***OP, results, and rates updated October, 2016***


Online poker is getting tougher by the day. With the emergence of solvers, prevalence of bots, and abundance of software, it has never been more challenging to win at online poker. The resources at our fingertips, combined with the continual evolution of the game, has for many resulted in an overwhelming feeling that the game is passing you by. This is a feeling I battle myself — and I continue to come out on top.


I’m passionate about helping you do the same.


Being a professional poker player in 2016 is so much more than simply being talented at the game. In fact, when I started playing poker, I never thought of myself as a natural. What has allowed me to excel as a player is a combination of perseverance, analytical abilities, and being open to new ideas. I have worked hard on myself and my game for several years, building from the ground up to forge a lifestyle that is conducive to continual growth and improvement in every regard. Because of this, I have a very strong understanding of why what I do works, and I am easily able to explain and articulate this to others.


What I feel that I’m naturally talented at is coaching. I am at my best when I’m connecting with students, and I thrive on helping others grow. To help you reach the next level of personal development, I offer emotional support and accountability on top of analytical training to help you rise above the challenge of being a professional poker player, and allow you to live more fully by tuning into your best self. Together, we’ll establish a supportive partnership that is adaptable to your personal needs.


About Me/Results


My name is Nate, and I play the majority of my volume on Pokerstars.com under the screenname ‘amarn’. I have been playing and winning consistently at online poker for 10 years. Over the past 3 years, I have coached more than 50 players over hundreds of hours, from small- to high-stakes and with overwhelmingly positive feedback.







I’m also the only coach that has been vouched for by both Jared Tendler (author of the Mental Game of Poker 1+2) and Alan Jackson (database analysis expert). My experiences working with Alan and Jared have been so positive and valuable that I have developed integrated coaching partnerships with them. Working together with the best in their respective fields helps me offer unparalleled value to students.




The following are screenshots of my results across all game types and stakes:


Past ~6 Months




Past ~2 Years




Last 2m hands




Contact/Pricing


I charge between $400-$600/h, with discounts for bulk packages and those playing <100nl. I accept payment via Pokerstars, BTC, Skrill, 888, Paypal, or Partypoker. I apologize in advance for any delays in working with me, as I intend on taking up to a maximum of 5 students at a time.


Don’t hesitate to contact me at lavacoach@gmail.com <mailto:lavacoach@gmail.com> , or send me a PM on 2p2. I always enjoy meeting new poker players, and I encourage you to include any information about yourself, questions you have, and contact information in your message.


Thanks for reading!

Nate is one of the best poker players I know and insanely good value at this price. I have been talking strategy with him on a regular, almost daily basis for over a year, and can say that there’s nobody like him when it comes to the amount of detail and thoroughness he puts into any type of analysis, whether it’s regarding poker, mindset, or general personal growth. In fact, I would say his knowledge in any of these subjects is far deeper than his winrate would suggest.

On top of Nate being a great poker player, he’s also an incredibly cool and friendly person. Reliable, trustworthy and compassionate. He’s very easy to talk to and you’ll definitely enjoy every session with him.

I would highly recommend Nate as a coach to basically anyone who wants to improve.

+1

I have been talking strategy with and playing against Nate on and off for the past five years. I can confirm and +1 these nice things that Gorlom has said. Value to be had here!

Hard for me to better Gorloms words, all I can do is agree wholeheartedly with what he's said. Nate has an excellent poker mind, but even more importantly, he articulates himself excellently, and is an all round great guy who will really care about the development of his potential students.

I can vouch for Nate as a great poker player, a great coach and a very trustworthy person. I have done many sweats with him over the years and he articulates his thoughts with the best of them. Some poker players are great players but can't explain why/what they do. Nate has done a lot of study off the table and has a game-plan for every situation. He's a 6max boss!!

+1 to what everyone has said so far. I've played and spoken to nate for a few years now and i don't think that there are any better regs in these games out there. He also articulates himself better than anyone i know and is an awesome guy.

+1 as well, only just saw this thread now or I would have said something earlier. Talk to him regularly and against him and he is definitely great value and a good player.

Yo!

here i am, the first student

i did 5 lessons with Nate, and obv i'm going to make more

those are my results last year. (i'm from Italy and i'm playing on ongame.it)





post coaching





Obv i'm pretty happy about my results but especially for how i improved my game and the way to approach in session and off at the tables.

I definitely feel much more confident now

ultimately, i recommend Nate, cuz he's not only a great coach but also an awesome guy, always available when i needed to.

Just here to reiterate what has already been said in this thread. Can confirm that Nate's got a great poker mind, and having talked strategy with/playing against him on a regular basis I can confirm he's a very good value for anyone looking to break through into midstakes.

