im not sure what do you mean?

Members with an essential status account are no longer able to view the comment threads related to elite videos. A questionable decision imo.

You would think viewing the discussions would "tease" them into upgrading their membership to be able to view the vids. I guess some of the concepts are explored in detail though so maybe it is giving a lot away

The driving force behind the implementation of this new policy is that we require a high level of interaction from our pros with our members. As a result, both coaches and members often spend a substantial amount of time researching their posts which we feel are simply an addendum to the videos themselves. We feel that limiting ability to view the comments to members with the requisite accounts not only protects the members who go out of their way to post detailed analysis, but also provides more value to all members who are signed up for exclusive content.

Realistically this change makes no difference. There is no way to absorb enough information just from the comments alone. You must be able to watch the video to understand the comments.

Seems like a few RIO pros are paranoid though about this issue.

I agree with making the change though. Just don't think it is that big of deal.

viewing comments and commenting should have separate rights.

• commenting from essential members usually will clutter a higher level discussion; protecting video makers' time to not search and answer essential comments seems a valid concern

however :

• being able to read higher level comments on a video that they cannot see, entices essential members to make the switch when they read great content / analysis in the comments;

a great discussion often validates the credibility of the video itself and its author.
Also, the written appreciation by respected members adds a lot of credit to videos made by lesser know authors.

Before joining YAVTS (yet another video training site), I researched the forums and looked for opinions of known players.
Seeing Phil, Ben, or stevie444, or for me, ElusiveMark, commenting positively and validating a video, is what decided me to join

Seeing videos with no comments does nothing to entice me to join or switch to higher level if I don't know the video maker.

Also, please be consistent, if you want to hide that Elite content, hide it everywhere :

• my feed horror thingie is cluttered with messages I can't read (maybe because I "follow" some pro authors).
• why show Elite vids in the video list at all, then ?

Anyways, I'm so glad you didn't enforce this when I got interested into RIO.

Although the Elite monthly fee seemed prohibitive, I joined directly Elite and discovered so many great "unknowns" to me. An Essential member now, I'll switch up again as soon as time and money permits, because Elite membership offers such a great and incredibly valuable content.

<3 RIO

When I had an essential membership I used to read every comment in all the sauce/phil videos and felt like I got a lot out of that. So while I would be disappointed if I was an essential member, seems like a reasonable change to me.

this is a good change. $10 for essential is already absurd imo. Think about, $10 to rummage through 2 years worth of essential videos and have new videos come out constantly. $100 for elite is also such a good price, i can't tell you what a good decision it was for me to get it in august.
And the comments do give a lot away, often the board is spelled out and RIO Elite pros go into incredibly great detail to answer questions. If there are ppl seeing that for $10 a month, thats just crazy to me. Its already crazy that ppl have access to these forums for free, which pros actually post in.
and to those who say "oh its a way to preview elite"--- plenty of pros post in these forums including Sauce/phil. and theres an easy way to preview elite. get elite for a month. the first month u get it is the best month also cause theres an archive of so many amazing videos to be seen.

I just don't get it.

Steve: Did access to the comments stop you purchasing an elite membership when you could afford it?

Mikey: "Protecting" seems a strange word to me. You aren't protecting anyone's ideas. Whether or not you have to pay $100 to see the comments, this is still a public forum. Of course you are free to do whatever you want, it's you're site ...... you're welcome. I just feel it is unlikely that a significant number of people are choosing not to purchase an elite membership because they can read comments for free. Do you have any figures? If your numbers don't change will you consider reverting to the old system? Because if you aren't making any more money then you're just denying access to less well off players for no reason at all.

The Elite Membership is 100% worth it. The videos go into great detail and explain many concepts/theories that will shape an exceptional poker player. I play as a hobby and do not have enough time to watch the elite videos or else I would purchase it every month. I highly recommend anyone who has an essential membership to upgrade to Elite. The insight/analyzers used/ and content are on a different level than most of the essential videos.

In addition to this I would like to mention that the process of handing out Elite Memberships should change. My understanding is that 10 Elite subscriptions are given out each month. Five for most liked users for the month and five for Top Members of all time. I disagree with rewarding the Top Five of all time. They are the same people each and every month + they overlap with most liked comments per month. Mikey Stotz Please consider changing the way you give out Elite Memberships.

I mention the "feed horror thingie" above : well, it was replaced by the more practical, old notification system.
Soooo glad RIO listens.

So, thank you !
:-)

I am agree with this unpleasant decision. I think it will be helpful for all of us.

lol - tbh I canceled my elite membership mostly because I just don't watch hardly any videos anymore (I mean why pay $100/month when I watch maybe 3 videos probably less?) but then today I noticed I couldn't read the comments - and that is something I did often and something I greatly miss, so much so in fact, that I will probably renew my elite here in the next week or two ;) - so I guess it was a primo business decision.

@FBB I'm an essential member.

arizonabay Perfectly possible I have misjudged the impact of this decision. I think it's a shame, but that certainly seems to be a minority opinion. Ah well.

you don't need to protect superior poker knowledge against the fish masses, who might be lurking, but never will be good enough to be any kind of threat to any RIO pro.

However, $100/month is far from enough to stop any hard working and gifted player to improve.

I think the best reg know they can teach without hiding much while remaining ahead of their "students".

At least I hope they think so; I would really be deceived if it was the opposite.

I am a recreational player and an Elite member (wish i could re structure this sentence ;) and wondered last year whether or not I should continue with my membership on the basis that I only ever watch a 3 or 4 videos a month. I am lucky enough to be able to afford to do that and appreciate that this isn't necessarily the case for others. One of the reasons I thought about switching to Essential status was because I thought there was enough information to be gained from reading the comments section where thoughts are articulated, perhaps with more incision. When people express their thoughts on video, there is an element of "camera/microphone pressure" and so may not be able to do it quite to their liking, as well prepared as they may be. Then I went to the WSOP for the first time last year and after busting out of my event went into the RIO Lounge and was met with Phil, Mikey and Pedro, and a bunch of other RIO members. Phil talked to me for 20min or so about my exit hand and other situations that I threw at him and I remember thinking....."what a nice bunch of people who are very willing to help". Anyway so I thought and still think they were a good business to support. I had been a member of other sites before and cancelled because I didn't think the videos were as slick or the quality of information that good. Lets be honest, they have the best of the best making videos on here and that is invaluable. There is an old saying - "you get what you pay for". I don't have the time to trawl through 2+2 or other forums to improve my game but the few videos a month I watch have already paid in spades. GLGLGL at the tables.