hello,provided that husng.com changed my game and my pokerlife and that I'm loving it... :DI would like to purpose a technical improvement:making available videos for watching by streaming (youtube-like) in addition to the actual form (download)

Sorry, I know you said don't name specific coaches...but Skates really needs to stop with his attitude--quit working, come back and play poker, and churn out the videos. :) Ah, well, it sounds like he's really enjoying what he's doing now, and I know that poker does get to be a grind oftentimes. It's always great that someone can find work they love.Aside from that...I have PMed Ryan about this, and I'm sure he's sharing with you all, but I would like to see a heavily structured program that can be followed. I've been playing poker for a long while, so I can infer from videos what is most important to learn in HU, but sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what I should be paying most attention to in my current skills development.There are a couple of things that can be done to this end...The simplest would be a written guide detailing the order in which we should learn skills, and references to a number of videos helpful to each skill. Also, some general guidelines for each skill would be nice.A more difficult implementation would be to produce a series of powerpoint videos, one to three for each subject. I believe that classroom-type videos are invaluable to give a solid framework to guide our thinking for each concept. Rather than always watching live play videos, which tend to give scattered advice, the student could first watch classroom videos and followup by viewing recommended videos to reinforce that learning.While this would certainly be an arduous task, really believe this would take the site to a new level and make this the best of any poker training sites.The instructors here are awesome; I think there could just be some better structure to the site.

This is actually not related to videos so sorry if hijacking, but i would really like to see some more interviews with established hu sng pros. I know there have been interviews with mientjeuh and skilled_sox before but what about an interview with H20Olga? i know he has been blogging here.. or some other newly established pro..Also maybe we can do some "well" like threads (like at 2+2) where all the members can pump coaches for more person specific questions. that would be awesome.

I think Deucescracked has a very appealing video series structure where a bunch of vids are all on the same subject.  It seems like you guys have been moving in this direction but things like "Moving up through the Micros" or "Adjusting to Maniacs" as video series I'm sure woud be appreciated.I personally have gotten tons of value out of the power point vids - especially end game related theory videos but I'm kind of a dork.  Those videos were EASILY worth a months subscription.Personally I think that whenever a video is released there should be a new thread in this forum for discussion.  I would prefer this to the comments system that is in place.In reference to qattack's comments above - Stoxpoker (before the blowup) had a course idea where basically the posted videos that were to be watched in order.  For example they had a 30 day noob NL 6-max course where there was one video for 30 days and some written comments about what the primary learning goal of each video was.  I haven't watched many of the beginner videos but based on what I see in these forums it seems like a HU SNG basics video series would be helpful with more of a why approach then a how approach.  I.E. - why do we raise? why do we 3-bet? why do we flat? etc.  Misapplication of concepts stems from a lack of understanding the whys and focusing on the hows.  Sorry if this sort of content already exists - haven't watch any basics videos.MW

Meatwad's comments are really good and a lot of it is in line with what we've been moving towards.Once Qattack is close to completion or at least has 100+ videos categorized (he's taking detailed notes on each video and so on), I'm going to go through what he has, go through the previous less in depth guides and draw from what I've seen, heard and rewatched to build a guide for users to look at that will give them videos to watch for all sorts of goals (aggro players, loose players, low stakes, high stakes, vs pros, vs fish, vs min bettors, for certain concepts and so on).We're going to continue the series ideas, it just works well on so many levels.As for ITRIED, he has 3-5 videos planned that should take him to at least mid December, we'll have a new series by him being done at that point.  It's possible he'll do a micro series, but that will likely mean some more Skates video, xSCWx videos and MJW videos all in the premium section in December.  If you start to see that happening then it's highly likely ITRIED will do a micro series starting in mid to late December.

