Today I am going to review the brand new Alec's Academy poker course. Alec
Torelli is a professional poker player with over 15 years of experience.
He specializes in high stakes cash games, but he’s had notable success with
tournament poker as well, with total earnings of over $1.5 million dollars.
Alec is also a poker coach and the founder of
consciouspoker.com.
By using his first-hand experience, Alec helps his students to not only
improve their poker skills, but live their best lives.
And that sentiment is at the heart of Alec’s Academy.
Alec’s Academy is a poker business course designed to help you turn poker into
a profitable side hustle, or even a full-time endeavour.
What separates Alec’s course from other poker courses is its emphasis on
actually treating poker like a business.
This means it’s not mostly about the technical game knowledge (even though
that’s included as well, more on that below), but focuses primarily on the
business side of things, so to speak.
After all, the subtitle for the course is "the ultimate poker business
program," which makes it entirely unique since 99% of premium poker courses
these days focus only on poker theory.
Through the modules Alec talks at length about various aspects of a successful
poker venture, and gives you a step by step guide on how to make it a
sustainable side income, regardless of your previous knowledge or expertise.
Alec is able to do this because he is a long time poker professional himself,
having played the game at the highest levels versus the some of the best
players in the world.
So in many ways what you are getting in Alec's Academy is the wisdom of a high stakes poker pro, sharing what he’s learned over his career.
So in many ways what you are getting in Alec's Academy is the wisdom of a high stakes poker pro, sharing what he’s learned over his career.
And that means that what he teaches is advanced and potentially outside of the price range for many.
I want to be clear before I even get started that this is a $2000 course. This will be outside the price range of 99% of my audience.
And I would in fact suggest that you keep that money in your bankroll instead and just take advantage of the plethora of totally free high quality training available these days instead.
For example:
If you just want a simple strategy to start winning right now that won't cost you anything...
Just get my free poker "cheat sheet"
Also, there are countless much lower priced high quality poker training courses available these days that I would also recommend before spending $2000 on a course.
With all of those disclaimers out of the way, let's get into the review!
What’s Included in Alec's Academy?
Alec’s Academy is split into several sections and dozens of individual
modules, i.e. video lessons that break down specific concepts at great
detail.
The length of the videos vary, but they’re broken down into manageable chunks so you can learn at your own pace.
The length of the videos vary, but they’re broken down into manageable chunks so you can learn at your own pace.
What I like about the modules is each one has its own worksheet attached to
it.
Something that Alec encourages his students to do is not only to passively
consume content and hope the knowledge magically pours into their head, but
take a more active approach, think through the concepts, and find ways to
implement them into their game.
The way to do that is by answering the questions provided in the worksheets.
The way I look at it is he gives you the tools necessary to improve your game,
but it’s up to you to use these tools productively.
This will require a certain amount of dedication and self reflection on your
part. During the course, you’re encouraged to take a proactive approach and
find ways to implement what you learn by following the worksheets.
The worksheets aren’t conceptualized as exams or anything like that. They’re
more like a questionnaire.
The way to get the most out of the content is to take out a pen and paper and
try to answer the questions with as much details as you can.
The deeper you go with your self-reflection, the more improvements you can
expect not only in your poker game, but your life overall.
For example, in one of the video modules, Alec encourages you to figure out
where exactly poker fits into your life in the broader sense.
And the associated worksheet questionnaire will help you realize why you play poker in the first place, what goals you are trying to achieve, and then come up with a realistic and well-thought-out plan on how to best go about it.
And the associated worksheet questionnaire will help you realize why you play poker in the first place, what goals you are trying to achieve, and then come up with a realistic and well-thought-out plan on how to best go about it.
This means clearly defining success, as well as failure. Most people don’t
achieve their goals because they don’t really define them in the first place.
If you don't know where you want to go, you’ll never get there.
The reason people don’t define their goals is because once they do, they also
define failure, by default. And people don’t want to fail much more than they
want to succeed.
That’s understandable, of course, since there’s only a limited upside to
success, but if you fail, you could die.
Fortunately, poker is hardly a life or death situation. If it is, you’re
playing it wrong. One of the questions in the module is actually writing your
worst case scenario if you actually do decide to pursue poker and fail.
By planning for the worst and articulating our fears, we often realize it’s
not quite as bleak as our lizard brain would have us believe.
