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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poker stories not poker strategy..., January 18, 2005
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.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
better than I expected, November 12, 2005
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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
No secrets here, December 31, 2004
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.
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