I've been thinking about getting you my video list, but had no idea how many I'd taken notes on, so I just counted...The total is "only" around 70. I thought for sure I was getting close to video #200, but I guess not.I've been trying to watch them mostly in an order that a beginning player (like myself) should watch them. Of course, since I don't know so much about video difficulty levels beforhand, it's not a perfect plan. I also lean towards certain instructors for ease of learning.I have, for example, watched nearly all of Fydor's videos, as a lot of those a very basic. When I started watching his videos, I liked them because they were simple. As I watched more of them, I started to think they were "too simple" to keep watching, but then I realized that's what makes these great for a player like myself. Because nothing fancy happens in his videos (for the most part) and thus he teaches a very solid foundation, a default strategy that you can fall back on.Really, I thought I would be around video 100 before counting. LOL. But I'm still going strong. I did purchase a Premium membership last week and that has diverted some of my attention from the Standard videos, which I feel for the most are more important to me right now than the Premium videos. But it's all good.

@Brent: I'm looking forward to your "playing a maniac" video. I would like to see more videos along those lines, with a theme and hands collected for use with a replayer. A micros series would also be interesting.

I know you can find a lot of the info on the web and what not, but possibly a short video for newbs going over just the math aspect of poker, no play (maybe some examples on a replayer). EV caluculations, calculating pot odds, implied odds, calculating ranges (via hud or by estimation or whatever) and how these are applicable to the game. You could use a power point format, and incorporate some use of pokerstove into the video as well.Overall, just a very basic (short) video on this would be great for newbs and contribute to a solid/fundamental understanding of the game as well as a needed tool for advancing throught the levels. I know a lot of this information is readily incorporated into the vids, but think thats why a condensed version would be good. It sucks for whoever would have to make said video, but much appreciated.Anyways like Qattacks ideas on a system/guide to learning husng's. Also, ITRIED's last statement  (in brackets) is interesting. Personally I am guilty of this, but think one of the best resources on this site is being able to communicate with you guys about your video's and poker in general. I can't believe there aren't more comments about the video's, more HH's posted in the forums, and more subscribers taking advantage of access to the coaches (by no means fault of the coaches). I mean, you guys are super thourough in both the quality and immediacy to your responses (really impressive). On other sites, like 2+2, we are lucky to be graced by the occasional response from ITRIED, Mers, or Spamz to our threads, but here - it's the norm. So if we could somehow encourage subscribers to engage the coaches more I think the discussions would benefit everyone. Don't really know how, but will think about this and try to post some ideas - in the mean time you can expect a lot more posts and questions from me!  thanks for the great site!

I'm trying, of the hundreds of members each month not enough of them participate, you are absolutely correct.The latest tournament we're hosting has some requirements geared towards giving the site more exposure and getting members participating more in the forums.  Things like this will likely keep happening and hopefully will contribute to a more active forum community.For now, it's ripe for users to take advantage of strategically and continue to develop and improve.

I also cannot believe that members do not take better advantage of the forum and especially the video comments sections. There are videos where I have no questions after rewinding the video two or three times to be sure I take detailed notes on all spots that are new to me or I didn't understand.But there are others where I have a few questions and I always post these. You really cannot watch a video attentiively and not any questions. At the very least, you need to rewind and take notes. It's too easy to watch a video passively, see a situation that you did not consider before but "sounds logical so I will remember that," then continue on and two minutes later forget about it.Watching poker videos cannot be a passive exercise. You need to be aggressive, really delve into the video, take notes, rewind three times if you need to, and really understand what is being said.

