Ways to improve using the coaching videos

[leatherass]

Long before I started making videos myself, I would watch coaching videos and improve my game through them. It's hard to say for sure, but a case could certainly be made that the majority of my improvement has come from watcing coaching videos. I started off by watching Stox's NL videos when the site first came about 18 months or so ago. I also watched many of the Card Runners videos. When I first joined these sites I honestly couldn't believe that I was actually going to watch some of the best online players play poker and get to see exactly what they do. Stox can verify that I actually said this, but on the first day I met him I told him that I would probably pay like $1k a month to watch the videos if I had to. I was being serious too!!! Now that probably sounds ridiculous, but getting to see what an expert does in all of these situations I found myself in constantly, just made me so excited to watch the videos. The reason, I think, that not only did I see the videos as being so valuable, but that I improved so much as a result of them, is that I watched them in a way that was very beneficial to me. I really have no idea what other people do when they watch them, but here is what I did before and during a coaching video:

Before:
1. I would take a few minutes to clear my head and be prepared to learn.
2. I made sure that I had a pen and paper (or a notepad on the PC open).
3. I would go in a room and close the door so as to minimize any distractions and turn my cell phone off.

During:
1. I would make sure to pay 100% attention at all times.
2. Take notes on virtually anything that sounded interesting.
3. Anytime the pro would play a situation differently than me I would take note and try to figure out why he did so. If he explained it then that wsa a huge bonus.
4. If he didn't explain it then I would take a note that I needed to do some additional work after the video to figure out why.
After:
1. On all of the things I was unsure about, I would make a list of reasons for and against a certain play he made. If possible (which it usually is) I would try and solve the problem mathmatically. This takes some pracitce and know how which is why TheBryce's classroom videos are so valuable. He teached you how to solve for various complex poker math problems.
2. I would decide if the plays I solved for make sense and if they are worth implementing given that there may possibly be stylisitc differences between myself and the instructor.
3. Save my notes and review them periodically.
4. Whatever concepts the instructor taught that I chose to implement, I would try and review PT periodically and see if they are working. Basically I want some hard proof that these concepts are important for my game.


These are just what I could come up with on the fly. As you can see watching these videos was pretty intense for me. But it did work for me really well and I want to pass these ideas on to everyone so that hopefully everyone's games improve much faster and that you do in fact get your value out of your membership at whatever coaching site you are a member of. This may sound like a lot of work, but I promise you it is worth it.

Thought? Comments?