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Poker is one of the most difficult card games, where success depends not so much on luck as on the skill and experience of the player. No matter how lucky the beginner is, he is unlikely to be able to stand up to a professional. Mastering poker is not easy: remembering combinations is one thing, but learning to apply them in practice and develop your own strategy is quite another.
It can take years to learn all the intricacies of this game, but not all beginners are ready to wait that long. Many of them seek help from different sources, like poker schools, which provide training materials gradually, evenly distributing the workload according to a teaching plan. Learning poker at school will not turn a beginner into a professional overnight, but after a few weeks of courses, you can achieve significant success.
What are Poker Schools?
Poker schools are educational platforms where players can get poker knowledge in a structured way. They offer basic courses for beginners, as well as programs to improve the game at a higher level. Training usually includes theory, practical advice and analysis of real game situations.
What types of poker schools are there:
- Schools with video courses. Lessons are pre-recorded, so that students can study when it’s convenient for them.
- Group training. Webinar format with a coach who explains the material and answers questions.
- Private lessons. An approach for those who want to master poker as quickly as possible, but the cost is higher here.
- Comprehensive approach. A combination of theory, practice and work with a trainer.
What Can You Learn in a Poker School?
Poker schools teach both basic and advanced aspects of the game. For example:
- Understanding the basics of the game: combinations, basic strategy.
- Planning actions for preflop and postflop play.
- Reading opponents and assessing their ranges.
- Using poker software to analyze hands.
How to Choose a School: Cash and MTT
Today, there are a huge number of services offering online poker training. When choosing a school, the key factors are the format of the teaching, content quality and cost. Rarely is a beginner ready to pay a thousand dollars for several courses, especially if they offer basic information that can be found in the public domain. Below we list the best poker schools:
Schools for MTT:
- Smart-Poker – specializes in teaching tournaments of different formats, from micro to high stakes. Poker courses cover ICM strategy, playing the bubble, final tables and other aspects of tournament play.
- MTT Academy – a school focused exclusively on tournaments. Training includes working with opening ranges, protecting blinds and aggressive play in the late stages.
Schools for cash games:
- PokerAbility – teaches to work with ranges effectively, preflop aggression and the correct table selection.
- Run It Once is one of the most well-known international schools that provides video materials from leading coaches, including hand analysis from famous professionals.
All of these schools offer access to quality materials and coaches, which allows you to speed up the learning process. Most of them supplement the courses with practice assignments and hand analysis. Students can choose individual lessons or group classes, depending on their budget and preferences.
Each school has its own conditions, strengths and flaws. Some of them offer free courses or promotions. However, they all have one thing in common: they promise to turn a beginner into a real professional.
Criteria for Choosing a Poker School
The first thing to pay attention to is the training format. Some schools only offer video content, which is difficult for beginners to grasp. A large number of unfamiliar terms can be confusing and reduce the benefit of the information almost to zero. It is better to choose classes in the webinar format, where the coach clearly explains the material right at the table. The best option is private online poker coaching, although this format will cost several hundred dollars.
Another important criterion is the adaptation of the courses to the player’s level. A poker player playing at NL200 will be bored learning the basic aspects, while a beginner will find it difficult to understand terms such as “equity”, “postflop in 3-bet pots”, “data mining” or “pot-size raise”. Poker courses should be divided by skill level, otherwise the training may be a waste of money.
The way the basic material is presented is also important. Some schools offer to master the basics only through video, and the courses themselves cover issues that are more complex. This approach can be cost-effective, but it is not always beneficial for beginners.
Let’s summarize the main criteria for choosing a poker school:
- Player level. Poker courses should correspond to current knowledge so that the information is useful.
- Training format. Video lessons are suitable for independent students, and live classes are for those who value feedback.
- Reviews. Study the opinions of other players to understand whether the school is worth the money.
- Price. It should be reasonable. For example, a basic course for $30 is normal, but for $300 you need to be sure that the quality is really high.
Tuition Fees
The last point from the list above is worth highlighting separately, because the form of payment and the cost of the courses also matter. On average, basic courses for beginners cost about $30. More in-depth materials or individual lessons with a trainer will cost $100-200.
The word “free” is often found on school websites, but you shouldn’t take it literally. Only a few services offer a free trial period. Most schools promote affiliate programs with poker rooms, where the student must register using a referral link, make a deposit and generate a certain amount of rake to get access to the educational materials. It is better to give preference to a direct form of payment.
HisHands. A Useful Analytical Tool
Many schools advise students to use HisHands. Our service helps analyze hands, analyze opponents’ actions and your own leaks. This tool speeds up progress and allows you to understand the logic of the game at high stakes better.
HisHands is a professional poker analysis tool that offers hand histories for cash games and tournaments. It covers popular poker rooms such as PokerStars, GGPoker, WPN, and many others, with coverage of up to 99%. This allows you to effectively monitor your opponents’ play, find their weaknesses, and improve your own strategy at the table.
For the customers’ convenience, HisHands provides support with very low response time of about a minute. If you want to try the service, free test data mining for the last 3 days is available here.
Want to improve your game? Contact HisHands support team via Telegram or Skype to find out the cost of the hand history package and start analyzing your opponents today!
