to me its just talking strategy... ive seen greg merson do it in a video on youtube with Gripsed.... so the way i see it, if the 2012 main event champ can do it... its okay.
so after i typed this up... i saw that i had to wait a bit because you can only do 10 post in a 24 hour period... so i took this time to get some videos of pros doing it.. and ive never seen them getting a bad rep about it.
merson giving a quick though on an whether a raise should be made... im sure he does it a bit more, but this is the first one i saw.
and here is the 2 months 2 mil footage...
ended up watching like half of it, i actually didnt find anything where it goes advice first then action... it seems like the editing messed up alot of the dialogue, but really there no way these guys dont throw there input here and there... all they do is play poker in the same room... sometimes with a projector for all the of them to see.. there is even a point where one guy is playing, with 6 people behind him just sweating him, no possible way some didnt shout "raise!", or "just fold it." during however long his session was.
and last piece of video i got is antonio esfandiari telling jason sommerville that he doesnt think he should value bet a certain river.
about 5-6 minutes later he lets antonio actually take the wheel. lol
if anything a players choices i think can be damaged by outside thought. i do think that the long term knowledge can be helped greatly by hearing output in an individual hand, as it offers a new way to approach the scenario in later spots.
but no 2 players are going to play completely alike, i think the person playing is going to have the most control over whats happening... even if you tell him to fold in a spot and he does...the fact is, is that his decisions put him in this spot, and he'll be best equipped to deal with that spot. long-term...his play style dictates the hand dynamic he'll most often be in, and it may not be the same dynamic that the advice-giver is used to.
there is such a high learning curve in this game, especially at the lower stakes, that players are going to play very very differently, and have
very different ways of approaching the game.
so i think "mixed" decision making from 2 parties can be just as damaging as it is helpful.. so my vote... is its okay.
I will say...obviously in a live game you dont wanna do this... strictly cause every player at the table can hear which i think is pretty messed up.. so its not a private thought.. and also you'd be giving off key elements of your play style. like if your friend says "just fold", to a bet that could take it to showdown in a friendly heads up live game, and you decide to call... its like you gave him 2 actions before he had to make one in a poker hand. now he knows what 2 cards your showing down...and that folding
was an option for you from your friend reenforcing the decision, but you didnt take it...and called.