Sup guys,

I'll most likely be launching my educational product, Smashing Fewer Holes in Your Computer Desk: Written Insights on Modern Internet Poker, later this week. Here's its cover page to whet your appetite:


I've poured hundreds of hours over the last couple of months into making this thing as good as it can be. As mentioned, I'll be providing discounts to the first several buyers, so if you're interested in "trialing" something unique, please monitor this thread.

I'll resume video reviews upon its release.

GL,
Jon

How much it will be tannenj?

Thanks for the question, sir.

It'll be $500 for the full package, but I understand that many people don't want to drop that much money on an educational poker product (without getting a strong taste of its quality, at least), so I'll also be offering two smaller packages (one for $300, one for $75) and providing everyone with the option to "complete" his purchase if desired by paying the remainder of the cost ($200 for those who own the $300 option, $425 for those who own the $75 option [those who own the $75 option and want to "upgrade" to the $300 option will also be able to pay $225 to do so]).

Finally, I'll be selling the full package at a 25% discount ($375) to the first five individuals who have 100+ posts and promise to review it in this thread or the "Books and Publications" forum within a few weeks of receiving it (you don't have 100+ posts, but if you decide that you want to take advantage of this upon launch, PM me and we can discuss).

I'm not going to bull**** you: the product's not cheap, but it shouldn't be cheap. It took a ton of time to produce and contains a depth and quality of information the likes of which have never been seen before in something like this. As you can see, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by selling it for $499.99 or $495. I'm also not going to obnoxiously post bold or colored text to attempt to grab you by the **** and nag you to focus on certain portions of what I write. Finally, I'm not going to bump this thread twice a day upon releasing the product à la X, Y, and Z (people can do whatever they want; I'd rather live my life). I'm confident that after a handful of people buy it, they'll be enthusiastic enough about it to spread the word for me.

Much more information (and a parodic "infomercial" ) is forthcoming. If you're interested, please stay tuned for the full ad.

What does this cover? I'm not even sure if this is a book? A video? A combination of both? I'm potentially interested in being one of the first five with a review.

It doesn't cover one specific facet of poker like this or this. It's meant to provide the buyer with a comprehensive understanding of what goes on in my head as I play (or observe) hands of no-limit hold 'em. It's meant to answer to the question, "Why is my (the buyer's) win rate 0-3 bb/100 and your (my) win rate ~6 bb/100?"

Despite what the monkey US government might think, the answer obviously isn't "luck." Despite what the dumbass bro with sunglasses and a stupid watch might think, the answer isn't "feel" or "intuition." Despite what the clueless noob might hope, the answer isn't "a system." The reasons my win rate was as high as it was are 1. I take into consideration significantly more factors than the average regular and 2. I think significantly more clearly about the game than the average regular.

I believe I do a good job of transferring this information to students during coaching sessions (the reviews in this thread corroborate that), but 1. unlike most people, I happen to communicate much more effectively in a written format than an oral one and 2. my product is a much better "value" than my coaching, in general; I believe the product is equivalent to (will improve your win rate as much as) at least 20 hours of my coaching. To be fair, you'll sacrifice the advantage of personalization by buying my (or anyone's) educational product instead of my (or anyone's) coaching, but I'm mitigating that to some extent by providing a brief coaching session to everyone who buys the full package.

The reason I keep using the word "product" and being vague about the format is that it's neither an e-book nor a video series. It has elements of both. It's three cherry-picked, heavily polished writeups on student videos (see the OP) along with a heavily polished version of the strategy material I send to each student prior to the beginning of coaching sessions and a bunch of extras. It consists of the three videos (one ~1.5-hour video, two ~45-minute videos) along with folders containing locked PDFs and other goodies.

Again, everything should become 110% clear when I post the ad ... of course, if there are any questions at that point, I'll be more than happy to field them.

Thanks for the interest,
Jon

Hi Jon,

I like your attitude towards selling and the game. I like to talk to you via Skype or whatever to discuss my options and the most prefered and best option for met to pick. Please PM me or contact me via skype to sort things out .

Thanks,

Eduard

I decided I wanted to polish a couple of components a bit more before launch. My apologies; didn't intend to mislead anyone. Won't be long, I promise.

