For all tournament players out there looking for quality poker training resources, there is a new course available on Run It Once, and it is designed to help you make better decisions when it really matters.
Practical ICM Mastery was created by Alex Theologis, one of the best online tournament players around, and the course brings a wealth of modern poker knowledge. Theologis has been one of the core Elite coaches for Run It Once for a while now and has an excellent track record both as a player and as a coach.
With combined live and online earnings of $30+ million, he certainly knows a thing or two about making deep tournament runs and making the best decisions in those crucial, high-pressure situations. And now, he is sharing that knowledge with the world.
Practical ICM Mastery Quick Overview
Most tournament players are familiar with the concept of ICM and have studied it at least to some extent. However, with every new hand dealt and another player eliminated, circumstances change, so trying to memorize charts can only get you so far.
Practical ICM Mastery takes a different approach, teaching players how to reason their way through every situation and build solid principles that apply across the board.
The course features 30 hours of content divided into nine chapters and 41 individual lessons. Unlike most other courses covering this particular topic, this one starts with early play and builds from there. According to Theologis, one should be thinking about ICM long before the bubble pressure hits.
Practical ICM Mastery is built on poker solver outputs, as Theologis is a highly methodical player, but he takes the time to explain the reasoning behind these outputs and provide a wider scope that transfers across different situations and scenarios.
The course aims to teach players how ICM evolves throughout a tournament and provide them with skills that allow them to make decisions and act on them during high-pressure situations instead of freezing or trying to guess what the best answer might be.
High-Level Course for Advanced Players
The latest Run It Once course by Alex Theologis is aimed at advanced MTT players who already understand ICM basics but want to explore those fine concepts that many of their opponents never even think about.
Alex uses real tournament hands as examples, which helps make the lessons easier to digest. There is something relatable about dissecting an actual hand as opposed to one made up solely for learning purposes, even if it is just our human brain playing tricks on us.
That said, this course is very detailed and requires your full attention. If you’re a beginner player just learning basic concepts, it is probably too much, too soon. Plus, the price will likely be out of your budget, and you may feel you’re not getting your money’s worth.
If you’re an experienced tournament player, though, but feel like you could improve your understanding of ICM and want more certainty in difficult spots, Practical ICM Mastery could be just the thing for you. It should help fill some gaps and explain certain concepts that aren’t as obvious until you give them proper attention and analysis.


