JD, Boobie > Me

[Talking Poker]

I suppose this thread has kinda turned into my personal "goals" thingee for the month (like JD and Boobie's 90 and 60k nonsense), so I'll update you all.

Last night, at the advice of Penguinfan after he read this thread, I decided to sign up for and see what they have to offer. Yes, that is my referral ID you see in that link there... I don't think I get anything for the referral, but whatever (if there is something, Chip should know, since I signed up under him (he asked first, Penguin)).

Anyway, the site has tons of stuff, but for me, it's all about the videos. I browsed through their selection last night and went on a downloading rampage. The videos have a license key, so as best I can tell, you HAVE to view them in Windown Media Player and you HAVE to be online (to get connected to grab the license. That kinda sucks.... but I don't blame them of course. I just wish I could view them with a better media player than WMP. Yuck. Once you get the license (by signing in after you try to play the video), it seems as if you can then view them offline - on that computer, anyway. I browsed their site and it sounds like the licenses are good for 14 days, so I guess you need to stay a member for long term repeat viewing. Makes sense.

Anyway, I've watched 4 videos so far - two on that I kinda had running in the background while I was doing other stuff (and yes, I did learn a number of very cool things - that program ROCKS), and two on EXACTLY the game I have been trying to master lately - 6 max NL (3/6 and 5/10). I'm not even kidding when I tell you that these videos have already paid for themselves. In fact, I'm guessing 15 minutes in to the first Green Plastic video, I felt like I had gotten my money's worth.

Yes, I KNEW that I was being too loose in the SB and BB, but I didn't know why. Now I do. And yes, I suspected I wasn't being aggressive enough in Late Position with junk and that I was overvaluing suited connectors after a raise, but now I get it - Well, I'm getting there anyway. I'm not saying this has turned me into a better player overnight or anything, but I think it may have given me the push I need, and I'm going to make watching a video or two per day part of my routine.

So, back to my goals: It's time for me to get serious about poker. I've been a winning player for 3+ years now, but I still don't play enough or take it seriously enough to REALLY be getting good (as in "great"). I'm going to the Borgata next week, so I should probably be focusing on tourney play, but I'm pretty comfortable with my tourney game right now, so for now, I'm going to focus on cash games. I want to be dominating them like JD and Boobie within a few months... and I'm hoping these videos are what I need to give me that little boost... the small (?) tweak to my game that I need.

So far so good.

[melioris]

at what level do you think these lessons become applicable? I am very interested in this, but at low levels I am not sure it would be worth it. The games down here are a completely different beast, what do you think?

[BrianSwa]

from browsing site it seems like they have videos of all levels. I plan on getting this eventully also thanks tp.

[Talking Poker]

They have videos for different levels. I haven't explored the smaller stuff or ANY of the tourney/SNG play things, but I imagine those especially would be valuable to all tourney players, regardless of the buy ins you are used to.

As for the lower limit stuff, I'm thinking these would still be a big help, but you need to know the fundamentals first. You need to at least be aware of things like hand strength, flop texture, pot odds, POSITION, and so on. But I'm sure you're well past that.

Edit: You can actually buy individual videos if you want (prices range from $5ish to $10ish) without becoming a member. Maybe buy one that suits you and see if you like it before signing up.

[BrianSwa]

did you pay the membership plus sign up fee? it seems like much better deal then the $4.99 per video. so it would be $60 to get it then $20 a month....from the amount of videos I see in archive seems like decent deal.

[Talking Poker]

With the $50 set up fee, it's $70 for the first month and then $20 per month after that.

I was only suggesting paying the $5-$10 for a video or two if you weren't sure how helpful they would be to you. As soon as I saw the list of videos, I knew there were quite a few I wanted to see (I downloaded 31 last night), so I just signed up.

[eejit101]

sounds like a great site, i just had a browse, looks good, very good.

And the $3/$6 thing, make it a regular game for you all, and i will join one, no moron jokes, its +EV for me all round i reckon cos...

1. TP "will" give me $50 for sitting, as may others, which i doubt but worth a go.
2. I have a minimal chance of winning something, or breaking even, but still a chance.
3. i might lose some money, but in theory, i might learn ALOT playing with those guys, seeing the mucked hands and showdowns e.t.c, i might learn enough there to win back wwhat i lose in the long run.

[BrianSwa]

if you want to play and get better why not ask those players to play a lower limit with you to improve instead of risking alot of money to get better. $500 for a lesson really dosent seem very wise to me but hey its your money.

[Zybomb]

I guess I still cant see how much could be gained by this, but since everyone seems to be reacting very favorably about it, Im thinkin about givin it a look.

This idea (getting a video or two) sounds good.... so now to the next part.

After you've viewed a decent sample of video, which one or two would be the ones you think you've learned the most from and why. Which one or two would you reccomend I check out to determine what I think about this.

Also can you elabroate on exactly what you learned (like what do you mean you learned why you're too loose from the SB and BB and why you're not aggro enough in LP)

[Boobie Lover]

Green Plastic is definately the best one on there.

[Talking Poker]

I can't recommend specific videos yet. I'd say pick the one that sounds like the limit you play, etc. And yes, Green Plastic is impressive so far.

And it's not so much that I've learned WHY I'm too lose from the SB, but I suspected I was and now that I've seen how he plays from there (and he's better than me, so I can assume he's right and I'm wrong), I can see the differences. I can see the hands he throws away that I would have called with because of the great pot odds. I understand that 9:1 isn't as great as it seems when you have to play junk out of position against multiple opponents. This was literally an instant leak in my game plugged, just like that.

As for the aggression thing... now that I've seen it work so well, I'm finally stepping up and reraising with a much wider range of hands preflop than I used to. And I like it. It cost me a bundle when I flopped a set of Ts earlier tonight (as opposed to if I had played for a smaller pot), but that comes with the territory. Most of the time, I'll win bigger pots.

Maybe you'd watch these and roll your eyes and learn nothing. But I doubt it. They are well done.