And this really cuts to some of the core poker philosophy that you will learn in Alec's Academy.
This is also something that I definitely had to learn along the way during my 10+ year professional poker career as well.
A Deep Dive Into the Psychology of Big Time Poker Success
This deep dive behind the psychology of big time poker success is what
actually separates Alec's Academy from a lot of other high level poker
courses out there these days.
As a long time poker pro Alec walks you through how to think your poker
goals into reality and achieve real and lasting success in this game.
This even includes completely unique stuff like "pre-game" and "game day"
rituals and mental preparation for maximum poker success.
Which is akin to what professional athletes do before big games both on and
off the court/pitch/gridiron etc.
Furthermore, Alec tackles a lot of the broader questions behind fear, confidence, desire and the right mental approach for maximum growth and success in poker.
Furthermore, Alec tackles a lot of the broader questions behind fear, confidence, desire and the right mental approach for maximum growth and success in poker.
For example, for most of us, the worst that could happen (if we fail to win
big at poker right away) is that we’re right back where we started three
months, six months, or a year from now.
Another side of the story is defining success, of course, and imagining your
ideal lifestyle.
There are no right or wrong answers here.
If you want to sip Dom PĂ©rignon on a golden yacht, by all means go for
it.
The point is that you have a clear goal in mind that you can, and want to work
towards. Alec calls it your north star.
By having it in mind every time you play, you are far less likely to go off
the rails and spew of your chips when some idiot donkey cracks your Aces with
a backdoor flush draw.
Having something to work towards will give your sessions a sense of purpose,
instead of just sitting down and playing when you feel like it and hope for
the best.
Alec makes a great emphasis on showing how your poker game and your life in
general are deeply interconnected.
This is something that all top pros understand by the way and it helps them deal with variance in poker.
By optimizing your life outside your poker, your game will flourish, and vice
versa. By self-reflecting and finding leaks in your game, you may realize how
they’re connected to your personality, habits, interpersonal relationships and
so on.
What Alec is essentially doing in a way is using poker as a tool of
self-improvement.
Aside from poker being a fun hobby or a profitable side income, I personally
believe that’s actually the most valuable part of poker overall.
It’s a game that highlights so many of our flaws, misconceptions and
self-limiting beliefs. And overcoming those is its own reward.
The modules cover a variety of topics. From the business standpoint it
includes bankroll management, time management, goal setting, keeping track of
expenses and so on.
Alec also talks about the often overlooked psychology aspect of poker, which is often the biggest detriment to a lot of aspiring poker pros.
Alec also talks about the often overlooked psychology aspect of poker, which is often the biggest detriment to a lot of aspiring poker pros.
He provides valuable insights about handling variance better, overcoming tilt
and fear, and playing a consistent A game regardless of short term results.
This is the kind of stuff that you very rarely see included in other high level premium poker courses these days.
This is the kind of stuff that you very rarely see included in other high level premium poker courses these days.
His philosophy has helped me personally see the bigger picture, and start
looking at obstacles as learning opportunities, instead of colossal disasters
as I would usually have been inclined to do.
And if you ever want to achieve some of the best poker winrates in today's games, then I think this approach will help you as well.
High Level Mastermind Calls and Elite Poker Training
Aside from the modules,
Alec’s Academy
also includes group calls where you can discuss strategy with Alec and other
participants.
The community aspect certainly adds a lot of value to the course, because you
can get direct feedback for the problems you’re facing in your game, and see
what other people are struggling with as well.
Having a group of like-minded individuals like this is a great asset.
Having a group of like-minded individuals like this is a great asset.
As poker players we are usually left to our own devices and most of us just go
fend for ourselves. Poker can be a solitary endeavour, especially if you play
online.
There’s no one to motivate you but yourself, and relying only on yourself to
achieve your goals is fighting an uphill battle, especially when you don’t get
the results you’re hoping for.
What’s more, it’s hard to find encouragement and acceptance from your social
circle and from the society in general, for that matter.
It mostly comes from the lack of understanding, as most people don’t even
realize poker is a skill game in the first place.
So trying to explain to people why it’s important to you and why you even
bother with it instead of “doing something productive” can be quite a
challenge to say the least.
Alec actually has an entire module dedicated to this very issue titled:
Gaining appreciation from others.
So having a support group of sorts will certainly prove helpful to a lot of
people who aren’t really cut out for the lone wolf approach.
