The authors

Real Poker Training has a variety of instructors who produce both videos, articles and blog posts for subscribers. They are also available on the private members forums to answer questions. The highest profile instructor they have is David Williams, who is a recent sign-up and so far has produced 4 videos. The instructors with a significant number of videos (181 between them) are Ryan “gotskillz?” Fisler, Todd “NSXT2″ Arnold, David “Seal” Eisenstein and Chris “Fox” Wallace. These guys are all online Pros who have been playing for years. They seem to be well-known within the internet Poker community, but don’t have the recognition value of someone like David Williams.

The package

The main bulk of what you receive as a Real Poker Training member is the videos. There are 193 of them so far. Compare that to the 9 you receive with Micon Secrets, the 3 with Sit N Go Pro and the single video with Texas Holdem Secrets Exposed. You also get some beginner articles, some basic “How to Play” information, and 5 Card Draw system. What else? Oh yes, a free year’s subscription to Bluff Magazine for US/Canada residents and 100 searches on Sharkscope.com. It’s an awesome package.

The Articles

These are a nice addition, covering the basics (Poker Hand Rankings etc), and moving into more advanced areas (Online Tells, Bluffing). What they essentially mean is that a complete beginner can arrive at Real Poker Training and have access to everything they need to get started. There is also a 5 Card Draw System on the site. This is a walk-through strategy on how to play 5 card draw with no Wild Card and Small Blind/Big Blind format. Remember the infallible strategies promised by Texas Holdem Secrets Exposed that never materialised? Well, they need to read this to see how to write a system. I don’t play 5 card draw, but it seems to be the business.

The Videos

This is the meat of the site. They have videos in the following categories (the the number of videos in brackets):

• Freeze-out (34)
• Re-buys (32)
• Final Tables (12)
• Sit-n-goes (18)
• Heads Up (9)
• Cash Games (12)
• 5 Card Draw (22)
• Omaha (18)
• Basic Texas Holdem (10)
• Specialty Lessons (11)
• Limit Holdem (8)
• HORSE (3)
• Stud hi-lo (1)
• Razz (1)
• Amateur Player Critiques (6)

You choose the area that interests you, and start watching. You will see one of the pros playing at a table, normally using a hand replayer, which is nice as it speeds up the action. The instructors all have different teaching styles, but the value of watching a professional play while they narrate their actions is common to them all. It is so much easier to copy someone’s actions having watched them, than to read their advice and try to put it into action. Take, for example, the value of position. A beginning player may read it hundreds of times (Position, Position, Position) but still not really understand its value. But after watching Chris Wallace’s specialty video “The Power of Position“, that player will finally understand. If you habitually raise up A10 offsuit under the gun, then you need to watch it too.

Overall: the videos are excellent. There are lots of them, they cover a wide range of topics and game types, they’re interesting and they’re guaranteed to improve your play.

The forums

Let’s not forget the forums. It’s important as a player that you have some feedback on your plays. Did you make the right move folding KK to that flop? Should AK go all-in in that situation? The forums seems pretty well attended, at least by the members. The pros, though, take a while to answer questions. It seems the normal members jump in to answer the questions well before the pros get there. Overall: a welcome addition but no more valuable than a free forum like, say, twoplustwo.

The Cons

It seems everything I’ve said so far has been positive. But there must be some negatives, so what are they? Well, I would say the following could definitely be improved:

• The audio quality is slightly lacking on a few of the videos I watched.
• The videos aren’t dated, so it’s hard to get a feel for the order in which you should be watching them
• You can’t watch the videos in full screen unless you use a workaround (which I posted to the forum here)
• There’s no release schedule for new videos; they go up when they go up. For example, David Williams hasn’t posted a video in a while and I have no idea when his next one will be. Members seem very frustrated by this: http://realpokertraining.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=412

The Bottom Line

Real Poker Training costs $24.95 a month, with no signup-fee. If you take your time with the videos - which you should - and post questions to the forum you’ll have drastically improved your game within 3 months. That’s $74.85, and is cheaper than any of the other products reviewed on the site. It’s incredible value for money. And if you’re really strapped for cash, you could just buy one month, watch the videos 24/7 and then unsubscribe at the end of the month. There are a few niggles, but they don’t distract from the quality of the learning material already on the site.

Overall: an awesome product, 4.5/5.

Visit the site and Demo Video

You can visit the site and check out their demo video by following this link: Real Poker Training or by clicking the button below:

How to program your mind for massive success at poker using the latest subconscious programming techniques

• The secret of being at the right poker table at the right time- to pull down an amazing financial windfall!
• How to effortlessly attract luck to you LIKE A MAGNET
• How to WIN MORE money by only playing poker during your “lucky cycles!”
• How to use a little-known dream programming technique to MASSIVELY increase your confidence at the poker table - and your winnings
• How to consistently grab onto extreme bursts of good luck that will absolutely STUN your opponents

Think Like A Poker Pro is only available to buy through the ThinkLikeAPokerPro.com site. It’s not similar to a normal book that you can purchase from various different retailers.

Not sure about this one - “grab onto extreme bursts of good luck” - really? Hmmm. I could be wrong though - if anyone’s read it please leave your comments below.

Learn how to deal Texas Hold ‘Em poker with our interactive home based poker dealing school. The internets only online poker dealer school. With Dealer Training you’ll Learn how to deal poker, how to shuffle, how to deal cards, how to improve your poker play and everything else that it takes to be dealing poker like a pro in no time!

• 10 Chapters covering the entire poker dealing process
• List of quality poker dealing supplies
• Bonus chapter on making extra money while you deal
• 35 Poker Dealing Videos that you can watch as many times as you’d like
• Poker Dealer Tricks of the Trade

Dealer Training is only available to purchase from the dealer-training.com website. It’s not like a normal book that you can purchase from various different stores.

I’m more into systems and strategies than dealing, but if that’s your thing then this looks like an excellent course.

The Secret to winning online poker is revealed in the online Poker Code Crack. Crack the Code and manipulate the online poker software.

• “Magically’ seeing your opponents hole cards (not reality, nobody can see your holecards)
• Making moves to take down pots (you can learn that in our FREE coaching sessions)
• How to steal and bluff (everyone knows howto do this)
• Strategies that you already know oruse 
• Predicting the next card (It isimpossible!)

Online Poker Code Crack is only available to buy through the caligonia.com web-site. It isn’t like a normal book that you can purchase from various different retailers.

I’ve not had a chance to read this one yet. If anyone has bought it please leave your comments below. Remember, it comes with a 60 day money back guarantee.

The low-risk method to quickly build your poker bankroll - You too can learn to crush the competition!

• The games are lower variance than most of the cash games ,Sit &Go’s and tournaments available online, meaning fewer andless drastic swings in your winnings.
• The rake for most Double or Nothing Sit & Go tournaments is lower than comparable Sit & Gos and cash games.
• The book includes practice hands to help reinforcekeyconcepts and help you quickly make money.
• Why you’ve probably made some mistakes if you have averylarge stack
• When it’s an absolute necessity to fold pocket acespreflop
• How to take advantage of the mistakes most playersmake
• How you can play more tables to maximize your winnings
• How to keep from making those same mistakes yourself
• Key concepts and strategies for successful play
• How to adjust your play according to stack size

Online Poker Bankroll Builder is just available to purchase from the onlinepokerbankrollbuilder.com site. It’s not similar to a normal book which you can buy from a variety of different retailers.

Double or Nothing Sit N Go’s are an easy way to build your bankroll, that’s a fact. It’s definitely not the most exciting way to play nor the most impressive, but it will help you build up your cash supplies.

Free 41-Minute Video From Professional Poker Player, Jonathan Little - Reveals His Closely Guarded Secrets to No Limit Texas Hold’em That Helped Him Earn $4,157,637 and Become a 2-Time World Poker Tour® Champion.

• He Wants to Help YOU Maximize Your Profits & Follow in His Footsteps
• Realize Your FULL Potential as a Poker Player
• Common mistakes many beginners make that you NEED to avoid.
• The RIGHT way to build your bankroll online.
• How to DOMINATE heads-up play.

Jonathan Little Secrets is just available to buy through the jonathanlittlesecrets.com web-site. It’s not like a normal book that you can buy from a variety of different retailers.

Jonathan Little is certainly a big name in Poker and it seems like he’s offering a good deal. The package also comes with various bonuses (MP3 audios, Q&A Calls, a Multi-Tabling Sit-N-Go Video, a $50 Sit-N-Go Video). And there’s a 60 day no quibble money back guarantee, so I’d say this is definitely worth trying at least. If anyone has bought it, please leave your comments!

The author

The ebook is written by Drew Laughlin (now called Phillip D.), professional internet player and proud holder of a masters degree. But a Google for Drew’s name reveals more about the articles he has written relating to sales and marketing articles he has written than his poker career. It would lead one to suspect that Drew is more of a marketer than a Poker player.

The Package

The Texas Holdem Secrets Exposed package consists of an 86 page PDF, 3 CDs of MP3, one video and a variety of bonuses. The bulk of the offering is the PDF - the MP3 are just a recording of Drew narrating the PDF, and the video is very short.

