Training Sites and Instructors Can Add Tremendous Value

Q: Are Poker Training Sites Worth The Money?

A: When the "poker boom" first took place, many people learned the game of poker through trial and error and perhaps a book like "Super System 2".

This led to a massive disparity between the best players in the game, who were constantly looking to improve, and the rest of the poker population. For this reason, above-average to great players absolutely cleaned up in the time between 2003 and 2011, as most of their competition was playing in a sub-optimal fashion.

After "Black Friday" took place, a number of previously successful players suddenly found themselves unable to play poker while living in the United States. Some opted to move to countries like Mexico, while others looked to branch out into other poker-related ventures such as instructional sites.

The quick spread of instructional sites led to the average poker player getting much, much better. Suddenly, even your recreational weekend player was aware of key concepts such as ranges, optimal play around a bubble and so on.

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With that being said - are instructional sites worth the money?

In my opinion - absolutely, though you will get out of the sites what you are willing to put in. If you are willing to put in the work in order to understand the key concepts that are being explained, you will likely enjoy a great deal more success on the felt.

Will joining an instructional site or two make you a top player? Not necessarily.

Will you be an inferior player compared to the competition if you don't have any training, through a site or a private mentor? Almost certainly.

The winning players online all have one thing in common - they put in a tremendous amount of work to make sure that they stay on top. If they aren't members of an instructional site, they are almost certainly sharing knowledge with other top players, reviewing each other's hands, etc. In short - they are continuing to learn. Poker is like chess - even the masters continue to learn, or else they get left behind.

Look at the top players on Twitch.tv - they are all spending sessions reviewing hands, discussing things with their coaches, working on their games, etc. And all of these top players spent thousands of hours on instructional poker sites before they got much better.

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Some people think that poker is a game of chance. Instead, I say that poker is a game of skill in which chance plays an element. Sure, your pocket Aces can get cracked on any given hand - that is purely chance.

A player who invests their time and money into acquiring poker knowledge, however, is giving themselves a much better chance of winning over time, and this is where the skill comes in. This skill, like anything else in life, is acquired through knowledge, which, in the poker world, is obtained through instructional sites, mentors and other highly skilled players.

If you don't have a high-level circle of poker friends, the next best thing is signing up with an instructional site or getting some poker coaching. The investment in your game will almost certainly be worth it.


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