Okay get this clear in your head, PUA stuff doesn't necessarily mean the bookish knowledge that you can find in any xyz coach's book. Your friend is simply being himself while you're out there trying to apply bookish knowledge without any flavor of naturalism and originality. Good stuff is not what they call "good", it's what works. From what I can see, your friend is a complete natural, does things that differentiate him from the rest of the crowd, comes off as a fun, carefree guy (sort of 'no strings attached') which attract women to him. At the same time he avoids doing things that an AFC might do (for e.g: appear to be a 'nice' guy) which keeps things going for him.
Sometimes even going out of the line isn't bad if you're confident while doing what you are doing. E.g: You must have read biting your nails is a no-no near women, but an alpha-male with a lot of self-confidence might bite his nails without a care in the world, laughing and goofing around. And that might as well attract some chicks! PUA stuff is more practical than technical, my friend
