Thanks Mason, I know your feedback is going to help me improve my writing skill so I'm very appreciative of that.

One final thing I should mention (I only just remembered this): I had asked Anna to do more of a "blunder check" rather than the most in-depth edit possible. This was to save a bit of time and also because I didn't feel my readership would be put off by issues like the one you illustrated. I'm quite confident she saw this and decided it fell into the category of "minor blunder".

While I made a concerted effort to write as well as I could, I'm just beginning this journey and still have a lot of weaknesses and blind spots. I look forward to more of your feedback so I can continue to improve.

Hi restacks:

I'm just starting to read your book and after this post my emphasis will not be on the writing. However, I've looked at a lot of manuscripts over the years, many which we published, and even more that we didn't publish, and virtually all of them needed editing, and this includes those written by me.

Here is the first paragraph (and since this is a book for sale I won't be putting a lot of excerpts up) in the "Chart Terms Defined" chapter:

Being able to properly visualize our strategy and the optimal response is the most direct path to poker improvement. Unfortunately, due to the vastness of PLO ranges, there is no easy way to create visuals the way the 13x13 grid did for NLH in PioSOLVER. To remedy this, I have opted to create charts that graphically represent our strategy. These charts will allow you to see every major subcategory of hands, how often it occurs in our range, how often that group chooses to take a certain action, and where a certain subgroup of hands falls in our opponent’s range. With training, you will also be able to imagine how the strategy represented in each graph will change based on your opponent’s tendencies.

Here is my rewrite:

Being able to visualize strategy as well as the optimal response is the best path to improving your strategy. Unfortunately, due to the vastness of PLO ranges, there'ss no easy way to create visuals similar to the 13x13 grid for NLH that programs like PioSOLVER produce.

To remedy this, I have created charts which graphically represent expert strategy. They allow you to see every major subgroup (of hands), how often they occur in our range, how often you should, depending on the category, take a certain action, and where each subgroup falls in our opponent’s range. With training, it should also become possible to imagine how the strategy represented in each graph will change based on your opponent’s tendencies.

Best wishes,
Mason

Mason, this is a book written by a poker professional. You should expect the writing quality to be poor, and the information excellent. Nobody buys a $1600 poker manual expecting good writing.

I think for $1600 we can expect both.

Hi Ralph:

What I think the author needs to do is to look at my post and compare his version of the paragraph to my rewrite. If he feels that his version holds up well relative to my version, he should be done. If he thinks that my version is a lot better, my suggestion is to go our and find a competent editor (who has worked in poker/gambling) and work on improving the writing. It's not my decision.

Best wishes,
Mason

Mason's edits are clear improvements, I agree. This is certainly not the last iteration of the book and all the buyers will get the updates for free.

I guess what I would say to a prospective buyer is: Read my original passage that Mason included and look at his improvement. If you feel my original passage is unreadable, please let me know and I'll make changing that a priority. I suspect that for most of the audience the poker content will be their primary focus. I also suspect that most won't pick up on the issues Mason is illustrating which require a high degree of literary skill to detect.

Regardless, I'm happy to receive the feedback

I agree with that the book is lacking proper editing. As an example the description of the charts is inconsistent. Some show SPRs, while others don’t etc. There is no page count too.
Makes studying unnecessarily hard..

Okay, thanks for the feedback. That's an easy fix on my end. I'll aim for the update to be released in 1 month. I figured the PDF reader would take care of the page count issue. Is that not the case?

yeah, it is. I printed some out though, as I prefer studying that way.

I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to send out print copies. I prefer that as well. I didn't think the graphics would be readable and wanted to leave people the option to zoom in.

The upside is that since it's an ebook, it makes sense to think of the book as a new piece of software. Never perfect at the beginning, but future iterations will see an improvement.

I've already started a list of things to improve. Feel free to email me any issues or drop them here. I'm going to add some more content in various places too.

Hi Everyone:

I have now read a little of the book and since all my earlier comments were somewhat negative I wanted to add something positive.

Based on the small amount I've read, this does look like a strong book. For instance, I thought the author did a good job of explaining why the in position player when the SPR is 2 should make a small bet, if he bets, after the out of position player bets.

I'll also be slowly reading my way through it and may add comments here and there. However, in whatever I say, everyone should understand that I'm not a PLO player so may not always get everything right.

Best wishes,
Mason

If SPR is 2 and the OOP donks, he'll be potting it which is effectively a shove and there wouldn't be any room for IP to make a small bet.

Maybe you're referring to when he was explaining that as SPR approaches 2.9, OOP can consider a quarter pot bet sizing, so as to be able to maintain a larger betting range than if he chooses a pot size.

I think I meant to write “after the out of position player checks.

Best wishes,
Mason

damn should have had a competent editor look at that

Thanks for the insult, but you're actually correct. These type of errors in highly sophisticated poker strategy books are easy to make, and this is one of the things we look for when editing a book of this type.

Mason

If Mason replies to your a message and doesn't include his standard "Best wishes", means you probably rustled him deeply

We have come a long way from the Hemingway Defence (yes, with a "c" as I am a Limey) found in A Note On The English, 7CSFAP and elsewhere. What is the Hemingway Defence? Well, 2+2 were so stung by the criticism of the prose found in their books they argued that with all the money their advice made us we could buy any number of Hemingway books and enjoy the prose found in them.

I am glad 2+2 and the individuals in it grew.

Al Mirpuri

Hi Everyone:

While my reading has been very slow, I've now read about 50 pages of the book. And, keep in mind that I'm not very knowledgeable about PLO. But with that in mind, this does appear to be a strong book based on what I've read.

Best wishes,
Mason

Can you elaborate?

Bearing in mind you may not be strong at PLO what concepts/principles lead you to believe this is A+ material?

(And I am not shilling. I am a potential buyer who wants a price crash )

Hey,

On my website, I have a free downloadable version of the table of contents and one of the early chapters of the book if you'd like to check it out. This chapter falls in the first 50 pages of the book so it's one of the chapters that Mason has read at this point.

Hi rdedrde1:

As one example I thought the author's discussion of "Contradictory Exploits" was quite good.

Best wishes,
Mason

Haven't we learned by now $1000 poker books are for suckers??? There is so much wrong with buying a super expensive poker book. What if your opponents read the same book? How would you have an edge? What if your opponents are brilliant and crush you anyway after reading this book? If the information in this book could be translated into making a good living playing poker, why would crybaby Cory, the guy who's fault it is heads up PLO was removed from WPN, being selling it in the 1st place??? Good poker players that make real money play poker. Broke poker players are trying to coach suckers!!

thats right kiddos... never buy study materials
better yet, never even study at all. what if your opponents study the same thing!? you'll have no edge !
never train for anything because what if, just if, someone who is brilliant still beats you after training... All has been for nothing!!

How did Cory get heads up PLO removed from WPN?

I did this.

It all looks kosher to me.

Though, I am just a microstakes plo reg.