We understand many of you are keen to improve your poker skills and aren’t sure of the best methods. That’s why in this article, Casino Freak (CF) is not going to be sharing specific strategy tips, but interviewing Narciso Baldo, the owner of Texas Hold’em Questions, one of the most trusted poker coaching platforms. They were launched in 2018 and have been helping players ever since. Let’s get to it!
CF: What made you decide to start a poker training website?
Narciso: I had coached players for fun prior to starting a website and noticed I had a knack for sharing my knowledge. There are players better than me but can’t transfer their knowledge to others or communicate as effectively, so I thought I had a gap in the market. I was also significantly reducing how much I was playing so it was a natural transition to use the limited time I had to coach instead now. Having said that, when I initially created Texas Hold’em Questions, it was to be a blog that would answer poker questions, and then it evolved into poker training shortly after.
CF: What’s the most common leak players come to you with?
Narciso: Great question, its not even a leak people realize at first, but many players don’t have a plan for the hand. As each street passes, you should already be pro-actively considering what you’re likely to do on each street. When I perform a session review, its one of the most glaring leaks a lot of players tend to have. If you’re not planning, you’re more likely to make a mistake as you may feel rushed or under pressure and fail to take the right action or bet size.
CF: Is online poker dead?
Narciso: People have been saying it for years, but not its not dead. The game just evolves and is cyclical. Most people who think its dead are basing it on the increase in HUD usage, however, many poker platforms have clamped down on their usage now so recreational players are returning. That’s great for the poker world as we need as many social players as possible. You have to give them reason to come and reducing grinders’ edges and offering new forms of poker will definitely help with that.
CF: What’s the best way to improve?
Narciso: Ha, it would be easy to plug my coaching now but 1 to 1 coaching isn’t right for everyone, particularly players who have small budgets. Reading the best poker blogs and absorbing good content is a great place to start. But personally, I think taking courses can be the most effective way to improve one’s skills. We have poker courses for as little as $75 so there’s no reason even small stakes players can’t quickly develop their skills.
CF: What advice would you give recreational poker players?
Narciso: Structure your poker playing. Don’t play on a whim or random tournaments or cash games. If you want to give yourself the best shot at winning, choose times that work well for you and stick to one format ideally. So, if you enjoy cash games, try to play later when people are tired or at the end of the week. If you prefer tournaments, play the Sunday tournaments with more fish and higher guaranteed prizepools. I’d also recommend keeping track of your wins and losses.
CF: What impact does AI have on poker?
Narciso: It feels like AI is impacting just about every industry out there. Using tools like ChatGPT can help beginner poker players with basics, but it’s not quite advanced enough to do more than that yet. I’ve performed lots of tests with the language tools and found them to be lacking in appreciating context. However, we’ve already been using AI tools in the form of range analysis software. They are certainly useful tools but tend to only assist players at higher stakes. I don’t think they are much of a threat to the low stakes games online. Most sites have detection methods to prevent real time assistance, so I’m not concerned about that.
CF: Wrapping up, is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Narciso: Yes, I know there is more awareness now about responsible gambling than a decade ago. But I still think gambling platforms can do more to educate people on this. My advice is to always keep gambling money separate to your personal life. Don’t put money you need for bills into poker or any other form of gambling. Set aside the money you can afford to lose, so even if you do, you’re not day to day life isn’t impacted and you don’t have to chase losses.
