First off, sorry if this is one of those every 15 minute questions, or if I'm missing the point of this specific forum.

Here’s the deal -

I have a friend who has money; I mean that he doesn’t need to work for the rest of his life, a 24 year old retiree. He recently mentioned to me that he wanted to start playing poker because he feels like he needs to have a job yet he doesn’t want a real job.

I explained to him that I could teach him the fundamentals of poker and I could show him how to beat the levels I play. Well we got talking and the discussion ended on should I do this for free or not.

There are a lot of things to consider. I would be saving him a ton of money by teaching him basic strategy’s which I guarantee he has no concept of. And by asking for some small amount of money I feel like he would appreciate what I had to teach him more. He his my friend however, and I do things for my friends for free and its not like I wouldn’t be getting anything out of the deal as I have no rolled poker friends at this moment.

So that’s it, the question is should I charge him and if I do how much would be fair. This will take a decent amount of my time to start with someone from scratch. I’m not a pro myself, but I am a winning live poker player.

Only you can decide your own worth. Do you enjoy teaching? Do you have any experience teaching someone that is now a winner? If no to either of these two questions you shoudn't teach him. If it's no to the second question only you should teach him but not charge him. If it's yes to both charge him a little less than what you get paid per hour in your job.

wtf man...it's hard to make good friends...you want your rich friend thinking you want his money? you're not a coach by trade - not even a player by trade...you have nothing to offer more than a free site..you'll save him time by condensing it, yes..maybe he's a smart guy...maybe he'll learn real fast and you two can talk strat.

don't take your friend's money...everyone is prob out to get a piece of him...

btw my opinion would still apply if he was dirt broke.

Just point him to the better training sites, convince him to start as low as you can get him to, and tell him hiring a legitimate coach only makes sense once he proves he can win at the lower levels (something a smart person with access to good training should be able to do on their own).

Save your time and continue being his friend. If you like poker a lot, play some sessions with him, talk some strat with him, but don't turn yourself into his coach, it's very likely a poor use of your time and won't give him anything extra he can't get from good training sites + work ethic (and if he's not going to work hard that makes you coaching him even worse).

Spot on advice. This is exactly how I did it despite my dad being a professional I spent years on 2+2 reading every word of every post trying to learn. He never offered to teach me it was more of a, you dont want to do this with your life, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy...go to college....thing.

Yeah Im not real big into coaching friends or anything like that. A few have offered to pay me whatever but I always just try to avoid the subject. I guess if I did coach them Id just be like I dont want to get involved really but if you really want me to we can work something out where your friend can give you X % of his profits in return. That way you only get paid if he is winning. I dont see how this could wreck a friendship since he will be happy if he is winning and wont mind giving u money.

All in all though Id try to avoid it unless he was super desperate

If you coach friends, do not charge them.

What's wrong with saying 'hey I don't really know what to charge you, but I think I'll be happy doing it for X', 'you wanna try that out?'.

This is your friend right? Just go work it out like adults and find a number you both agree on, you don't need to 2+2 to tell you what he should want to pay for your help, and what you should what to get for your time... that's crazy, I gotta believe you too are best fit for the job. Just go give him a number that you won't be bitter about, and say 'I'm gonna feel dumb if I do it for less than this'.
Now if you guys dead end and decide you just need an objective way to get a number, just post a simple poll... who much should X bb/100 winner @ Y stakes, charge for lessons @ Z'. It's not about getting top dollar, just enough that can you enjoy helping and working with a friend... nothing wrong with that.