Online poker schools, helpful or not?

[xltros]

Are these schools helpful to the avg. player? Or are they unnecesary.
Thanks

[Nightwish]

Just buy some books and then practice.

[elysium]

hi night
you won't do any better than 2+2. here, you're going back and forth with real players who give very accurate game conditions because they want to improve in their game. you can feel the game fire going on and see quick accurate solutions with attention to detail given to image and field conditions. you can also witness a hand's reconstruction, so if something got botched, the more subtle nuances can be given light, and that in turn may answer a question unaddressed before encountering it in actual play. everyone here, whether we like to admit it or not, has had to resort to mike l.'s take on the poker universe when suddenly confronted by uncontrolled aggression. so we fire back with a reraise with our lousy hand because mike does it and mike's been around a while. we fold AJs on occasion because tommy's been around for a while, and this is a fold tommy will occasionally make. you walk out of here knowing what to do with TT against a Q high flop, as well as KQo on a AJXr flop. and if you really listen, you'll know what your opponent is holding, and whether or not you can, or should attempt, to fold him out.

the schools are going to leave you feeling giddie about KTs, and might have you fold incorrectly on the turn. why? because they don't answer to mr. sklansky or mr. malmouth. there is a lot of advice out there that is clearly very bad. it's never corrected because it's made by the schools instructors who often aren't current in their thinking and really haven't done the research needed to be done. also, there is always a segment of the population that will blindly follow the advice of anyone who loosens in areas requiring discipline and ability to endure boredom. the truth is no one is going to pay to be told that in order to win, you must sit there like andy fox mucking orbit after endless orbit. often betting only to get sucked out on, and sometimes mucking hands that are clearly better than the type hands his opponents are entering in with.

today, people pay to hear what they want to hear, not what they should be hearing and listening to. most schools are attended by players who want to be told that they can have fun and make money at the same time. the schools preach cards as the key to this ideas fulfillment. here you learn that this is a people game. cards don't win pots, people do. the schools will have you targeting the fish, but never tell you that you are the fish. and their foundation, what they leave you with is critically deficient. and then they get hammered and shell shocked. whew....it's a mess. when they turn around for support, they're offered the same course all over again. they can't regroup.

here, we go out there, get our butts kicked really, and come back here and regroup. then we go back out again. it's a refining process. we want to know where we messed up, and we find out where, and correct. so you see actual players come in all bloodied up and nose broken trying to fool us into believing something different, and us catching them. we do that because just like in a live game, we read for the truth; we read the b.s., and we figure out what is the real issue here? what is the real danger this player is opening himself or herself up to? they're going to post something glitzie of course, irrelevant often. but there is always enough to find out what's really going on.

in a live game, there's is always enough info to figure out exactly what is going on as well. that skill develops as you read posts and threads where the poster screwed up, but doesn't want say exactly how he really screwed up. some of these hands never take place. but the real issue is always decernable if you look carefully, and know what to look for.

garland is a great example. garland has a great solid playing style. but we know that gar isn't triggering the calling reflex and is chasing down marginals with marginals in aggressive situations because gar has been schooled here; you see the 2+2 in the style of gar's play; so gar has the book knowledge down perfectly. been studying gar has, at good depth. however gar doesn't have the field experience and background that would have gar also controlling the table action, and folding out the more solid type opponents; chasing down marginals. gar doesn't know what that is or why do it. gar will pick up all that though because gar listens. yes, gar will also eventually get caught speeding, and staying in when a fold is correct. there will be an initial bad swing during the adjustment into a heavier action type game. but it should be short lived and gar will have the tight aggressive style that also has gar getting called when others would only be folded to. all of the knowledge does no good unless you get also get called when you have the best of it. you will learn how to garner calls if you can be taught to do such. some people cannot be taught that. here, we don't leave you hanging with the nuts and no action, so that you're only getting called when you're marginal and they're stronger than marginal. but, learning can be a fairly bloody process, and seeing your own blood flow for the first time can cause panic. well, weve all been there and done that. our calm in the face of misfortune pulls you through yours. not often you'll be relieved to know that we would have you losing more money in a particular situation. statistical aberration. no concern, is good for the game.

schools, no. not necessarily evil, but never as good as some of the stuff that goes on over here. you will actually hear us coaching you as you play live. the schools will just take the money and leave you on your own.

[glen]

[antidan444]

I'm a very low-limit lurker who's trying to learn the game (and learning it ever so slowly), and what elysium said is so absolutely, unbelievably correct it should be poker gospel.

There are so many experienced, knowledgable poker players posting here that anyone with a thirst to learn the game who finds this site must feel they've landed on a gold mine. I sure do.

To all the posters here, keep posting. You are what make these forums great for all of us.

2 + 2 = the greatest poker school of them all.