Teaching someone to beat low stakes nl

[1800GAMBLER]

Hey.

I'm guessing most people have done this, some with success some without, so i'd like your stories, thoughts, methods and links etc.

Here's my situation, i have just less than a month to teach someone to beat poker for at least $20/hour (with rake back). I've decided NL should be the best option because to beat low limits here takes a lot less knowledge than limit (lets not argue this), yet i can't decide if doing a short stack stragegy in something like $200 nl would be better than just teaching $50 nl.

Anyhow, this is just a general post asking for thoughts, anything that would help the person learn (preflop sheets etc) what stakes you think i should aim for, etc etc

Thanks.

[greg nice]

i think BK_ is on vacation or something but when hes back you might ask him. i know he teaches a few small stakes people (or used to).

i was beating the old party 50nl a while back for at least 20/hr multitalbing. i dont know how the games play after the changeover, but im sure theyre still very soft. it mightve been easier to teach previously because the shorter stacks wouldve allowed you to emphasize top pair type hands more. at that level, youre gonna get paid off with your good hands, but you need to make sure youre not just trading money back and forth. if this guys brand new, id place some emphasis on knowing when to fold. if hes got doubts that hes best or will end up best, tell him to just dump it and move on. someone will probably be willing to pay off his TPTK in a few hands.

finally i dont know if i agree with your limit comment, but youve probably thought about it more than me. just for comparison, im sort of learning limit and beating 1/2 full 3 tabling for $15/hr.

-illl

[boondockst]

how the? party 1/2? i get crushed at party 1/2.......no one folds lol

[greg nice]

[ QUOTE ]
no one folds lol

[/ QUOTE ]

i thought this was a characteristic of a good game?

[fimbulwinter]

[ QUOTE ]
I've decided NL should be the best option because to beat low limits here takes a lot less knowledge than limit

[/ QUOTE ]

given the new blind structure at party, i highly doubt the validity of this statement.

that said, playing 40BB poker is real real easy. just have her/him buyin short like you suggested and teach them to play like a tourney player. higher variance, yes, but in terms of eductaion/profitability i think it's about as good as one can do in poker.

fim

[1800GAMBLER]

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[JaBlue]

I just started teaching my uncle to play poker online. He owns a small investment banking firm and a lot of his possible VC clients like to play NLHE. Also, small stakes poker money is no object to him, which is really really useful in terms of teaching.

Anyway, he's a really cool guy (and family) so I do the lessons nearly pro bono. Here's what happened last time we had a lesson: He arrives 6:00PM. We go out and get some Thai food. I had some currry dish and he had garlic prawns. We shared and it was damned good. So we get back to my place 7:30 and I open poker stars. I tell him that we're going to be playing with his money, and I will take 25% of the return (but not loss). We log onto two .50-1.00 tables on pokerstars and buy in for the max. I go through some very basic stuff about preflop play, implied odds, etc. He has read HPFAP which is actually kind of a burden because he's thinking in terms of limit starting hands. Anyway, I play one table and he plays the other while we talk about the hands in progress. I am playing very tight and he is playing ~50% of his hands. We go through thought process during the hand, and since he's a smart guy, he can recognize good logic and adjust so that he can use it. We talk about every decision before making it except for the menial ones and I get him to tighten up. We played for like 3 hours like this and it was a ton of fun. A lot of the time we weren't talking about poker.

Anyway, my advice is this: keep it simple. Make sure your student is committed to learning. My uncle's still playing and he's sending me hands that give him trouble along with his thought processes and I correct them for him and explain the concepts. He's currently reading TOP and after that he will tackle Ciaffone+Reuben's NLHE section.

The most important thing is that the student wants to learn and really enjoys the game.

[tbach24]

Teach him:

Pre-flop:
Rule of 5-10
Why marginal hands are -EV
Teach him the value of playing more hands in LP vs. EP

Post-flop:
Pot management
Why slowplaying is bad
Semi-bluffing
How to play different players

There's a lot, I'd just go over parts of Theory of Poker with the guy/girl. It's really invaluable to concepts of poker.

[tbach24]

River play:
Weak leads
Blocking bets
Value bets
Bluffing draws
Check/calls

All of those are very important moves