Hey, I'm continuing my search to try to find a poker coach right now. I have a bunch of questions to ask before I shell out a big chunk of change on the service, so I was hoping someone from the StoxPoker community could answer a few of these and perhaps a potential coach could emerge...

Just so you know, I'm a fairly experienced 100NL full ring player but I feel my game isn't nearly as good as it could be, and I think I'd like to transition to some of the juicer 6-max tables.

(1) What the main avenues through which you and your website can help me become a better poker player, not necessarily all around, but in one specific type of game?

(2) What advantages are afforded to me by having a private coach rather than simply paying for a monthly website subscription? Do you offer coaching services without the website subscription?

(3) Out of all the resources available to me, between the website and coaching, what are the most valuable aspects that tend to propel most players to the next level?

(4) Obviously it depends on how much time and effort I'm willing to put into things, but what are some common target hourly rates that you feel confident you could reach with me? Take into account that I'm extremely mathy and can pick up concepts fairly quickly in general.

(5) What are a few reasons why I would subscribe to deucescracked instead of another coaching/video website such as cardrunners?

I suppose these are pretty detailed questions but I really want to make an informed decision here given how much money these websites and coaches seem to be charging for this service.

Any input is much appreciated!

- Rick

lol cutandpastements

lol. i noticed that on the last line too. But I also sort of knew he was in the wrong forum when he mentioned the coaching because i dont' remember seeing Stox advertise any private coaching. The vids at stox poker are plenty to fix you up.

Haha crap, I knew I'd mess that up somewhere along the way..

So StoxPoker doesn't have personal coaches, it's just a website with subscription content (videos and articles)?

How do people feel about the differences in learning curves and cost:improvement ratios between hiring a personal coach and subscribing to a site like StoxPoker? Do most people do both?

If anyone is looking to take on a new NL cash game student, please feel free to PM me.

For the cost of 1 hr with a really good NL coach, you could subscribe to stoxpoker for 2 yrs.

But the hour with the coach might be worth more than two years at any training site.

Unlikely. I think private coaching is generally a good thing and there are lots of very excellent private coaches. But, most of the coaches I've talked to look for and recommend multi-hour packages. One hour just isn't enough to review hands, get to know your game, offer advice, allow you some time to implement changes and follow up. It's just a longer process than that.

I'd also say that a 6 month or 1 year coaching site membership is much more appropriate for a small stakes player prior to seeking private coaching. That was the conclusion that I came to when I was making more or less the same decision 6 months ago and I am very comfortable that I made the right choice in picking a site vs private coach. I'm also very pleased with my stox membership. I couldn't comment on the other sites, but I'm sure the videos are high quality on both Deuces Cracked and Card Runners. I'd probably avoid the less developed sites at this point.

Add in the fact that most* of the coaches are very good about answering questions on the forums and it's almost a no brainer. You get the personalized advice for the cost of a Stox membership.

Then add in that you get access to the coaches from different disciplines and it's real easy to make the move. Where else can you get instruction and advice from a wide range of coaches like Stox, LA, Bryce, Cotton, Doc, Collin and Ed Miller.

* I say most only because I don't have experience with all of the coaches doing this. In fact RW3 is the only one that I can think of off the top of my head that isn't active in the boards.