Why I am not renewing my Essential membership.

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Why I am not renewing my Essential membership.

Hi,

I just wanted to give feedback to whoever it may concern on why I won't be renewing my Essential membership.

1 - Cash Games videos

I wanna see more cash games. More micro/low stakes videos. This is why I am here in the first place. I wanna see people play 1-4 tables of CASH GAMES. I wanna hear the coach talk about why they bet, raise, fold, or whatever. This is why i also watch RunItUp from Jason Sommerville. Because he talks about why he does the things he does.

I feel like I come back everyday, looking at today's videos, and all I get to see is Game theory and MTT. I like them too, but I'm here for cash games.

2- Coaches

I know being entertaining is really hard when you talk about Poker. But some coaches here are just really hard to listen too. Especially when English is not their first language and when they are not really entertaining to listen too. I also know that entertainment is not something I should look for in a Poker video. But I think there is a good mix to do between talking about theory and being entertaining.

3- High Stakes videos

I know i'm just a peasant that does not give much money to the site. I get it, I only gave 10$ to the site. But please give us essentials members at least one high stakes videos cash videos every 3-4 months or something. Just something that we can watch and be motivated to continue going through each stakes. I wanna see Galfond, or Ben, or Urindanger play a super high stakes video. That will motivate me to pursue poker even more and come back to that site more often. At least make the video available just for a day or two.

Optional stuff :

On some certain poker website that contains the name IVEY in it, they posts a funny/entertaining video about some big names in poker doing activities outside of poker. And I think this could be a nice addition to the site. I wouldn't mind seeing  a little 3 minutes video of Galfond and Ben playing golf or something. I know it sounds dumb, but it will attract people on the site.

Thank you !


21 Comments

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Rapha Nogueira 10 years, 9 months ago

I think the content that is updated on the site goes with the average. MTT/PLO/NLHE each one gets 1/3 of the videos from the month. The best use of Game Theory is on cash games or deep games and learning how to proper use it can be excellent for your overall strategy. 

I agree that is super cool see Ben Sulsky playing $300/$600 but it doesn't improve my overall thinking as a normal person like Greenwood, Hudson and Felipe videos does. And also, PG always make monthly content to Essential members and I don't think it need to be on the high stakes to be great. 

Chael Sonnen 10 years, 9 months ago

1. There are plenty of cash game videos being released. Multiple videos a week, actually.
There are also hunderds of cash game videos in the archives, so you can watch those if you've already watched the latest ones.
It's way better to learn from guys playing 100/200NL than micro stakes. Those are the stakes you strive to play at in the somewhat near future, and learning proper fundementals and the ability to play at that level is important. I was a microstakes player too 14 months ago, and I found watching guys like James Hudson way better than the free coaching videos for 10/25NL on youtube.

2. Not everyone has the same style of teaching, but there are plenty of guys I find extremely entertaining.

3. The high stakes players probably get paid a decent amount of money and they're sharing valuable content, so asking more than 10 bucks isn't a crime, imo.

Ivey's blog videos are cool, but expecting to see something similar is a little greedy.
Also, Ivey seems to embrace to show everyone his baller lifestyle, whereas the highstakes RIO pros seem less willing to do that. 

joe_totale 10 years, 9 months ago
Chael, I think you make some excellent points. (And for the record i think $10 per month is great value for The Essential Membership.) So i was wondering if you or any of the quality posters/players can advise here:

What advice would you give a micro stakes player, when watching a 100/200NL live video or session review, bearing in mind that the play at micro stakes clearly differs in many ways from the play in the videos we're watching. What are the main things we can take from watching these videos being played at a higher level to that which we are ourselves playing?

It seems to be that at micro stakes you have to play more exploitatively as there's more recreational players. This means getting more value when we think we have the best hand, but also making exploitative folds, when villains rep a very narrow/nutted range. In the cash game videos there's a lot of emphasis on balance, blockers, having a bluffing range in various spots etc etc...and obviously that applies and is key to beating the stakes being played in those vids...so again...how do we take this to our own games at smaller stakes?

I ask these questions coming from a relative, but humble place of ignorance, that being a state of not-knowing. So if i sound stupid...it's because I am, so i hope anyone replying can keep that in mind. And i just want to say that since i joined RIO i have tripled my (meagre) bankroll and i am a recreational player, albeit one who takes the game very seriously...I'm not complaining about RIO or the videos.



