This is the story of my experiences living in China. Keep in mind this is all from the months between September 07 - August 08, where some laws, legislation and attitude towards foreigners were slightly different. I wrote this in response to an 2p2 inquiry on what it's like teaching in China and for any general advice ... so a lot of what you will read is specifically geared to help people become successful ESL trainers and to have a positive experience in doing so:
You'll notice I talk a lot about 'doing your research'. That is because the forums of Dave's ESL Cafe are littered with personal horror stories written by people who allowed themselves to be tricked into some appealing job offer, flew over without doing any research, and proceeded to get bludgeoned into a bloody pulp by school admin who are used to taking advantage of rookie teachers. You need to thoroughly research the school you will be working for, the people you are dealing with, the city you'll be living in and any of the other teachers there. The abovementioned forums are great for that. I would also recommend ESL Teacher's Board and Dave's ESL Board for actually finding jobs.
As a personal example of what happens when you don't do proper research, a friend of mine who I spoke with during my time in China, had such a positive perception of my experiences that he decided to put school on hold for a year and go try it out. He posted his resume on some foreign site, accepted the first job offer without doing any research, and flew off on a whim without contacting me or asking for any help whatsoever. He arrives in Hong Kong, flies over to Hangzhou which was the closest airport to his job, and waited there 2 hours for his "pickup" before grabbing a taxi and showing him the address of the school which he had fortunately printed out. 300 RMB later (which is a very long taxi ride in China) he arrives at the school, finds the director who he had been dealing with, introduces himself and is then greeted with something along the lines of:
Mr. Ming: "Ah, Mr. Adams welcome to China, sorry about the transportation issue we've had a lot on our hands and there was some confusion."
Jason: "Uhh, no problem I suppose. I'm actually really tired and I'd like to get to my apartment which was promised in the contract and rest a bit if you don't mind."
Mr. Ming: "Ah yes ... about your apartment ... it's not quite ready yet so you'll be sleeping in a guesthouse down the street for a few weeks."
Jason: "Uhmm..."
Mr. Ming: "And as for now, go ahead and leave your bags in the teachers office. We have a class starting in 15 minutes and the parents would like to observe you."
The school ended up not having a valid foreign teachers license so he wasn't able to get his work visa and was forced to leave the country 30 days later. The "apartment" ended up being a sh*thole and he wasn't reimbursed for either of his flights or visa costs. Nothing was as promised. He later searched the school on Dave's ESL Forum and found someone who had experienced the same thing. Now this is obviously the worst experience possible, but not an uncommon one and it all could have been avoided by just doing some research. My advice is ask a ton of questions. Post on Dave's. Google the school. Ask to speak with someobody who currently works there and ask them a million questions re the school, management, other staff, city life, nightlife, food, girls, etc. In my experience they have all been more than willing to help. And if something seems shady, look elsewhere.
I'll now begin my own tale. I spent the 6 months prior to moving to China in 21 other countries scattered around the Middle East/Europe. It was the most epic backpacking/scuba-diving trip imaginable ... a long story for another time. I ended up in London with about 2000$ in my bank account and my options limited; it was either go home or try to continue my adventures elsewhere. I had heard about teaching English in Asia before but I had never pondered it for more than a few minutes. I stumbled on Dave's ESL forum and sent out a bunch of PMs asking for life advice. Nobody wanted to help me as I just had a couple college courses under my belt with no TESL certificate nor experience ... and just as I was about to pack up my bags and call it a trip, an angel disguised as a 40-year old degen whoremonger msg'd me out of the blue and said teaching in China woud be np and he'd guide me through the whole process. So I proceeded to research every major city in China, picked 5 I wanted to live in and sent out ~150 CVs/resumes/photos in a 24 hour period. I was taught that Chinese recruitment agencies were super discriminatory and if you had a white face and spoke English you could work just about anywhere. I woke up to 3 pages of unread gmail, and spent the next 2 weeks researching and speaking with each and every school until I had narrowed my choices down. Making sure they were all lockdowns, I immediately flew to Hong Kong as I was beginning to feel I had imposed on my London host way too much at this point. By the way, back then Oasis Hong Kong ([url]http://www.oasishongkong.com/[/url] - now bankrupt) used to run a London - HK flight for 400$, which shipped it pretty crucial considering my bankroll at the time.
