Susie the Coach vs. Susie the Player
By Susie Isaacs

The next best thing to winning a poker tournament is watching your student win one. I would like to congratulate my favorite student, Debbie Burkhead on her very first major tournament win at the 4 Queens Classic. To be perfectly honest, Debbie is my only student. I had never given much thought to teaching tournament play until Debbie confronted me with the challenge. Her confidence in my ability to teach piqued my interest and gave me an extreme ego boost. I think she knew that the flattery would entice me, and I fell into the trap...she became my student in 1998.

I admit, I was still reluctant to teach, even after the expert con job, but after only a few simple tournament tips I witnessed a noticeable positive change in her tournament play. She had listened and implemented my suggestions into her play. The weekly tournaments at the Orleans became our classroom and within a very short time my lessons proved to be valuable. Debbie was making final table appearances and won several of the events outright. A few times she beat me which didn't make me happy at the time, but proud of her after the fact. In the first six months she had numerous money finishes, was qualified to play in the first TOC and had accomplished one of the biggest wins of her life -- she won a $10,000 seat in main event at the World Series of Poker. I was proud, to say the least. Debbie finished 33rd out of more than 500 entrants in 1998 and even though she didn't place in the money, I think it was an outstanding finish for someone who had been playing tournament poker for such a short time. She followed that up with a third place finish at the Orleans Open in the main stud event and captured $10,000. Before the year ended she took back-to-back firsts in the ladies events at the 4 Queens Classic and finished second in a Queens no-limit event.

Since '98, Debbie has made several final table appearances and even taken her share of firsts, but her first-place finish this year at the 4 Queen's Classic was her sweetest victory to date. It was a first in her favorite game -- seven-card stud -- and it was her first open field major tournament win. I have always thought that anyone with "card sense" could be taught to play poker well and become a winning player. Knowing Debbie was a successful live poker player but had only dabbled in tournament play, I knew that she had the basic card sense needed to become a winning tournament player and as you can see by her success, I was right.

It is actually quite rewarding to watch your protégé win as a result of your coaching efforts. I have no intention of becoming a poker coach for anyone else, however I am delighted I had the opportunity to teach one person how to play tournament poker successfully. Often, her victories are bitter-sweet because she has to run me down to reach her final destination.

In teaching Debbie, I learned almost as much as I taught. Sweating your student into a first-place finish is a learning experience itself. Final table experience is probably one of the most underestimated aspects of tournament play. Only a select few make it to the final table, and only a select few make it over and over again which makes it hard to get first-hand final table play experience. If your student makes it to the final table, you both gain from the experience. Watching final table play can be very helpful to you in future tournaments. It gives you valuable information on players and this alone could be the difference in your winning or losing a tournament.

Debbie's final table play is possibly more advanced than my own because of her recent job of covering final table play and writing the final table synopsis at several major tournaments in the past couple of years. Not to mention, she loves short-handed stud. What this means is, the student becomes the teacher.

There are many ways to enhance your tournament ability: hire a coach, read poker books, watch videos, attend seminars, and practice, practice, practice. I would also strongly recommend watching as many final tables as you can to learn how to play short-handed so that when your day comes, you will be prepared.