- 1to5.com is a new free poker training site that uses hands that have been seen at major tournaments and on TV shows to teach poker lessons.
- A hand replayer is used, which pauses for viewers to choose an action. A narrated analysis explains the factors associated with each possible action.
- ChicagoJoey from 2+2 takes high stakes PLO hands involving top players and provides an entertaining and illuminating analysis in the form of a video blog.
- Both options are free and both offer good quality advice in an entertaining manner.
Two new options for free low level training have been launched, 1to5.com and the first of a series of blog videos by Joe “ChicagoJoey” Ingram. While adopting a completely different approach, both use high stakes hands by well known players to provide learning examples.
1to5.com
1to5.com is based in New York and uses a hand replayer to display hands taken from major tournaments and TV shows such as High Stakes Poker. The hand plays out up until a critical decision point, and the viewer is then asked to choose between a selection of decisions. On making a choice, players can see what percentage of other viewers made the same selection.
Pressing play on the video then restarts the hand to see what decision was actually made. When the hand is played out, viewers can replay it, or switch to an analysis video where a narrator explains the finer points of poker strategy that the hand has been chosen to exemplify. The advantages and disadvantages of each possible decision are explained.
The methodology means that the site doesn’t need a stable of high paid coaches in order to show hands from top players such as Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. The narrator has pitched the analysis at a level which will suit many recreational players as well as being of interest to regular players who may see deeper into the decision making process.
Hands identified as in Series 1 are available to everyone. Membership is currently free, requiring just a password and email address. Registration as a member provides access to “series 2 and series 3” which will be delivered at the rate of two new hands a week.
ChicagoJoey VideoBlog
Using his screen name JoeIngram1, prolific 2+2 poster and high stakes PLO player Joe “ChicagoJoey” Ingram has announced that he will regularly produce video blogs to be posted on YouTube. Each video will discuss hands posted by high stakes PLO players in the 2+2 forums.
Joe jokes that his “aim is to get the whole world to play PLO.” His take on each hand goes far beyond a simple analysis, involving comments and explanations about the players and the poker sites as well as strategy discussion.
He has pitched his blog at the recreational player, who may not even play PLO, but hopes that high stakes players will also find value and entertainment in what he has to say.
4-5-6-8 turns out to be Joe’s favorite hand, and he advises “3-betting, 4 betting, get it all in, do whatever you want.” His humorous exaggerations, such as this, work well as they are immediately followed by solid analysis.
His analyses use a full range of poker jargon, so they are not beginner friendly, but for players with a better knowledge of poker, some of his insights are as valuable as anything available on the fee based training sites.