I arrive in Hong Kong. Despite my history in travel, the culture-shock of Asia hit me pretty hard. I felt lost and disoriented. I didn't understand anything, I was surrounded by tons of people, I had no money and I didn't even have a legit degree. What if something went wrong? I was scared, but I was determined to make this work. I found a cheap hostel and finalized my China Visitor's Visa (which lasts 30 days), then on the advice of my forum friend I took a tram across the border to Shenzhen. Shenzhen has inexpensive and nice hostels, and is also much cheaper/easier to fly out of once I managed to decide which city I wanted to work in. It was a difficult process because I'm a huge nit and I like to analyze everything down to the last minute detail, but time & money were limited so after a few last minute phone calls and emails, I ended up choosing English First International in Suzhou. EF is a massive franchise with 150+ schools in China, and 1000+ worldwide. Naturally, as a franchise, the reputation of each school will differ greatly based on the quality of its management and the quality of its teachers, so you need to be meticulous when doing your research. The Suzhou location had good reviews, and the manager was a super relaxed Brit who ended up being the funnest, nicest, most relaxed alcoholic degen of a boss I've ever had or heard of in my life. Suzhou itself is an absolutely gorgeous city with both an industrial high-tech Westernized side that has shopping, restaurants, nightclubs, gyms, skyscrapers, large foreigner community, and a very traditional Chinese side with gardens, museums, tea houses, pagodas, street peddlers, canals, archways, ancient architecture and of course the natural hustle and bustle to be found in any major Chinese city. (Wiki: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou[/url]). It's a surprisingly cheap city. Very nice apartments can be found for 1500-2000 RMB and, my favorite, all you can drink + all you can eat very clean and very nice sushi houses for 100-120 RMB. Some of the best food I've ever had in my life, super amazing service, fresh fish and by 'all you can drink' I mean all Japanese imported beers, domestic beers, cold/hot Sake and an assortment of some local stuff that was always too strong for me. Great place to hang out before bar hopping. There were a lot of Mexican restaurants, all the American chains (TGIs, McDs, KFC, Chillis) ... basically everything to keep your culinary side satisfied without being too over the top. Suzhou is also just a 40-minute speedtrain from Shanghai, so very easy to go out for the weekend or even just on a Friday and take the 6AM back home. I spent a TON of time in Shanghai and have some epic stories from those weekends, but I digress. Suzhou, at the time, was perfect.
With an online scan of a fake Associate's Degree (which I never had to show anyone) and no TESOL cert, I was able to get my 1-year work visa with no problems through my employer. I wouldn't expect this to be the case nowadays, especially since our owner had connections in the government ... though from what I hear this seems to be pretty common nowadays so who knows. My salary was 8,000 RMB, from which 1,500 RMB/month was subtracted for my apartment and I would receive an 8K bonus upon contract completion which was referred to as airfare reimbursement. I worked M-F averaging about 30 hours per week including all prep/travel/office time. This is an amazing deal as you will come to learn during your quest to find teaching jobs.
