‘Do you care if you lose your money?’ – Jonathan Little on WSOP mindset

What are your top tips for anyone going to the WSOP this summer?

Figure out your actual goal. Many people just go to Vegas with $10,000 in their pocket to play some poker and hope to win.

But do you care if you lose whatever money you go to Vegas with? Some people do, and some people don't, right? You might go out there to win a bracelet. But at the same time, you don't want to lose your money because that's all you've got.

Well, that's not going to work out so well for you. You're going to be very distraught most of the time because usually you're going to lose in tournaments. 

The correct answer if you’re going to the WSOP with the hope of winning a bracelet is not to play 5,000-person poker tournaments, because they’re hard to win. You should be playing smaller field tournaments with 300 people so that you actually have a chance to win.

Good advice.

In my summer at the WSOP, I could easily lose every tournament I play. Because they're all 1,000-person poker tournaments, right? And that's normal. So as long as you're cool with that being normal, you'll be fine. 

Jonathan Little won the $25K PokerGO Cup event for $453,750 in February of 2024.

What are some of the leaks you see players have during MTTs?

Most people are either far too loose or too tight. If you're too loose, you usually play way too many hands before the flop. You make top pair-bad kicker and then you don't fold, and you lose and wonder why. 

Alternatively, other players get pocket aces, two pair, or similar early in the tournament. And they just fold to aggression, thinking: ‘I really don't want to bust early in this tournament. This is my one World Series event of the year.’ 

They're not going to win; I can tell you that because they're folding those effective nuts.

Who would you pick to swap 5% with for the series?

I'd always swap with Justin Saliba. I think he's the best player. He's sharp, shows up in good shape, and studies a ton.

What would you like to see the WSOP change? 

I think they're doing a good job at this point. The WSOP+ app they used in the Bahamas is excellent because you can get money in and out with no problem. 

They need to have better food options at the WSOP. They could easily support multiple food trucks or something like that in the vicinity. That way, players don't have to walk forever away and wait in huge lines to get food. That would be really good. 

I think dinner breaks either need to be longer or shorter in general. You have no time to go get food

How do you deal with the variance in poker tournaments? 

It doesn't bother me at all. I mean, variance happens. I just don't care — I keep a big bankroll. 

It seems to frustrate a lot of players, but it’s part of the game.

It can be a very frustrating experience, but there's not much you can do about it beyond showing up and being prepared every day. Make sure you study a lot away from the table, study your hands when you're done playing, and make sure you're not making any errors. And that's it. 

Once you do that, that's your job. Your job is not to somehow magically win at poker. Your job is to maximize your expectations.

Little picked up a third PGT win in 2024 at Poker Masters.

You’re one of the best poker coaches in the industry. What class at Pokercoaching.com do you recommend for the WSOP?

We have a tournament masterclass. It's about 40 hours long, broken into 10-minute videos with quizzes. That's the prerequisite to make good use of any poker training material so that you understand why a game theory optimal solver does what it does or how to adjust away from the solver.

Do you think Phil Hellmuth will play the Main Event? He said he’s skipping it. Too brutal, too long.

I don't care what Phil Helmuth does. It literally impacts me zero. I’ll agree, the days are long. But the thing is, we do that all day, every day in the WSOP. So, what's the difference? Maybe for him, I would recommend taking a week off in the middle or a few days off before the Main.

Maybe Phil has figured out his primary goal is to win as many bracelets as possible, and by playing the Main Event he has to skip eight or 10 other tournaments. 

You can follow Jonathan on X and Instagram.