After thinking about it for a bit I have a few suggestions:1st - to send a small "package" or email to each new member that sign's up for HUSNG.com. I know when I signed up, it was mainly for access to your quality vids, unaware of all your site has to offer (forums, blogs, tools, newsletter, rakeback deals as well as membership deals). After watching a few vid's I decided to check out some of the other areas of the site - and thought "wtf - I've been sitting on a virtual gold mine of info for the last 2 weeks when all's I've been doing is watching vids".So - possibly a small email that contains a brief desription (with links) of all your site has to offer. You could also include Qattack's guide line for vids (once it's completed), a short write up of how best to take full advantage of the site, and answers to some really general often asked questions (related to the site) from beginners.You could also provide some ideas on how to get the most out of watching a video (or a link to it). Personally - I just make personal notes, but havent really come up with some kind of a system nor have I been posting my questons/comments on the site.  I'm sure there are some ideas in the forums (about how to get the most out of watching a vid) - I will search and try to compile a bunch of ideas. I think this will really help with getting more comments. Qattacks post above was really good in regards to this.2nd - Meatwad also had an interesting idea about creating a new forum topic for each new video. Not sure if this would be better or worse than the current comments setup, though there might be more spill over into the forums. Leave this up to the coaches to determine the pros and cons.3rd - What really suprises me is the "under-use" of the forums - like posting HH's. I like 2+2, and often post there, but think husng members are missing out by underutilizing husng forums. On this site, you have a much better chance of ITRIED or Chicagory, or any other coach commenting on your hand. Not sure how you can entice more posts, possibly a post challange? But this is a fairly young site, so think the volume and membership will only increase with time. All in all - you guys have done a fantastic job engaging the members, and ideas such as the husng tourney are great. 

MRG, thanks for the comments here.This stuff will probably start happening at a very quick pace after the new year.  I've been putting a lot of similar ideas off until they are all ready, but I'm really switching to a "get something good up, perfect it later" approach with the site (outside of videos of course).  If we can get some good tools and interactive things happening to enhance the experience and build the community, we can always solicit feedback and make improvements down the road.An example would be Rungood's suggestion of an email to all new members with a bunch of information.  We do send out emails now, but it doesn't contain much, if any information.  I've had this idea for a few months now, but I have a list of things I wanted to do prior to implementing a detailed email to new members, just so that the new email is more comprehensive.But I think my thoughts are flawed there, as I can probably get up a page or two of detailed information for new members within a day or two of attacking that task, and that will show immediate results (to an extent at least, it should increase poster participation).Another "problem" (I think of it as a problem as in making the site the best it can be from all corners, but it's more of a feature or improvement I guess) that I haven't tackled yet is consistent blogging.  I haven't found too many successful poker blog models, probably due to the focus and motivation it takes to 1) Play games and win consistently 2) Still maintain a healthy lifestyle and 3) Studying the game, talking with other players, making videos, etc. In the end it just seems most poker pros in all game types do not consistently blog.  I do have a few ideas on how to get people blogging though, and I'm going to look towards putting something together to try to get more professional husng players blogging in the near future.  If you look at our blog list that I reorganized today, you can clearly see there is a very high caliber of husng players that have at one time or another blogged on this site.  My goal will be to make that happen more often.Again, time can fly for long periods, just due to videos being the primary focus.  I've seen too many non husng sites die off due to a lack of attention on video quality, video volume and video content reputation, so that's always the first focus.  I don't want anybody to ever be able to say we don't make the best husng videos in the world hands down.  If I can do that, the site has succeeded in many ways.

I was a member of a site earlier this year that PAID members to post. It was an interesting concept...you could use your earnings for anything related to the site...namely membership and training. I do not remember what they paid per post, but maybe a penny or so.It was also a video learning site (6 max), but video quality and organization was very poor. Nobody ever posted on the forums except for me. Once in a great while the sites admin would reply, but it was very deserted. Sometimes I wondered if I was the only member!I'm a bit idsappointed with the amount of posts on this site, but it's acceptable. Some of the instructors post and there are a few consistent members who post as well.It's very hard to tell how many members this site has, but I think it's MANY more than have posted. To a new member, the more posters in the forums the better.

Regarding MRG's post. I have written an article on my previous triaing site titled "the learning process and it's effect on your poker development" and it goes through what I believe is the best way to get the most from different materials. Perhaps I could edit it to be more suitable for this site (and take out the reference to the other site obv) and re-post it here if anyone was interested, and obviously if it is ok with rypac...

