www.secretsofholdem.com

[sillyarms]

Secrets of Hold'em (http://www.secretsofholdem.com/)
Has anyone seen this video? Is it worth it? Any relevent responses appreciated


silly

[kingstalker]

I got it today, I think it is well done,the first 30 minutes are about setting up a home poker game and then the rest is about Poker stradegy.There are some papers with it that shows what hands Howard wants you to play in diffrent postions, basically he has Group A,B,C,D,E hands.This tape is mostly for new players to NL Hold EM but Howard gives very good advice in it all the way through.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi King:

Your description is what I would expect. I understand it is a tape oriented towards new players, but Howard Lederer is a very good player and also a very good thinker. So I would expect the tape to be well done.

Best wishes,
Mason

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]
So I would expect the tape to be well done.



[/ QUOTE ]

I hope the video is done better than the cover art. Anyone want to take a guess at what game is pictured on that box cover? (See link in first post in this thread.)

[subq]

It isn't the greatest video work I have seen. It isn't terrible either.

As far as content goes it is definitely directed at the beginner. There are a few tidbits of info in there that are good to hear. I just don't think Howard is a great teacher via video and/or the editing wasn't too great.

If you are an advanced player you can skip it unless you just want something to watch. It is heavy on the home game and giving people the basics on playing the game.

I suspect if he does a follow up it may be better as long as the editors give it better/clearer direction.

He gives people a very tight solid starting hand guide so I would suspect fish trying to grow up that watch this video will become much tighter with starting hands. He doesn't dive too deeply into post-flop play though.

[BruceZ]

So I would expect the tape to be well done.

At one point in the video he looks at the number 13% on an odds chart and says "that's more than 8-to-1...sorry, that's about 8-to-1". Of course it is 6.7-to-1. He was confusing 1/8 or 12.5% with 8-to-1. Can you imagine someone saying something like this on a video and then distributing it to the public? It looks like he was just talking off the top of his head unrehearsed and then released the result of a single take.

He includes a printed odds chart which attempts to show the odds of drawing to various numbers of outs with 1 and 2 cards to come. Now it does say at the bottom that these are approximations only, and that the specifics of each hand can affect the odds; however, he states in the video that he calculated these, so I've got to assume he's using 47 and 46 unseen cards the way everyone computes an odds chart. Out of the 20 percentages listed, 12 are incorrect, the worst being off by 3%. Even the one that most people remember, a 9 out flush draw with 2 cards to come, he gives as 37% instead of 35%.

[Saborion]

This I find interesting.

Isn't he suppose to be good with numbers? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[subq]

supposed to be?

Howard is a master. I don't care who you are and how good you are when it comes to video production you need some direction.

There needs to be a script. The producers/directors of this video just sucked, that's all.

[Robk]

Bruce,

I take it from your post that you felt the video was poorly done. Could you please give a complete review (even if it's very brief)? I'm curious if it has any value. Your opinion is always much appreciated.

[Saborion]

How can you say that someone who, according to BruceZ, makes several mistakes when it comes to numbers, is a master? I have to agree that there should've been a script (maybe there was, what do I know), but even without it, someone who is a master should be able to recognize mistakes like that. I haven't seen the video. I have no idea if the numbers are all wrong. I don't know if there was a script. I don't know if they didn't bother to look at it before releasing it. I don't know if it was Howard that made the chart. I don't know anything. I just found it interesting that someone who's suppose to be good with numbers, and who, unless I'm mistaken, is a pretty respected person in the world of poker, makes an instructional video that contains several flaws, and thus risk making a "fool" of himself. I mean, didn't anyone care to look at the video before it went of to be mass produced?

I'm not disrespecting anyone here.

[Matt Flynn]

Turned it off after 40 minutes so can't tell you for sure, but it's basically useless for players with any expereince. Explains concepts like how stacks work, outs, drawing dead and so on. Best concept in the first 40 minutes is don't let the draws draw cheaply of the turn, but he doesn't explain stack sizes and his example stacks are such that you'd bet your top pair hand anyway.

Best for beginners who want to know how to play it at home.

Matt