Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

I've been considering attending either a WPT or WSOP boot camp, and I was wondering:

1) Has anyone from here ever attended one of these?

2) If so, what was your experience like?

3) Did it help you better yourself in Poker?

4) If you attended both a WPT and WSOP Boot camp, which one did you find was a better run program?

5) Lastly, do either of them give you any one on one coaching?

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

I did a Limit Holdem CAsh Game boot camp 3 yrs ago, its more of a 2 day potluck with this Asian guy who is dead now.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

Did I maybe post this in the wrong forum? It doesn't appear that many here have been to poker boot camps.

What forum would someone suggest to repost this, where I might get a better response?

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

This is going to sound very elitist and is a massive generalization, but i wouldn't pay to learn from live pros when there are a ton of guys who will answer your questions around here for free.

I pretty much wouldn't pay to learn from live pro's period unless they collected some insane line up of Ivey, Greenstein, Baldwin or something.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

i have not attended a bootcamp, but i would if the teachers included bond, deeb, etc.

Imagine the evening festivities.

Hey wait...this is actually not a bad idea.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

boot camps are more for poker tourists. just get private coaching; it's less money and you can get a much better coach.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

not once in my life have i ever even considered going to a WPT bootcamp.

I mean, the intent of a bootcamp is for people to spend money to listen to these pros run seminars.

frankly, for the amount they charge their advice is garbage. you should spend your money instead on something like cardrunners, PXFactor, or stoxpoker.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

why spend $$ where u can get everything u need to know about poker here just by asking and reading [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

These cost what like 3k?... You could buy like 10 hrs of Ansky coaching for that... Much better deal imo...

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

seriously, for 3k worth ansky could turn you into a big winner at any game except maybe MSNL/HSNL, and at least enough to have 6 fig years if you have a simple grasp of poker.

and instead people give 3k to annie duke so she can tell them about "counting outs". sweet!

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

i rather spend less then a $100 and get harrington on holdem vol 1-3 , lol

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

There was a podcast on ante up. 2 or 3 guys went to a bootcamp and basically said they didn't learn all that much. These guys don't seem to have much poker knowledge and they didn't get alot out of it. They basically said that it's for beginners and that if you have a basic understanding of poker, pass on the bootcamp. I think a better use of your money is to get some coaching and buy books.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

[ QUOTE ]
i have not attended a bootcamp, but i would if the teachers included bond, deeb, etc.

Imagine the evening festivities.

Hey wait...this is actually not a bad idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd prob pay for that

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

I find that just reading the different threads in MTT strategy and HSMT definitely improves your game. Also, reviewing hand histories on PXFactor is also a good way to see how other players would play.

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

Where can i find Live coaching. I Live in the Miami area or should I do it online ?

Re: Poker Boot Camps, are they worth it?
 

Apparently there's a lot of advice in this thread from people who a) hasn't attended a boot camp, and b) hasn't received professional coaching.

Let me take this opportunity to share some of my experiences in a somewhat longish post.

Two years ago this time I actually paid for a 2-day WPT camp; btw, the WPT boot camps are not $3k ... they're $1.7k, and if you are smart you can get one for $1.5k. I signed up after reading a rave review by a woman, who's game had tanked following a severe medical procedure, and following that had seen her game strongly invigorated after a weekend with the WPT crew.

Anyway, in my case they replaced the announced name pro - Mark Seif - with T.J. Cloutier, and I decided to cancel.

It turned out to be quite a job getting my $1.5k back, I had to call like 6 time, and in the end go through a lengthy argument with Ron Rubens on the phone to get the refund (which the ToS said I was entitled to without any questions asked).

Instead I got a private coach, through the now defunct pokermentors.com. A guy with $200k+ online career winnings, one B&M mid-size tourney win, and btw. the sweetest guy in the world - for a VERY decent price; I paid him a low starting fee and then 20% of all winning above $500.

He coached me for 10 months, giving me approximately 30 two - three hour skype sessions, going over HH, single hands, ghosting me, allowing me to ghost his real time tournaments, playing HU and discussing poker issues in general. Personal issues forced my coach to terminate, but I still consider him a friend.

What did I learn from that?

No doubt my poker improved a lot.

When I started I'd played online NLHE tourneys for 3 years, net winning around $5k, but experiencing huge swings and long dry spells.

Afterwards I've racked up winnings of more than twice that amount, in less than a year. I still go through huge swings and prolonged dry spells.

Basically I think we all learn in our own pace. Mine is slooooow. I still make a ton of stupid mistakes. My hand reading skills have improved from almost non-existant, but they're still mediocre at best (but even that's still a major improvement).

You can learn the basic mechanics of the game by reading books, and by posting and reading threads here on 2+2. But there's a definite - and for poker tournament success pretty much fundamental - feel for the game, that I don't think very many can learn without personal contact/feedback. Unless you already have it, which I believe is the case for a number of very successful players, having developed it through playing backgammon, magic the gathering or what have you. If you pay attention you'll see that for a few exception all the most successful 2+2 MTT players have spent hours on end sweating/ghosting/discussing poker with each other on some online message system.

Watching pros play at PokerXFactor has since helped me get my game back on track, after I had developed some leaks, but I don't believe that watching videos in itself is going to propell anybody's game to very high levels.

If you'd paid your dues and learned the basic mechanics of the game by reading books and posting, I think the most important factor is what Bond18 brough up in one of his recent "Things it took me a while to learn": Confidence.

Huge tournaments are won by absolute amateurs getting lucky and developing extreme confidence. When I run good my confidence increases exponentially, and I play a strong and healthy game. When I run bad, it's a viscious spiral and I start making all the wrong moves for the wrong reasons.

I believe that a boot camp - the right boot camp - might help you with exactly that aspect.

I'm not sure 10 hours of coaching with Ansky or who have you will do the same - but again, we all learn in our own pace.