Customer Reviews

Poker Secrets From Poker Champs

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

 

 

First there were Phil Hellmuth's Million Dollar System DVDs. Shortly after that came Howard Lederer's Secrets of No Limit Hold `Em DVDs, and now riding in on the heels of those two series comes Poker Secrets from Poker Champs released in December 2004. Just in time for Kwanzaa.

Poker Secrets from Poker Champs strays from the formula of the Phil Hellmuth and Howard Lederer DVDs in that it is presented in the form of a collection of interviews with several poker pros as opposed to a single poker player talking directly to the camera. The interviews primarily try to go over what advice the pro would give a player just starting out in poker, but also touch on experiences pros have had playing poker over the years.

If Poker Secrets from Poker Champs was created with the primary goal of teaching someone any kind of rigid or even slightly particular poker strategy, it failed miserably. It is more like getting 15 doses of potentially useful but ominously vague advice. It makes up for this, to some degree at least, in sheer quantity. Poker Secrets from Poker Champs clocks in at a little over 2 hours (most poker DVDs barely crack an hour), and covers a lot of ground accordingly. It doesn't get really in depth like your typical poker book would, but it does touch on a very wide variety of topics and there is certainly a lot to work with here for a beginner.

My favorite section was the very first interview with Daniel Negreanu. His advice seemed practical, and he seemed like the most articulate and genuine of the people interviewed. The other highlight was John Bonetti who seemed highly enthusiastic and likeable.

Much time is spent mentioning patience and position, and while those are certainly important elements of solid poker, they are merely mentioned here repeatedly. A book would go into greater detail, explaining why those concepts are important and how you can implement them properly when playing. This DVD merely states and restates that both are crucially important, mostly missing the why and how. Ultimately, this idea sums up this DVD: The information is good but lacks depth and at times context. It still is certainly worth watching as a sometimes entertaining collection of interviews with some of the best pro poker players, but not what most people would expect when purchasing a how-to poker video.

From a presentation/entertainment standpoint, the interviews are a bit shaky at times. The interviewer and interviewee interrupt each other periodically and there is some other random awkwardness at points. On the whole, some of the editing makes up for this, and the personalities of the poker players being interviewed shine through well enough in any case.

Conclusion: If you were looking for a DVD to help you improve your poker game I wouldn't recommend this one very strongly, but if you have any interest in watching a couple hours worth of interviews with about 15 of the top poker players (including Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harmon, and Scotty Nguyen along with the aforementioned Negreanu and Bonetti among others) then this is potentially worth a rental, and if you're a total fanatic it could be worth a purchase. I imagine some people will enjoy this and some will not watch the entire video.

With so much "junk" coming out all of the time I did'nt really know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Not so much with any great poker secrets but just the great cross section of input from 15 different world class players. The host, Susie Isaacs is a long time CardPlayer magazine writer and contributor and if you have been around for a while you know she has elevated her game by hanging out with some knowledgeable players. Specifically one of the later players in the interviews, Ron Stanly was her poker coach and mentor for a while and she credits him for her WSOP success. Also, this video is a DVD copy of the VHS version and was done about 4 or so years ago based on Daniel Negreanu stating his age of 26 (he is now 30). If you are a big televised poker fan you know that Negreanu went on an absolute terror in 2004 capturing the WSOP Player of the Year and CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year, so these interviews pre-date that amazing feat by 2 1/2 -3 1/2 years. Interesting that these players are pretty much still on the top of their games. The only one you might not know is Ron Stanly because he is a fairly low profile Vegas pro. It definitely could have used a little better editing but for Amazon.coms price of around $10.00 I think it is worth adding to you DVD collection. It is mostly tips and stories of how each player won their WSOP and other poker titles with a sprinkling of mostly beginner player poker advice. There are enough insights to make it interesting and worthwhile as long as you know ahead what you are buying.

I've been playing poker for only a short amount of time, but all the advise they offer in this DVD I have read in every poker book I have bought. I found no real secrets in this DVD. They tell stories about how they got into poker, then they all say to be patient and start with good hands. Well, duh! Every once in a while they touch (barely) on some other aspect of the game, but nothing I have not read many times in other books. I was completely disappointed.

The dvd has alot of famous poker players like johnny chan or Phil Ivey. They get into some stuff about poker strategy but all they really say is the importance of it instead about what it really is and they repeat some of the stuff they say, which is ok. They tell you to read books and they tell you when you should quit. The dvd is really about a poker players life instead of the strategy of the game.

