czzarr
Hi all, I hope this isn't tl;dr, and even if it is, I recommend reading it !
I just finished the first part of my coaching with improva. And let me start with the fact that I am very very happy with the way it has been going so far !
When I first posted in this forum saying I was thinking about hiring a coach because I had half recovered of a severe downswing but I wasn't feeling confident at all in my game, I was a marginal winner (6bb/100 over 50K hands but including a huge upswing at 50nl) and my game had completely shifted towards autopilot-10-tabling robot style. I was more interested in knowing how much rakeback I was getting at the end of the week then working on my game and improving. I got sick of having my winnings follow the trend of variance (losing when running bad and winning when running good) so I posted here.
Improva very kindly offered to do a free review of a video of me 4-tabling 50nl, I focused, tried my best, and played pretty well I think, relatively speaking. His review was very thorough and really gave me my confidence back. I proceeded to play more, and switched to 100nl after having used a lot of fee's recommendations (such as less stats, less tables, more pokers).
I thought well, I probably won't need a coach after all and it started off pretty well, but one day I went back to my old habits for no reason, lost 8BI because of beyond atrocious hero calls. I was very pissed at myself and depressed so I emailed improva just after I quit, because I felt I needed to have someone follow my progress and having sort of a watchdog to whom I had to send my shameful HH would prevent me to play badly and help me focus.
Well it worked very well as I have played a lot more focused ever since, and beyond that, improva has been an amazing coach and has taught me a lot of things. His rate might seem expensive, but he clearly puts in way more time than you would expect, is very available to talk to on skype/msn.
Improva asks you for your like last 15K HH and he devises a coaching plan that he submits to your approval and when it looks good to both sides the first session comes. It was very easy for us to find a time for the coaching since he seems to have a very malleable schedule eventhough he has a lot of non-poker activities. During this session improva talks about your game, ask questions and introduces the homework which you will have to complete.
From then on it's on you, you're free to make your homework as fast and as thoroughly as possible, and he will be available for any question that you have, and will schedule a meeting on skype once you're done.
Improva genuinely tries his best to explain the concepts he is talking about in the simplest yet very thorough way, and he makes sure you understand what he's saying by constantly asking questions and challenging you. He won't spit out tricks out off a magician's hat, but he will logically and gradually explain his thought process. I have a much better understanding of (perceived) ranges now.
On the top of that, improva is a really nice guy, he is very friendly and he doesn't hesitate to compliment you on your game or when you give a good answer, and I must say this is a huge confidence boost.
I haven't played a lot of hand since we started, so its not very relevant to post results, but let me just say they are pretty good for now. I think I definitely have the skills required to beat 100nl 6-max and the subsequent coaching sessions will only help increase my winrate, and I am looking forward to moving up to 200nl under his wing !
Let me conclude by saying that if you're in a rough patch, if you think you need to rethink your game and really improve as a poker player and you want your coach to be a nice guy, well stop looking, ask for improva !
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