There is another thread out on this, but unfortunately the op contains such an ineloquent general statement that it´s hard to post in the thread, even though the essence of his post is deserves discussion. Most of this is in my blog, but since almost nobody reads it and I want this out, here goes. Also, if a mod could put this in the right forum, that would be great.
Coaching, so far, has been one of the more enjoyable aspects of my online poker career. Unsurprisingly, it feels rewarding to do a good job and at the end of it have somebody says thank you and give you great feedback.
So far, my chemistry with every single person I´ve spoke to has been great, and every single one has booked at least a follow-up lesson.
As dubious as I have always been to coaching and coaching rates, so far I am confident that these students in paticular have been getting value for their money as with everyone we have been able to identify some very key leaks. The common denominator for the guys I have spoken to so far is that they all have the right attitude, which is one of humility coupled with work and intelligence, which in turn makes me feel like I want to go the extra mile with them, maybe spend an extra hour preparing for the session, maybe going overtime for as long as I can until I have another commitment.
But as mentioned, I am and always have been dubious to coaching and coaching rates, particularly those of players I have tangled with and whose games I have very little respect for. In some cases, I think I can flat out say that they are so overpriced in regards to their winrates and what I have seen from them at the tables that the best thing they can do is either improve or change their line of business because coaching won´t last forever, and they´re not making that much playing anyway. In setting mine, I tried to get some advice from a couple of people with way more experience of it than myself and whom I respect, and also to compare myself with some other coaches with similar rates from Leggo, DC, Cardrunners / Stox, Bluefire, 2+2 and a couple of other places. What you find is a small group of real respected winners in the 6-max games of today, a few people that are complete unkowns if it were not for the recommendations of other respected (or formerly respected) players that may or may not be good coaches or players, and a drove of people who I would like to compare winrates with or whom I would like to sit down and talk strategy and 6-max with. In partcular, I saw a very clear trend of once upon a time winning 6-max NL players that have changed their games to HU NL or PLO (essentially they are not cutting it anymore, and are basically content to sit around all day until someone who has no clue what they´re doing gives them action), or gone back to school, and still somehow think that they are in tune with TODAY'S 6-max 5-10 and 10-20 games. The reality is that at it´s equivalent stake, 6 max nl is the toughest game, by far, to make a living at. Being a 2-4 6 max reg is tougher than being a 2-4 hu reg (as long as you are a winner on PTR nobody better than you will give you action anyway, so don´t worry about playing any tough opponents - definitely my experience), 2-4 PLO reg, or 2-4 any reg. But because of the amount of action, it is potentially the most lucrative and has the most longevity.
This has nothing to do with the training sites in themselves. This has to do with a number of their coaches, whom they have little control and supervision over once they are taken in as winners at the time. The responsibility and selfinsight lies and should lie with the coach. Most of the guys at the training sites get a lot of heat, but are more than anything a bunvh of cool guys providing a service. Within that service, you have to cherrypick yourself from the options they provide.
There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. There are some great players, and some great coaches who might not be great players due to whatever reason. I do subscribe to the fact that the greatest coach might not always be the best player, in fact I am convinced that this is true. But two things; why would anybody want to take a chance on them when there are real proven strong winners out there, and how are these people who no longer put that much volume in up to date with todays games? The 6-max game of today is different than that of 6 months ago, which was different than that of a year ago. This game is not static. Beacuse of this, it is one of the few games that even though a coach may not have to be a great player, he always has to be a player first, and a coach second.
The reason I teach 6-max is that it's my profession and that´s what puts food on my table. Not coaching, not HU, not PLO, which will be me selfpromoting myself, which I also think is fine.
You see, the tragedy of the poker training industry is that because a lot of you guys are at a percieved information disadvantage and think that some people are sitting on something special, a coach can feed you any type of garbage and you won´t know wether it´s gold or golddust. And trust me, a lot of guys from what I have seen in the past couple of weeks, are just putting out the first thing that comes to their minds - sounds good at first glance but garbage. Poker always sounds good on paper, and it always sounds good when you break out pokerstove and "assign" haphazard ranges and talk equity and lines and balance and talk about how "everybody today is not cr-ing enough turns". In the context of you being a huge winner in the games today, you talking like this makes sense, because what you are saying translates to skill. If you have found yourself "running really bad over the last year", you should come back with these statements after they have made you some money, or if not you shouldn´t charge for them.
The reason I feel about this is that I now have two students who have worked with other coaches whom were very respected once upon a time, and are probably great guys and definitely very intelligent, but have no business teaching lines that exploited the so called vanished regs of two years ago. Well, they don´t have any business charging for it, anyway.
All this is just my opinion, and it´s a forum, and it´s my post, so I am definitely entitled to it. This is going to offend some people, which is great, because those will be exactly the people I´m writing about - Hi guys.