As far as work was concerned, once again because of proper research I was able to do exactly what I wanted. I taught adults only, ranging between ages 16-50. Class sizes as stipulated in the contract never exceeded 20, and averaged around 10. Super comfortable. My students were all eager to learn and I would often be treated to amazing dinners and outings. The classrooms were modern; proper amenities, white-board, chairs, jukebox, monitors, etc. As far as content, all ESL teachers in China generally follow the same guidelines. The students are put in a skill level ranging between 1 - 16. Levels 1-2 are taught by the Chinese staff, and 2+ by foreigners. The course classes will normally be twice a week, for 3 hours with 3 x 10 minute breaks. We covered a wide range of subjects, all designed to improve vocab, pronunciation, sentence structure and essentially allow the students to hold a 2-3 thread deep conversation in any given field. The first class is always a struggle, but once everyone gets going and comfortable it becomes a very enjoyable experience. And what's cool in China is there will always be someone in your class who is super loud and loves to talk without a filter. They are usually extremely friendly and will invite you to eat at their house and introduce the city to you. Because of their perception of foreigners, this will often involve a lot of drinking and girls. I went out with all of my students at least once, and I would say 99% of them were all super friendly and hospitable, but the ones who were loudest were always the most aggressively flamboyant with their offers of friendship.
The students in a normal English course have the option of attending "conversation" classes, which are shared by the entire teaching staff and usually held in either beginner or advanced language levels. They are generally 60 minutes long and can be quite fun. The DOS (Director of Studies - in this case my new British friend) chooses the topics for each week which range across various avenues from entertainment, life in America, grammar, bad habits, music, fashion vocab, business development, etc. Literally everything is covered. All you do is ask a lot of questions, write any new vocab that comes up on the whiteboard and explain anything confusing. Ask students specific questions that generate discussion. Because these classes can sometimes get quite large (20+) I would divide the class into groups of 4, give out discussion sheets with several questions + vocab, ensure everyone speaks English only and make my rounds through each group offering my own insight and giving feedback. Then I'd bring everyone together every 10 minutes and ask what was talked about in each group. Honestly sometimes 1 question will generate enough vocab/discussion for a whole lesson. I actually still have all my old lessons if anyone wants to see them.
Some schools in major cities will outsource their teachers to big companies for some serious money; in our case, we were sending teachers to Logitech, Samsung, etc for 200-300$/hour. I believe the Suzhou-Singapore Industrial Park (SIP) has the most manufacturers in China, if not it's way up there. I was eventually piloted on these programs and became one of our major CLT trainers (Corporate Language Teachers). We were teaching medium to intermediate business language to the upper-level staff, including some of the major management heads. The content and course design was built to cover every possible scenario in their business. While my English is far from technically perfect, I was apparently very good at igniting discussions and forcing all the students to speak in the classroom and use new vocab. I was young and full of energy, and became friends with a lot of my students who I went out with frequently and participated in some insane Chinese debauchery (KTV salons with hundreds of girls, 30000$+ RMB tabs, exotic restaurants, etc.) My DOS and the co-workers I made friends with often joined us. My life was amazing.
This is a picture of me with one of my first ever business classes. This is about the average class size, and a nicer than normal classroom (which is normally a conference room):
I also have some experience with teaching kids. One of our (female) French teachers was fired for sexually abusing some of the staff (myself included), and I volunteered myself to finish off her course, which I discovered was only 2-weeks in so I was basically starting from scratch ... but I loved it. I taught 5-10 year olds as their 2nd English class ever. Very beginner - but they were all super cute and we just played interactive lesson games all day. I started off my first class with a game where I took a big stuffed panda, looked at a front row girl and said "Hi name name is David. What's yours?" and passed it to one of the kids. They had to pass it around the whole class till everyone had a chance to speak. I immediately spotted Jack as being the troublesome one, as he took the bear, ran to his friend across the room and stuffed it in his face, screaming a bunch of local-dialect and lolling on the floor. They all started laughing and it was super easy from there. There are a lot of tools online on how to teach kids in fun and interactive ways. The situations where it is not very fun at all is when you have a classroom of 30 kids, 10 times per week with the parents dropping in on lessons to make sure you are being harsh enough with their child. Once again, proper research is crucial.
But life in China is not for everyone. As I recently pointed out to someone on Two Plus Two, Thailand can be a great first stop for most newcommers to Asia. It's cheap, fun, easy to get by and the culture is super friendly. Not as much of a demand for English teachers or even a structured foundation to find jobs, but they are there and if you decide to teach in Thailand I would suggest using recruitment agencies, followed by individual research. It's a nice, casual entrance into what life can be like in Asia. Do a 6 month stint, and then use your experiences to move on elsewhere if you so desire. That is, if you're able to make it out.
Back to China, a lot of people don't make it here. You need to be extremely open-minded. You need to be willing to learn the language. And you need to be willing to go with the flow as opposed to coming in with certain expectations and when things go slightly awry you get all bent out of shape. When it comes to the Chinese and dealing with foreigners, there seem to be a lot of screwups so if something happens to you during your time here, be calm and deal with it in an appropriate manner. Don't let them run over you, but don't cause a fight either.
As far as culture-shock, most people experience it in different ways. There are a lot of mannerisms in mainland China that a lot of people find repulsive. They spit on the streets, elbow on the bus, don't look when crossing roads, chew with their mouth open and speak very loudly, to name a few. I always thought it was funny, and we all have our vices - but some people just couldn't handle it. As far as racism, it definitely exists. Asian ESL teachers are treated just like any normal Chinese staff. You won't get paid as much as us, and you'll normally teach low level classes even if you have a PhD and graduated from Oxford. I saw very few black/brown people, but from my experience they were not treated poorly at all. Perhaps some slight discrimination, but nothing drastic. If you are white and without heavy accent, it's easy shmeazy. Attach a clean photo with your resume and getting a job will never have been so easy. Everyone wants a white teacher. Lastly, there are a LOT of people in China and this takes a while to get used to. Some people thought the amount of people and blooming business industry created a culturally bland atmosphere, but I feel this way about a lot of major cities so it has no relevance to me.
If you can handle all that, do your research, make a friend or two and land a decent job, you'll have an absolutely amazing time. Chinese girls are beautiful and there is a sexual revolution going on now with the gradual infiltration of Western media and philosophies ... it makes them super curious and receptive to foreigners. Just be careful. I was having such a good time that in my youthful vigor I stumbled into a deep relationship with a married woman who I met in Shanghai and it did not end well. That being said, Shanghai clubs are sick and if you're into live music there was a lot of underground stuff going on when I left. An amazing city, but too congested and expensive to enjoy living for me. The rest of China is super super cheap. I would say that without a doubt the best experience I have ever had in my life was the 2 months I spent with my two friends traveling around China. I highly recommend Lonely Planet: China if you ever wish to embark on such a journey. Just imagining being back there makes me miss it so much. We spent 50 bucks a day and slept very well, ate very well, did a bunch of sports activities and of course, tons of binge drinking with locals and expats. The drunkest I've ever been in my life was a night when we were crossing across Hunan province, we got off at a random village (Xinjiang) and found our way to the only guesthouse in the whole village. Xinjiang we later discovered is listed in LP as one of the few homes to the Miao ethnic minority group, and has some truly epic scenery. The only other people we saw in the guesthouse were the staff who were dressed in very peculiar garments, an Australian couple and a few Japanese tourists. It was getting dark and before we knew it the sub-tropical climates of western Hunan kicked in we and found ourselves in the middle of a massive rain shower. The manager suggested we could all eat together and he'd have the staff cook for us. Without a doubt one of the best meals I've ever had. Anyone who has been to China before will admit that Hunan food is the nuts. So halfway-through the feast as everyone is chatting in Chinese and getting to know eachother, music start playing and a group of elderly Miao women come in singing a local song and holding up a massive pot of homemade "whitewine" (BaiJiu) which is like 60% alcohol and super potent. I couldn't really understand the tradition, and perhaps it was explained to me at some point, but all I recall is everytime they started singing and waving that pot around somebody's head, one woman would tilt your head back and the others would force a funnel into your mouth and drown you in some of the strongest sh*t you can imagine. We had a blast, and to this day it was the only night I've ever completely blacked out on. Woke up the next morning to some beautiful scenery and fresh dumplings, paid our 10$ and took off.
