There are hundreds of poker coaches and training sites that would have you believe the game is definitely teachable. And why wouldn’t the game be teachable since it all seems to be a matter of learning percentages, odds, starting hand requirements, reading opponents, and using similar skills. But the more and more I think about it, there are just some things that a coach or training site can’t teach.
Sure it’s easy to teach players not to play hands like K-9 in early position or what you should do based on the implied odds you’re given, but we all know that there’s plenty more to online poker than just this. For one thing, you have to be very disciplined to be a good poker player. And many poker coaches do their best to teach this in preaching to players not to make foolish raises or play out of position. But in the end, there are some people who just can’t remain disciplined whether it is with their bankroll, their raises, or any of the other hundred factors that go into making a great poker player.
There are also people who don’t want to learn the game of poker because they are so stuck in their own ways. No matter what an experienced coach or training site tells them, they shrug off this advice in favor of their gut feeling or misguided intuitions. So in the end, there are just some people who are incapable of learning the game due to their own personality flaws. And it doesn’t matter whether that flaw is being bull-headed or a lack of discipline because it’s all going to prevent you from reaching your full potential as a player.