Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger is considered one of the best high-stakes MTT pros in the game, with career earnings of more than $20m. He's also a regular contributor to PokerOrg, outlining his approach to some of the strategic and mental aspects of poker.
Lichtenberger recently finished 2nd in the PokerGo US Poker Open finale, for a prize of $273k. He is the co-founder of the poker community and training site Octopi Poker, alongside Nick Schulman and Victoria Livschitz. Octopi Poker uses GTO tools, drills, coaching, and streamed hand histories for an all-in-one integrated platform for collaborative poker study. Follow Andrew on Twitter/X.
What's one bit of essential prep you do before a big tournament or cash game session?
"I always make sure that I am well-fed when I begin playing."
What piece of strategy advice did you get when you first started playing that you wish you had ignored?
"I'm going to go on a bit of tangent here, because I don’t have a specific answer to what I ‘should’ have ignored, but I want to share what should not be ignored when people begin to study strategy.
"In poker, there are so many useful heuristic techniques that are the building blocks of a cohesive and effective strategy. But failing to understand that those heuristic are guidelines, and not hardlines... I think that awareness is fairly critical.
"This approach to strategy matters most early on in your development as a player, where you just need to put in the repetitions, so to speak. Also, you need to have the ongoing experiences and understand firsthand what is really happening at the table.
"These are heuristics that come with the understanding that too much rigidity can be just as harmful as not enough."
What's the dumbest thing you've seen or done at the poker table?
"I would like to say I haven't done anything particularly stupid. But… I always find it very odd when people fall asleep at the table. I think to myself, ‘Why are you even here? Go take a nap.’ The casino seems like an unpleasant place to be sleeping."
What's your most memorable hand?
"I have a few. Big hero calls or bluffs are naturally the most memorable for me. I made an excellent call against Ike Haxton heads up in the $300K PokerGo event.
"I raised versus a limp with 
offsuit. I checked-called all three streets on a 
, turn 
, and river 
board. The backdoor flush also came in. That's probably one of the more memorable hands because it was a generally cool situation versus Ike, and I came to the correct conclusion."
What's your single best piece of advice for players?
"You must be extremely honest with yourself in this game. If you're having trouble with that, you should ask someone you trust to determine whether you're being honest and objective enough.
"It's a fine line. You have to be willing to sort of go your own way sometimes and throw caution to the wind. I can only really speak from my own experience. Poker is such a strong mechanism that essentially reflects you to yourself. It reflects things such as your insufficiencies back to you. What are your inadequacies? Where are your issues as a player, and sometimes even more broadly as a person?
"My best advice is to be open-minded to change, because I think success in poker is highly contingent on adaptability, flexible thinking, and fluidity. It’s almost a shapeshifter approach, which tends to be the most effective.
"Be honest with yourself. If you win or lose, you still need to ask yourself questions. What could you have done differently? The main thing is to stay open-minded to new ideas."
If you owned a poker room, who's the first player you'd want to sign as an ambassador and why?
"Nick Schulman. Mainly, because he's f*cking hilarious!
"He’s also a very close friend of mine and a co-founder of our project, Octopi.ai, as well. He's genuinely great for the game, such a great player, and his commentary is unmatched and unrivaled in the industry - he has a way with words and is just a people person. He would be my first pick."
