Yet another 6 max blog

I've had my first lesson with the coach. I am very convinced that he will do a lot of good to my game.

I have really strugled a lot with defending my blinds, and I always felt very unsure about what to do, and when to do it.

One of the things we did, was to get a range sorted for when to 3bet, when to cold call, and when to fold. Even more importantly we spend some time discussing why this was the correct range for these spots. Understanding why something is correct is so much better than just knowing what is correct. This way I will be able to know how/when deviate from the ranges.

Before the session, I had a feeling of my blind defence being built on a skeleton of straws and tape, based on a foundation of wet paper. Now I feel like I have a solid concrete foundation, and a skeleton build from steel.

Can't wait to get to the tables, and try the new stuff out.

Hey mhonielsen,

Welcome to the blogs

Nice start to your blog. You are definitely going the right way about it. Family comes first so until you get to that level where poker can pay the bills, then you certainly need to keep that job.

Good Luck

Laz

Just played a short session, where I tried to implement the new stuff from the first coaching session, on two tables. Sofar I am still happy with my decision, but there is still a long way before the sessions have payed themselves of. I enjoyed playing a lot more here though, as I had a really good feeling about what to do in most of the situations.

It will not pay many bills, but at least it is in the green:
1st session after 1st coaching

Looking forward to playing some more tonight, when the kids are off.

Best of luck to you. Your goals are achievable,just study and work hard on your game. My first month of serious poker brought me 500€ and I am still weak player and have to lern a lot.
Cheers

Hi mhonielsen,
I am looking for a coach, who is your coach if you don't want to post here can you send me a pm?
Thanks!!

Hey Javirap, and others.

I can not figure out, how to PM you in here, maybe my membership level is not high enough.

Anyway the coach I chose is danish (like me), because I wanted to make sure, that I understood everything, that he was trying to tell me. I know he follows this blog also, so he may contact you, if he takes international coaching students as well.

So I will not break the rules of the forums, and give you his name, but you should not have a problem finding a coach, there are plenty of them around - and quite a few here on pokerstrategy also. Google (or whatever searchengine you prefer) + poker + coaching should give you lots and lots of hits. They are almost harder to avoid, than they are to find - so finding a coach, should be the least of your problems. Finding the coach, that is the correct one for you can be a different story though.

When I chosed my coach, there were several things I considered.
1) Find a coach, that plays the same game as the one you want to become better in. No point in getting a Heads Up master as your coach, if you prefer to play 6 max, no point in getting someone who spends most of his (or her) time play PLO or Omaha, if you're preferred game is NLHE.

2) Try to find a coach that has the same attitude to other things in life as well. I believe that doing some physical excersice frequently will somehow improve my life in general, and also the decissions I make at the tables. So I would not choose a coach that was grinding away all day, living on fastfood and energy drinks.

3) Try to find a coach that has the same approach to the game as you do. If your natural game is to play many hands very aggresively, then you want a coach who plays the same style - not someone who will try to change you completely into a supertight nit.

4) Think a lot about what you want to achieve from being coached, before you have the first session. No point in you wanting to reach goal A (e.g. I just want to improve my game, so I can continue playing once in a while without it draining my bank accounts) and your coach tries very hard to get you to goal B (e.g. try to lift your game from NL10 to NL1000 so you can crush that level and become the next shooting star in the pokerheaven). Just a simple thing like - do you want to do 'homework' between sessions? How much work are you intending to put into this? If you and your coach are aiming for two different goals, that's a sure way to getting a coaching experience that is a waste of your money and your time.

Best of luck finding the coach that fits your needs and wishes, pricelevel and other criteria.

Easter have shown some really nice weather here in Denmark, so there has been more gardening, playing with the kids etc. and therefore less poker. As I am still a hobby player I am fine with this. There has been a little poker though, but not as much as I thought.

Things are definately going the right way. These are the graphs since I had the first coaching. There are nine more coaching sessions to come, so ... if the improvement rate continues, I'll be on the gravy train from now on.

10 days after 1st coaching

I know that I could just have been running lucky, and that its a small sample (app. 1750 hands), but ... until proven otherwise, I prefer to believe, that some of my worst and most costly leaks/flaws have been corrected/eliminated. I give the credit for the latest rise in the curve to the fact that I went over the videorecording of our session again, took notes, and really tried to take everything with me to the tables. Likewise I think that the first downswing was to blame on trying to hard to focus on few things from the session, rather consider everything.

Now the easter holidays are over, and I should hopefully be able to play and post more regularly.

I'd made a rule for myself to play at least 2.000 hands or win 10 buyins before getting the next coaching session. It won't be long before I'm ready for the next one. It's allready booked, and obviously I am excited as if it was christmas eve.