I posted earlier in this thread and said that people learn different ways and that is true. My usual way is to plug leaks. I choose an area where I'm weak, concentrating on that area for a month. My current project is getting better at bluffing, with Bluffs by Jonathan Little and Albert Hart as my study text. After that, my next area of concentration will probably be check-raising.
That said, I realize that I have had coaching of a sort since I started playing in 2005. I mostly read poker books, but when I found 2+2 I posted almost every day in the Beginners Forum, and it seems like every day I got nothing but 15 versions of "your doing it wrong." I hated it, but they were right, I was indeed doing it wrong. My study is still very book-heavy, but I still ask and answer questions in this forums. I ask questions of pros at every opportunity, such as webinars and in threads set up after a new book comes out.
Although I still mostly use books, I am on Little's coaching site. I must admit that after I've had more than 10 players tell me that I should at least have someone to talk over hands with (I don't have that) I wonder if I'm really missing something.
All, that said, what makes me think that poker coaches are more important than I give them credit for is my experience in other areas.
I am a retired army musician. I played in the band and had an occasional vocal solo over a span of 20 years. I didn't consider myself a great clarinet player. I had taken a few lessons but I was mostly self-taught.
About 15 years into my time in the band I decided to learn oboe. I took private lessons (you could call it coaching) from players in two different orchestras. I knew that I had some bad habits as a clarinet player, so I went to my first lesson and said, "I've never taken this oboe out of the case. I don't want to develop any bad habits."
Two months in, one of my teachers said I was the best student she ever had. Fast forward to 2017 and local bands in which I played clarinet are now trying to recruit me--as an oboe player.
I could have learned to play oboe by myself, but I never would have been great at it. I could look at fingering charts, read books like "The Art of Oboe Playing" and pick up tips here and there. But I had "coaches" and I was better on oboe after one year than I ever was at clarinet.
When I think about that, I think that maybe coaches are important. But I would advise caution.
Most people have an idea what it means to play an instrument. They have a friend or family member that has done so. But poker is different. You can lose a lot of money and if your winnings can't cover the cost of a coach it's pointless. You do not want to be in debt to a coach or backer.
If you're 20 and haven't had at least a year of solid winnings, think about whether you can really afford a coach. Are you willing to do the work to make some serious money? I spend 40 or more hours every week on poker, and at least 25% of that time is study. Would you do that? Most of the big winners are doing something similar.
I've recently retired (I applied for social security last week) and I plan to make poker money part of our retirement income, playing full time. We're not strapped for money. My wife has had a retirement account of one kind or another while working for 48 years in the local hospital system.
I like poker and I want to get better at it, so why not make some extra retirement money doing what I love? As I am retired from the military I can catch a free military plane ride on any flight in the country that has space available. I have never played poker more than 50 miles from my home, and now I can get to just about any casino in the country at little cost.
My wife doesn't play poker but she loved the atmosphere the one time she was in a casino.
At some point I will hit a level where I can't build a bankroll to play higher. At that point I might consider getting a coach to get me over the hump. I have to be prepared, my wife said that if she gets bored at the casino she'll just go shopping.
Also I would love to get on TV someday (Heartland Poker Tour maybe) so that my children and grandchildren can see it.
Last edited by Poker Clif; 10-04-2017 at 04:45 AM.
Reason: I fixed a redundant sentence. No significant content change.