I've seen alot of these poker DVDs and I think this one is the best! With all the other DVDs you only get instruction from one poker pro... with Poker Secrets from Poker Champs you get two and a half hours of tips from an all star cast of pros including Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier and many more! It was loads of fun to watch and I learned more from watching this DVD than all the rest put together. I've played poker for a couple of years but wasn't very good. Now I use what I learned from this DVD and I've become a steady winner! You can too!

This DVD is a must for any poker fan. The pros are a pleasure to listen to. In my mind, Daniel Negreanu was the best part. Basically, hearing him speak, regardless of the venue, is a great pleasure. He is one of the few pros who give you the sensation, whenever he speaks, that he is telling you the whole truth. His confidence in his abilities causes him to have no reason to fear fully sharing information with lower functioning players like us. I also got a kick out of Scotty Nguyen because he was warm and friendly which is not how I imagined him to be. As for John Bonnetti, that guy's a hoot. He's completely old school and I bet few people want to go toe to toe with him. Jennifer Harmon repeats some of the same solid advice she gives in Super System II: play fewer hands, and don't experiment with junk. I wish some of the micro-limit jerks who draw out on me would take some notes. You know, I'm a fan of T.J. Cloutier, and, once again, he does not disappoint or cheat the little man because he shares valuable information throughout his interview. He points out that you should not be a 1 bet, "All In!" guy. The good player manipulates and squeezes money out of his opponents throughout, and sets up situations where he can get some calls.

With all of the expertise and wonderful insight, the DVD deserves five stars, but I have to detract one due to the program host. She's absolutely worthless, and will not shut the heck up. Frankly, I found her to be an utter fool. Apparently, she considers herself the equal of these players and will not keep her mouth or agenda out of the interviews. She is obsessed with finding a way to get more women into poker. Oh, this tremendous stupidity and the constant, "Women can do it!" garbage becomes painful as she insists on wasting everyone's time with it.

I'm going to explain why there aren't more female poker players overall, and I hope she reads my explanation so she can learn something. Men, on the aggregate, are more thrill-seeking than women. This is true in regards to sex, drugs, or gambling. Men are always found in the more dangerous and risky professions, no matter of what society you reference. Males are also far more competitive, on average, than are women. These are global differences. There's no question that some outliers like Jennifer Harmon are every bit as good as any man, but, due to poker appealing more uniquely to the male character traits, those involved in the endeavor will be predominantly male. If the narrator of the DVD continues to doubt this, she should check on the gender of those who purchase Poker Secrets of the Champs.

This DVD has tons of big name professional poker players telling various stories and giving some tips here and there. There is some entertainment value here to see Negreanu and Ivey before they became poker superstars.

I enjoyed the DVD very much and it has a long running time of about 3 hours, so you get plenty of interviews and information. This DVD will not make you a great player, but it might motivate you to try to become a great player. Hearing world champion players tell you how to make it in the poker world is interesting and helpful. Their advice is incomplete and you would need to search many of the good poker books to fill in any gaps in stuff you don't understand if you are a new player, like playing position, starting hands, etc.

Overall, you have numerous poker players talking poker. If it appeals to you to hear Scotty Nguyen, T.J. cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu..and on and on, then this would be a great DVD to add to your collection. If you are looking for a DVD to teach you how to play poker or you are a new player seeking information, I would recommend one of the Howard Lederer DVDs for that.

After watching DVDs by Howard Lederer and Mike Caro I had the sensation of wanting to puke. I swore I wouldn't get any other poker DVDs but my interest was peaked by Poker Secrets from Poker Champs. After all this was a DVD that contained secrets from Johnny Chan, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, etc. Well, I'm glad I got it! This DVD is the best I've seen for poker instruction. You learn alot of different tips from the best players in the world. It's not filled with a lot of useless theories but more practical tips one can actually use in their own game. Watching this DVD is like having all these poker greats in your living room. If your sick of all the others, give this one a try!

I just recieved and viewed this DVD and learned a few things that will improve my game. The best thing I liked about the DVD is learning a little bit about how the poker pros think about the game and money management. Most of the strategy presented is very basic but I picked up some great ideas just from the way the players described how they like to play the game. The video and audio quality of the DVD is good as well. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I would have like to see some deeper strategy discussed but I guess with so many people interviewed (and it's good to get all of these perspectives) there just wasn't enough time. The DVD though is approx. 2 and a half hours of good helpful material especially for those who do not have alot of experience in the game. Would definately recommend watching and for the money this DVD costs you can't go wrong.

Excellent dvd. I enjoyed the different interviews by various pros. Great insight to how they view the game, themselves, and others.