No good poker player would ever present or describe his game the way betgo does. He is obviously a button clicking moron, that probably somehow lucked his way into a decent strategy back in the day, but clearly doesn't have the analytical abilities or intelligence to beat the game today. So, those who can't do, teach. So he teaches...

Pokers not about having a bag of tricks that you pull out randomly as betgo is making it appear to be. You should always be adapting to the table and the situation and understanding why you are making the plays you are making. Betgo just has a memory based learning of his game, and doesn't understand why. He can't properly analyze the situations. He just is overall inept, and if he were to play online I would be willing to bet he would be breakeven/rakeback pro in the games he used to have that ROI in. And thats a best case scenario imo for him.

Man can you please shut up about you being the best 18-man reg for $15 stakes from 1995, best 180-man reg from 1999 and winning a PLO hi-lo fixed-razz pineapple MTT and therefore being a high stakes crusher from 2001.. It's so unbelievably tilting for me and 99% of this forum to read (1% being you and your students)..

Also LOL at this NY back-raise being a move that you use, and therefore play tricky/non-standard etc..

"I saw Jason Somerville use the NY backraise twice on TV in the 2012 ME. I mentioned those plays in my video, not just 4-betting and 5-betting. "

Lol so you talked about the New York back-raise.. Wow, you sicko!!! Donkeys at 5c/10c home games make this move too, who the hell cares if you talked about this move?

I will be fair and say you can probably improve a beginners game for micro stakes, and maybe at a stretch some smaller stake MTT/SNGs but I have to agree your representation of posting so much crap in HSMTT over the last few years is extremely misleading. I started reading HSMTT (or just sorta lurking, whatever) probably 1.5 years ago and it took me I'd guess 6 months to realise that your posts were bad, and maybe 9 to realise they were terrible (for HSMTT standards), after seeing multiple actually good players constantly point them out on a regular basis. Granted I wasn't reading often, but point is I'm sure many of your students were just like omg this guy has 20k posts, has been around for many years and posts in HSMTT regularly, I better get coaching from him etc.

Lucky I never made that mistake but honestly I don't get why you didn't stop posting in HSMTT when it was clear that no one valued your opinion. Yes you said your friends or whatever tell you you give good advice, but everyone just flames you.. I am not saying they have the right to flame you, and sometimes it is out of line, but I don't get why, for your own sake you'd still post so much when that's the responses you get!!!

I always wondered the same thing Claydol, I think its obvious though that he was only posting to get volume posting in HSMTT to increase his post count and credibility to the micro players that don't realize he is posting terrible nonsense.

I really hope a moderator talks to me so I can go through them all, point out his overall ineptness and idiocy and how its a tragedy he is stealing from these micro players.

Who cares if he gets flamed occasionally? He is only posting to increase his coaching rep and his coaching EV so he can make 40k/year while just spewing basic knowledge/idiocy/actual nonsense (like posted in the phillips thread) and they won't even know any better. To make the crime even better, if he sees the student is competent at 10$ games, he refers the student to a better coach! Its really a brilliant scam.

New York back raise, thats awesome

I think its awesome that he thought I was making fun of the play, and not the name.

It really shows just how clueless and out of touch this guy is...

Yet he is coaching players and making 40k/yr doing so Thats criminal.

Yeah I mean I didn't really wanna randomly go off about that because I've had a coaching listing in the past and will in the future too, so it looks bad coming from me or w/e but when he kept denying he wouldn't get more business because of it (even IF it wasn't his intention, when posting) I got annoyed.. (along with the being the best 180/18 results)

I do have to ask though, he said it won't affect his income significantly if stealth destroys his business, what is your job? Just curious (legit, not trolling)

I have no problem advertising your coaching listing and posting in a forum if you provide worthwhile stuff ClayDol! I post good stuff in HSMTT all the time.

If you are going to have Betgo's quality posting I just view him as a troll though and it was only a matter of time before this happened as he continued to make terrible posts and ruin the forum.

I am a student of Betgo's. I've been very reluctant to post on here 'cos I'm a rather private person and prefer to avoid conflict. But anyway here goes.

Firstly I find that both Betgo's and Borgota grinder have handled this whole situation badly. You guys need to just chill a little.