The PDF

After a quick intro, we’re straight into the “secrets”. There are 25 of them in total. Here are a few of titles: “The Patience Principle“, “Table Position“, “Starting Hands“, “Playing Slooooooow“, “Watch for Suits and Straights” etc. Pretty quickly on reading it became apparent to me that this was all pretty basic information. Yes, it is useful if you are a complete beginner, but in no way could these strategies be considered “Secrets”. It reminded me a little of Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book (which retails for $19.99), but with a lot less tips and less well written. In fact, I didn’t see anything here that wasn’t better covered by Phil.

And after the “secrets” comes the strategies. I was hoping for big things here. Afterall, the sales page promised 2 “proven” stratagies that would have me earning $300-$800 every day! I was expecting detailed walk through of exactly which cards to play in which situations (something like the Cheat Sheets from Micon Secrets); a solid repeatable way of making guaranteed cash as promised. Well, I was sorely disappointed. Each system is only a couple of pages long in it’s explanation and can be summed up in a sentence. System 1: play short handed Sit N Go’s. System 2: Play Heads-up Sit N Gos. That’s it.

Overall: OK for beginners but poor value for money. Not secrets.

The MP3

These are basically a recording of Drew narrating his PDF. It’s a nice addition for people who can’t be bothered to read, or want to listen to the tips on their MP3 player while mobile. They add no extra information though.

The Video

One video. It’s not a huge amount. The Micon Secrets has 9, and even Sit N Go Pro has 3. So while the video is relatively entertaining to watch, it only shows a few of the strategies in the PDF put to use. What we really needed here was something that would really heighten the value of the PDF. Something that would transform the product as a whole into something genuinely worth the money. We needed a video for every single one of the 25 tips that are given in the PDF - a video highlighting all the subtle variations and nuances that can happen at the table. As it is, just one video is a bit of an insult. After all, if Drew is using his own system then he should be playing 100’s of Sit N Gos a week. Why not just record himself playing every single one for a few days, narrating as he plays? The package costs $97, surely he could have put more effort it!

The Bonuses

Well, the bonus PDFs aren’t great shakes and again contain pretty basic info. There’s a starting hand sheet which is really intended to simplify things, but unfortunately contradicts the starting hand advice given in the first PDF. One interesting bonus is a 30 minute coaching session with the author, and some recordings of such sessions made with previous customers. Actually, I thought these were great. Drew is talking to his customers, all of whom are having problems with their game. Take Barry, for example, who’s having problems winning more than 1 in 5 6$ Sit N Gos. He thinks that Q7 is a better hand than J10 and Drew soon puts him right. Some of the sessions go on for nearly an hour, so his customers are really getting their money’s worth. This almost, actually, justifies the price of the ebook. It allows you to work through the tips and then have a one-on-one session with Drew to work through your problems. You won’t get than with Phil Gordon, that’s for sure.

The Bottom Line

This is intended for beginners or people who might have played for a while but are having problems with their game. From listening to the Q&A sessions, Drew’s (happy) customers are certainly not advanced players. With this in mind, the package isn’t too bad. OK, so the “secrets” aren’t really secrets but they are still worthwhile advice. And the single video may be a little stringy, but then you can talk in person with Drew for an hour to make up for it. For more advanced players, though, this will be disappointing. Overall, 5/10 would be my rating. You can check the system out by clicking on the button below, or via this link: Texas Holdem Secrets Exposed.

The authors

The authors are Bryan Micon & Brett “Gank” Jungblut. These are both internet professionals with modest career earnings. They are certainly not big name players, are are not even amongst the best internet players in terms of winnings. They are certainly better players that the average amateur, and without doubt have valuable information, but they are not members of the top flight of Poker professionals.

The Package

The Micon Secrets package is a mixed bag of audio lessons, video lesson and PDF cheat sheets. You receive 7 audio lessons on Bankroll Management, Ring Game Strategy, Sit N Go Strategy and Tournament strategy. You receive 9 video lessons from Brett Jungblut, where he narrates over videos of his play. Finally you receive three “cheat sheets”, which give you tables that you can follow that dictate your actions for Multi-table tournaments, Cash Games and Sit-n-Gos.

The Audio Lessons

The audio lessons are a bit of a pain, especially if you’re the sort of person who wants access to information quickly. They are relatively long and it’s hard to go back and find information at a later date. I would have liked a PDF transcript to have been included in the package. The quality of the information is OK. It’s nothing groundbreaking - you’ll be able to find most of it already on the web - but there are a few nuggets that stand out. Overall: average.