We split up our itinerary, deciding to spend half our time in big cities and half our time in small cities, with the rest scattered around 2-5 day hiking trips (Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yellow Mountain, Juizhaighou, etc). The scenery in China is absolutely stunning. I suggest everyone watch the BBC series Wild China and of course Planet Earth for some extra motivation. I don't have many pictures on my laptop and I'm a terrible photographer but these were taken from the 2 day hike at Yellow Mountain.
An awesome hike, with one of the best sunrises I've ever seen in my life coupled with the most hazardous trail I've ever been on. Wish I had a better camera. The area can get a bit touristy, hence the paved roads, so choose your timing carefully. Coupled with Tiger Leaping Gorge and a tour of their respective provinces, I'd say you have a pretty solid trip. Whatever you do or wherever you end up traveling, try to find someone you mesh with to do it with and it'll make your experiences a whole lot more memorable. China can be a fascinating country for some people, and a hellhole for others. I think if you meet the criteria listed above you should do alright. Best of luck and if anyone needs help feel free to contact me.
disappointing live poker night..by Luckb0xx, March 20
Started with a 2/4 shortstack game with 100€ max buy in.. its just so wait list doesnt get too long and mostly for players who are waiting on the bigger tables waiting lists!
I ran ok didnt really make profit or lost anything.. when i finally sat down at the 2/4 table with some of my favourite fools at the table ^^
long story short..
I pick up red QQ in the CO (9 handed game) when straddle is on
3 limp- I raise to .. 56€ with ~870€ stack and guy with big sunglasses big headphones and acting like a pro every fucking hand whether hes involved or not.. ~~ he also had a huge stack + several 500€ notes in front of him and well.. he snapcalls in the bb
flop comes 579 hh he checks i make it 3/4 pot he calls, turn is a Q and he reaches for 2 100€ chips and throws them into the pot and i insta-shove obv with like a bit over 700€ left
he thinks for like 20 seconds then calls with 56ss for no fd and bottom pair + gutshot
So this morning i decided to take a shot. I have been playing really well at my regular stakes(even if i run like 20 buy-in under EV since the start of the month) and tought i could crush higher stakes. So i did. You probably know what happened, ran like shit.
i droped seven buy-in in 1k hands, played good at start, got beat by mother fucking "son of a fish" and tilted like a monkey. The last hand killed me for the day. Fuck this game!
Pre-Flop: Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 3BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]SB raises to 10BB[/COLOR], BB folds, [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 29BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]SB raises to 136.5BB and is All-In[/COLOR], Hero calls 82.5BB and is All-In
Turn: (224BB) 7http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (224BB) 9http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 224BB Pot SB showed Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif and WON 238.5BB (+127.5BB NET) Hero showed Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif and LOST (-111.5BB NET)
Pre-Flop: Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, [COLOR=red]BTN raises to 4BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 12BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]BTN raises to 35.5BB[/COLOR], Hero calls 24BB
Flop: (72BB) 9http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif 5http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif 3http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif (2 Players)
BTN checks, [COLOR=red]Hero bets 64BB and is All-In[/COLOR], BTN calls 64BB
Turn: (200BB) Qhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (200BB) Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 200BB Pot (9.5BB Rake) BTN showed Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif and WON 190.5BB (+91BB NET) Hero showed Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif and LOST (-99BB NET)
Pre-Flop: Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif dealt to Hero (UTG)
[COLOR=red]Hero raises to 3BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]MP raises to 7BB[/COLOR], 4 folds, [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 23BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]MP raises to 39BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 101.5BB and is All-In[/COLOR], MP calls 37BB and is All-In
Turn: (153.5BB) Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (153.5BB) 5http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 153.5BB Pot Hero showed Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif and WON 25.5BB (-50.5BB NET) MP showed Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif and WON 146BB (+70BB NET) SB showed and LOST (+0BB NET)
Flop: (26BB) Khttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif Thttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif Qhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif (3 Players)
SB checks, [COLOR=red]Hero bets 20BB[/COLOR], [COLOR=red]UTG raises to 40BB[/COLOR], SB folds, [COLOR=red]Hero raises to 145BB and is All-In[/COLOR], UTG calls 56BB and is All-In
Turn: (218BB) Jhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (218BB) 3http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/spadenormal.gif (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 218BB Pot UTG showed 3http://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Ahttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/clubnormal.gif and WON 207.5BB (+103.5BB NET) Hero showed Qhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/diamondnormal.gif Qhttp://www.leggopoker.com/hh/images/heartnormal.gif and WON 49BB (-54BB NET)
$266 ftops 2 day in ~9 hoursby CrownRoyal, March 20
anyone want to buy up to $166 in action?
