Several people have said that I overemphasize the need for coaching. Since they have succeeded without coaches, maybe they don't need them. But, I certainly do, and you probably do, too. If you don't want to pay for coaching, you can swap coaching with poker buddies, participate in online forums, or join a poker discussion group.
Why do you need coaching?
You will learn many things more quickly and easily with a coach's help. You particularly need help if you want to play professionally or move up to larger games. Without an outsider's help, you can't objectively assess yourself or develop your full potential.
Your coach does
not have to be a world-class player, but it certainly helps to have a highly skilled coach. In fact, some of the best coaches are not great players.
You can easily see this pattern in sports. Hardly any of the top football, baseball, or basketball coaches was a great player. Many great players have so much natural talent that they don't know how to help less gifted people. You can learn a lot from a merely good player if he understands poker well and has certain other qualities.
A coach's most important contributions come from his detached, objective perspective, not his playing ability. For example, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have coaches. Do their coaches play as well as they do? Of course not. Nobody does, yet they realize that their coaches can spot weaknesses that they will miss. Many other professional athletes do the same thing. In fact, in team sports, they have no choice; they have to do what the coach says.
Nobody knows how many poker pros have retained coaches, because most of them would not admit it. Unlike sports, coaching is not a generally accepted part of our world, and we don't have teams or value cooperation. Poker is a battle of everyone against everyone. However, I suspect that some top pros have paid for coaching, and a few of them have stated that they got help from poker buddies.
For example, Daniel Negreanu said that he and his friends would often discuss strategy, because "to get to the top, you … need someone who knows how to show you the nuances. To learn them yourself would just take so much longer," ("Could You Be Kid Poker's Next Protégé?" By Michael Friedman,
Card Player, Vol. 19/No. 21)
Why don't more people get coaching?
Most poker players - even heavy losers - don't get coaching. They reject it because of the same psychological factors that weaken their games in other ways, such as denial of reality, arrogance, machismo, and egotism.
They are too proud to accept help or criticism, or they rationalize their poor results by claiming to be terribly unlucky. Because poker is so macho, they just can't admit that they need help. They are going to do it their way regardless of the consequences. You may think you are so strong and talented that you don't need help, but you'll do better if you get it.
What should a coach do for you?
Several of my friends are professional coaches, and none of them teaches just poker theory or strategy. They all analyze their students' strengths and weaknesses and then provide the
specific help that each one needs. They would give you different lessons than they would give to me.
You will get the best results from a coach who helps you to do the following:
1. Think logically. A good coach should rely on facts and logic, not "feel." An intuitive coach may not be able to analyze exactly where you are strong and weak. A logical coach will take your game apart, tell you exactly what to do differently, and explain why you should change. In addition to various other benefits, he will help you to develop your own analytic abilities so that you can take your own game apart.
2. Objectively evaluate yourself and the competition. One of a coach's most important tasks is to help you to see yourself and the competition more objectively. He will be less biased than you are, and he probably has more information than you do. This impartial analysis is particularly important if you want to move up. You can't compare yourself to the players in larger games because you have never played there. A coach with the right experience can tell you how your knowledge, skills, and temperament compare to the players you'll face, and prepare you to play against them.
3. Understand the effects of your emotions. Emotions have enormous effects on your play, and - because they are hidden - you need help in identifying them and resisting their destructive effects. Even if they don't have formal psychological training, most coaches are perceptive about emotions. Besides, nearly everyone is much better at seeing how emotions affect other people than at recognizing their effects on themselves.
For example, a coach may point out that you don't bluff or check-raise often enough, and that you are too gentle with weak players. He may then say that those weaknesses suggest that you're uncomfortable with and inhibited by poker's deceptive, manipulative, and predatory aspects.
4. Obtain specific feedback about your play. You certainly know that you can play badly and get good results, and vice versa. You therefore need someone who can look objectively at your decisions and tell you what you're doing right and wrong. He also will tell you why you made certain bad decisions; that is, what information did you ignore or misunderstand?
5. Obtain brutally honest opinions. You need someone who will tell you unpleasant truths, but he won't do it without your encouragement. If he thinks that you want someone just to listen to your hard-luck stories, he probably won't tell you everything you need to know. You must assure him that you want information, not sympathy. Then, he will look hard at your game and tell you things that you may not want to hear.
For example, I once bragged to Barry Tanenbaum about a hand I thought I had played very well. He told me that I had made serious mistakes on the turn and river. Of course, I was briefly offended. At first, I wished he had said, "Al, you played it brilliantly."
If he had been more "considerate" about my feelings, I wouldn't have learned anything. He knew I needed that information and would not be offended by being told the truth. My other friends have done the same thing countless times, and I'm grateful for their honesty. That's what you need: somebody who will tell you the unpleasant truths you need to hear.
What should you do?
To get the maximum benefit from coaching,
you must keep your mind open and communicate that you want honest information. Most people don't really want harshly critical feedback. They may pretend to welcome it, but they often ask for sympathy for their hard luck or reassurance that they really play well.
We see the same reactions among writers. Every professional writer has at least one "coach," and most of us have several. We call them "editors." We may not like their criticisms, but we accept our need for them. We know that we have the same arrogance, defensiveness, and other weaknesses as poker players.
Many wannabe writers respond quite differently. They flatly refuse to accept criticism, or they get defensive about it. They essentially insist, "Don't touch my wonderful prose. I know what I want to say and how to say it." As I've told many of them, "If John Grisham and Tom Clancy can accept editing, maybe you should do the same."
The same principle applies to poker. If Daniel Negreanu can admit that it takes too long to learn by himself, maybe you're behind the curve without a coach. To get the best results from our brutally competitive game, get help from a coach, discussion group, online forums, and poker buddies. You'll see yourself differently and become a better player.
Dr. Schoonmaker ([email protected]) coaches only on psychology issues, such as controlling impulses, coping with losing streaks, going on tilt, and planning your self-development.
