Resources for Coaches
Every poker coach does things a little differently, and we can probably all learn some things from each other, so if any of you have suggestions about things that might belong on this page, I welcome them. Anything that makes our lessons easier, or helps us teach more effectively, is welcome.
Gather Place – Great meeting software that is reasonably priced and works great for setting up group lessons. Share your screen as well as your voice, and pull up a whiteboard or annotate right over the work you are doing at any time. Great stuff and a lot less expensive than gotomeeting or similar competitors.
Team Viewer – Team Viewer allows you to view and even control your student’s desktop so you can watch them play or sort through their Poker Tracker statistics. They can also watch you play, and the set up is super simple with no hassle. There is a free version but it’s for non-commercial use, and I am sure giving poker lessons is a commercial use, though your students probably don’t need to pay for their version (I just have my students download the free version, I paid for mine). Buying TEamviewer costs $250 for 6 months or $699 for a lifetime license, and if you are giving lots of lessons it’s well worth it tohave such an easy program to use.
Tight VNC is a slightly less slick, but completely usable remote view and support program. It can do most of the things that Team Viewer can do, and it’s FREE, though I did make a small donation and I recommend you do the same if the program is helpful to you. The current download page is -HERE-. The Instructions are -HERE-. This one isn’t quite as easy o set up as Teamviewer, but it’s not that tough and the price is right if you aren’t giving a lot of lessons or are just getting started and charging a lower hourly rate.
GoToMeeting – Go To Meeting is webinar software, which allow syou to give seminars online. It’s a great product and allows you to invite up to 15 people for meetings if you give group lessons. Students don’t need to pay or download software to attend a meeting, and it only costs you $50 a month. Try the free trial, you’ll probably love it and it’s a great teaching tool.
Camtasia – This is the standard for making pokertraining videos from your desktop. I know what most of the major training sites use and it’s always Camtasia Studio. Sure, it’s $300 to buy, but there is a 30 day free trial to help you decide if you can actually get your money’s worth out of it, and if you have a gig with a training site it shouldn’t be a big expense for you to get the right recording and production software.
Snag It – Snag It is awesome screen capture software for taking snapshots of your desktop. It does everything that damn Print Screen button doesn’t. Great for preserving the table conditions to go with a hand history. There are free alternatives, but it’s only $25 when you buy it bundled with Camtasia and it’s well worth it.
Jing – Great free screen shot software that allows you to set up hot keys to take screen shots automatically or do it with the click of a mouse, and it captures all of the layers so your HUD numbers will show up too (some screen shot software won’t do this). From the same people who make Snag It and Camtasia, so you know it works and there is a good support staff behind it. This is the best free screen capture software we have found.
There’s more to come, but one of my favorite Razz fish just sat down at a 50/100 table…