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To coach or not to coach

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  1. PokerScars PokerScars is offline

    Posts: 297
    Joined: Sep 05

    Dec 25th, 2005 (12/25/2005 10:23am)

    Everyone here, at one time, was a beginner. We all went out, bought a few poker books, and probably started using play money. Then we jumped into a ring game and got our butt kicked. Next, we probably tried S&G's, all along humming the theme of "BS, this is rigged." But, eventually our hard work and losses lead us through a sometime painful journey to improving our game. Soon, we became profitable, and maybe struggled with varience and how to understand running bad. That, in itself, caused more pain and even more improvement in our game. Some players never recover from running bad, and will cause them to hold back for the rest of their poker career.

    What I am getting at is there is no secret formula to becoming a great player. Some of us will be merely profitable, and some will be great. Some may lose for the rest of time. It's no different than a baseball or football player. You either have natural ability that will lead you to greatness or you don't.

    Where does a poker coach come in? Who knows. Do I personally believe that paying someone to shadow your Mtt and tell you how he/she would do it will make you a great player? I really don't think that making a student a clone of yourself will help that player grow and develop their own style. That was what got me hooked on this game in the first place. Studying, learning and developing my own style kept my interest, because to me, my constant improvement from my own doing was better than anything else.

    What I do feel is a great source of information is online poker schools. Here, you often have several online pros showing you there thought process in making a decision, and how they approach the game. You can decide to incorporate these ideas into your own game or not. It's not talking to one guy by IM telling you to call, push or fold, while you have 10 or 15 seconds to make that decision. It's not having one 'coach" collecting an upfront fee and 30% of your winnings for every Mtt like his or her own personal poker annuity.That, in itself, is ridiculous.

    Just my opinion.
  2. rain_k rain_k is offline

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    Posts: 888
    Joined: Mar 05

    Dec 25th, 2005 (12/25/2005 10:48am) in reply to PokerScars

    I think having a good poker coach is not so different than having a real mentor. He would not try to make you a clone of himself or tell you how to play.

    Coaching would entail helping a player to see the leaks in his game and to think about them, maybe for the first time, or in a new light. Having a skilled player discuss the game with you is a valuable learning tool. Having one speak one-on-one with you with specific detail to YOUR game is invaluable. In this day and age, some people simply choose to charge and pay for the experience.

    JMO
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