The Poker Academy is based outside of Seattle. We’re all Seahawks fans. You’re most likely a fan of your local NFL team, or you have a team from your childhood that you pull for.
When Pete Carroll was hired 2010, the Hawks had gone 4-12 and 5-11 in the two previous years. Carroll came in as a college coach from USC. Most football fans in the Pacific Northwest root for the UW Huskies or the WSU Cougars, we hate USC. Then Pete took to the podium and started with his catch phrase, “Always Compete.”
Really? That’s the new game plan?
Before the start of his first season as coach, they even draped a huge banner on the outside of the downtown stadium that had his picture on it, with the words “Always Compete.” Needless to say, there was a healthy dose of skepticism around town.
Then something unusual happened, Carroll named a third-round, unknown rookie as starting quarterback over newly signed QB Matt Flynn. They had just given Flynn a $26 million dollar contract. What was going on here? The new kid’s name was Russell Wilson.
Carroll said that Wilson just competed harder than Flynn. It was a huge gamble, and was widely mocked around the league. Carroll’s gamble obviously paid off.
So what does any of this have to do with your poker game? Well, if you’re a recreational player, you’re the Russell Wilson in this story. You will be going into any tournament bigger than your local tournament as the unknown rookie. There will be many more experienced players, more professional players, maybe even some “known” players in the field that want to crush you.
How are you supposed to compete?
How are you supposed to have an edge on people who play poker for a living? The first step, to continue our football analogy, is to know the playbook. If your current playbook has three or four pages in it, and the pro’s playbook has hundreds of pages, you’re probably in trouble.
Poker seems like a deceptively simple game. And in some ways, it is. But if you want to give yourself a chance to compete at higher levels, then you have to realize that it’s a very complicated game to master.
One of the main reasons why we created The Poker Academy was that we felt that most, if not all, of the other poker training websites out there teach in a random, unfocused manner. You sign up, pay your money, and are dropped into a sea of training videos. One day, you’ll watch a video on three-betting. Another day, you’ll watch a pro make a deep run in an online tournament as he explains why he’s doing what he’s doing. A third time you log in, you see a video about playing cash games and give that a few minutes.
How does all this fit together? Which things should I learn first? Which concepts are really advanced? What’s the proper order of things?
All valid questions, and that’s why we created our course the way we did. For the first time, a world class pro starts at the beginning and goes through everything you need to know to be a competitive tournament poker player. In order. One concept building on the previous one, until you have a more complete, balanced game.
So what’s the catch?
Well, it’s going to take some time, effort, and honesty. Our no-limit tournament course clocks in with over 25 hours of video content. There’s a 166 page companion book that helps with all the concepts. You’ll need to spend some time away from the table working on the parts of your game that are weak. When you watch a video about a concept that you’re unfamiliar with, you’ll have to stop and do some work. It’s going to take some dedication and commitment.
Here’s the cool thing though, if you actually go through the course, in order, and pay attention, there is NO WAY you will not be a better player. It’s impossible to NOT improve after watching the course.
It’s really thrilling to be at the table and start to recognize what better players are doing. Once you know the play, then you’ll know the counter play, and your game will improve quickly and dramatically.
What was the thing that improved your game the most?