For Players: What is and Why is pokercoaching.com your solution?

Q. What's this all about?
A. This is all about getting players instant access to an expert, experienced coach of poker. This is all about evolving your game, and rapidly advancing that evolution. Poker is a sport. Anyone who plays or watches the game on TV knows this. Poker in fact, is a great sport. Anyone who works at it can be a competitor in this game.
In sports, players play, and generally, coaches coach. Coaching is a separate skill, and an art form. If you look at golf, coaching has had a huge impact there. Tennis also. Even the game of chess has a coaching aspect.
We are influencing the game's evolution by bringing a real and formal coaching element into the tournament poker scene. We fully expect to produce final-table players and even more than a few champions as a result of our efforts. The positive effects of coaching on a player's game are too large to be ignored. We fully expect our efforts will produce a new kind of winner.

Q. Who needs a coach?
A. Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers in history, has been coached almost his whole career. It's interesting that he stopped winning major tournaments after he fired his long-time coach, Butch Harmon. If Tiger Woods needs a coach in his sport, what does that imply? He is a huge talent, and he recognized the need to have a coach to help him evolve his game.
Poker has a wide variance; you can play "perfect" and still not win money for a long time. You can also play in a" fundamentally flawed" way for a long time and WIN money. What this means is, there is a disconnect between intentions and results, due to poker's wide variance. A coach will validate your correct play and plug leaks in your game. He'll be able to tell you where you have problems, even when you win. He can validate your correct play, even though you are losing right now. A coach is indispensible (for serious players) for these reasons.

Q. Who needs a coach for poker?
A. Seriously, who doesn't? Any serious student of the game needs a coach after a certain point in his development. The game of poker is difficult to win; the variance is very wide. You can be playing absolutely correctly and still not win much money. And, you can play like a complete novice, and win a lot of money. And still while winning, you can have massive holes in your game--" leaks", if you will.
The reason for both scenarios is simple: poker has a wide variance. Most players think that when they win, that proves they are playing correctly; and when they lose, that means something is wrong. Not necessarily. An expert observer of your game can tell you exactly where you need improvement, and where you are playing expertly. A great poker coach will raise your game, and your confidence in that game.

Q. Is the service aimed at tournament players or cash/ring game players?
A. We coach limit players and tournament players.

Q. I work during the day and play nights and weekends, is that a problem?
A. No. We coach nights, weekends and during the regular business day.

Q. What games do you coach?
A. We coach all the games. Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha8, 7-Stud, and so on. Note: what game you want to play may determine who you get as your coach.

Q. I'm already really good at poker, and have little if anything to learn. Why do I care about coaching?
A. If you know it all, you are done learning. Your opponents are not. With a more realistic attitude about studying the game, your opponents are using every tool available. They are getting coached, and they plan on beating you. And they will. They will do this by using a good coach with a great track record to observe play, plug leaks, and constantly improve.

Consider this quote from poker icon Linda Johnson of the World Poker Tour:
"Coached players definitely have an advantage over others that are not coached. Coaching is a tool of the game, and the player who utilizes all the tools available to him (books, videos, software, coaches, etc) will gain an edge." (source: The Interview with Linda Johnson)
Coaching is a tool for players at all levels. Here is a recent email from a well-developed player who wants coaching to up his game further. Note his desire to continue to improve:
"...I consider myself an above average player who has a lot to learn about serious tournament play, but is in the top part of the learning curve. My expectation for a coach would be to quickly confirm or disprove this assumption. If this assumption is true then I need someone to identify specific areas where my strategy is flawed, and provide specific alternatives. I am able to identify mistakes when I make them, and contrive my own strategy. I would expect a coach to identify mistakes that I am making that I do not see and provide a solution for the mistake."
We like this kind of student. Note the confident yet honest self-assessment of this player. Well developed players may get the MOST from a poker coach, because they understand immediately the complex concepts the coach is teaching. Our coaches love students like this because they are ready to get the most from what the coach has to offer.

We also accept novice players as students. A new student will often need to first develop understanding of standard poker situations. Experienced players have this understanding of poker concepts. If you have quite a bit of experience and suspect you could rapidly improve with the right expert poker coach, you are correct.

Q. What will I get that is different from reading poker books?
A. When you employ a coach from Poker Coaching, you are getting a respected, winning tournament player who has an expert level of knowledge. You are getting access to someone that can correctly analyze your game, and situations, and hands that you play. Can you discuss poker with a book? No. Having a coach that knows you, knows your game, knows your strengths, weaknesses and challenges you to improve, is what you are getting with a coach from us.

Q. What kind of results have your coaches achieved in playing tournaments?
A. We invite you to research our coaches via Google other search options. You'll see that our coaches are serious, dangerous, respected, and well-known poker professionals. We have very high standards. Jim Bucci and Bill Seymour in particular are individuals you do not want to see at your tournament table.

Q. What kind of results have you achieved in coaching tournament players?
A. Coach Jim had one of his students win $189,000 in a huge online tournament on PokerStars.  That student is “iamlucky” finished third.  One of Coach Bill’s students won 2.8 million dollars last year.  That student is Jon Little aka jcardshark.

Q. What can I expect as a first experience as a Poker Coaching student?
A. Your coach will start to teach you such things as chip management, betting patterns, and proper decision making.  In addition you will start to learn the importance of discipline, position and developing a new and positive outlook.

Q. How much does it cost?
A. We charge a reasonable hourly rate. Coaching is a lot cheaper than hit-or-miss practice sessions online. Many of our students report that they burn through quite a bit of money playing, before coming to us for some expert coaching assistance. Other players just starting out correctly perceive that getting expert advice early is similar to getting golf lessons before playing the game. Experienced or otherwise, our coaching will have you enjoying the game more, as you learn to think like a champion.
As the saying goes, "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance." No where does this rule apply more directly than in the game of poker.

Q. Why not just read books, play online and discuss poker with friends?
A. Those activities are good, but can only take you so far. The things our coaches teach are not easily obtainable from books. Furthermore, because of poker’s very wide variance, short-term results are not indicative of your game overall. This means you can be misled by your results. This is why getting a real expert, working for you and dedicated to your success, is going be your best investment. You can discuss poker with friends, but just how good are they? Have they WON a whole list of tournaments? Have they MADE a dozen or more final tables in WPT or WSOP events? Do they really have your best interests in mind as they ‘advise’ you? Retaining an expert coach with a strong reputation both as a coach and as a player is a strong move if you are serious about this game.