A common theme I hear from my students is how much they gain from a couple of hours of dedicated hand analysis or lecture vs. the many books they’ve read. As an instructor, there’s nothing better than learning of a success story soon after a training session, hearing how they implemented the strategies into their game and how much it helped them. This is what makes the process so rewarding for me.
As poker players, if we don’t invest time and money into training (group sessions or one-on-one), we’re doing ourselves a great disservice by not elevating our game as high as it can be. The past couple of training sessions I’ve done have really helped me get a stronger grasp on this. I taught an Inside the Minds session at the Borgata and I ran a couple of small-group classes on the last Ante Up cruise. After each of these sessions, there were more than a few students with immediate success.
After the class at the Borgata, the students entered a nightly tournament and out of 193 players, six of the 18 players in the money were from our class. One student cashed in six of her first nine tournaments after the class, with four final tables, capping it off with a second-place finish in a World Series of Poker Circuit ladies event. We also had a student win $7,000 in a nightly tournament just one day after taking the class. And my favorite testimonial from the cruise was when one player complained about how much better his opponents got after taking the class and how it really cut into his profits. That’s the kind of bad-beat story I like to hear!
If you want to get better, you need to get training. There are a lot of knowledgeable instructors out there and most of them teach because they want you to get better. When I do my sessions, I’m at my students’ disposal and the only time they leave with questions is when they don’t ask them. The guys I work with feel the same way and teach because we want you to crush at the tables. I’m looking forward to the next Ante Up Poker Cruise in March where I will be running a few classes and then will be heading to the Borgata in April to teach a couple of Inside the Minds sessions there. I will have a star-studded cast of instructors joining me there, so if you’re looking for some high-quality instruction, please check out the details at facebook.com/insidetheminds. If you can’t make it on the cruises or Borgata, look for classes in your local area or check out some of the training sites online. Set your ego aside and let those of us who have spent lots of time and money making mistakes help you bypass all of that. I can assure you it’s much less expensive than just doing it all on your own. Decide to Win!
— Lee Childs is a professional poker player and coach. He’s the founder and lead instructor of Acumen Poker and Inside The Minds. Check out his sites at acumenpoker.net and facebook.com/insidetheminds.