DialingUP420 10 years, 9 months ago

I don't agree at all that learning to play micro stakes by watching people playing much higher stakes is a good idea. If you watch a guy play 5/10 and then try to incorporate that into a .10/.25 game you're going to spew endless buy ins. Not to say there isn't a lesson to be learned or the essential membership isn't a good value, but that's a reallllllly bad way to tell someone to learn. If you play micro stakes find a site that does videos on micro stakes. There is no end all training site out there. Some are going to be better overall, but it's still good to mix in a few. 

Chael Sonnen 10 years, 9 months ago

Those aren't stupid questions at all.
Maybe microstakes is misleading, because I think that's 2NL and 5NL, right?
Anyway, if you're a lowstakes player I'd try to copy their though proccess, and use it create a fundementally sound game. Once you know the ''right'' way, you can still diverge from that strategy when you have reads on your opponents.

If you quickly learn from the the low/midstakes pros, you'll be playing 50NL+ very quickly.
GL.

Chael Sonnen 10 years, 9 months ago

Dialing, we're not talking about 5/10, but rather 100 and 200NL.
If you learn from the best microstakes players, you're not going to climb the ranks and move up. You should be learning from players who are several steps ahead of you.

DialingUP420 10 years, 9 months ago

50NL is microstakes. Copying the thought process is a good idea. Incorporating what they are doing into a micro game is not a good idea. You can't out think opponents that don't think. If you try to make high level plays against competition not capable of understanding what you're doing they interpret it wrong and you lose money. Until you are playing 100NL+ there is no reason to be anything but straight forward. Value, value, value, don't get fancy.


DialingUP420 10 years, 9 months ago

200NL or 1KNL it doesn't make a difference. Telling someone to learn from 200NL players when you play .05 .10(or w/e micro level we're talking about) is horrible advice. You will not beat the games that way. You need to learn how to beat the micros and then worry about how to beat small stakes. You gotta crawl before you walk, walk before you run. 

Unless the 200NL player you are watching is stepping down to make a micro video it's not applicable in a lot of aspects. Why do you think players that play high stakes play different when they make lower videos? They are totally different games.

And for what it's worth;

100NL is considered small stakes, anything under is the micros. 
arizonabay 10 years, 9 months ago

I made the move through the micros and am now, finally, at 100nl. I learned most of what I needed to beat the micros from theory videos. And I might be in the minority but I like watching guys playing higher than myself and try to adapt their thought process to the villains I encounter at my stakes. Watching someone play a reg at 600nl won't help you beat a calling station at 10nl but it should give you a good idea of how to play against the guys that are taking the game serious and trying to move up themselves.

IMO-you always need to have a filter on when watching a training video. Every spot is unique to some extent. You need to be able to see how the coach came up w/ the idea that this is the right play at this moment vs this villain. Then you can try to adapt that thought process to the games you play, the villains you encounter, and the unique spots you find yourself in. There is no 12 step guide to stacking a fish. All you can do is develop your thought process to handle as many unique decisions as you can. Personally, I feel I can learn something from someone playing any stake level. I even take things away from PLO videos that I apply to 6 max nl. Years ago I would read about 7 card stud and it would improve my nl hold'em tourney game. 

analihilator 10 years, 9 months ago

but seriously i was thinking this was just another obvious troll but then i realised how funny it would be to see the 'tiger woods' of poker ... playing golf. 

well played sir.

Aleksandra ZenFish 10 years, 9 months ago

u got face recognision problem jesse?  not even close 

-diff eyebeows 

-diff eye shape

-diff nose size and shape

-diff mouth size and shape

-diff face countour

-diff chin

-diff ears

alike= cap


DialingUP420 10 years, 9 months ago

You may as well say all white people look alike haha. 

Aleksandra ZenFish 10 years, 9 months ago

yes i think its common interracial face recognition problem 

whites say asians and black look alike whilst white look same to asians and black etc

probably brain pays attention to biggest difference , and thats skin color, then neglects other things like facial features, because probably is thinking, ye i see biggest difference that s enough ( not sure about it, i just made it up, but met lot of people having facial recognition problem of race other then  their own )

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