The Video Lessons

I always enjoy watching videos screen captured when a good player is playing. You can see their cards, listen to their narration of events and decide whether you would be making the same plays as them. If not, you might want to rething your strategies. So these video lessons are a lot of fun to watch, and have a lot of useful information. Overall: good.

The Cheat Sheets

If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to a repeatable strategy that you can put to use on the tables, then the Cheat Sheets are for you. You will be able to look down at your cards, look at the cheat sheet, and it will pretty much tell you what to do. It’s something that Play Online Poker As a Business promised but then spectacularly failed to deliver. Of course, not all situation are covered. In fact, it mostly covers pre-flop play. For example, in the Multi-table tournament strategy sheet it tells me to raise from early position with AQ, late in the tournament. What is doesn’t tell me is what to do if I get re-raised. So the info is good, but not comprehensive. Overall: Good.

The Bottom Line

Well, there is some good information here. The audio lessons are a bit of a slog, but the video and the cheat sheets are useful. However, I don’t really feel that they are worth it for the price: a staggering $97. You would certainly be better off buying some proper Poker books. However, if you’re not a great fan of reading and fancy some audio, video and a quick-reference then you’ll probably enjoy the Micon Secrets. You can visit their page by clicking on the button below or here: The Micon Secrets

* MY PERSONALLY DEVELOPED WINNING STRATEGIES
* STOP LOSING EASY POTS!
* TAKE THE LUCK OUT OF TEXAS HOLD’EM POKER
* GET AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
* NO MORE WHAT IF… SITUATIONS

Sounds good doesn’t, but the question is does the system actually deliver and is it worth the $77 asking price?

The Package

This system consists of a 16 chapter PDF, with no video or audio material. The “members area” where you download the ebook has links to articles, but these are all “Available for download very soon”. So basically it’s just a book. As such it’s going to have to compete with such classics as Doyle Brunsun’s super system, Harrington on Holdem’ and Sklansky’s Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players, all of which can be obtained for far less than $77. The secrets and strategies are going to have to be pretty special.

The Author

The author is Kim Birch, who apparently is known in the poker world as KB or “The Danish Dragon”. However, a Google search for that reveals only information about the ebook. There doesn’t seem to be any information on the Poker career of Kim himself. This could be because the info on him is in Danish, but compare, for example, these two Google searches:

“The Danish Dragon” Kim Birch: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22The+Danish+Dragon%22+Kim+Birch
“The Great Dane” Gus Hansen: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22The+Great+Dane%22+Gus+Hansen

It seems that Kim really isn’t too well known as a Poker professional.

The Chapters

You can see above how the chapters from the ebook look. Hmmmm. Remember, I’m looking for Kim’s “Personally developed winning strategies”. Maybe he’s talking about Chapter 11? Let’s dive into the ebook and see…

Chapter 1 - Introduction

This is just about Kim and his career.

Chapter 2 - The Origins of Poker.

Some background info on Poker. Such information is, of course, available freely online.

Chapter 3 - Online Poker Info

A few paragraphs of mostly useless information.

Chapter 4 - Rules of Texas Holdem

Available for free online from many places…

Chapter 5 - Poker Lingo

Again, you can easily find this for free online from many places.

Chaper 6 - Poker Numbers

A quick reference table of poker odds. There are many sites that have such odds tables. For example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability_(Texas_hold_’em)

This chapter contains nothing ’secret’ or revolutionary.

Chapter 7 - What it takes to win

This is a chapter that gives a general overview of the skills you will need to be a winning poker player. Finally it feels as if we’re entering the realms of information that is actially related to playing online Poker as a business. However, the information is very general and certainly not advanced. It’s the sort on information that most average players will already know, and in no way could be described as a “personally developed winning strategy”.

Chapter 8 - Online Poker planning

This chapter deals with bankroll management, and is probably the best chapter of the ebook. Finally explaining something of how to play Poker like a business, how you should plan for downswings, how you should set longterm goals for your Poker career, and how you should budget your bankroll.

But although this is better, the attention to detail is still lacking. Above is an extract from Kim’s poker budget. As you can see, some of the text has been left in Danish. For a book costing $77, you would expect better.

Chapter 9 - Online Poker Tournaments

Some general information on Poker tournaments. No detailed winning strategies here though.

Chapter 10 - Profile Your Opponents

A chapter on the different types of Poker players you can encounter. While reading this it sounding familiar, and a quick Google revealed that the exact text is available online here: http://www.tightpoker.com/player_profiles.html I’m not sure who wrote it first, TightPoker or Kim Birch, but it’s certainly not going to give you an “unfair advantage” - such info is all over the net.

