Customer Reviews

Phil Hellmuth's Million Dollar Texas Hold 'Em - Tournament Strategies (Masters of Poker)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I own two of Hellmuth's DVD's... This one and his Online Secrets... Online secrets was absolute crap and a waste of money summed up by someone telling you to hold 'phil's top 10 hands' while he sits back n counts the money he makes for sales of the DVD. Thank Phil ; ) ..

Anyways this one was slightly better.. Some useful information between the lapses of filler time used to make the DVD longer.. I haven't seen either of these in awhile because I never bothered to watch them again.. Instead I found some more useful Sklansky DVD's, but prefer just reading and noting useful information...

Recently I left my job to play poker full time.. I'd recommend Sklansky books... Hellmuth's book is pretty good also.. much better than his DVD's at least..

I have purchased this DVD three times: twice from amazon and once from best buy. All three have been incorrectly packaged. It is the Online Secrets DVD incorrectly packaged as the Tournament Strategies DVD. This is a product flaw that you can not be aware of without opening the packaging and playing the DVD. Amazon has been good enough to accept both of my returns, even though they state that they don't accept opened DVDs. It's like buying Bambi and you put it in the player and discover its Debbie Does Dallas.

There is no information on this DVD whatsoever. Save your Money. I cannot believe it is called Tournament Strategies?
The only mention of tournaments is that "in tournaments you get to play 9 handed, 8 handed, 7handed, 6 handed etc....."
That is it.

Like the previous reviewer, the video was actually the online poker secrets. Thought (being a library copy) that the wrong disc was put into the jacket. Nope, the disc label said it was "Tournament Strategies" Ok, fine - I'm learning to play online poker anyway.

Production values are poor. Sure, each new topic is introduced with fancy computer generated graphics, but they're pointless and distracting rather than providing any actual benefit. The meat of the video consists of Phil staring directly into one camera in front of him, while a second camera cuts in often as he's still staring into the first.

Most important the information was weak at best and terrible advice at worst. Phil stresses repeatedly to play his "Top Ten Hands". As someone who's yet to post a blind, (online or off) I've learned enough to know that a pair of 7's is generally a lousy starting hand and should probably be folded unless you're calling from the blinds. But no, that's a top ten hand according to Phil. Never mind it's ranked mathematically as 30 of 169. Missing from these hands are several stronger hands. (KQs for instance) And absolutely no discussion about your starting position.

Perhaps he has a legitimate reason for including relatively low pairs, and of course, he'd like to sell you his "Million Dollar Secrets" which is supposed to go into more depth. Given that I have little confidence that the contents will match the label, be particularly informative, or that it would be an honest strategy guide; I think I'll pass.

As a total newbie with a few math skills, this book seems to be teaching bad habits. So sure, one might *want* to recommend the book to increase the number of "fish" at the tables. But it's egregiously dishonest of Mr. Hellmuth to line his pockets selling bad advice in a how-to guide. If someone asks for advice at the poker table, they deserve what they get. That is where I thought he made his money in the first place. I suspect few fish frequent the high stakes tables he'd haunt, so I guess this is his way of continuing to reel in suckerfish. Don't bite!

As many of you know, Tournament poker differs from the regular home games and cash games that people usually play. Because of the boom in popularity I started to notice a lot of tournaments popping up all over the place and I wanted to play in as many as I could. I watched this DVD and I learned a trmendous amount! Phil gives you overall theories as well as specific tips that will get you to the final table. And there is even a specific section on how to play the final table! Since watching this DVD I've won two tournaments and made thousands! I always knew Phil Hellmuth was a great poker player but who knew he was such a great teacher!!

Excellent 2 DVD Set. First DVD is on Texas Holdem. Second DVD is on Tells and Bluffs. In addition, each DVD has bonus tracts which Phil Hellmuth was nice enough to cover different side poker topic.
Excellent DVD's.

I bought the Phil Hellmuth Super Course with all 4 of his videos. I thought the videos were very disappointing and misleading. There were two major problems:

1. The top ten hands are very misleading and only the smallest limit games can be beat by using that strategy.

2. The tournament Strategies DVD spent most of the time discussing how to enter the WSOP main event instead of teaching how to play the game.