After getting completely owned a lot recently I had a session with Nate and thought it was really great. Opened my eyes to a lot of things I have been doing wrong and not understanding properly. He is also a cool guy. Don't usually post stuff like this cus I don't want anyone else to get better but thought it was fair and looking forward to more sessions

I started working with Nate early this year.

I was frustrated about my results for the year before and I knew I needed some coach to point me out to the right direction.

I started looking for a coach both here and on some training site that would suit me.
I know that just because someone is a good player doesn't mean he'll be a good coach.

But Nate turned out to be the kind of coached I had always wanted.
I could feel it from the beginning that he had a deep longing to help me become a better player.

I had been afraid of getting a coach before because I was afraid of some kind of judgement from the coach but that vanished quickly after I started working with him.

He has many good qualities and I believe they are the following.....

• He has a deep longing to help the players to become better
• He is really understandable about where the player is coming from.
• He is able to spot very quickly what are the major leaks in your game, he was able to spot most of my major leaks in like 20 minutes, and after we worked on them together, my win rate went trough the roof.
• He is really good at explaining something into the language that the student understands(a rare quality)

Pre graph

Pre stats


Post graph

Post stats


After our sessions I feel much more confident in my game and he has helped me remove all doubts that I couldn't make it, so he has also helped my mindset allot.

The biggest thing is Nate is not only a excellent coach, but he's just a great person in general.
He is that kind of person that you really want to have on your side.

Hi 2+2,
I worked with Nate for the last 5 weeks and it was a really great experience. In just 10 minutes of my game play, he discovered two leaks and showed me how to fix them. That alone was worth the money. But the biggest thing for me was to work with him on my mental game. That was just amazing and eye opening for me. Thanks again Nate

TLDR: Nate is the truth. The only midstakes coach I recommend. He will improve your game.

I do database analysis for a lot of players, well over 200 players. Nate's game is in the top 3 of all the reviews I've done.

What makes Nate's game so good?

In a nutshell, he doesn't miss much. It's obvious he's thought deeply about every aspect of his game. There's no part of his game where he's clicking buttons, he has a reason for every line and bet size.

His preflop ranges are nearly perfect, in each spot playing what I consider to be the widest possible ranges while maintaining profitability with the bottom of his ranges.

Post flop he picks up more than his share of missed flops. With value ranges he balances out his betting and checking ranges better than almost any other player.

He's also good vs aggression. He CCs more than most regs and all his ranges work. His play vs river bets is the strongest I've seen.

He understands where his games needs to be balanced and where balance isn't an overriding concern.

He understands the role of stats and uses his HUD as well as I do.

I'm a fan.

Regarding this pricing chart:

- 100nl and below: $290/h or $1300 for a 5-hour package
- 200nl: $360/h or $1600 for a 5-hour package
- 400nl and above: $425/h or $2000 for a 5-hour package

From the student's perspective, what is the difference between he or she paying you $290/hr and $425/hr for coaching? Is the $290/hr coaching of lesser quality than the $425/hr coaching?

I would think you would only offer coaching at a fixed hourly rate. If you are basing your rate based on the stakes that the player is playing, I would think all of your students would be coming to you claiming they played 100NL or lower.

Nair,

Regardless of the stakes played by the student, I give 100% during every coaching session that I do with no exceptions. The difference for the prices depending on stakes has to do with a couple of factors including but not limited to the following:

• Due to their increased skill level, the information I provide to higher stakes students is more advanced and much more difficult to acquire via current poker resources
• Said information has a higher value for students playing higher stakes
• The cost to me of providing this information to higher stakes players is greater, as they are very often regulars that play the same games as me, thereby making the games I play in tougher

While prospective students could lie about the stakes that they play, I am not too concerned about this. >95% of students initially purchase a DB analysis before our first session, which clearly identifies their main stakes. As well, it would be very difficult for students to consistently represent that they are playing lower than they actually are, as there are several indicators that distinguish the stakes that one plays. Lastly, beginning our relationship on a dishonest note would likely impede the flow of information and inhibit the value of coaching significantly.

All of these reasons combined with my innate abilities to detect deception make me comfortable offering my current pricing system. I hope that answers everything - feel free to email me if you have any further questions.

Different prices based on the stakes the student plays are pretty standard. OP isn't doing anything out of the ordinary here.

bandin,

Thanks for the reply. Your points sound articulate, and perhaps you are implementing the standard tiered rates, as Husker suggests. However, I still take issue with a few points:

1) If you as a coach give 100% each session, but then you say "the information I provide to higher stakes students is more advanced"... how can you not be holding something back while coaching the lower stakes students? Perhaps it is not an issue of effort and quality so much as it is strategic depth.