Chapter 11 - Low Limit SNG Strategy

Could we finally be about to see some real “winning strategies”? Some secrets that will “take the luck out of Texas Holdem’”? I;m afraid not. This is a basic SNG strategy that most people will have seen before on the net. It can be summed up in a few words: play very tight at the beginning, switch gears to play very agressivly once the blinds are big. That’s pretty much it. A very brief and disappointing strategy. TightPoker has more info available for free: http://www.tightpoker.com/tournaments/

Chapter 12 - Position in Poker

Again, this info is already available online. I’m note sure who the original author is, but Google for “The importance of seat position” and you will find the same article all over the net.

Chapter 13 - Aggression in Poker

Some basic tips on continuation betting. Pretty standard stuff most players will already know about.

Chapter 14 - Hand by Hand Play

Kim says that these are questions that Bet365 Poker had him answer when they signed him up. He outlines a Poker situation, and then explains what he would do. Already made suspicious by the amount of info in this ebook which is already online, I Googled for some of the text here. Well, it seems that these questions are all online here, word for word: http://www.pokerlistings.com/poker-question?s=3&w=01&year=2005 So either pokerlistings.com have copied Kim, or the other way around. Either way, it’s info you can get for free.

Chapter 15 - Heads up Poker

By now I was Googling the text for every chapter of the ebook. This chapter can be found word for word here: http://www.tightpoker.com/articles/heads_up_poker.html Who copied who?

Chapter 16 - Shuffle up and Deal

Kim’s last chance to make good on his promises - the final chapter. Does he tell us how to stop losing easy pots and get an unfair advantage? No, it’s just some stuff text to finish the ebook.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve read though the description of the chapters you’ll see that the ebook is basically nothing more than a lot of text that is available freely online with a few words for Kim that are very basic, mostly beginners information. He does not in any way live up to the hype of his sales page, and the ebook serves as only the most basic introduction to playing online Poker as a business. It will give you no real advantage over the hoards of other players who are seeking to do the same. So save your $77 and buy some real Poker books.

If you would nonetheless like to check out the system, you can click this link: Play Online Poker As a Business or the button below.

Now, as a result of the relatively formulaic nature of the the SNG format it’s possible to come up with an optimal strategy for every SNG you play in. Of course there are variables: - the site, the buy-in, the blind increase speeds etc, but in the whole the nature of the quick-fire tournament setup lends itself to developing a perfect strategy.

So..this brings us to Sit N Go Pro by Johnny Rothman. It claims to be the blueprint of one such perfect strategy:

“Discover the Exact Breakthrough Strategies an Underground Poker Pro Uses to Earn Over $1200.00 Per Night Effortlessly at Online Poker Sit and Go (SNG) Tournaments…”

So, does the material provided by Mr Rothman match those claims, or would you be betrer of searching for free information online?

The Package

Johnny’s guide consists of a 41 page PDF, a hand selection chart, three videos and an MP3. If you’re thinking “That doesn’t sound like much for $97.00″, well I’d agree with you. I think Johnny could definitely have put more effort in. He’s a professional poker player who’s presumably spent 1000’s of hours playing online poker - and the best he can manage is 3 videos? Poor effort Johnny, poor.

The Proof of the Pudding

BUT, and it’s a big but, we all know that quality is better than quantity. So is the quality of the package sufficient to make up for the lack of quantity. Bottom line? Probably not. The PDF is basically beginners information, most of which is freely available over the internet. The hand selection chart? Well, again it’s useful for beginners but has no EXTRA SPECIAL info, and certainly not for Sit N Go’s as it doesn’t take into account the stage of the tournament. And then there are the videos. The first is just a general intro; pretty useless. The second is better, as Johnny narates his progress through an entire Sit N Go tournament. However, the video quality is suspect and the advice isn’t overly expert - pretty much ABC poker. The third video is better is quality and the content is better too - often Johnny will elaborate certain points at length and some of the advice is certainly key to winning at Sit N Gos. Finally there’s an MP3 which is an interview with Johnny. This isn’t really a highlight of the package - it’s hard to browse (it’s an MP3!), and the advice is more towards the beginner level.

So should you buy it?

Well, I’d say not. There’s just better out there, especially for the price. The content is OK, but it’s poorly presented and it just doesn’t feel like you’re getting value for money. Overall, there’s much better out there.

If you’d nevertheless like to check out the system’s homepage you can do so via this link: Sit N Go Pro or through the button below.