My training plan
Hello everyone! I'm looking for some advice on a poker training program I'm considering purchasing.
First, some background:
I'm a pretty busy guy, with a demanding full-time job and two young children. Poker is my main hobby, and I've been playing live tournaments on and off for years whenever I have the time, get the green light from the home front, and find something reasonably close by. As a result, I only get to play a handful of live tournaments each year.
I've also played online, but I've stopped completely because it has a tendency to become addictive for me. It starts interfering with work and my personal life, and I find my thoughts occupied by it far more than I'd like. Besides, I simply enjoy live poker a lot more.
Over the years, I've had several cashes and deep runs in live tournaments, including a relatively big score recently when I finished second. I'd consider myself a reasonably competent player with a decent understanding of theoretical concepts. I also believe I'm a slight winner at my usual stakes (€200–€1,000 live MTTs), although that's obviously very difficult to establish with such a small sample size.
Where I feel I'm lacking is in-depth theoretical knowledge of specific spots.
For example, in a recent tournament, I was in the SB and limped after everyone folded. The BB checked, and I flopped several backdoor draws. I decided to check-raise, reasoning that my hand was a good bluff candidate: it had some potential to improve if called, but I could comfortably fold if my opponent reraised.
My opponent folded, but commented that I must have had a very strong hand, given that he had a significant range advantage on that flop. I was happy with the result, of course, but had to admit to myself that I honestly had no idea who actually had the range advantage in that spot.
I'd like to use my recent score to play more live tournaments. In practice, that means playing several events when there's a series nearby, rather than just one. Also feeling more confortable to play with less fear of busting and having to buy back in.
I'd also like to finally invest in a paid poker training program. So far, I've been hesitant because these programs can be a fairly substantial investment, and I have limited time available for both studying and playing.
I've been looking at two options in particular.
The first is JAKA Coaching, which costs $99 per month with an annual subscription. It claims to be well suited to players who can only study for a few hours per week, broken up into short 15-minute sessions. Does anyone here have experience with the program? Would you recommend it for someone in my situation?
The other option is finally subscribing to GTO Wizar d. However, I find it difficult to motivate myself to grind through GTO solutions without any guidance. Though the free plan's limit of just one postflop solution obviously hasn't helped to get into the flow.
My preferred learning style is to first build a basic understanding of the concepts, then apply them and learn through trial and error, ideally with someone explaining what I got wrong and why. For example, back in school, I'd generally skim through the textbook to get a basic understanding before working through as many practice exams as possible. That approach worked very well for me.
So, given my circumstances, what training site, program, or other study material would you recommend? Ideally, I'd like to focus on one resource at a time rather than spreading myself too thin.
Thanks in advance for any advice!