The Community

Let’s start this review with a look at the Cardrunners community. This is a vital part of any training site. The community is where you turn when you have unanswered questions. The community is your comfort when suffering the ravages of variance. And the community is really what separates the top sites these days. So, I’m pleased to report that the Cardrunners community is thriving. You can have a look at the forums http://www.cardrunners.com/cr_forums/ - as a non-paid member you’ll still be able to view the public general forum. But paid members get access to the private forums, and that’s where the value really starts. There are thousands of posts across all levels and, unlike some places like twoplustwo, they are welcoming to newbies. This is the sort of place you can make your Poker home on the internet - a community upon whose knowledge you can draw on as you progress up the levels.

The CR Forums - An Active Community

The Media

Where to begin? With 1927 videos, 22 podcasts, 83 articles and 32174 blog posts at the time of writing there is certainly no shortage of poker media to consume. In fact, this isn’t really a plus point because you can get somewhat lost in the sheer quantity of videos available. “Where to begin?”, you ask. Now, Cardrunners have gone someway to addressing this issue with an extensive search feature:

The CR Search Screen - Lots of Options

So if you’re just starting out you can set the stakes to Micro, if you like to play with 6 people on a table then you can set the game type to 6-max. There are also a variety of formats that the lessons come in. “Live Action” videos, for example, are often fun to watch as you can see the instructors make decisions in the thick of real play. Others might prefer to watch the “Classroom” lessons, which as the name implies take a more scholastic approach to the instruction.

Following the lead of other instruction sites, Cardrunners have also now produced some video “series”. Just like your favourite TV series - complete with cliffhangers and sub-plots - a Poker training series will have you on the edge of your seats waiting for the next episode. That’s the theory at least and I have to say that in practice it does work, most of the time. Some series are better than others but there are definitely enough goodies to keep you entertained for a while.

As far as working out which are in fact the goodies and which aren’t there is some room for improvement. There is a rating system, but it only goes up to 5. So when faced with hundreds of videos all with a 4.5 or  5 star rating, which do you pick? Personally, I’ve just selected at random and then when I’ve found an instructor I liked I’ve watched the rest of their videos. But I’d like to see an introductory section on the site for new members and some recommendations on where to start. Of course, this could be a perfect opportunity to go and introduce yourself in the forums and ask the experienced members for some advice on which videos to watch depending on your level and preferences.

The Instructors

South, Moshman and Townsend

The Controversy!

Everyone like a bit of intrigue, and it wouldn’t be fair of me to finish this review without mentioning what those naughty now ex-CR instructors Cole and Brian got up to in 2008 and 2009. Brain admitted to multi-accounting – recording his videos using one account and then playing using a different one. It may not seem so serious but is against the Poker sites’ terms and conditions and got him suspended from Full Tilt. Even worse he, Cole South and Brian Hastings later combined their databases in an effort to gain an edge over Isildur1 (who they ended up taking for millions). This earned Brian his second Full Tilt suspension. You can read more about it all here: http://www.pokerlistings.com/full-tilt-suspends-brian-townsend-14503

The Price

The first thing you notice when looking at the membership plans is that Cardrunners has a $100 signup fee for the monthly or 6 month plan. For many, I imagine that would be an instant deal-breaker. Other Poker training sites have since abandoned this model and I personally think it’s something CR should drop too. There is a 7 day free trial but nevertheless it does somewhat force you into taking the 12 month plan to ensure value for money. See what I mean:

Of course, it’s still great value considering the difference the site will make to your bottom line playing Poker, but I’d like to see them remove the signup fee.

Overview and the Bottom Line

Cardrunners is a fantastic poker training site.  The only niggles I really have with it are the signup fee and the lack of an introduction program for new members. The instructors are good (if a little geeky on occasions) and the community is great. If you’re reading this review because you’re struggling to decide which training community to join then I would advise you to jump straight in with the 7 day free Cardrunners trail. Go straight to the forums and ask the members where you should start. Watch a few of their recommendations and then make your final decision. I have a feeling you may end up staying there.

Sample Video

Outstanding Poker was created by two professional Poker players from Toronto. Now, these aren’t the world’s most famous players or even - by their own admission - the best players. But they regularly earn between 10 and 15 thousand US dollars a month playing medium stakes Poker on the internet. Their secret? A solid, low-variance approach to Poker that avoids silly risks and brings in a consistent profit. Outstanding Poker exists to teach you how to play the same way.