I entered into a coaching for profit arrangement with Betgo towards the end of last year. I was a breakeven player on Stars. Joseph helped me a lot in my game. I did a number of lessons and after a few weeks noticed a dramatic increase in my game and in my results.


The up swing started shortly after getting involved with Betgo.

Things in my private life changed dramatically shortly after that and I had to withdraw pretty much my entire roll and pause our agreement. (Betgo was very understanding in this). I've just recently returned to being coached and rebuilding my roll.

Betgo's Coaching Style
So our sessions initially consisted of me sending hand histories to him and then we would review them over skype/ teamviewer.

Betgo always tried to get me to think about my play and ranges and not just do something because i read it in a forum or a book. He wanted me to understand what I was doing in each situation and why.

B. has a relaxed style of coaching and often gives more than one option re playing a certain situation and discusses the merits of each.

He has gone through my PT3 to help find leaks which I found very useful.

We also did a sweat session.

Betgo was often available on Skype at no extra charge to discuss hh and spots that came up.

The main thing Betgo was trying to achieve while coaching me was to try and beat the nit out of me. But in a controlled way.

I did like about Betgo's approach was that he didn't pretend to know everything and when situations came up where he just wasn't sure he would say so.

I am just an amateur / rec player who would like to improve my game and maybe make a few $$ along the way.
Has Betgo helped me with my game. Yes
Has Betgo given me value for money. Yes.
Would I recommend Betgo to other players at my level who want to improve?yes.
Is he the best coach in the world? No he only charges $50/ hr.

It seems to me that this dispute is easily resolvable.
1.Betgo no longer plays HSMTTs and has agreed not to post in the High Stakes thread anymore. - This seemed to be the initial issue for Borgota.
2. Maybe Betgo could consider rewording some of his Coaching Advertisement.
Some places where he has used the word Expert might be ammended to say have a very good understanding of. The rewording won't have any bearing on his potential customers imho as it is pretty clear and was to me at the time that he is advertising his services to Low Stakes Mtt and Mtt sngo players. His results speak for themselves in those games. They may not meet the standards set by Borgota at High Stakes buy hey he's not offering coaching in that area.
3. Borgota just relax a bit man. Go find some hookers and blow and chill out.

When I first looked for coaching Betgo was the only coach I could find that was a) affordable and b) a winning player at the stakes I needed coaching at. He is a very good entry point for the coaching world for beginner/improver players. Much of the concepts that Borgota refer to can be taught by some sicko who charges 3fiddy an hour.

Gl all. Time for some Christmas Spirit itt.

Why are you posting this here? This is about betgo's feud with BG85 in HSMTT. Everyone here has read betgo's posts for years, they wont care about what his student says about him. If you want to defend him and his coaching, do it in the coaching advice thread

Wow, that was actually a very good post from a betgo student who I feel like wasn't asked to post by betgo! (I'm kidding betgo is obviously desperate to salvage)

I must say, if he is just turning overly tight players more aggressive, and having them actively thinking/discussing hands then I can see how he helps you.

I don't particularly think betgo is qualified, but from sounds of it, it sure sounds like he helped you, and I agree completely with your analysis about his coaching profile. Like I told him before, he should admit that he fraudulently misrepresented himself as an expert in certain areas, but he is still more than competent enough of a lowstakes MTT coach.

Now, I disagree that he is competent enough to be a lowstakes MTT coach, and feel like the players are burning their money paying betgo 50$/hr, but I can't prove that, and that is just my opinion that I make based on many facts. However, it isn't a matter of opinion that betgo lied in his coaching profile about his expert grasp on certain MTT concepts, and that is broken down clearly in the other HSMTT thread many times.

gl improving your game! I personally think that charging 350$/hour for any MTT help is insanity. I have done in depth live coaching sessions for 500$/7+hours of full time skype talk/hand analysis/skype questions after and a small profit sharing incentive. And thats highstakes. And even then I feel weird charging money for coaching. But just because the market is oversaturated with a bunch of charlatans and con artists, doesn't make betgo's scam any more right.

Not a big fan of hookers, I'll coach you if you want to split some blow though! Merry Christmas!