Added you on skype regarding coaching. skype: george.sharp1

I have been playing online poker (mainly NL100 and NL200) for about three years now. In 2011, I asked Jon to review my game in form of session recordings. He has reviewed four consecutive sessions, and what can I say? I really enjoyed all of them! I especially appreciate the quality of Jon’s work, and I can recommend it without any constraints. Considering the time and effort he puts in (his analysis is VERY thorough and detailed), I personally think it’s absolutely worth the price. As with any similar coaching product, the learning effect you get out of it closely correlates with the effort you put in yourself. For example, I think that, when you record your session, it is crucial that you articulate as much of your thought process as possible (it sounds so simple and obvious, but it’s really not). Also, mention spots that give you trouble and explain the reasons for that. The more you provide Jon with how you think about poker, the more he’s able to explain where his thought process differs, and why. My experience was, that after 2-3 session, I recognized certain areas which repeatedly came up in Jon’s commentary. At that point, I noticed some flaws I previously was not aware of. For example, after re-watching the third video and listening to my own commentary, I just realized that I was constantly questioned my preflop play with hands such as KJo, ATo etc. out of position. For that reason, I would recommend taking at least 2-3 sessions to have your general game reviewed, and then maybe focus more on special areas and certain aspects. If I wasn’t taking a break from online poker at the moment due to personal time constraints, I most probably would ask Jon for additional session reviews. Besides that, I would DEFINITELY get his new product. I just cannot imagine it not being worth the price. Hope this helps you to get an impression of what to expect. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

I play cash games 3-5, 5-10, games are 300-500 bb deep, games are 3 to 5 sometimes 6 handed. I don't play online never have and never will don't know how to read poker tracker. Would any of your courses help improve my game. Do you have any experience in these types of games (doesn't have to be live)? What info would you need from me for 1-1 coaching? Thank you for your time.

whatsyourplay?,

Much appreciated. Hope everything's been going well on your end.

Ventura,

Thanks for the question.

To be honest with you, you'd probably get better value by going with a different coach (this guy comes to mind). Much of the value in my coaching comes from my ability to use (and, therefore, teach the use of) tracking software.

With that being said, I'm very confident in my ability to coach any NLHE cash game format (because I'm very confident in my NLHE fundamentals), have coached live players in the past, and have played with 300+-bb effective stacks in the past (the vast majority of my play has taken place with 100-200-bb effective stacks, though; I consider myself a 100-200-bb NLHE cash game specialist). The issue that exists with live players with regard to coaching is that it can be tricky to discuss hands that were played by the student because 1. live hands don't get transcribed anywhere (obviously) and 2. it's difficult to recall every last detail of multiple hands that were played in a live arena (it's relatively useless to discuss NLHE hands of which you don't recall every little detail -- NLHE is a complicated game and one's win rate hinges mostly on his ability to compile and react to small details). I have a nifty way of discussing live hands with students through Skype that's helpful as far as keeping track of the details of each hand (I'll show you if you book a session), but it's imperative for the student to be able to provide this information prior to the beginning of our discussion of each hand.

No matter whom you choose, I strongly recommend making it your business to show up equipped with 1. the detailed action of 5-10 interesting hands you've played recently and/or 2. a list of concepts and/or situations you think you'd benefit from discussing prior to your first session. Don't jump into it "cold," you'll end up wasting your money.

I don't offer any "courses." I'll be launching an educational product very soon (it consists of very thorough written analysis on videos that were sent to me by students along with a bunch of other written material) from which I believe just about everyone would benefit by purchasing, though (see below).

All,

I'm working on Smashing Fewer Holes in Your Computer Desk right now ... decided to take a quick break to field my man's question. The truth is that 1. I would've had it on the market more than a month ago if I weren't one of the most anal/prideful humans on the planet and 2. I have very little ability to estimate the length of time it'll take me to accomplish things. I think that's the case for lots of poker players. I'm going to launch it very soon, though, as mentioned, and I have a feeling that the effort I've put into it will be appreciated.

GL,
Jon

Edit: Actually, Ventura, forget everything written above. Hire me, I'll teach you how to do this.

Tannenj's post way back in the day about playing junk IP after stealing the button, was a pretty eye opening post for me at the time. It was one of those post's I would go back and read whenever I felt tilted. That was years ago and it appears he continued to find success in the poker games since then. Seems like a solid coach, I wish him luck on his new project. It will probably be very good.


Jeremy

This review is long overdue and 100% unsolicited.

I've had about four or five coaching session with Jon over the last couple months. I've been a winning uNL player for the past couple years, mostly in full ring, and Jon coached me while I was transitioning to six max and beginning to take my game more seriously. I would HIGHLY recommend Jon as a coach, especially considering his rate. There's really no justifiable reason to pay someone else $500/hr for coaching when this option is available.

Our first session was a live sweat, the others were hand history reviews handpicked by moi. We covered 3betting, 4betting, playing 3bet pots, continuation betting, and a variety of other topics. FWIW I've watched a ton of videos/read posts/books/looked over my hands but learned a lot from these sessions. Jon is articulate and detailed in his responses and evaluation of your play. It's apparent he enjoys discussing poker, and I felt like he honestly cared about my progression as a player.

The best part about having Jon as a coach is the amount of effort he puts into your relationship. This guy worked around my schedule with no problem, gave me a TON of extra time/value over multiple sessions, sent me material to look over, provided homework, responded to my threads on 2p2, responded to hand histories over email, etc. etc.

My experience with Jon was great, definitely the best poker coaching I've hired without question. Before my first session I was struggling six tabling 10nl six max. Two months (or so) later I'm nine tabling a 25nl/50nl split and hope to take shots at SSNL in not too long. I believe that speaks for itself.

markdirt,

Much appreciated. Don't hesitate to hit me up with a hand history when you feel like it.

Jeremy,

Thanks, dude. It's crazy that it's been more than five years since I wrote that. Poker was my life back then, and that was the case for a few of my friends as well, though they weren't quite as extreme about it. Obviously poker is still a big part of my life, but things aren't the same now ... partly because things change, and partly because of the scumbag US gov't. Legislation one time?

There are a few portions of the post that cause me to cringe a little when I read them now, but I like to think it was a good effort given the info. that was out there at the time and the fact that I'd only been playing NLHE for a little over a year. The seventh reply in the thread:

I used to chat with this guy on AIM a bunch; he developed into a profitable 5/10 player. Super nice guy, but if he thinks the post was long, he'd better stay away from Smashing Fewer Holes in Your Computer Desk.

On that note, SFHiYCD will officially launch within the next few hours (please stay tuned to this thread for my ad). My apologies to those of you who've requested written video analyses in the last month or so. I'm now accepting student videos again ... I'll contact you guys individually within the next couple of days to see if you're still interested. My apologies for delaying the release of SFHiYCD, as well. I hope those of you who buy it will think the wait was worth it.

Sup bros (and broettes?),

I'm not going to post strings of checkboxes, attempt to convince you that I have a "system" that'll turn you into the next Phil Ivey, or whore myself out in the comments sections of popular players' TableRatings pages in hopes of making an extra few thousand bucks. I'd rather sleep well at night (or in the morning and early afternoon ... I'm a poker player, after all). This stuff is difficult. There are no shortcuts to a strong hourly earn rate.

What I am going to do is announce the release of my new educational product, a collection of material that I sincerely believe is equivalent to 20+ hours of my private coaching, a $2,100+ value according to the market (I began coaching at $60/hour ~six months ago and have twice been forced to raise my rate due to a plethora of requests). I also sincerely believe that it's a collection that'll eventually become known as something of a bible of no-limit hold 'em HUD use.

I'm proud to present Smashing Fewer Holes in Your Computer Desk: Written Insights on Modern Internet Poker © (that's my old computer desk in the photo on the cover page). It's a unique product that's more or less a set of three written "leak finders" ... but each of them is significantly more thorough than any leak finder I've ever seen (and I've seen many). My goal in releasing this product is to cater to the audience that seeks out leak finder videos on training sites while exploring the scenarios that arise in vastly more depth than would even the most conscientious leak-finder-producing training site pro. My wheelhouse audience -- the individuals I believe stand to get the best bang for the buck from the product -- is players like this guy who are marginal winners at shorthanded $100 NL, but I sincerely believe that just about every player will get more than his money's worth by purchasing it. Every author of this sort of educational product posts something along those lines, but 1. I mean it and 2. I have a well-documented history of refusing to post (or say) things I don't mean.

As you know if you've read the original post in this thread, I encourage students and potential students to record live videos of themselves playing and orally commenting on no-limit hold 'em in real time so that I can provide them with written minute-by-minute analyses of their decision-making processes. 100% of these written analyses have been met with distinct satisfaction.

Recently, I decided to cherry-pick three of them, unite them with the videos with which they're associated, supplement them with the set of strategy articles I provide to each student prior to the beginning of our coaching relationship, polish each component, throw in some extras, and sell the package to interested parties (but only after obtaining permission from the creators of the chosen videos and having a professional video editor anonymize each video for me). The idea is for customers to print a video's accompanying written analysis (or open it on a second monitor if possible) prior to clicking "Play" and consult the analysis intermittently via clicking "Pause" as events unfold.

What's included:

1. ~50 pages of my written analysis on a ~90-minute student video covering four tables of $50 NL.

2. ~25 pages of my written analysis on a ~48-minute student video covering three tables of $50 NL and one table of $100 NL.

3. ~18 pages of my written analysis on a ~45-minute student video covering four tables of €200 NL.

Altogether, the three written analyses clock in at ~93 pages and 65,301 words (not ~57,000, as my “infomercial” suggests; it was produced several weeks ago, I've since added content). According to this post by Mason Malmuth, that's the length of a ~266-page Two Plus Two Publishing book (Harrington on Hold 'em, Volume 1 has 381 non-introductory/index pages; The Theory of Poker has 316).