There’s also a dedicated Slack channel for the course participants, where you
can discuss everything from strategy, mental game and everything in between.
On the “hand of the day” channel, for example, you can share the hand you had
trouble playing, and discuss and get feedback from Alec and other coaches, as
well as other students.
The “resources” channel offers a lot of valuable content, from strategy
articles, preflop charts, the best recommended poker software and all that good stuff.
Students also share their recommendations for books, poker related or
otherwise, so you’re sure to find some golden nuggets here as well.
Alec is also there to answer all your questions. I like his personal
involvement throughout the course, with the group calls, answering questions
on Slack, and even offering one-on-one coaching with the students.
You can send him your hands to analyze, and he will give you direct feedback
to plug your leaks and improve your game.
Is Alec's Academy the Right Poker Course For You?
One thing to have in mind is that most of the video modules aren’t about
technical game fundamentals.
Also, Alec's course retails at $2000 which is simply going to be well out of the price range or most small and even mid stakes poker players.
So if you are totally new to the game, or struggling to win at small or mid stakes, I would personally recommend you
familiarize yourself with the
basic winning strategy concepts
before buying any courses, period.
I have a totally free poker cheat sheet which shows you the exact proven strategies you need to know to start winning consistently.
And I don't charge a dime for it.
If you are struggling in low or mid stakes games, just get that.
There’s a ton of free quality content online, and if you’re only starting out
with poker, it doesn’t really make sense paying for something before getting
the fundamentals down.
And there are also plenty of poker courses out there that will teach you
advanced poker technical game fundamentals that I have
already reviewed before.
There is no secret sauce behind the paywall, and no course in the world will
teach you any shortcuts to suddenly start crushing the game overnight.
However, if you’ve been playing poker for a while, but aren’t quite getting
the results you’ve been hoping for, or if you want to take the game more
seriously, and you are willing to put some time and effort in, then Alec’s course could be a good investment for you.
There are some nuggets of wisdom that have helped me personally to see the game in the new light, and gave me insight into some aspects of my game I’ve been struggling with,
There are some nuggets of wisdom that have helped me personally to see the game in the new light, and gave me insight into some aspects of my game I’ve been struggling with,
For example, the motivation to push through what sometimes seems a never
ending string of misfortune and come out on the other side as a stronger
player and a better person.
Also, as I’ve said earlier, the community aspect certainly adds a ton of value
to the course.
Interacting with people that share your goals, struggle with the similar
problems you do, and provide feedback and encouragement is invaluable,
especially in times such as these.
Depending on where you live, live poker might be on hold for a while, and a
lot of players transition to online games.
For those that enjoy the social aspect of poker, clicking buttons alone in a
dark room just doesn’t have the same appeal, so having a support group of
sorts can be a worthwhile investment.
Finally, I’d like to commend Alec for his personal involvement throughout the
course. I feel like he genuinely wants his students to improve and get the
most out of the experience.
He’s open to questions and provides feedback, but he’s also interested in your
own feedback.
Final Verdict
So is
Alec’s Academy
worth it for you?
I’d say it depends on how serious you are about poker. If you are determined
to take the whole endeavour seriously, Alec’s Academy could be a worthwhile
investment.
But with the plethora of totally free high quality poker training available these days, or much lower priced poker training, frankly, it makes it really hard for me to justify a $2000 course being worth it for the vast majority of poker players.
This course comes with a very serious price tag, so it is clearly not meant for beginners or even most amateurs anyways.
Alec is a long-time pro and knows his stuff, and his insights can definitely
help you approach the game differently. This will require a certain amount of
dedication on your part too, though.
The value you get from the course will be directly correlated to the effort
you’re willing to put in.
So if you’re somewhat iffy on where poker fits into your life, and you’re more
motivated by the prospects of earning an easy buck, I’d refrain from buying
any courses.
It’s also worth mentioning that the pure technical game knowledge isn’t really
at the core of the course, so if you’re looking to improve your fundamentals,
I’d look elsewhere too.
All in all, it can be said that Alec’s Academy is a business course as much as it is a poker course.
Lastly, if you are still on the fence and you just want a free strategy guide to get you consistently winning right away, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.
All in all, it can be said that Alec’s Academy is a business course as much as it is a poker course.
Lastly, if you are still on the fence and you just want a free strategy guide to get you consistently winning right away, grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.