New Poker Book - Costs $1850

Yeah the 1000th post is taking a bit of time. It's 9 pages in word at the moment but college has started getting very busy and I'm going to try submit a video for the LeggoPoker competition which is due before the 10th of November so it's going to be another while I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by H8GHOTI
Anyone on here heard about/seen/bought this? Some guys on 2+2 are calling it a bargain. I guess if you could move from 1/2 and beat 5/10 after reading it fair enough but how likely is that?

I haven't bought it but I do have BobboFitos' ebook ($750) and aejones' audio files ($5k) so I'm not planning on buying this (at least not for a long time anyway).

Before buying something like this you should be well bankrolled, playing at least semi-professionally and want to get better and move up. It's also very important that you're motivated and can work by yourself.

After paying $750 for Bobbo's book I made somewhere between $15k - $20k over the summer so if you're playing regularly these things are definitely a bargain.

Originally Posted by H8GHOTI
How much better could it be than watching videos by CTS (or training vids in general) for a fraction of the price? Or reading other books? Or even coaching sessions? What could be in it that makes it soooooooo good?

The material in any of these isn't even comparable to training vids, just not even in the same league. In videos the pros usually only comment on situations that come up, will only sometimes explain the underlying concepts and will only rarely tell you everything you need to know about it.

In a book you're also getting a complete strategy, you get to see the "big picture". In training videos everything is usually analyzed in a vacuum (although not as much as forum posts would be since recent history and player styles have an influence). Just to give you an example since this is probably a little confusing.

Let's say the CO opens and we defend 55 in the BB, the flop comes T62r and the pro check folds. He says something like "our hand isn't good enough to call and would be a bad hand to turn into a bluff so we'll fold".

In comparison the book will tell you that underpairs in general make poor hands to c/r or raise as a bluff since you can't c/r bluff 100% of the time and with a pocket pair you're typically drawing to two outs. So to balance against our value hands we should only bluff hands like KQs with a BDFD or 98s with a BDFD since they make great hands to bluff raise in this spot (T62r) because, if called, we have decent equity and there'll be a multitude of turn cards that will either give us the best hand or improve our equity allowing us to double barrel. Hands like 55 are also weaker than a hand like 76 to call with since 76 has 5 outs to improve if behind (it's worth noting that the absolute value of 55 and 76 are pretty much the same since no one's value betting a weaker 6 here).

Also, in videos the pros, will keep certain secrets to themselves, if they're telling you everything they know then they're probably not good enough to be worth watching unless you play microstakes.

Compared to ~$30 2+2 books, looooooooooooooooooool. Imho, if you're beating 100nl online or higher you're well past needing those type of books. In fact reading something like Harrington on Cash would probably make your game worse if you're a winning 6max player. For the price I guess you might pick up one or two useful things but there's also a large time cost associated with reading them compared to the benefit you're getting.

Compared to coaching the pricing is pretty similar to what you'd pay for 5-10 hours from a good coach. With coaching you won't get as much content covered; typically only stuff you ask about or that comes up in a sweat session. And unless you record the sessions or take really good notes it's going to be harder to refer back to. With the book there's always a chance your misapply a concept though (although with Slowhabit's book and aejones' audio files there's a private forum to ask questions (and Bobbo should have this soonish as well)), and you won't have somebody there to watch you and point out your leaks. A coach might be able to motivate you as well so if that's an issue than the ebook probably isn't for you either.

Originally Posted by H8GHOTI
There's also a post in the thread by RedJoker telling him that one of his formulas was wrong!

In fairness it was a first draft and not exactly a big deal, it didn't really take away from the section and I was just clarifying things which could be misinterpretted. SlowHabit is definitely a feel player though, he sent me an article before one of my coaching sessions which had a mathematical error I pointed out to him as well.

Originally Posted by H8GHOTI
@RedJoker - I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I googled SlowHabit and came across your blog. I see you've got coaching sessions from him. How good is he? I also see you spent $4k on audio files from aejones. Do you think they were worth it? How much do you think they have or will improve your game?

Yeah I got a 5 hour package with him and we've done 3 hours so far. Like I said he's a very feel based player. I'd read Bobbo's book beforehand which is very logic/mathematics based and I'm studying maths in college so I'm far more comfortable with that approach. I can't even watch Taylor Caby's videos anymore since they piss me off so much. So when I say that I've enjoyed the coaching so far it's a pretty big compliment, it's been frustrating at times but that's more to do with how we both approach the game then anything else.

Based on the coaching, I'd expect the first version of the book mainly covered different lines and tricks you can take to improve your winrate and make you harder to play against. Telling you about good spots to bluff and things like that. And there was most likely other stuff covered like 3betting and barreling. I think I read that it focused on typical leaks that SSNL/MSNL players have. Although without reading it I don't know for sure and I have no idea what CTS might have added to it.

Aaron gave the audio files for $4k since I asked before he released them officially so he gave me the old price. If you want them now it'll cost you $5k.

There was some overlap from Bobbo's book so if you were planning on buying the audio files I'd probably get Bobbo's book first. Bobbo's book gives you more of an overall game plan (compared to what I'd expect SlowHabit's book to have). Every street is covered in depth and there's either mathematical or logical reasons given for almost everything he says. He'll explain to you the optimal lines to take with different hands (particularly draws) and why. However, he doesn't really tell you about awesome bluffing spots.

The sections on 3betting, bet sizing, playing draws, and double/triple barreling are excellent, I've read them multiple times at this stage. Although the section on barreling is kinda weird because he mentions what the turn card is maybe once and instead focuses on board texture which is unusual since everybody else focuses on what the turn card is. He also has hand quizzes at the end of each chapter which are absolute GOLD, they really help solidify the concepts.

Aaron's audio files follow pretty much the same format of covering each street in depth. However, he also gives you loads of excellent bluffing spots as well. Everything is explained but some things aren't done as in depth as Bobbo's book. There's also audio files on various other topics such as psychology and deep stack play. It's a lot more conversational, much broader and pretty much covers every conceivable no limit holdem topic you could think of.

All three are very good about answering my questions as well, Bobbo has pmed me a couple of times to answer things I asked him on 2+2 (since he doesn't have a private forum yet), SlowHabit answers my emails very quickly and aejones is very active on the private forum. Being able to ask top players whatever you feel like is so hugely valuable.

If you're a bankroll nit then I'd probably advise you not to buy them, you've probably got your expectations set too high. If you're worried that these things will be pirated and one day worth zero then these probably aren't for you. However, if you're the type of person who hates knowing there's important poker theory and concepts out there that you don't yet know then nothing I say will make a difference, you'll buy them no matter what I say. I definitely don't regret investing the money.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head