Poker Articles

MOST poker players want to improve their games.  If you are reading this article you are very likely to be one who works at it.  Reading books and participating on message boards are great ways to work on your game.  I would like to also suggest checking out one of the great poker training sites now available.

Pocketfives.com is now promoting FREE memberships to several valuable training sites, including stoxpoker.com.

The training sites offer a previously non-existent product for poker tutelage--Pro Videos.  A Pro Video will let you sweat a pro from the comfort of your own home.  You get to see a pro play in real-time AND hear his commentary on his actions.  Each of the training sites above has specialists in various structures, limits and styles of play that contribute video content.

You will see firsthand that even the pro's make mistakes and bad reads at times.   However, you will also hear the logic and critical thinking that every key decision was based on---even at times when the outcome results in the typical “these guys are fish” comments from railbirds.

Books can be thorough because the authors have time to really think about what they write, and they can then edit it to make it perfect.  This is a great way to build a foundation of poker knowledge from which to draw.  Real poker is played in real time, though, and listening and watching a pro make real-time decisions and hearing the justification for his actions is invaluable - you will see many more exact situations than you can read about in any book.  In short, videos are the best medium to touch on ALL facets of one’s game and are currently the best way out there to discover unknown leaks in your own game.
 
Another big advantage that the video coaching sites have over almost any component in your poker education is that you retain VISUAL feedback at a much higher level than simply written or verbal coaching.  As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  The comprehension from watching the videos is MUCH stronger than any other form of coaching or poker instruction you will ever receive.

Admittedly I am biased, because I am the lead instructor at stoxpoker.com, but I would not be devoting so much time and effort to the site unless I felt it was worthwhile.  It is extremely gratifying to receive the feedback we get on a daily basis about how much the videos and forums help people's games. 

Much like the forums on the training sites, I think you will find that the signal to noise ratio in the new P5s forum dedicated to training sites will be very nice because the demographic will most likely be dominated by people who made the conscious decision to spend time and money on improving their game!   I and some of our other professional coaches look forward to participating in this new forum.  It is always great to watch the evolution of posters over time as they progress with initial posts about low limits and make their way up to the highest stakes.

Good luck at the tables.

-Stoxtrader