Generation Next -- Frank Calo

“Not again,” exclaimed Frank Calo as he busted out of another tournament. Bad beat, bad run, bad cards, it didn’t really matter. It was another online cash deposit lost, down the drain. Countless hours vanished, like smoke in the air, from his day-to-day life. Calo was frustrated. He was dejected. He was angry. As a self-sufficient student at Syracuse University, cash and time were precious commodities not to be wasted. He loved poker, but he quit the game.

But, he did not lose his motivation to learn and grow. So, for three straight days, he scoured the forums for strategies to beat the 180-player $12 PokerStars multitable tournaments. He studied opening-hand ranges for preflop play, memorized push-botting [a chart of hands used for the purpose of determining with which hands to shove and when, with which hands to call when you have 10 big blinds or less, and with which hands to call opponents who have 10 big blinds or less], and reviewed previous hand histories to understand leaks in his game. And, he never looked back. He began to crush the fields, raking in more than $1,000 per month and averaging $50 an hour with an ROI [return on investment] of 50 percent. Time spent away from the tables had paid off. He had learned to patiently focus on making the best possible decisions, time and time again.

“You can’t let your brain wander,” said Calo. “If you lose focus, you can’t consistently make the right decisions. Also, you can’t let yourself not care when you get low on chips or down to 10 big blinds. Many MTT [multitable tournament] players tend to give up in certain spots and don’t try anymore. I think that costs many players a lot of money. My mindset has always been to do my absolute best in every single tournament.”

Online, Calo’s game has been strong, as he has cashed for more than $800,000 in multitable tournaments over the past two years. Six months ago, he decided to test his steady and true game at a number of the major live events. The results far surpassed his projected expectations. He finished 13th, for $36,535, in the Foxwoods WPT World Poker Finals; first, for $96,100, in the 2009 Caesars Atlantic City WSOP Circuit $1,000 no-limit hold’em event; and third in the recent WPT Hollywood Poker Open main event, for $167,717. He hopes that his next stop will be a televised major-event final table this year.

Craig Tapscott: Tell us more about how studying push-botting improved your game in the 180-player tournaments.

Frank Calo: Let’s say that you have 8-10 big blinds and your only play is to go all in or fold. You have to adjust the ranges that you can shove properly, based on what you think your opponents are going to call you with. The other side of it is that you must understand which hands you can call with, based on the range of what an opponent is shoving against you.

CT: So, what mistakes were you making?

FC: In the beginning stages of tourneys, I was opening too tight in some spots and too loose in others. I would raise suited aces from under the gun and fold K-10 from the cutoff position. I had no sense of opening ranges. Basically, I had preflop leaks. Then, as the late stages came, I played too tight and wouldn’t call even close to correctly. I had to learn to perfect my push-botting. When you do that, I think your ROI can jump about 30 percent.

CT: That’s significant. When did you start to apply the art of the game and pay attention to the type of player you were up against?

FC: In the beginning, I didn’t think too much about it. Then, I got a heads-up display (HUD) and tracking software, so when I was playing 8-10 tables, I could see who was playing tight, loose, and so on.

CT: What are some of the keys to reading opponents’ hand ranges?

FC: Well, preflop, it is important to pay attention to as many details as possible. Look at every single factor that goes into what an opponent’s decision would be. For example, if someone raises from under the gun, his range clearly should be tighter, but a lot of beginners don’t pay attention to that. Better players may look at the blinds before they open, and may then open with a wider range of hands. And let’s say that there is a good, aggressive player at your table who has a maniac on his left. So, he is probably playing tighter now, and that changes what you can play back at him with. Really look at the details of the hand.

CT: So, why do you love the game so much?

FC: Don’t get me wrong, the money is great, but I just love playing the game. I like the challenge. And as I’ve gotten better, I’ve loved playing more. That acts as a fuel for me, getting better.