-bg85

Best believe the next time I backraise shove on a twoplustwoer in a live MTT I'm gonna sit there shuffling chips for 15 seconds while staring down my opponent before eventually saying, "I gotta do it, Gonna take you to new york, the city that never sleeps" eye the dealer "I new york back raise, I'm allin" and shovel my chips in the middle throw my hoodie on and stare at a spot on the felt.

#boss

Being the best $16/18 reg for early 2011 is pretty decent qualifications for coaching at $50/hour. Got banned by Stars right after that. I show pretty good qualifications in general for the level I am coaching.

Did a beginners video on moves. Thought the whole topic was cool. Included that as one of the plays. Think it is worth discussing. Don't use it that much myself.



Playing poker, wtf you think?


This whole business had gotten ridiculous. No reason I should be subjected to this. Going to reevaluate a lot of things including whether to run a coaching ad here. Not going to respond so much, but this whole business is so outrageous.

why did you get banned from stars?
cause u played vpn in states or do you just mean you couldnt play in the states.

lol where/how do you play poker now? live? online?
"wtf you think?" is a bit absurd given afaik you've never mentioned your poker playing since april 2011

i gotta be careful or you'll tell me how strong you look in real life and that you'd fight me, right?

Hey betgo,

I think nobody is going to be naive enough to believe you actually are making money playing poker when you have no live cashes since 2009. Obviously you have incentive to pretend that you still make money at the game for coaching purposes. If I had to bet though, I'd bet the great majority of your income comes from professional poker coaching, if not all of it. You don't strike me as smart enough to beat most live poker above 1-2$, but maybe there are soft games in whatever hick town you live in. I have no idea. Why have you zero cashes in live mtts? Do you not play them? Don't travel?

This thread's still a waste for the most part, but wanted to say I got a really good laugh out of the "New York backraise" video. Kept waiting for the part where he would explain where to use the move, and then saw that he was just defining poker terms and having that be a video, LOL.

And the best part is, he thought the video somehow validated him as a coach.

I can only imagine how terrible his coaching sessions must be.

Googling 'betgo coaching' will make anyone laugh at the thought of him not being a professional poker coach aka a scam artist.


Having worked previously as a calculus teacher and SAT prep tutor, and with over 20,000 posts 2+2 forms, Joseph Hammerman aka "betgo" is seriously good at tournament poker. He enjoys analyzing HH's during coaching sessions and is very fair and professional in coaching style.

Post terrible stuff. Become poker coach! Quantity over Quality!
On betgo's Coaching Listing he said the following:

I am particularly good at mathematical and strategic issues. I understand the mathematics of pushbot and resteal situations and have several post on HSMTT where I essentially solved a mathematical issue. I know how to play late stages of MTTSNGs and handle bubble and ICM issues. I understand different strategic approaches in different formats of MTTSNGs. I don't just pushbot, and "play poker" and take creative approaches in MTTSNGs. I have been doing really well in tournaments in games other than NLHE, and have been crushing PLO8 MTTs lately, and I understand the adjustments in these games to tournament play.
For

He's involved in multiple sites I think I can count 4 + all coaching. Hasn't had a cash in 3 years. Are we supposed to take him for his word that he plays poker for a living? lol? Why would anyone believe that?

has any ever had coaching of him IRL?

i think your point is clear borgata, take a chill pill

Yes I had some 18 man lessons from him. He was very professional, very helpful and knew the subject well. I picked him because he had the best results of any of the coaches. I also watched some of his vids on Grinderschool and he was far better than the other pros they had making 18 man vids.

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation a negative or inferior image.

Betgo probably has a decent case based on you stating in countless posts he is a "scammer", "thief", "steals from people", without speaking to anybody who he has supposedly scammed or stole from. This is all your opinion but you are stating it as fact. I dont think even TT will defend you on this one.

Tbh now I've spoken about poker to both of you I'd say he picks things up quicker than you. Iirc he has a science degree. I understand you are a good player but betgo is pretty clever.

seriously? why on earth does being proven wrong in a stupid 2p2 argument entitle him to block you on skype? hope you get that $ back this sounds absurd

i laughed out loud

so why is he being flamed so hard then , i dont understand, going to read more slander brb