$166 is 62%
half is $133
25% is 66.50
12% is $33.25
10% is $26.60
ship to tehskies @ ftp/stars, if enough %'s dont sell (i dunno i'd prob play as long as 30-40% is bought.) I'll insta ship the money back to you.
Im going to bed and will prob be waking up ~30 minutes before this so preferably just send to me asaply or confirm with me that you're interested (you can only do this if you're reputable in some way or another, you know who you are)
Well i bought a key today, and it turns out my piece of shit computer cant run sc2 for shit, horrible lag.. so im selling my beta account/key or whatever. looking for 50 on stars or ftp
Guys, and girls I wanna know first off not poker related what do you think of my idea.
To get my girlfriend to fuck my at this place called "Pathe" A dutch chain of movietheaters.
On the toilet and get caught by one of the staff members. I got this "pathe" Unlimited card wich lets my go to an unlimited
amount of movie every month for 18 euro's. They conviscate my unlimited card, but probaly still charge my 18 euro's next month. And thats when I'll sue them for at least the 18 euro's they got from my and from wich I never saw a new movie..
And second question I dont play 2 much poker online ( I want to play more ) I want to change from pokerstars to fulltilt..except from the rakeback you guys have any why to change or not change ??
I'm headed down to Vegas this Sunday through Thursday on a spur of the moment trip. Friends already have rooms at Imperial Palace. Was wondering what the softest casino for NLHE is(Low stakes), that's somewhat near there. Thanks in advance!
Hey TL.
I received a SC2 key via the invite-a-friend thing and I'm willing to sell for $50 or best offer.
I've done one small transfer with a member here (see other blogs) and I've been a member on TL for a couple of years and had no issues with anyone. I will gladly send the key first to well known members of LP. Shoot me a PM if interested.
Edit: Sold to KingSpade. Quick and easy transaction.
I played around with it for like 20 minutes, thought it was kinda cool.
"Available exclusively at Full Tilt Poker, Rush Poker* is the ultimate high-speed poker experience.
This new poker format is designed to minimize your wait time between hands and keep you in the action. You’ll join a large player pool and face a different table of opponents every hand you play. When you fold your hand, you’ll be rushed to another table for a new hand right away.
You scored better than 94% of all players who have taken the test so far. Most people will have a PokerIQScore™ between 70 and 130.
Your recommendations for an Upcoming Academy are:
CASH POKER IQ SCORE BREAKDOWN - Your PokerIQScore™ broken down into categories
Of course, there is much more to No Limit Holdem than a single score. Your PokerIQScore™ has been calculated based on your performance in approximately 35 critical skill areas for no limit holdem poker. These 35 skill areas have been aggregated using a formula created by poker experts to calculate not only your overall score, but also your PokerIQScore™ on each street and in 8 general skill areas that apply to all streets. These overall score areas are described in detail below.
