A Good PLO Coach: Wazz
When it comes to improving your game, nothing beats a good player watching you play, fixing your leaks and clearing many things up.
This is all the more true for PLO, as there is not a great deal of good resources both on the web or in the current literature; there are always forums, but the advice should often be taken with a pinch of salt, given that many players either play overly aggressive and tell you to shove every other hand, or only play the nuts with redraws.
By the end of 2008, after several months of CardRunners membership, I decided to take a coach. My PLO game was pretty rough and ABC, but I was used to 6max games and I didn’t nutpeddle anymore. One of my goal back then was to have a better control of aggression. So there I was, looking on the web for a PLO coach.
Google found a few results on “PLO coach”, and wazz‘ name came up in a few 2+2 threads. In the same time, CardRunners was launching their coaching program, and after some time wazz was also available through CR. Basically, they made sure everything was clear and settled before the money is sent, and they would provide support if necessary.
Wazz has been playing professionally in online games for about three years, at stakes up to 5/10. From his coaching profile, “his strengths lie in the technical side of omaha – when to bet, why, and how much. He does a lot of off-the-table analysis of how and why some people consistently win at poker – not just the technical skills, but how to give yourself the best chance of coming away from a session with the biggest possible win hours before you even sit down.”
After a few emails, we settled on a five-hour pack.
First of all, I sent him the last 40k hands of my PokerTracker DB (no HEM for Omaha at that time). He went through the various stats, and he spotted a few things to tune in my turn play, along with some adjustments in my preflop game. We also reviewed several big pots that I lost.
I watched him play (ie. sweated him) for half an hour, using a screen-sharing program and Skype, and he sweated me for the other half. We discussed several plays, and I got some food for thought till the next session. From then on, I would sweat him every other one-hour session, and he would sweat me the other.
Good coaching skills
Wazz is not too tight preflop, which is a good thing from my point of view, since I was not interested in playing a nitty style. This provided many interesting spots, and I would not always agree with him. Yet, he could always explain his reasoning very clearly, and he never asked me to “trust him on this” when I would not come around. He was open to discuss his play, and if you can come up with good arguments he won’t reject them because “you’re the student and he’s the teacher”.
He helped me open my game, and we also curbed my aggression on later streets, as I was a bit of a runaway train when I started putting money into the pot. He drew my attention on isolating fishes, which is a very important skill indeed.
On a few occasions, I sent him emails with specific questions, but as far as I know his schedule was pretty tight last year and I didn’t pick the best time, so it took him some time to reply. On the other hand, I must say that I stretched the five hours over many months, so I can’t blame him for not being available 24/7 for me.
He’s currently charging $300/hour, with volume discounts. Overall, wazz is quite an articulate coach and his analyses are well thought out. He’s also a nice guy, and if you can afford his rate, you will certainly improve your game from his coaching.
- Quite articulate
- Good coaching skills
- Spots the leaks
- Rate is pretty high if you play small stakes
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[...] you could of figured out everything he told you on your own. You probally knew everything he told you. Poker is so freakin easy. [...]
I removed the inappropriate parts of your comment. Concerns–and warning–about expensive material or coaching certainly have their place in all related discussions, but your point of view would be much more listened to if you cut out the offensive remarks.
It is true that I could have figured out several things out on my own, and I already did to some extent, but the point is that the trial and error process takes time, and you are never guaranteed to get it all right. Being advised by someone who has been there-done that and “tuned” these things long before you has a lot of value.
If you practice martial arts or boxing, punching or kicking does not look like rocket science, right–it seems pretty easy. Yet, there are so many details that make all the difference between being effective or not that a coach/instructor is virtually mandatory. I would not go as far as saying it is so in poker too, but I will certainly not dismiss poker coaching as worthless, far from it.
As for the price, again I believe that the market will sort it out; if the current rates are too expensive, some good coaches will be ready to coach for less, and the average rate will fall accordingly.
Hey mate! Kudos for the blog, I enjoy reading your stuff!
If you don’t mind me asking, what limits were you playing when you picked up coaching?
I’m trying to figure out if it’ll be worth it when I reach 50 PLO. A 5-hour packacge from one of the cheaper DC blokes would be like 500 $. It’s only 10 BI when you think about it. Or would you say small stakes are crushable with just a sollid foundation (videos, slowabit’s book, forums)?
Thanks!
I played PLO50 with a few shots at PLO100. The opposition can be so weak at the micro stakes that you should be able to beat the games with a solid style and minimal table selection. Yet, some leaks can make you a break even player or a slight loser, and even if you are a winner you could significantly improve your BB/100 with the help of a good coach.
I still believe that the good coaches and (e)books buy you time ie. they give a sudden boost to your understanding of the game. One might say that the best time to pick a coach is when you reach some plateau, or when you are stuck with questions/problems you can’t solve.
$500 is ten PLO50 buy-ins, but it is not small change either; be sure that there is not a significant gap between what you expect and what you will get, which could be the case if that amount means a lot to you. Coaches and ebooks are no magic bullet — but you already knew that.