Hey guys,

I posted this same post under the Gen Poker tab in Chatter, but wanted to make sure those that may be interested could see it within the PLO forums.

I want to start by saying I have been very pleased with being a part of the RIO community. It has been fun to create videos and interact with a lot of smart players.

I have had some emails and other contact about coaching, so I decided to create this post to let the community know that I have openings for new students that are looking for help in low-mid stakes PLO starting December 1st. I can still help prospective NL students because that was my first game that I put so many hours into, but I enjoy PLO the most and that is in fact my main focus right now.

So, here’s how I go about the process…

Developing a strong foundation:

Your game will never get to the level desired without a strong foundation. My belief is that you need to have a good understanding of GTO to reach high levels of play. However, this does not mean I think players should just auto pilot a GTO type of style when they play. I stress to my students that we want to understand what is optimal so that we can ultimately know when to deviate from GTO to max exploit opponents that are playing unbalanced themselves.

The second concept that I constantly find myself reiterating to my students and other players that I have interacted with is to have a strong understanding of the player pool that you are playing within. Too many players in my opinion try to make too specific of reads or think they have enough info on specific players when they often don’t. This can lead to leveling, over-complication, and ultimately a loss of EV in many spots. I like to stress often simplifying the approach and making decisions based on what you see within the player pool. A lot of times I notice that any slight loss of EV in that moment is often well made up for in the long run by saving a lot of mental energy and avoiding tilt due to over-complication and possibly inaccurate assumptions about the specific frequencies of an opponent.

Methods of coaching:

The primary method, which seems to be getting a lot of great feedback is for my students to record their online sessions and to send them to me for review. This allows me to really get a feel for where they may need to improve and how to go about improving. This can also be done through the recording of sessions via hand replayers with whichever poker tracker you use.

Other methods, which are new as of February of 2018 are the following:

Coaching for live students:

Live players can record/write down hands from a session or over multiple sessions and send them to me for review. I will use a hand replayer to go over each hand in detail as played and implement any software such as PioSolver or PokerJuice to dive further into the analysis if need be. I will then send the video back so that you can review, ask any questions and implement any changes immediately into your next session.

The second method for live students will involve using PowerPoint and the previously mentioned software if need be to discuss mental game leaks and theoretical concepts that students may be struggling with. How the software comes into play is if I need to illustrate an idea in theory by applying in practice on the felt, then I will use software and/or a hand replayer to illustrate a point further. Same process as the other methods; you send a payment via PayPal and I immediately get to work on the video and send it back within 48-72 hours unless told otherwise.

I have another coaching method that involves making videos for more novice PLO or NLHE students that are looking to take that next step up and build a stronger foundation. Contact me using the info listed at the bottom of this post to learn more!

Validation of myself as a coach:

I have noticed before prospective students asking coaches for graphs or some kind of validation. I think that’s smart and only makes sense considering you are paying for a service from a complete stranger. I will be as open as possible about myself as a player and coach. I up until about the same time I joined RIO had never really implemented a tracker. I always just fired up tables, won more often than not, and reviewed sessions by going through hand histories and if I saw anything I felt worthwhile I would use PokerJuice or PIO to go over those spots. I felt like this was working fine, but after starting to use a tracker I realize I underestimated the ability to use stats and a more organized piece of software to help me improve my game. Currently I have close to 20k hands and have been doing very well in low/midstakes PLO games on Ignition as expected, but my time playing is usually split between live play and online play considering I live in the US. This, along with my schedule that includes coaching and making instructional videos for RIO makes it tough to really build up a ton of volume without the ability to play in a zoom pool. I absolutely will post a graph if asked for it publicly or privately once I get to a relevant sample, which I’m not even sure how many hands would satisfy the community. 50k? 100k? Regardless I will deliver that even now if a prospective student wants to see it although I think with so few hands it is hard to gain proper knowledge.

I also understand that with an untracked site such as ignition graphs can be forged/corrupted. I don’t what else to say other than I do not do this. It doesn’t help me improve as a player and coach to only post winning sessions just for the sake of seeing my BB/hands soar. Now, can a coach trying to scam you just say what I just claimed? Of course! Another key point to make is that it is well known that the American sites contain player pools that are beyond soft. This is not debatable. However, this also does not mean I don’t know what I am talking about as far as my skill level as a player and coach.

At the end of the day it’s all about just giving it a shot and earning that trust. That’s all I can ask for and if that isn’t enough for prospective students, then I understand. There are a lot of good coaches out there from what I understand and I encourage students to explore all options anyway. Different coaches likely implement different strategies both on and off the table and that may greatly benefit you as a student who is trying to reach the next level. A good way to see how I would possibly coach and how I play is to simply watch the videos I have produced for RIO. There are a few different varieties of videos that should give you a good idea of what you would be signing up for!

I am available via PM and email for anyone that has any questions and is looking for more info. I will post my contact info and rates below this post. Again, my main focus is on PLO right now, but if you are an interested NL student go ahead and contact me and we can talk it over. Thanks for reading and I look forward to taking to those interested soon!

-Nick

Email: [email protected]
Rates as of December 1st:
$100/hour
$85/hour for 5-9 hours up front
$70/hour for 10+ hours up front

Rates as of February 2018 for coaching for live students:
$100/hour
$85/hour for 5-9 hours up front
$70/hour for 10+ hours up front

I have a no refund policy to protect myself and my business, so make sure you are fully committed to the hours you purchase!