A Nice 2+2 Success Story

Irieguy · #1 08-15-2005, 01:29 PM

As some of you know, I've spent the last 9 months backing and coaching several players. I have cut back to a single backee and am no longer coaching anybody due to time contraints, but my last student was quite exceptional. I'm sure many of you remember SuitedSixes' tale of learning the game and going pro, and I am happy to report another player's inspirational story:

In February, I received a PM requesting coaching that contained the following segments:

[ QUOTE ]
I assume you've recieved a couple hundred of these PMs but I honestly feel like I have a shot at becoming a real solid player.

I don't need a bankroll, but would LOVE to work out a deal for coaching. I've played 140 $5 SNG's with an ROI of 31% ITM of 45%...

I consider myself a decent player, but I have a ton to learn. I can happily play the 20s, 30s, etc whever you have an opening, though I was planning on securing a 30% ROI over 200 10s before stepping up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I reviewed his hand histories and prepared his first lesson. He was a very solid low-limit SNG player, and I felt like he could probably beat the $33's with just a little work. I figured he'd be quite happy with that, since he was a $5 player at the time.

Well, this guy worked on his game harder than anybody I've ever seen. He wasn't really multi-tabling, so he would disect every close decision and send me a detailed PM describing his thought process and options. I would give him some suggestions and he would send me a few more HHs from subsequent games to make sure he was employing the tactics correctly.

He was a fantastic student because he worked hard, was naturally talented, and was extremely coachable. He was very much like SuitedSixes in these respects.

He moved up gradually from the $22's to the $33's to the $55's to the $109's to the $215's, and then settled back at the $109s where he is currently beating the piss out of everybody.

He quit his job and is taking a year off to travel around the world and play poker... starting with the STTF-HUC where I hope not to meet him until the finals.

Besides being a great player, his poker mind is sharp and his instincts are great. He is always thinking about what his opponents are thinking and has become an expert bluff-snapper.

If you want to get for free what this player paid thousands of dollars for (my fee was a percentage of his profits, which worked out quite nicely for me,) read all of his posts from the past several months. He posts interesting hands, with thoughtful analyses, and his responses to others' posts are always dead-on.

He would be a great coach, though I have no idea if he is interested in that type of thing. Again, I have stopped coaching, so please don't interpret this post as an attempt to recruit students because I am not taking any.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate and compliment Unarmed. He is one of the best SNG players on this forum, at any limit, in my opinion.

Irieguy

PS- He also doesn't make spelling or grammatical errors in his posts or PMs. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

ewing55 · #2 08-15-2005, 01:38 PM

I am not sure anyone could receive a higher compliment from a more respected 2+2 member.

Congratulations to both of you!

-----------Jeff

wuwei · #3 08-15-2005, 01:40 PM

I was going through the archives a couple weeks ago, and was schocked to see Unarmed posting $5 hands last fall. Very nice job moving up, man. Most impressive.

skipperbob · #4 08-15-2005, 01:41 PM

[ QUOTE ]
PS- He also doesn't make spelling or grammatical errors in his posts or PMs.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean "other" than his original PM to you ?(only 2)

In all seriousness...."Grats" to both & nice compliment

Irieguy · #5 08-15-2005, 01:46 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
PS- He also doesn't make spelling or grammatical errors in his posts or PMs.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean "other" than his original PM to you ?(only 2)

[/ QUOTE ]

That was before coaching. I told you he's come a long way.

Irieguy

Karak567 · #6 08-15-2005, 01:48 PM

Congrats to both of you. Unarmed has done what I have been trying to do for months now. Maybe finally I'll break through and become more than just an above average 33 player.

#7 08-15-2005, 01:50 PM

Dammit, Irie retired, and Unarmed is gonna get a shitload of PMs now.

Anybody else looking for students?

by the way, GJ Unarmed [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

skipperbob · #8 08-15-2005, 01:53 PM

[ QUOTE ]
PS- He also doesn't make spelling or grammatical errors in his posts or PMs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unlike "OP" ? [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img][ QUOTE ]
contraints,

[/ QUOTE ]

Kama45 · #9 08-15-2005, 02:23 PM

Congrats to both!

Dallara · #10 08-15-2005, 02:28 PM

Congrats to Unarmed. It will be interesting to see in the archives how his questions/advice have improved over time.

One question for either Irie or Unarmed, what areas do you think you've improved upon the most? I ask this as a player who's winning but looking for holes in my game. When Irie says you were a solid $5 player who needed some work to improve to the $33's, in what areas did you improve? I would guess that a solid $5 player knows when to push/fold on the bubble, but doesn't extract enough value in other phases of the game. Any general thoughts you'd like to share?