The Good Stuff

• A single, solid winning style is drummed into you
  Outstanding Poker differentiates itself from other Poker sites in its consistent aim to get you playing the same way as its two Pros. Other sites can have a confusing array of different games at different levels. Not so at Outstanding Poker. You are shown - in a step-by-step manner - exactly how to play their $10,000 a month style. No distractions.
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• The style being taught is low-variance
  Other sites will teach a LAG (Loose Aggressive) style of play or recommend heads-up as a place to start. While this can be very profitable, the profit swings can be brutal. The style taught at Outstanding Poker is one built for consistent profits, minimising the variance (as much as is possible).
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• Podcasts
  The site contains podcasts that you can download to your PC in mp3 format and listen to on the move. It’s a nice touch, that I haven’t seen on other sites.
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The Bad Stuff

• The site needs more videos
  Currently, the site has the right amount of videos to take you step-by-step through the Outstanding Poker playing style. But there’s always room for more, right? We’d like to see more videos, and new videos added much more frequently.
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• What’s with the DRM?
  The site’s videos can either be watched via online streaming, or downloaded to your PC. That’s great - but unfortunately they’re DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected, which means you have to enter your password to watch them. It’s a bit of a pain, and also means you can’t watch the videos while offline unless you unlock them first.
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• No forum?
  The site doesn’t have a forum, which is a pity as it’s not hard to add and it’s always nice to have somewhere to ask your Poker questions. The site’s pros do encourage you to contact them with questions, but an open forum is always a better medium to do so.
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The Bottom Line

Overall, I liked Outstanding Poker. It’s not the slickest Poker training site (Poker Savvy Plus wins there), and it doesn’t have the most famous instructors (such as David Williams over at Real Poker Training) … but in a way that’s also its strength: it takes a clear and consistent line in showing you how to play $10,000 a month Poker. No distractions, no complications. If that sounds like something you’d appreciate, we can certainly recommend it.

You can get a feel for Outstanding Poker by checking out a free sample video here: http://www.outstandingpoker.com/samplevideo.html

Watching Mike Matusow play $200/$400 Poker is all well and good (and certainly entertaining), but how does it help those that are just starting out in Poker? How does it help those that want to play the micro limits - 0.15c/.30c, or even 0.1c/2c? Well, the answer is that it although certain principles may be the same, the games as very different overall. What complete beginners need is a site that’s especially geared up to cater for them. Enter CardKiller.com

What’s good?

For a site dealing with the Micro Limits you’d expect a micro price, and CardKiller certainly doesn’t disappoint there. There’s no signup fee, and it’s a mere $10 a month to become a member. That’s nothing, and they even give you one day free to trial the service. So at least on cost Card Killer is very hard to beat.

The videos are great for beginners. We have such titles as “Building your bankroll at .01/.02 limits”, “How to play the 9 player $6 SNG” and “Poker Stars .05/.10 micro cash”. There is a lot of information on Sit N Go’s (which are great for beginners), and they really go into detail on how to start (there’s even a PowerPoint presentation in one video!).

The variety of the videos is decent, with Stud, RAZZ, Horse, Omaha, Sit N Gos, Multi Table Tournaments, Heads Up and Pot Limit all covered. There are also some interesting “study lessons”, such as “Using Harrington on Hold’em Vol.II in your game” and “Bankroll Management for MTT’s, SNG and Cash Games”. For those getting bored with the micro stakes action, they also have a few high stakes videos where they analyse the action from some high-stakes pros.

There is also an audio section, which is unusual for a Poker training site. Although not that extension, it’s a nice little addition.

What’s bad?

Unfortunately, with the micro price comes a distinctly budget look at feel for the site. We’re a long way from the glossy looks of somewhere like Poker Savvy Plus. In fact, the construction of the entire site could be described as “budget”. Of course, the most important thing is the content, but everyone likes a feeling of quality with something they have purchased.

Take the list of available member videos, for example. It’s pretty hard to follow, the videos aren’t dated, you can’t tell which ones you’ve already watched, and there’s no way to rate or comment on the videos (which both Poker Savvy Plus and Real Poker Training do allow). It’s just … amateurish.

There’s no forum at CardKiller.com, so in order to get feedback on your progress you have to use the “Advisor” feature. This allows you to send in a hand history, and have an advisor get back to you with a review. Of course, this is welcome, but a forum would have made this type of communication so much easier - and allowed members to learn from the mistakes of others. As it is, there’s no real sense of a “community” at Card Killer, which is a shame.

Conclusion

Overall, Card Killer is excellent value for money. You get 173 videos for a mere $10 a month. The video quality is fine, and the instructors are good. For someone on a budget looking to beat the micro limits, it’s just about perfect. That being said, the price point shows in the quality of the construction of the site and the member benefits. Better players looking for a community to learn it would be better of going elsewhere.

Poker Savvy Plus is a relative latecomer to the Poker training scene, having launched at the end of 2007. But this should be an advantage - they should have been able to look at their competitors, take all the best parts and leave out all the rubbish. So, have they succeeded in this or is it more a case of Poker Dunce than Poker Savvy? Let’s find out..

What’s good?