I'm interested...

I believe that a new player is simply looking for a structured, organized, systematic way to learn the concepts, principles and theories that govern the game. No site I know of provides a new player with this. When I first attempted to learn this game I was directed to 2+2. The experience was absolutely the worst. It seemed everyone got off on attacking any newbie who had a newbie question. I remember two people specifically who also posted on Bet-the-Pot. When they posted on Bet-the-Pot they were so respectful. When they posted on 2+2 they became absolute jerks. Unfortunately 2+2 was about the only place to get *how to* and *why to* advice. After my experience on 2+2 I gave up on forum help. Later when I joined Card Runners I quickly realized that I would never learn the game by watching videos. I needed a structured, organized, systematic, step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept approach to learning the game. All I ever wanted was a structured, organized way to learn the concepts, principles and theories that govern this game. After being a paying member to more than ten training sites I have become convinced that training sites simply show new players they need coaching. They are pretty good for players who understand the concepts, theories and principles that govern this game. Even the Stox site mentioned in a previous post did not really have a structured course for new players. Someone went through the videos available and found the ones that made mention of certain concepts. Then they came up with an order for the new player to watch these videos, but they did not have videos dedicated to each concept (unless they did that after I left). In my not so humble opinion the best videos for teaching the concepts that a new player needs to learn are concept videos. Every site I have been a part of has had great response to concept or theory videos. Unfortunately for the new player no site has a complete course on the concepts, principles and theories that govern this game. I understand that it might not make financial sense for this site to make the course I am talking about, but I think it would make great sense for an instructor to develop the course. I think Deuces Cracked has the best video concept to date. If a site or instructor was to produce a course that covered each concept like the book Theory of Poker, and did it in a format similar to Deuces Cracked, I think ALL other sites or instructors would become OBSOLETE.PaulIB_FishingStill Looking For A Complete Course  

I agree with you to some extent Paul. Of course, I don't know much about HU SNGs or even poker theory in general (even though I've studied it intensely!). But I believe there MUST be a core framework of concepts, maybe 30 of them (just guessing), that would be a solid foundation to build your poker thinking upon.These videos would teach you basic ways of thinking about each concept so at least you are fully aware of them and able to relate anything you see happening in live play videos to one of these concepts. I know, I know...a lot of unique situations in poker arise, especially considering the player you are up against. But perhaps there should be two stages to this "course". The first would be ABCs, and the second a more "advanced" section previewing what higher-level players are thinking about beyond the ABCs.I don't know, just random thoughts.Regardless, videos on this site lead to signficant improvement if you really STUDY them (as opposed to watching them). The process, though, is very iterative: because concepts are presented in random order, you may not understand or even be aware the a certain concept exists until you learn other more fundamental concepts. Also, if the instructor simply explains a specific situation and does not explain the broader concept, then you may need to see two dozen or more of these situations before you suddenly start relating them to one another and discover what they have in common.As an example...in a limped pot OOP, there are certain things to take into account when deciding to lead out middle pair, check raise, check-call, or even check-fold. I realize that there are too many specific situations to cover them all in one concept video, but a video covering this concept could at least give basic guidelines to look for that would lean you one way or another. Then, when you watch live play videos, you could compared actions taken to what action you would have taken using these guidelines and if it's different, you could study the example and figure out WHAT is different about the situation. If you did not understand what was different, that's a perfect time to post a question in the video comments.Otherwise (without this concept video), you may watch a certain live play video, and not realize all the factors taken into account when making the play and apply it wrongly to your own play. The problem with Holdem is that you can make the same mistakes over and over and not realize they are mistakes because variance is so great and the number of times you find yourself in certain situations is comparitively small.I think a lot of the reason there are so few questions asked in the video comments section is that members do not know what questions to ask. Maybe they don't know how to figure out what questions to ask. That may sound silly to some. I tried to come up with reasons why members "wouldn't know what questions to ask", but I cannot put my thoughts on this into words. I guess it's that when you are learning about something, you don't know much about it and cannot really start to question certain things until you learn more about it. It's like the saying goes..."The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know."What I'm trying to say, is if you are given a set of guidelines -- with the complete understanding that guidelines are not set in stone -- then you can start asking questions. Why did this play deviate from the guidelines we were taught? Without these guidelines, we are left to watch many videos and attempt to identify similar situations by ourselves and relate them all with one another. I guess that's fine if someone has a file-cabinet memory and can recall specific hands two months after watching a video. And this is the reason I take notes on all hands I may not understand or didn't understand before watching a video. I have dozens and dozens of categories, including for example forty categories of Limped Pots alone. Then I need to review these hands and find the common elements.I know a lot of players who have learned through sheer sweat and trying very hard to relate these situations to one another without the aid of a specific concept are saying, "This guy has no clue. He doesn't understand...you learn by thinking for yourself and doing it over and over and over, not by someone spoon-feeding you information!" And yes, I completely agree that you need to think for yourself and you cannot learn to play good poker simply by following someone else's guildelines. But that is not the purpose of these concept videos. It is to give you a solid initial baseline to structure your poker thinking around. The guidelines are just that...initial guidelines, meant to give you a basis for your thoughts that you can further mold.It's a lot like in limit holdem, where as a beginner you learn which hands to play in which positions.As for being a "complete course", this is not possible, or at least unpractical. The "course" that I am thinking of would show early gains comparable to watching some of the better videos available, but the progress AFTER finishing the course would continue at a greater pace because your poker thoughts are already logically organized and almost everything you see in videos could be related in one way or another to concepts in this course.Yes, this type of course would be incredibly difficult to pull off. But if it is possible, I think the end results would be huge.

