Nearly seven years Max Silver wouldn’t stop pestering Jason Somerville. The two had met through a SomethingAwful subforum and Silver was always asking Somerville questions, the most consistent being ‘will you coach me?’. Eventually Somerville agreed and started working with Silver.

Now Silver, fresh off of 10 cashes at the 2016 World Series of Poker, is looking to take on some students of his own. The British poker pro posted on Twitter on Thursday that he was looking to coach and stake at least one current professional poker player that meets the following criteria:

• Been playing poker professionally for at least 6 months
• Be playing at least 100NL (or equivalent tournament size), preferably higher for the last 3 months
• Be not living in America
• Have the future possibility of being able to travel for live poker somewhere in the world

The desire to coach goes back to Silver’s early days as an online grinder when Somerville started coaching him.

“Jason Somerville took a chance when he took me under his wing about seven years ago, we did six months of intensive group coaching and it gave me the opportunity to get where I am today,” said Silver. “I’d like to offer that opportunity to someone else while making us both more money”

In the seven years since Silver began learning from Somerville he’s gone from highly respected online player to a force on the live circuit. He’s cashed 63 times and earned nearly $3 million in live events. He’s booked multiple UKIPT wins and last summer took down an Aria High Roller event for $432,960.

Now he wants to go from student to mentor, while also providing financial backing to the player or players he selects. Most of the coaching will done via Skype but Silver also hopes to find face-to-face time with his proteges at live events that they both end up at. While the offer might sound enticing to nearly everybody playing today, Silver knows he has an ideal student in mind already.

“Someone who doesn’t currently need staking, is already doing well on their own. They’ve tried to reach the next level but are struggling, unsure of where to go next. A hunger to learn, constantly keep an open mind and work hard,” said Silver. “Poker is the toughest it’s ever been and the easiest it’s going to ever be, this isn’t going to be easy.”

Silver describes his coaching philosophy as intense and believes that making an already winning player into a better player requires a lot of focus for both the coach and student.

“It’s more like a constant environment of poker learning. The group will be mixture of both planned and spontaneous poker theory, hand review and general discussion,” said Silver. “I don’t like to commit to an exact number of hours due to still playing full time myself but I’d say an average of 8-10 hours a week.”

Silver plans to continue his normal poker schedule While taking on this challenge and while some might assume it could be a distraction, Silver thinks that this could actually help his game far more than it could ever hurt it.

“If anything I think the opposite is likely, coaching helps me stay sharp and think about the game in a new way,” said Silver. “I like my students to be willing to say they disagree with something I say and question everything, having to justify my own opinions makes me realise I’m not always right and have formed some new strategies because of it.”

Players interested in working with Silver can reach out to him via email at [email]max@snapshove.co[/email].