This is my first ever 2+2 post and I have a question/proposition. I am 25 and have played poker on and off since about 2004 with friends and such. Over the last 3 years I have been experimenting on and off with online poker and reading blogs of a lot of players and really liked it.

Unfortunately I never took the step of getting coaching/training and tried to learn on my own threw playing, and I would change games all the time and never got better. As I have gotten older I keep saying man I wish I would just at least try to be the best I can at this and try it for a living.

Last march I signed up with pocarr, because I read his blog regularly and well before the first coaching session online poker was illegal in the US, where I live. Well my current position as a third grade teacher is being eliminated, and I have saved up money and was wondering if there are any poker training houses close to the US so that I can see what a week or two is like as a pro poker player and develop some of the necessary skills that it requires to become a pro.

At my age, current job situation and with a long time g/f this is really the only time in my life I will have the chance to something like this. To maybe live in different countries and see more of the world. My name on stars was bungbert, I was a losing player, but that is because I didn't give it my all and had no coaching or training programs. I don't want to look back 5+ years from now and wonder why I didn't give it a shot. I love poker and love video games, maybe a little too much on the video games, so any info I could get would be great. email is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or comment on here I guess. Thanks for any info

I would advise against paying for coaching. All the coaches I have talked with dont start working with people til they are winning at 25nl at the very minimum. As a suggestion, why dont you start reading 2+2 for an hour or two every day, deposit $50 on one of the US legal sites and play the lowest limit cash games you can while you learn.

Based off of this it sounds like you are looking for the quick fix on making money playing poker. Instead get a new real life job, deposit say $250 for an example and play a mixture of 4nl/10nl while reading the stickies on here working on a TAG game. It's not a good idea to go all in playing poker with no backup plan i.e. a real life job....

I'd advise you to think of poker as a pastime, not as a career. It's supposed to be a game, after all. There are all kinds of free information available, so you can improve your game at your own pace without spending too much money.
A coach isn't necessary or even particularly desirable at the early stage. You can learn the fundamentals of profitable poker by reading threads on 2+2 and watching the free videos in the sub-forum. Joining DeucesCracked would allow you to see many more coaching videos.
Basically, don't try running before you can walk. Poker is not a 'get rich quick' scheme. Play a bit while also learning, and see if you still think you want to make it your new career once you've played for 200 hours or so.

thanks I guess for the responses, but I live in STL. Missouri doesn't let you play at all online. I play at casino's, which we have plenty of, but it's kind of depressing to walk into casino's and see the people dumping money into slots and other dumb table games. Was kind of hoping for a better response to be honest, I mean I can probably learn a lot from reading the husng articles and watching the videos from hunsg.com, but I can't play them at all.

See I was wondering if people ever set up like poker camps, like what spacegravy had a few years ago.

I would try to be a winning player before turning pro and opposed to turning pro and then try to be a winning player. Not to be Debbie Downer but you have to be crushing pretty hard to make an actual living at this game.

LOL

You're about the 30th person to make this thread since the start of 2012. People get tired of answering it over and over.

Becoming a pro from scratch is not a short term goal and right now you're being about as realistic as a little kid who says he wants to grow up to be a cowboy or an astronaut. Some 8 year olds do wind up going into space or riding the rodeo. Most do not.

Sections 11 and 12:

Beginners Forum Frequently Asked Questions

I would say thanks, but your the way you answered it was dickish. Don't answer the question if you don't want to. I feel very welcomed to 2+2.

You seem easily upset...are you sure poker is for you? I hear it can be a frustrating game sometimes.

the micros section is basically free coaching.

haha not mad at all, just don't appreciate being belittled by someone who is supposedly trying to help.

Not wishing to state the obvious but pro poker players are really good at playing poker.

Given what you've told us about your poker history, seems to me you're going about this the wrong way. Get good at poker - to the point where you making a decent side income - and then think about the decision as to whether you want to go pro.

I hope I'm the last person who'd piss on anyone's parade but at the moment you're kind of like the kid who wants to be a brain surgeon without even getting basic school science classes under their belt. Sure, knowing what you want is a great motivator, and I'd never criticise anyone for aiming high, but you really don't need to go off to some 'camp' or whatever, to know that being a pro player means being able to play top quality poker, and right now you have a ton of work to do to get even close. Not saying you can't do that work, but if you're going to do it, just get on with it.

Books, videos, hand reviews, study groups, coaching, etc etc etc - those are the ways people get good at this game, not weekend camps where they rub shoulders with supposed pros.

$0.02

Good Luck and Welcome to the Forums.

You're the one asking for career councilling from random people on an Internet forum and then complaining about the free advice.

Spacegravy is talking about having a camp after wsop. 40 hrs of training, 5k. But as previously posted, this is the advanced end of learning the game. Obv he isn't teaching basics