qattack, I hear what you are saying but a COMPLETE course on CONCEPTS is possible. You can't do a course that covers every single situation that arises in our game, but you can teach every single CONCEPT that governs winning play in our game. For example, I know based on your post you have read Collin Moshman's heads up book. Each concept in that book could be taught by video. Each concept in the book Theory of Poker could be taught by Video. All concepts can be taught.Like I said it might not make finacial sense for this site to do it, but it makes perfect sense for a coaching course.I really like your idea about having a basic course and an advance course.PaulIB_FishingStill trying to Learn the Concepts

yes I have read both of the books you mention. I have read literally at least 130 of them...all of the popular ones up until 2004, some after that, and a bunch of obscure titles, too.What I have found is that a book is a book...of course a good book is a good book, but books can only be so good. There is only so much information that it can contain and it sometimes takes a long time to explain poker concepts.I'm happy that I bought Collin's book and it did provide some sort of framework I was looking for, but it leaves out a ton of important concepts or situations that occur over and over in videos.The book is rather large for the amount of specific information it gives, too. That may sound like a strange criticism. It's hard for me to put my thoughts into words at the moment. It's time for a break.The "advanced course" I was speaking of would not necessarily be advanced; rather, it would give an overview of concepts important at the higher stakes that are not important at the lower stakes. I think that would be good for someone who is aware of basics, even if they don't know them by heart yet, just to see what the difference is.

About NEW PLAYERS not posting in the VIDEO FORUM.When a NEW PLAYER looks at a video and they hear the instructor say "this is a good spot to shove" and then they hear the instructor explain why this is a good spot to shove. The NEW PLAYER has no questions. The Expert has spoken. The NEW PLAYER has no reason to question what the Instructor (Expert) has said. As a result the NEW PLAYER does not ask questions on the video thread.Unless the instructor says something that goes against what we have been taught or what we have figured out on our own, there is nothing to question. As a result most questions are from those us who have been a member of all the different training sites and have read all the different books.PaulIB_FishingSpitting out deep thinking crap