How do you know if an article or training video will help you conquer new stakes? Will it be a waste of time?
We wanted to answer this question, but in the end, we realized that we were looking for a magic pill that does not exist, only our own experience and observation. We still haven’t figured out how to figure it out and find ourselves in the mountain of training content, but we still collected some tips that can help you with this.
Greg GregGT // t.me/mtt_expert
I think this question would be much simpler if content could really be categorically divided into “useful” and “not useful”.
In reality, almost any poker content has a certain value, and in reality, you have to choose not from black and white, but from 50 shades of gray. This is very much connected with the general problem of information overload in the modern world.
– How can a low-stakes player understand that this video or article is not worth wasting his time on?
To be honest, I thought about this question for a long time, but in the end I came to the only and not very encouraging conclusion – no way 😅🤷🏻♂️
It seems to me that in this regard your question is not much different from a similar one: “How can a person who has absolutely no understanding of people understand that this person is not worth wasting his time on?”
Well, that is, we can, of course, in the style of a hyped Instagram video, throw at a newbie “5 signs to… (and then any crap)”, but there will be little practical benefit in this. And whether a person wants it or not, he will have to get to the bottom of it himself through his own experience, trial and error.
It is also important to understand for what purposes a person watches videos and reads articles. If for entertainment, then let him watch and read what his heart desires. But I would definitely not recommend using this approach as the main method of learning. If you want to develop effectively, find specialized training (an individual trainer or a poker school). And publicly available articles and videos can help polish the knowledge you have gained.
I can’t say anything from the posts on the forums – I haven’t followed his life for a long time.
Among the telegram channels, I can modestly recommend mine , and even then very selectively, although earlier I really did describe my thoughts on hands and strategy in detail, and did not just write posts in the format “registered for a tournament – kicked out of the tournament”)
Well, here's a quick blitz:
– Highlights and streams – not so useful
– GTOWizard articles and videos are ok
– Video analysis of a tournament or base from proven coaches and schools – ok
– Articles and videos from GipsyTeam are ok
Fedya Lorem // t.me/LoremCDMX. Poker, MMA and karaoke
An interesting question, actually. Since poker is not a completely pure science, even the most seasoned author with a bunch of regalia can occasionally slip out some utter nonsense.
So let's focus on what will speak about some benefit from the video. Probably the main thing that a coach should rely on is research. That is, statements based on data, and not taken from very dubious personal experience. In fact, in all training and training materials, I am interested exclusively in what was established as a result of research, because how to apply this further is already relatively clear (if they throw out a lot, then bluff more often, for example).
I would advise beginners to generally discard any reasoning that is not based on numbers, because if you want, you can justify any action. If you build your game based on research, you will always have an understanding of how to change the game if external circumstances have changed.
Sergey Delayn // Retreat, but don’t fall
When it comes to learning, any information can be useful. It's just a question of how well you can process it. Even entertaining poker content can give someone +EV, while a complex video, on the contrary, can only confuse them. And every beginner has a different level of competence, so it's not entirely correct to label it as "bad" or "good". It's too subjective.
Personally, I don't consume materials with titles like: "Top 5 Mistakes", "Best lines", "Don't do this and your win rate will skyrocket", "Secrets of playing at high stakes", etc. In general, when the title promises to solve some problem easily and simply, I avoid it. And this applies not only to poker, but to any business. You need to understand that poker is a complex game, and if everything were so simple, then everyone would be sitting with a bag of money. This does not mean that such videos cannot be watched, you just need to keep this in mind. Infotainment content is not something a priori bad. Watch something like this over breakfast and get a few useful thoughts – why not?
From what is useful for me, I can cancel the analysis of specific topics – preflop analysis or play in a 3-bet pot out of position. The analysis can be more narrow, for example, "Play in a single-raise pot on Axx texture". I also like the analysis of the game against certain categories of players – amateurs, maniacs, nits, etc. The more specifics – the better.
But in the end, experience is everything. It is experience that allows you to filter information by both title and author.
Personally, I haven't watched almost anything for a long time. Exceptions are GTOWizard and if I come across something from Uri Peleg.
diamant // On the path of Stoicism
From experience I can say that the first 5-10 minutes of a video show the level of information and the person who records this video. If I don't see anything new, I watch it on fast forward until I'm surprised.
Personally, I find it much more interesting to watch videos from an author who plays in an unconventional way – such guys have their own philosophy and experience. And, at a minimum, you need to understand why they do it and for what reason.
Kostya gambler14 // who?
It's incredibly difficult for a low stakes player to understand poker content, so I don't really know how to help here.
The thing is that there are a lot of coaches now who don't play themselves, but are really good (Uri Peleg, for example, who doesn't play actively, but is a very cool specialist). On the other hand, there are those who seem to play actively, but at the same time give out such material (and spam graphs as if to confirm their qualifications).
So my honest answer is I don't know. It's like with language courses. There are a million of them now, after completing each one, some people improve their level of knowledge, and some don't. It's all very individual.
Nikolai dyrdom1 wrote in his telegram channel about how to evaluate a coach's value:
About Coaching
New Advice for Young Hot Ambitious Poker Players
If you take training sessions and your trainer spends many hours with you, opening the wizard and poking around with you, then know that this is unproductive. Moreover, I would say that he does not value and does not respect your time.
In 2024, with the amount of free quality material and accessible software for independent/with a partner work, it is not worth paying a trainer for this format of work.
It is worth paying, first of all, to get the essence and high-quality finished developments. That is, in this way to save a lot of time, spending it on the game. And not to study, search and process everything yourself.
It's like booking a trip somewhere. Anyone can find the best tickets, look through and choose hotels, find places to go, where to eat, how to get from the airport, in general, decide what's where. But it will take a lot of time and effort.
Or you can buy everything turnkey.
This is the same in my understanding with a trainer. He should give a turnkey solution, and not look at hotels with you.
I especially often come across this format of work among those who train for profit. And then they proudly say that they have spent 50-100 hours of training in a month. There is just one nuance – their efficiency was extremely low.
In this regard, hourly rates have always seemed more honest to me, because when a person takes training courses for an hour, it is very rare that someone will want to work on the solver together.
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