I thought the DVD's were very misleading because they gave a strategy that will only work in the smallest limit games and then gives the impression that by following his top ten hand system you will be able to enter the World Series. And to go a step farther, Phil did a poor job of showing how to use these ten hands. He makes little attempt to show the difference between pocket sevens and pocket queens. He also failed to show how position can affect the hands preflop. If you were under the gun in No-limit, then only half of the top ten hands could be played, and if you were on the button, then all of the ten plus Ace-X suited and connectors should also be played because they rate to win. Phil should have mentioned this in his DVD's.

The bottom line is this...Beginners who buy these DVD's will be WORSE OFF than they would be if they just never purchased them.
Thats a big problem.
My advice is to get Doyle Brunsons SuperSystem or any book by Dan Harrington.

Heres the video in a nutshell

Raise hands
Bluff hands
Go all in
Drink Tea
Play aggressive

Total beginner stuff, what a joke.

PREFLOP:
It's Full-screen, in 2.0 channel stereo. Total running time= approx. 90 minutes. Filmed in early 2004.

The main feature is 52 minutes long (not including titles, promos and end credits), plus, there's 37.5 minutes of special features (same ones that are on all his Dvd's though)--see 'The Turn' section, of this review, for the details.

Like most people, I got hooked on poker during 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP championship. I then started watching poker on tv, like a man possessed. Since one of the most entertaining players I watched was Phil Hellmuth, I chose his book, "Play Poker Like the Pros", as my first poker book. I learned that I should usually just jam the pot when I had the best hand, rather than slowplay. I learned about Phil's animal types (mouse=very tight player, etc.) and also about other poker games like Omaha, etc.

So, when I previously watched both his "Million Dollar Poker System" and "Secrets to Bluffing and Tells" Dvd's, I was bored and disappointed. They briefly touched on various topics, but they were just too basic.

Recently, however, I got a chance to rent this "Tournament Strategies" Dvd, and found it to be my favorite. Not because I learned any new poker strategy, but rather because it was the most entertaining and relaxing one to watch. Phil basically runs through the basics of how to enter the WSOP tournament and offers some tips on how to play in big tournaments.

What makes this Dvd at least mildly entertaining, is that Phil recounts actual situations from some of the many tournaments he's played in, which helps to better emphasize his various strategies. Such as, when he raised more than 20 consecutive times (to steal the blinds and antes), and rarely got called, because the other players were worried about being eliminated from the tournament (on the bubble).


FLOP:
This Dvd, like his entire "Master of Poker" series of Dvd's, has Phil once again sitting down behind a poker table, with some poker chips in front of him, talking to the camera. It looks silly when they film him from the side as he faces towards the other camera, but somehow he manages to keep it light and informative enough. He also seemed very happy. One annoying thing that occurred near the beginning though, was when Phil raised his hand to show his 1989 WSOP bracelet, and the cameraman didn't zoom in fast enough to let us see it up-close. I guess the budget was too low for a reshoot.

Phil talks about the way he likes to play just his top 10 hands, during the first 3-4 hours of tournaments (like the WSOP) with fast rising blinds. Then, when the blind structure slows down and the antes are introduced, he likes to open up and play less appealing hands. He mentions the all-in strategy beginners often use, and how they win a lot of pots this way, except for the last one. He also admits it works well against pros, but suggests that often enough, a raise of just half your stack is good enough to push players out of the pot. "Never bluff ALL your chips", he says. If the pot, is for example, $20,000 , Phil suggests a bet of $6,000 or so, would usually accomplish the same thing, without taking such a big risk.


THE TURN (Bonus Features):
Each of Phil's "Master of Poker" Dvd's, includes the same bonus features. You get the 'poker dictionary' (which accidentally leaves out A-K, from Phil's Top 10 hand list), and 37.5 minutes of extras. They include the following brief topics: Bad Beats, The Rake, Crazy Home Games, Tournaments Vs. Side Games, Knowing When to Quit, Love of the Game, Will Phil's Secrets Work for You? (13.5 minutes in length); Rank of Poker Hands, Phil's Top 10 Hands, and his Majority Play Hands (A-x suited, etc.)(12.5 minutes in length). As well, he explains the rules of Texas Hold' em, Seven Card Stud and Omaha (in only 11.5 minutes).

THE RIVER:
Is it worth buying? Not really, but Hellmuth fans should give it a rent. I found it relaxing to watch and it got me in the mood to play some poker, even before I finished watching it. Thanks Phil.