Learning from teaching

[Crocodile King]

Teaching is really a good way to reinforce what you already know.

I recently was teaching my nephew how to play poker. I thought it would be a good way to help him with his math (yes he is a minor) (and yes it did help him with his math).

I taught him some basics and gave him 2 books to read, Sklansky's Theory of Poker and Sklansky's Small Stakes Hold Em.

I let him watch me play some first and made sure he knew what the outs and odds were before I let him play.

His first game / lesson "The Importance of Tightness".
Put him in a $2 beginner SnG and said we are not going to play ANY hands and lets see if we make it to the $$$.
( it doesnt get tighter than that)
For those who dont know these beginner SnGs pay top 5 out of 10.
Sure enough players killed each other off and we made it to the $$$ without playing a hand.

Every game after I opened him up to more and more hands that he could play.

This really helped me see the importance of tightness for myself as well. Especially in ring games where I dont have to worry about blinds eating up.

 

[dj11]

Oh oh, I see a monster in the making. That was a great way to do it IMO.

You didn't tell us how old he is.

 

[reglardave]

I've been teaching my wife NLHE recently, and you're right, it's a great way to analyze some of the holes in yer own game. I got her started play money on PS, basically to show her what fish, donkies and other dumbassery looked like. Then she started playing the $1 45 seater SnGs, where she now finishes ITM pretty routinely. She hasn't won one yet, I shudder to think what she'll be like to live with after that.