Platinum Coach ByronJacobs Talks to PokerStrategy.com
Our FL HU coach and video producer, ByronJacobs, took some time out to answer some questions about his coachings. Find out what he had to say when we caught up with him for a short interview.
byronjacobs is a Fixed Limit Heads-Up specialist who joined PokerStrategy.com 14 months ago and has been coaching for 4 months now. Since then he has conducted various coaching sessions and made ten in-depth videos for Platinum and Diamond members.
The coachings
ByronJacob conducts FL HU coaching every Thursday between 17:30-19:00 GMT. Platinum members and above can take advantage of these insightful and informative sessions.
Join ByronJacobs' coaching (
Platinum)
The videos
Byron has also made 10 videos that all focus on FL HU strategy. You can watch them here:
Watch ByronJacobs' videos (Platinum and 
Diamond)
Interview with Byron
We caught up with ByronJacobs to find out a bit more about his coachings, moving up the limits and how NL, Full Ring and Short Handed players can benefit from his material. You can take a look at the interview below:
PokerStrategy.com: Byron, you have already coached for PokerStrategy.com for four months now. How do you teach your listeners to be able to read their opponents as fast as you do?
byronjacobs: When I am coaching I always try to focus on the basics of what I am doing on each hand, asking the questions: "What is my opponent's range?", "What are the pot odds?", "Can a bluff/semi-bluff be profitable here?"
However, also very important (especially as I am often playing HU or ultra-short) is to think about the history: what did this guy do before? What did I do before that he saw and might remember? It's important to be constantly asking these questions and explaining how they affect decisions.
Game flow is crucial heads up and very short and I try and articulate my thoughts on these topics. Also I never look at PTR or use stats (although sometimes the listeners tell me to) because its more instructive to make the most of reads and not rely on stats.
PokerStrategy.com: How will Full Ring and Short Handed Players profit from tuning into your coachings?
byronjacobs: I would hope that all FR and SH players would gain something from the coaching, even if they already play a good game because it is always helpful to hear someone's thought processes. Sometimes the listeners don't like my plays and they say so and then we have a good discussion. I would like to think that my coaching sessions are good for this because I am always thinking about my plays and I am not dogmatic. If someone has a different opinion I will always consider it.
PokerStrategy.com: Can also NL players learn something from you?
byronjacobs: I think that even if FL is not your game it's good to listen because "correct" poker thinking (ranges, equity, game flow etc) is pretty much the same whatever the variant. I sometimes listen to Omaha coachings even though I never play the game - you can always learn something.
For example the concept of "bluffing outs" is important in NL and Omaha. In FL it's not such a big deal but because I watched some Omaha videos I found ways to use this idea in FL. Also pot control is very much a tournament/NL concept but again you can incorporate it into a FL game.
PokerStrategy.com: Order these things in how they prevent FL players from moving up to higher stakes:
a) mass-tabling, b) bad/no table selection and c) not putting in enough theory
byronjacobs: OK - I am not claiming that I am right about this, but for me it works like this:
a) multi-tabling is horrible and I hate it. By this I mean playing 6+ short tables and playing on auto-pilot. Maybe some players can do this and still pay attention to all the details of the play. God knows how - I can't. I'll play three tables or maybe four if the player pool for all the tables is similar. Even if you can be +EV multi-tabling I think you just turn into a robot and your poker does not improve. You need decent volume to overcome variance but being a rake slave for the site is not the way to do it.
b) Table selection is THE most important factor for successful play especially HU and short. HU v a bad player can be 5BB or 6BB/100, if you play HU well.
4-handed where the other three all play OK but not great is maybe only 0.5BB/100 or 1BB/100 so the edge is small and the variance huge. When I am coaching I have zero table selection, but that's not a good example to follow.
c) Studying is VERY important. If you decide you will devote 10 hours a week to poker I would say that 2-3 should be studying for sure. If you ONLY play I don't think you can really improve - or only very little. There was one point I didn't study at all for 18 months (no forums, no reading, nothing) - my play got worse. You HAVE to study.
You can take a look at Byron's video interview when he came to our headquarters in Gibraltar last year here:
Join ByronJacobs' coachings (Platinum)
Watch ByronJacobs' videos (Platinum and Diamond)