2) If I sign up initially as a lower stakes student, paying the lower coaching rate, but then I decide to move up to the next level stake, would you as a coach just increase your coaching rates at that time? It would seem unfortunate if, for example, I simply wanted to continue paying for "standard" coaching at the lower rate. I would assume I would be paying less to receive less, but I might be okay with that, so ideally the student should still have the option. It would not make any sense for the coach to revoke offering such services simply because the student moved up on their own accord.

If this discussion continues further, we can discuss it privately. I do not mean to hijack your coaching thread.

Thanks

1) he doesn't mean he's holding stuff back at all.

If a 1knl reg wanted 1 hour of coaching with him and a 25nl reg wanted the same, do you think they would cover the exact same information in said hour? Of course not. The 25nl player is almost certainly going to require way more work on fundamentals than the 1k reg. Does this mean he is holding back? no, It means that the 25nl reg has a **** ton of catching up before it's even worth talking to him about GTO sb limping strategies etc.

Am sure if the hypothetical 25nl reg has enough sessions then he too will eventually reach the ability where it is worth talking about more advanced concepts. It is just very unlikely to make sense that a 25 or 100nl reg is going to require the same input as a 1k reg. If you were playing 100nl as competent as a 1knl reg, then am sure you guys would be covering the same topics as the 1k reg, whilst also being told to move the **** up in stakes.

bandin can correct me if i'm wrong but is almost certainly what he means.

There are also other very good reasons why you would make it a tiered pricing scheme for different limits that bandin has really touched up, not least the difference in immediacy of competition from the student in the games bandin plays.

it would be a bit disingenuous for someone to pay $290/hour for coaching from a top winning player, then claim that moving up is on their own accord while seeking further coaching from that coach

pontylad pretty much nailed it here. I should have used the following wording in my reply:

The information provided during the session will always be based on the student's current level of ability. In a few instances, a lower stakes student has had very sound fundamentals and significant skills such that the concepts we discussed were in line with what I would cover with a midstakes+ reg, but those cases are rare. Mindset issues are often at play in these scenarios, and exposure to mindset resources as well as development of a mental strategy can be very valuable.

Regarding point 2), the price of the sessions depends on the stakes you play at the time of purchase. If you buy a 5-hour package and move up before the 5 hours are complete, you will not have make any additional payments for the remaining sessions.

Hello,

I have been Nate's student since the beginning of April this year. I always have been a winning player at 400nl but I wanted to improve to be able to play higher stakes.

I booked a total of 10 hours (5 in April and 5 last month), and I am very pleased of Nate's coaching. I always prepare my sessions so he can help me to improve every specific points I want to work on. He's very good at finding your leaks and teach you how you should think against different kind of opponents.

Alan Jackson resumed very well what I think of Nate's game and coaching, he is the nuts.

My results since his coaching on PS/FTP/Eurosites (missing 40k hands at 12bb/100)

Having been coached by Nate for the last 4 months i can't recommend him enough and have, in fact just purchased another block of 5 sessions today. He had a full roster of students at the time when i contacted him but he spent 30mins talking me through what he believes most poker players would benefit from both inside and outside of the game, advised me on books to read, specific videos that would be beneficial and 6 weeks later we started coaching. I've had lessons before from some very respected coaches but Nate blows them out the water with his knowledge and genuine enthusiasm for your improvement. He explains things extremely well and i have every confidence that i will continue to improve under his guidance. In 4 months i have went from a breakeven 100nl zoom player to one of the better 200nl regulars with the intention of moving up to 500nl zoom in the near future. I would be amazed if the cost of this coaching did not pay for itself and frankly, if it doesn't then poker is probably not the game for you.

Hello. Nice thread! I started this month with 2nl zoom to learn format. After a week i went 5nl and soon i beging on 10nl. But se ur price is more Than my roll i can but only druel at what you offer! goal is 25nl this year so if i still beat The limits as i move up i would gladly pay. Good luck and hopefuly i can get there to.

I can’t comment on Nate’s abilities as a coach or his tactical knowledge in poker, but there’s a bunch of great comments for that already in this thread. I can offer a different perspective on him, as he’s been a client of mine since this past May. With Nate you get a guy who is passionate about poker – he has a genuine love for the game that is more rare than the norm. With that passion he matches a strong work ethic that is evident in the amount of work that he did between all of our sessions—which is critical to getting a lot out of my coaching, and he knew that. There is no half ass in him, quite the opposite, he made me work harder than most with lengthy in depth notes that he gave to me before each session. On top that, he’s a friendly and engaging guy and I always look forward to talking with him.