Pre-flop: Your pre-flop PokerIQScore™ is determined based on important skills such as identifying appropriate hands to play, stealing the blinds and defending the blinds, appropriately knowing when to limp and when to bet, knowing appropriate actions when facing limpers and/or raisers, identifying likely hand ranges for opponents based on your reads, understanding your position relative to the dealer button, and a range of other skills based specifically on YOUR style of play, as identified by our artificial intelligence machine. Because you play pre-flop on every hand, your ability to play well pre-flop can have a huge effect on your overall profitability as a poker player.
Your Pre-flop PokerIQScore™ is 110
Flop: On the flop, the skills you must perform change substantially from the skills necessary pre-flop. Now you need to know how to read the board, as well as understand and anticipate the actions of your opponents based on your reads of their abilities, as well as their pre-flop play on the hand in question. In addition, it becomes critically important to understand whether you are likely to be ahead, and if behind, what opportunities you have to win the hand. Your understanding of pot odds and implied odds become critically important, and of course these are based on how you played the hand up to that point. In addition, exercising appropriate pot control given your hand can be the difference between losing a small pot when you hand is not the best and losing your stack. Our analyzer assesses what information you knew and determines whether you are playing appropriately given the situation you have reached AND your chosen playing style.
Your Flop PokerIQScore™ is 116
Turn: The turn reaches yet another stage in the hand where the skill sets required change. As all skilled players are aware, the turn presents opportunities for extremely high levels of both profits and losses. Because of the increased pot size, a mistake on the turn can turn a winning session into a complete disaster. By the turn, both you and your opponents should have a solid expectation of the potential hands held by others at the table. Your ability to make your opponent play in a way that he wouldn't if he could see your hand is the difference between profiting on the turn and donating money to other players at the table.
Your Turn PokerIQScore™ is 136
River: Although many hands end prior to the river in NL Holdem poker, solid players know that much of your overall profit is earned based on your river play. A solid player who fails to know when to bet for value on the river can lose all his earnings potential solely based on river errors. Likewise, the player who calls down out of curiosity can give away a substantial amount of profits.
Your River PokerIQScore™ is 108
Bet Size: Knowing the correct amount to bet at a given time may possibly be the most important skill in all of NL Holdem poker. Unlike limit Holdem where the bet sizes are fixed, you can bet anything from a minimum bet to the tough-as-nails act of shoving your entire stack into the middle of the table. But there are appropriate sizes of bets to make, and betting too little can allow players to have the proper odds to draw out on you. On the other hand, betting too much can set you up to lose your entire stack to someone who happens to have a better hand.
Your Bet Size PokerIQScore™ is 109
Appropriately Aggressive Play: Let's face it, not everyone plays the game of NL Holdem the same. Professionals like Dan Harrington and Phil Hellmuth has hugely contrasting styles of play. They choose different hands, and as a result, they have to play the hands differently on subsequent streets. But regardless of your style of play, you must play in an appropriately aggressive manner. If your opponents discover that they can push you around, they will. But if they find that you tend to overplay your hands, you may find yourself staring down the barrel of a whole stack of chips pushed over the top of your bet. The key is knowing when to be aggressive, and when to see the red flags waving at you and telling you to slow down.
Level of Aggresion: Very Aggressive
Adjusting to Opponents’ Style Would you respect a raise from all of your opponents the same? If you said no, you understand the idea of adjusting to the quality and aggressiveness of your opponents. Weak opponents are just begging you to push them around. Strong opponents are telling you to respect them. Some of your opponents will bet too much, others will just passively sit around and call everything. Knowing how to react to different kinds of opponents can substantially increase your profitability.
