It depends on someone's potential.
If someone has great potential a great coach could teach someone who has never played a single hand of poker in their entire life to be a good player in 6 months or less.
If the person is low in potential they could be playing poker for 30 years and can only go so far no matter what kind of teaching they get.
Basically that applies to just about everything.
If someone has great potential a great coach could teach someone who has never played a single hand of poker in their entire life to be a good player in 6 months or less.
If the person is low in potential they could be playing poker for 30 years and can only go so far no matter what kind of teaching they get.
Basically that applies to just about everything.
I feel that someone evaluating your game and identifying leaks in it from afar is hugely beneficial. It is an almost essential piece in getting a player from intermediate to really good.
As far as getting a player from beginner to intermediate...the basic advise is pretty much always gonna be the same. Call a lot less. 80% of the bad calls you are making today should be folds and 20% of them should be raises.
Once you learn how to fold, that's when real progress can begin. If you're talking tournaments, the answer to every "how should I play this" question depends on about 100 factors. Stack size relative to blinds, stack size relative to rest of table, your table image, villain table image, villain stats, where you are relative to the bubble, board texture, betting patterns, etc. Someone teaching you the right way to analyze these factors is pretty invaluable.
As far as getting a player from beginner to intermediate...the basic advise is pretty much always gonna be the same. Call a lot less. 80% of the bad calls you are making today should be folds and 20% of them should be raises.
Once you learn how to fold, that's when real progress can begin. If you're talking tournaments, the answer to every "how should I play this" question depends on about 100 factors. Stack size relative to blinds, stack size relative to rest of table, your table image, villain table image, villain stats, where you are relative to the bubble, board texture, betting patterns, etc. Someone teaching you the right way to analyze these factors is pretty invaluable.
To answer the question though, the answer is yes. I think I could take a average player and make him good, provided 2 things:
a) he is willing to put in some work and
b) he meets a certain threshold of intelligence
If you don't have the math smarts to count outs and translate them to equity vs a villain range, then compare that to pot + implied odds, you're not going to get good at hold'em.
a) he is willing to put in some work and
b) he meets a certain threshold of intelligence
If you don't have the math smarts to count outs and translate them to equity vs a villain range, then compare that to pot + implied odds, you're not going to get good at hold'em.
Obviously being good at math is essential (calculate odds correctly and quickly, correct bet sizing). Psychology background could be useful to study opponents and exploit their weaknesses (mostly live). Discipline and commitment in studying basic, intermediate and advanced strategy (books, videos, articles) and also studying your own hands and your own weaknesses.
But all of these qualities in a potential player would be useless without discipline (tilt control, studying and the most important feature, BANKROLL MANAGEMENT). Players w/o BM will constantly struggle (thus tilting easier) and they will lose their BR several times. You have no discipline you have no chance...
