If you’re familiar with PokerSystemReview, you’ll know that we rarely recommend a system. The vast majority just aren’t worth the asking price. The closest we have come to a recommendation is for Micon Secrets, which we rated 3/5. Hardly a glowing endorsement. So, it is with pleasure that I can finally say with full confidence: Real Poker Training is well worth the money. Let’s find out why.

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: