This was a decent dvd set but not groundbreaking. Perhaps I dont understand the golden ratio properly and its significance.

NLTAP taught me preflop and implied odds, hand range and equity vs range.
Professional NLHE taught me the importance of stack to pot ratio and the commitment threshold.
Harrington (touney, not cash) taught me hand reading analysis.
Various 2+2 posts have taught me the importance of way behind, way ahead and controlling the pot.

By way of disclaimer, i have only seen the dvd set once but generally it seems to merely increase your 3bet range significantly but doesnt instruct you on how to play these 3 bet pots, in position or oop. Now 3 betting wider may be better inherently, but the dvds should explain how to play them.

C-bet more often, C/R air more often, raise with air more often? I think this is something missing from a guide which suggests 3betting more frequently.

This said, I play almost exclusively FR online and live so 3 betting wider may not be so applicable to these games in any event.

All of this said, its not a bad dvd and includes some good content on flop texture and bet sizes.

overall a decent dvd but by no means one of the first ones to buy.

ok so,

50 - 20 (investment) = 30.

30 what? 30% fold equity?

What does this number do for me?

Here's what does not make sense yet to me. Let's use extreme equity examples. Same bets but I flop quad A's and have 100% equity in the pot.

30 / 100% equity = 30
30 - 20 (investment) = 10 (what does this 10 mean?)

I flop where I am drawing dead.

30 / 1% equity = 300

300 - 20 (investment) = 280

280 what???

Please, provide clarity.

Haven't ordered the DVDs yet, but I plan to next week.

Beanland, I'm not sure what method he's using in the DVDs, but Grunch had a good post on fold equity here:

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...umber=10513205

Also, by estimating that you're a 60% favorite, you don't need FE. You never want villain to fold. You're already +EV, where as FE is added to current equity to make a -EV play a +EV play(having only 40% equity but wanting more than 50% to make your play +EV). I'm no math expert but I'm pretty sure that any calculation will give you a negative number.

Using Grunch's method I came up with 16% (1+1-1-1-1+1= 1/6 which is 16%)

Notice that his method is unusable as a favorite, since (1+1+1+1+1+1-1-1-1-1=0/10 which obv equals zero).

I'm wondering if his math isn't pot+bet+call/(equity-investment)

Now going back to his math, but us being the 2:3 dog:

30/(30*.4)-10
30/12-10
30/2=15

That's close. Not sure if that's what he was saying though.

Consequently 30/(30*.6, or 18)-10=3.75 so you'd want villain to fold 4%. Doesn't make sense to me since we don't want villain to fold, us being the favorite.

I'm probably doing it wrong too. But hopefully the above post I linked to will help.

I have watched the DVD and read Bobbos book and the DVD is pretty much the same as the first chapters of the book. There is some very good advice in it. Especially the board texture analysis is good. There is also some good stuff about basic concepts like RIO and implied odds.

At first glance I was impressed by the concept of the golden ratio. But in practice this doesn't work for me. The problem with a specified air range is that 3bet bluffs don't take situational factors into account enough. There are too many good spots to 3bet with Q3o and too many bad spots to repop 54s that this golden ratio is somewhat blind to opportunities. I like a more flexible approach.

Overall a good DVD for preflop and flop play. Post flop play is not covered but for the price it is worth it.

I hope the PS store gets this back in stock soon so I can get it. It sounds like a good purchase.

That is kinda disappointing it doesn't go into post flop play though.

EDIT: Can someone who has seen the dvds tell me if they have much info on hand ranges and hand reading? I'm really interested in focusing on improving this aspect of my game and wondered if these had much in respect to this.

I really liked the DVDs, one question: is there also a golden ratio to 4bet?

Maybe I’m too green, but I found the first viewing of the CDs rather disappointing.

I’m looking for suggestions trying to get more from the CDs; and improve my game in general. I did take notes and am going to view them again.

First a bit of my background

I do NOT play online; I play in a casino about one a month.

For the past two years in the casino, I have played limit all but two times. The 2x I played NL ($1-$2) I was won. I have played quite a bit of home game NL with very good success: placing in “tournaments” with anywhere between (10 to 35 people) more than half the time.

I have read HOH-I-II-III,HOC-I-II,PNL1,TOP,Winning Strategies for NL Holdem, etc. etc.

Here are some things that I was disappointed in.

1. The first CDs talk a lot about equity, but not so much how to apply it.

2. The second CD with three-betting completely blew me away. I have to spend some serious time with it. How much of this applies to the relatively loose live SSNL?

3. The third CD was more straightforward. I like the flop rankings, but it was somewhat standard. Therefore it seemed like it could have been done faster with some time devoted to the turn and the river.

Thanks in advance for your help

1) You should maybe consider reading Professional No Limit. It has a decent chapter about equity (as far as I remember). Failing that, buy a membership to DC and watch the Mathematics of Poker series

2) This is the best part of the set. Can't tell you how much it applies to live games though

3) The third disk had some decent information on it but things get quite a bit more complex on the turn and river and there's no way you could get bye with a 30 minute discussion of them

Live games and 3 betting: Very few opponents in the small stakes live games 3 and 4 bet the same way. I don't think you need to worry about polarizing your range as much. For instance: if your opponent won't ever 4 bet you light, you can 3 bet/fold a hand knowing you've received perfect information. Against a really aggressive player, you'd hate to 3 bet JJ and fold to their push. In a lot of live games, I think that's OK. It really depends on your opponents. In the live games I play there just isn't much light 3 betting, but people are opening to 6X or whatever, which gives you pretty good incentive to 3 bet yourself. Figure out what they do when you 3 bet-- do you have fold equity? Will they call and play fit or fold? Or will they call and give you headaches?

I thought it was pretty flexible..Somewhere on DVD he mentioned
to increase your 3 bet air range vs players that either fold
more to the 3 bet and/or fold more to the flop C-bet....Therefore
if its not working, your likely 3 betting LAGs that dont like
to give up post flop, or 3 betting extreme TAGs and C-betting
too much when they call and see flop.

when this was first released it was eagerly anticipated and there was lots of good reviews. 2 years on how do people feel about it? are people using the "Golden Ratio"?

Bump

It's still great but needs updating in parts imo. For instance in today's aggressive games you need to be 3-betting at least 130% of your range from all positions (except UTG obv lol - 110% is still fine here), unless you enjoy setting money on fire. Online cash games in 2011 are like rabid, crack-enhanced dog-fights, you need to tear everyone to pieces before they do the same to you, which they will if you so much as blink. It's brutal out there these days.