What do you look for in a coach to see as indications that the coaching you are taking is effective?

As a general rule how long do you stick with a coach before you think it starts to effect your play?

What stakes...minimum 5 hrs

An increase in confidence in what you are doing is the correct play should be #1 and with that is closely going to be a combination of theory and understanding of why what you are doing is correct.

#2 would be results, but it could take a pretty significant sample size for this to be relevant (100k+ hands).

With regards to how quickly it affects your play is going to vary from player to player. For example, a coach that simply tells you to start opening a certain hand/range should have an immediate affect on your overall strategy from session 1. Whereas more nuanced ideas/strategies/theories may develop more slowly.

I feel like coaches try to milk you for every last drop

The first sessions with a coach are disproportionately more valuable than subsequent ones as major leaks will be plugged in those sessions


It's also hard to get feedback and reviews


That said coaching is underpriced I feel and so incentives may not be aligned., and it's why you see coaches now being tied to stables or coach for profit deals

If you can get a winning player to review for leaks for a few buyins it's hard for that to not represent insane value for a losing or breakdown player. The first sessions will be where most of that value lies

A good coach should accelerate your understanding of the game, and hopefully also help improve your execution of that understanding in-game (which is equally important). As another poster has mentioned, we can't judge the level of our game from a small sample of hands (even in cash we need 100k plus hands to start to get even an idea). But a good coach will be able to assess your level within a few hundred hands reviewed, looking at thought process and analysis of ranges and line plans.

What will change in the short-term will be similar to what happens when you're climbing a mountain and gaining altitude - you'll have a better view of the landscape around you. To come out of metaphor mode, you'll be able to understand the intricacies of the decision-making process better, have more of a sense of what you're trying to figure out in-game and how to do so, which factors to pay attention to, how to weight different factors and how to narrow your opponents' range over multiple streets. The underlying maths behind decisions (which is not that complex) and the heuristics of how to easily apply this in game, will all improve gradually, your coach will ideally have helped quickly plug some obvious leaks, and your ability to range villains and make close to optimal adjustments in game will steadily be improving. You'll feel an improving sense of how to think deeply and clearly about poker. Not to mention a lot of other things such as how to study better in your own time, and any mindset issues the coach might be helping with (I certainly coach mindset as a separate matter from strategy coaching, though many coaches don't tackle this, in their own or their students' game, which is a great shame imo)

Best of luck

1)increase in WR and/or stakes over time
2)test what you are being told with solver work
3)trust your own opinion- has your mental game improved? are you more confident? are you a better learner?...


From the perspective of someone who coaches - It varies greatly.

I sometimes get clients that have tons of simple to fix preflop leaks so one session can make a difference quickly(ie they CC WAY too wide pre=flop). Other times I get someone who already plays well and it will take longer to find/fix/improve more minor mistakes in their game.

I have also found some people are just better or worse students. This is mostly out of my control but can be a pretty big factor.

I want to thank everyone that replied to my post. You have given me some great perspective to think about.

I kept my question very general because when I posted this I wasn't really sure what I should be asking. This is my first time working with a coach and I just wondered what sort of things I should be looking out for.

I really think it depends exactly on what sort of coaching you are getting the coach and the coaching deal.

Whilst a lot depends on the person getting coached a lot will also depend on the coach.

Their is truth in the saying you can take a horse to water but you cant make it drink. For some people nothing will make them a winning player because they lack either ability or will. For most though this is not the case.

I have had three hours of MTT coaching from a coach who to the best my knowledge is not advertised on these forums I found him elsewhere and he was very good he charged a straight hourly rate and it was a simple transaction.

I have discussed coaching deals where instead of paying money up front they take a % of whatever I win. I decided against this because I found them very rude and arrogant, and they wanted control of everything they wanted to know every single site I play on every game type I play and to limit me to only ever been allowed to play one game type. What they offered was a few hours a week I could be part of a group chat where they would be educating me as well as a lot of other players in a group chat.

for a few hours of coaching a week I am supposed to give a significant proportion of my profit away and its not even one on one coaching. seems a very bad deal to me regardless of who it is coaching.

then there are training sites which charge a fixed amount per month or per training module etc, they are not cheap but in terms of material hours to spend are not bad value for coaching. However is not personal tailored one on one coaching.

A good coach should pay for themselves with your improved results.

I am not going to say that every coach or every coaching deal is worth it or good value though, as like everything there will be good coaches/ coaching offers and bad ones.