSMCCfpv

Find more info on our sponsors at:

https://RunAces.com

Explore our socials and more: https://linktr.ee/therecpokercommunity

RecPoker is a vibrant and encouraging poker learning community. We are committed to learning the game, but our priority is building healthy relationships where we can not only grow in the game, but grow in our enjoyment of life. The free membership website at rec.poker is awesome, but it's just a tool to help us build that community. You can join for FREE, giving you access to the groups, forums, and other member benefits. If you want to enjoy the premium content, or become part of the RECing Crew, those options are available and you can get $10 off your first payment using the code RECPOKER. Music by Peter Troolin, [email protected]