4. A set of 10 strategy articles that I could likely use as the backbone of an e-book if I wanted to go that route. Instead, I'm including them here because they're referenced frequently in the written analyses and I want those who buy the product to glean as much from it as did the students for whom the written analyses were originally produced:

-"Balance vs. Exploitation"
-"Preflop Primer"
-"Ranges of Hands to Play From the Blinds Against Late-Position Raises"
-"Playing Small Pocket Pairs Against Habitual 3bettors"
-"W$WSF %, W$SD %, and WTSD % Primer"
-"Number Ranges for Peripheral Stats"
-"Continuation Betting vs. Checking on the Flop"
-"Conditions That Should Make You More Likely to 3-barrel Bluff"
-"Determining Whether You Have Enough Fold Equity to Go All In"
-"Suggested HUD Layout"

Altogether, the strategy articles clock in at 6,897 words.

5. A file containing my personal PokerTracker 3 setup (it'll modify both your HUD and in-program tabs [in some cases via the addition of custom stats, two of which I created myself]) for those of you who happen to use PokerTracker 3. Installing my setup is as easy as opening PokerTracker 3, clicking "File" and "Restore," and selecting the included file.

6. 30 minutes of Skype discussion with me about any of the scenarios that come up in the videos, any of the content in the strategy articles, politics or MMA, or any combination of the aforementioned subjects. Or we can spend the time BSing and sharing in-client chatting tactics designed to put opponents on tilt. It's up to you.

7. Supplementary goodies.

8. Easter eggs (seriously).

There are individuals who can boast superior deep-stacked no-limit hold 'em results to mine and individuals who are better at writing than I am, but I sincerely believe that there are few individuals who can put those abilities together and write about deep-stacked no-limit hold 'em poker as well as I can. Compounding that is the unlikelihood that any such individual is willing to sacrifice the personal time it takes to put together a product of this scope.

This product doesn't derive its bulk from pretentious DOG IS HEAD/traheho-style material, it derives it from numbers-heavy-kick-you-in-the-face-and-drench-you-with-logic material. Instead of attempting to convince you that I have a talent for breaking down no-limit hold 'em in a written format, though, I'm going to invite you to focus on 1. the (unsolicited) reviews that have been posted in this thread (not to mention the ones that will arrive following the submission of this post) and 2. several samples I've pulled from the product:




You should consider buying this product if:

1. You learn better by reading words than hearing them spoken.

2. You've bought an e-book or five and are interested in improving your game by studying something fresh.

3. You're a "numbers player" and want to bolster your understanding of poker math and/or learn how to use your HUD optimally.

4. You want to pick the brain of a successful player about the scenarios that tend to arise in the world of contemporary Internet poker but haven't gotten around to doing so because you'd rather not clown around with video-making software or have to coordinate timing with someone who lives halfway around the planet.

5. You tend to enjoy learning from individuals who are willing to attempt to insert humor into the educational process.

You should avoid this product if:

1. You don't care about poker.

2. You can't read.

3. You're uncomfortable with the idea of me surrounding myself with hookers and blow.


Click the image above to purchase the product. I'll email you download links within 24 hours of your purchase time.

I've decided to sell the product at 25% off -- $375 -- to the first five individuals who have 100+ posts and email me at the Gmail address in my "infomercial" to request a copy. The catch: you must agree to post a substantive review of the product in this thread or the "Books and Publications" forum within a few weeks of receiving it (I have little ability to enforce this ... please don't be an ******* about it). Additionally, it's likely that I'll give you some sort of discount if 1. you're a popular and/or talented writer who promises to post a review of the product on 2+2 or in some other high-traffic location or 2. you're a student or former student of mine who's purchased at least three coaching sessions.

If you'd like a signed hard copy of the written material to in addition to the electronic version, please purchase the electronic version of the product and respond to my email with your address and I'll be happy to accommodate you. I'll charge you $33 (the cost of producing a partial-color hard copy at Kinko's) plus the cost of shipping, however.

If 1. $500 is a bit much for you and/or 2. you'd like to get a stronger taste of the product prior to making the commitment to purchase the whole thing, I'm also offering a couple of smaller deals:

1. $300 will get you a "mini-product" consisting of the 10 strategy articles and ~50 pages (34,361 words) of my written analysis on the ~90-minute student video.

2. $75 will get you the 10 strategy articles.

If you purchase one of these and then decide you want the entire product, you can ship me the remainder of the cost ($200 if you own the mini-product, $425 if you own the strategy articles) and I'll have the whole thing to you within 24 hours (if you purchase the strategy articles and then decide you want the mini-product, you can ship me $225 and I'll have the mini-product to you within 24 hours).

Finally, a quick note about piracy (please ignore the spoilered content unless you're considering purchasing and pirating the product ):

Thanks for reading,
Jon