Easy game by Andrew Seidman - Page 7 - Books and Publications

Cwocwoc · 01-18-2010, 01:42 AM

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Originally Posted by Jabbershot

Most of the information in that book is not all that unique: bet sizing, isolation, pot control. etc. You can find it in plenty of sources. I'm not sure why one who would improve from that book could not get the same material cheaper and in a more accessible manner.

For Easy Game I to be a real book, it would need to be heavily revised and rewritten. It isn't that the material is bad so much as that it isn't anything we haven't see before. There's a marketing point with these e-books that at a high price, one must be buying privileged secrets on how to crush the game. That isn't necessarily so.

Just remember that the original price of Supersystem, in inflation-adjusted dollars, was $297.98. At the time, it was the only book of its kind and Internet forums didn't exist. So it was one of the few sources of serious poker info.

You are actually being very generous about this.The book contains very little 6 max material.It amounts to about 24 pages of material organised in 14 very short chapters.Comparing it to Ed Miller's Small Stakes No Limit Holdem it covers much the same subject area only there's far less of it and it completely misses out a lot of important topics eg in Easy Game vol 1 you get just over a page on 'Isolation theory'.On three-betting Siedman advises his readers to buy the Advanced book so three hundred bucks isn't enough to get his thoughts on this!My advice is to pay $65 for Ed Miller's 306 page book rather than £300 for the 30 pages of 6 max info in Easy Game Vol 1.It's the same sort of stuff only ten times as much for a fifth of the price.

**Mason Malmuth** · 01-18-2010, 03:35 AM

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Originally Posted by TrevRobCR

As for why the books cost so much? Well there are a lot of factors. First they front the money out of their own pocket to write the book, fund it, and distribute it. They have to pay for website development, marketing, editing, web site hosting, payment processors, customer support, etc. With companies such as 2p2, it's a huge company who orders the book and pays for all that and distributes the book in higher volume across the nation to bookstores where everyone can see and purchase it. With these ebooks, it's a target market.

This is extremely inaccurate. The largest cost that we have, by far, is printing, and at times the print cost of our inventory has been well over 1 million dollars. The things you mention are "a drop in the bucket" compared to what we do. In addition, we must completely pay for our printing before we receive any payment for the books that we sell. Also, once you have a large book inventory, there are many additional costs including salaries for book packers, etc, plus the cost of things you have never even thought of such as our fork lift.

But we are also going the ebook route, and I can guarantee you that the cost their is tiny compared to what we have to put out for production, storage, and handling of hard copy books. Also, if we misjudge what a book will sell, and this has happened due to the way the poker market has quickly changed, we end up with a lot of books that we can't sell and have to eat that cost.

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These players are great players but better instructors and authors. Baluga set the price according to what he felt the material in the book was worth for the target audience. These aren't books you just read with basic concepts in them like how to play AK like many 2p2 books. I've purchased about 20 poker books and maybe learned something new and small out of each one of them. Sure, that was worth the $30 price tag. However, that didn't improve or change my game drastically. I still had to figure many things out for myself. In the case of Baluga's Easy Game, it's not just another ordinary poker book. The book explains advanced concepts in today games. It breaks down concepts in easy to understand writing and doesn't withhold any questions you may have. This book is easily worth the price for anyone looking for the extra edge to improve their game, mostly SSNL/MSNL players. What you need to understand is that this book is almost like a complete coaching package from Baluga, which is worth well over the $900 price tag of this book.

Most of our books are in the 300 to 400 page range with many of them containing much theory and numerous detailed hand examples. Are you sure that all they tell you is how to play ace-king?

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I've also read "Let There Be Range" by Cole Sole. Is that worth the price tag? I feel like it was good, but that price tag of $1800 was a little too high. I feel it's easily worth its current price tag of $750 or whatever it is at. I learn more things in these e-books than I do any other standard $30 poker book because they are more advanced, which is the key concept.

Lastly, I don't care of Baluga becomes a losing player. His book is amazing and completely revamped my game. I'm sure I've already made the money back from the concepts I've learned and I can only continue to improve from there. His videos are also absolutely amazing. He is a great teacher, despite results, and the book is worth every penny. On top of that, you also don't have to worry about just anyone being able to read it. Only players who are serious on their game invest in it, and trust me, you won't see those guys at your stakes much longer.

You should care if the authors of these books are losing players. Furthermore, from what you have just written, your results derived from the information in the Baluga book come to around $1,000 dollar profit. That doesn't seem like much for a book that is completely "amazing."

MM

**Mason Malmuth** · 01-18-2010, 03:43 AM

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Originally Posted by Need Some Coaching

Winning 1.79 BB/100 over 213K hands is not that uncommon.

If someone is going to demand serious coin for strategy advice, he needs to have a track record I can trust. As in one million hands with a 3 BB/100+ winrate. That shows that someone is a consistent, disciplined winner over time.

Dusty Schmidt, for all his faults, is in that ballpark.

I disagree with this. As the games get tougher, especially at the higher limits where the games tend to be tougher still, an expert's relative win rate should drop. So depending on the game (and limits) 1.79 BB/100 may be extremely good.

Mason

**Mason Malmuth** · 01-18-2010, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avatar77

Fox's book is available at the Gambler's book store for $39.95. Is it still worth it?

No. It's a book about jacks-or-better draw poker which was a form of limit poker with only two rounds of betting meaning that many standard poker concepts, such as semi-bluffing, are not very important.

MM

avatar77 · 01-18-2010, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mason Malmuth

No. It's a book about jacks-or-better draw poker which was a form of limit poker with only two rounds of betting meaning that many standard poker concepts, such as semi-bluffing, are not very important.

MM

Mason,

Thanks for your response on this. Your original rating on this book was 9 and your comments on it in GBOT suggested that it is a highly recommended book regardless of which game you play.

It is actually funny that the Gambling Book Store still have a bunch of old outdated books that they refuse to price down to clear and instead insist on selling it at full cover price... books like Jim Fox's book for $39.95 and Ken Buntjer's Secret to Winning Big in Poker book for $49.95.

**Mason Malmuth** · 01-18-2010, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avatar77

Mason,

Thanks for your response on this. Your original rating on this book was 9 and your comments on it in GBOT suggested that it is a highly recommended book regardless of which game you play.

It is actually funny that the Gambling Book Store still have a bunch of old outdated books that they refuse to price down to clear and instead insist on selling it at full cover price... books like Jim Fox's book for $39.95 and Ken Buntjer's Secret to Winning Big in Poker book for $49.95.

The Fox book has value from a historical perspective, but they should throw the Buntjer books away.

Mason

mike1270 · 01-20-2010, 10:18 AM

i have watched many of baluga's vids on DC and was wondering how much of the book material is covered in those videos or is new information???

dave88 · 01-20-2010, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean'

<3

mike1270 · 01-24-2010, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike1270

i have watched many of baluga's vids on DC and was wondering how much of the book material is covered in those videos or is new information???

bump and i just had a look at the baluga website and it seems like a ghost town - is there an active private forum for owners of the book?

thanks

MezTheMaster · 10-10-2010, 05:24 PM

hey guys. I am still trying to find Easy game II. I like the first volume, but I cannot find the second one anywhere

donnyz89 · 10-10-2010, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike1270

i have watched many of baluga's vids on DC and was wondering how much of the book material is covered in those videos or is new information???

all the hands in those videos are probably new.

but honestly, its just difference perspective on looking at poker, its not like your gonna flip to something ridiculous like "raise 6x in bvb!!!".

I do like his videos/book, very straight forward and makes poker easy.