Your Ability to Adjust to Opponents’ PokerIQScore™ is 130
Knowing the Odds: Think fast: you have a flush draw on the flop, there's $140 in the pot and you are facing a bet of $20. What do you do? The answer is that it depends. Are there other active players behind you? How did they play before the flop? What type of hand do you put your opponent on? Your correct move may be to fold, call, or even raise. Knowing the odds in NL Holdem involves much more than a mathematical calculation you might make in a Limit game. In addition, these decisions come up all the time. Should you call from the small blind? What should you do with a medium pair with an early position raiser in front of you? Knowing the odds in NL Holdem contributes a substantial amount to your overall profitability.
Your Pot Odds PokerIQScore™ is 115
Respecting Previous Action: The correct play for you at any time during a poker game depends not just on your hand, but, even more importantly, on how the hand has been played up to the time you are faced with a decision. How did your opponents play on earlier streets? Were you the aggressor or were they? Are you able to put your opponents on a range of hands? In NL Holdem, you can earn a substantial amount of profit by simply betting on the flop when you were the pre-flop raiser. Similarly, if you know that your opponent was aggressive before the flop, you can often trap him or her with a check-raise on the flop or the turn. There is also the aspect of how people played before you pre-flop. You also always need to worry about solid players who indicated strength by raising from early position. If you are facing a pre-flop raise and a re-raise, only the very, very best hands can play against solid competition. Ignoring previous action will lead to a rapid decrease in your stack.
Your Respecting Previous Action PokerIQScore™ is 128
Timing your Strategic Moves: Most players enjoy the thrill of the check-raise. You have a great hand, you check it, and when an opponent bets you push a bunch of money into the center of the pot. But the timing of a move such as a check-raise can determine whether the play is profitable or losing. The same thing goes for slow-playing a monster hand or betting with a hand that may not be best. What do you know about your opponents' hands? Are they the type of players who are likely to bet if you check, or will they just check behind you. If you do have a monster, what are the odds of your opponents improving their hand to a solid second-best hand? What are the odds that playing it slowly will result in someone with no hand beating you? Possibly most importantly, what image are you projecting at the table? Are you someone who is seen as aggressive? Passive? Do you seem to always play your weak hands strongly and your strong hands weakly? All of these considerations can make the difference between a well-placed strategic move, and one that is simply leaving money out on the table.
Your Strategic PokerIQScore™ is 87
Position: You have been dealt nothing for a while, and you finally get a marginally nice hand, but you are the first to act. Can you still play it? As usual, the answer is, "It depends." But the odds lean strongly against playing a marginal hand out of position. You have to go first and make many tough choices without the benefit of having the information about your opponents' hands that they will have about you. On the flip side, the ability to move last after the flop can make a hand worth playing. If you have position on your opponent, you have the best information of anyone at the table, and you have a less likely chance of being forced into a difficult situation. Simply put, position makes all the difference in the world at No Limit Holdem.
Your Positional PokerIQScore™ is 160
Bluffing: You just missed your draw. But the board is scary and there's a good chance that the latest card to come on board would have improved a hand that your opponents thought you might have had. Is this the right time for a bluff (a bet indicating strength when the reality is weakness)? Unlike many other bets in poker, you DON'T want your opponents to stick around when you bluff. So you have to time your bluffs appropriately, and you definitely don't want to bluff too much. Similarly, you certainly don't want to bluff when your opponent has a hand he or she would never fold, and there's no reason to waste a bluff with a hand that might eventually stack your opponent. A bluff is best when ending the hand right then and there would be a fantastic outcome, and there's a good chance to believe that your opponents will believe your bet. But picking those situations out can sometimes be tricky.
Your Bluffing PokerIQScore™ is 121
The three specific skill areas in which you could most use additional training:
Improvement Needed Area #1: Playing too Aggressively at the Wrong Time
Improvement Needed Area #2: Many of your Bets were too Small
Improvement Needed Area #3: Passive Play (not betting often enough)
Yeah also got an extra key for the friend invite. So whoever wants one send me your offer. I can accept Moneybookers and Full Tilt. If i don't reply to you within 2 days, then the beta key is already sold to someone else.
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