General Discussion Poker Forums

Improva review both book and coaching

The book
Let’s start with the book, Improvas book is probably the single thing that has made the largest impact on my game and together with his coaching it has really taken my game to the next level. Improvas book is great in the way that the the advice he gives is very very practical it’s not just a bunch of theory put together that for the average players is going to be really hard to actually apply in a good way. That said, it doesn’t offer any kind of magic formula that will just overnight make you crush the games you play, the overall theme about the book is adjusting and there just isn’t any short cuts here. Improva will give you the tools, what to look for in your opponents game and how to exploit it but you have to be prepared to really start paying attention.

The coaching
One of the most underrated things when choosing a coach is probably to find one who really likes coaching and cares about the progress of his students and to me this is where Oliver (Improva) really stands out. He is really willing to go the extra mile to get you to understand different concepts and how they interact to create a total game strategy. A key thing about his coaching is that he actually has a coaching program that he follows it isn’t just random sweat sessions and HH reviews, to be a big winner you need to learn how to think about poker in the right way and his coaching program is designed to do exactly that.

It wasn’t until I met Oliver that I really started beating the games I play for a significant amount, I have been a winner for a long time on ssnl but I have never excelled passed that.I started getting coaching from Oliver about 2.5 months ago and I made more money the passed 2 months (excluding my big WPT score) then I made all last year and I have Oliver to thank for that. I have now moved up from being a marginal nl200 to being a big winner at nl600 and I am now playing nl400-nl1k with good results.

Together with his book and the intergrated videos his coaching becomes very cost effective since you easily refer back to a chapter of the book or one of his vids whenever you need a more in depth explanation or if you just need to hear something again to make it stick. I’m definitly going to stay with Oliver for a long time and hope to be an active participant in the community of poker players that is forming around him.

And now the obv bragging graph:
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5787/bragginggraph.jpg

Feel free to ask me any questions you want.

Thanks for the review. Would you recommend this for someone still working their way through the micros (25 and 50NL)? The money really isn't an issue I just wonder whether I should wait until Im up to 100 or 200NL so that he wouldn't have to spend time on what might be considered remedial issues.

Couldnt agree with you more corkinthecorner , nice post and very nice graph , i just bought the book the other day and while ive only just met improva he comes across as been an awesome guy and very helpfull

Although I have yet to complete the book, I agree with corkinthecorners review. This book will absolutely get you thinking.
As for Oliver himself... great guy. He has always taken the time to answer any questions that I have had and he really knows how to explain complex concepts in a way that are easy to understand and then apply to your own game. Also, he does seem to truely care about how his students are doing.
I highly recommend to anyone that is considering buying the book to do so.

This is awesome cork. Haven't had a chance to dive into Oliver's book just yet, but soon. I must say I'm absolutely stoked about it.

Thanks for the review. Would you recommend this for someone still working their way through the micros (25 and 50NL)? The money really isn't an issue I just wonder whether I should wait until Im up to 100 or 200NL so that he wouldn't have to spend time on what might be considered remedial issues.

I think the book is mainly aimed for nl200+, but it's never to early read things that will help your thought process, so if money isn't an issue I would definitly buy it. It will definitly accelerate your progress as a player.

The book has a lot about adjusting, which applies to uNL as well. It helps you to think about ways to get more value and when/why bluffing is good. Not only using the board texture but using the players' tendencies against them when conditions merit to.

how is it compared to the books of baluga and bobbofito? is it better than the books of baluga? do they overlap?