The first thing you notice about Poker Savvy is the looks - a very modern looking site that oozes quality. The video navigation is easy, with nice big screenshots next to each video description. This quality flows through to the video player itself, which is a decent size and has a very useful full-screen option. A lot of the videos have the option to download to your hard drive in a variety of formats, which is excellent and something lacking in Real Poker Training for example.

The Poker Savvy Plus forum is excellent, with an active membership that includes the instructors themselves. They seem to be prompt to reply to member queries, and are thus a huge bonus for membership. Not only do you have the instructional videos, but you also have your “mentors” available via the forums if you need to ask questions. Priceless.

The team of instructors is excellent. The most well know is Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, but I would say that he is probably the weakest instructor on the team. He’s entertaining - if only for his whining - but far from a great teacher. The others, though, are excellent. They going into the action they are making in great detail, explaining everything very well.

They have a nice selection of high stakes videos on the site too. You have many high buy-in tournaments, you have Mike Matusow playing $200/$400 H.O.R.S.E and Omaha 8, and you have $10,000 buy-in heads-up matches.

Finally, the general quality that is noticeable in the site extends to the customer service and member bonuses. Customer service responds quickly and seem to constantly be working to put together extras for members such as freeroll events.

What’s bad?

Ok, Poker Savvy Plus is quality, we know that, but it can’t be perfect. So what are its shortcomings? Well, although the overall amount of videos is large (just under 200 at time of writing, with new videos added frequently), there are only two Sit N’ Go videos at time of writing (and both of those heads-up). So if you’re looking to improve your Sit N Gos you can basically forget about Poker Savvy Plus. (Try Real Poker Training instead - they have 19 Sit n Go videos). That said, they have all the other bases covered with numerous videos in all the other main Poker categories NL Holdem, Limit Holdem, Tournaments, Horse, Omaha, Heads Up, Full Ring, Short Hand).

Also, although the video player is great I don’t like the way that each video is broken into “chapters” which don’t automatically load from one chapter into the next. It means a lot of stop start (unless you download the full video to your hard drive).

At times the audio quality is distinctly below par - one video sounds like it was recorded in an aquarium. And there’s another video where the instructor is continually clearing his throat into the microphone. Not pleasant.

Conclusion

Overall, Poker Savvy Plus is an excellent package. It’s fantastic value for money at $24.99 with no sign-up fee. They also offer a 7 day free trail, so you can signup, have a look around the site - even watch as many video as you can in 7 days - and all for zero “risk”. If you do, you’ll find an excellent selection of video make by Poker Pros who know how to teach. If you’re looking for Sit N Gos head elsewhere, but otherwise you could do a lot worse than Poker Savvy Plus.

What’s good

Being one of the first online Poker training sites, Real Poker Training has had a lot of time to accumulate videos. At the time of writing there are just under 200 videos, and that number is increasing all the time. That’s a lot of material.

As one of the “old timers” in the poker training industry, RPT has had time to accumulate videos in a wide variety of fields. Every field you might be interested in is covered with many videos, and this is a strength that some other Poker training sites certainly don’t share. Like Sit N’ Gos? - you have 18 videos. Like 5 Card Draw? Well, RPT’s the only site that can provide you with 22 videos! They also have some great speciality lessons (Using an ICM Calculator/Poker Tracker Training/The Power of Position etc). Overall, the variety of the videos is excellent.

What else? Well, they have some written articles for complete beginners which are useful (but nothing groundbreaking), they have the message forums where you can seek advice from fellow members. Again, useful, but nothing you can find for free on the ‘net elsewhere. Oh, and there’s a 5 card draw system on the site too. This is a reasonably robotic system that you can follow (5 card draw is a lot less complicated that Holdem’). Along with the large number of 5 card draw videos, this should pretty much guarantee you becoming a 5 card winner. I didn’t try it personally though.

What’s bad

Nothing is perfect, so where does Real Poker Training fall down? Well, I wasn’t a huge fan of the video size. It was a little small for my liking, and there’s no full screen option. Also, the videos are not downloadable to your hard drive like some other sites.

On some of the videos the audio quality is fairly poor, although on the vast majority it’s perfectly fine. Also, you are treated to a wide variety of background noises. On one video the instructor even insists on watching American Idol at top volume while he plays the last 5 minutes of a Sit N Go. Not ideal!

Some of the instructors are better than others. Some take their time to explain things very well. Others are more brash. One of the guest instructors hardly made any explanation of this plays at all. Overall though, the instruction quality is fine.

It should also be mentioned that updates with new videos on the site do not happen at regular intervals. This can mean that current members who have watched all the existing content are left hanging.

Conclusion

Overall, Real Poker Training is fantastic value for money. A month’s membership is only $24, and there’s no sign-up fee like some other sites. That means you have access to nearly 200 videos for a tiny sum. Despite various minor failings, that fact just can’t be denied. As such, we heartily recommend the site.