By drgenefish

February 17, 2011

I bought IRunLucky's series on how to beat 200NL on dailyvariance.com and went through everything...here are my overall impressions:

First I was a little bit skeptical of how this video series would be different from a video on one of the training sites and if it was worth paying for. But knowing IRunLucky was easily in the top 5 of 200NL players last year I decided to see what he had compiled. I am very glad I did and it is well worth the money.

I would say for anyone at smaller stakes than 200NL (even if you are winning), breakeven and losing 200 NL players, and recreational players, this is a slam dunk purchase. For those that are slightly winning (that's me) I think this will be more than worth it especially with a money back guarantee. For those crushing, you're good enough already - get out of my games and stop learning please. :)~

There were about eight different videos and most of them were actually powerpoint presentations. The difference between this and a video from a training site is that these videos are just jam packed with information. There is no filler and no pausing. I have it on my iphone and i'll probably give it another listen every few months to refresh my mind. It's just really nice to get inside of the head of a big winner at my exact stakes and know what it takes. There were a few things that I did literally the next time I played that were new to me that won me money. Some of the things IRunLucky goes over I might have known but haven't really thought about in a while...so it actually helped me think things over a little bit too.

One nice thing about his powerpoint presentations was first he would give a piece of theory - but then he would immediately show it in action with a hand history and tell you what he was thinking throughout the hand (as well as what he would have done differently under different circumstances).

These videos pretty much make poker seem easy. His style isn't to cold 5 bet bluff shove constantly. He pretty much shows you what he did to steadily win at a very high winrate with the least amount of variance possible.

I think for the price of basically one private lesson, you get 8 lessons. I can't see why anyone that could benefit from this wouldn't buy it.

- Gene Fish (spacecakezzz)

By kungfuhustla

February 19, 2011

These lessons are Jam-Packed with insight on beating the game. Each Topic in the series could be a stand alone product. Between lesson 1 and lesson 3 there's already so much info crammed in that the rest of the videos seem like a bonus. I definitely feel like this package gives the learning player more than enough material to study for making improvements month after month.

-Kungfuhustla

By Kynikos1

February 21, 2011

Daily Variance is known for three things: firstly, for being created by human dynamo, poker player, irrepressible entrepreneur and all-around good egg Tri Nguyen; secondly, for producing the semi-mythical Let There Be Range, an ebook priced at release at a surely-they're-not-serious $1800; and finally for producing a series of further publications which offer something for everyone in NLHE and PLO, and which have been generally very favorably reviewed on the best-known poker forums.

Their current release, “The Six Figure NL System” marks something of a departure. This is an eight-part video series produced by up-and-coming coach James Hudson (JH), aka “irunlucky”. It comprises three videos of PowerPoint slides, three of commentary on live play, and two covering analysis of your database of hands in Hold ‘Em Manager. The target audience is players of MSNL who want to learn to beat NL200+.

Thus far I have worked through the first three (“theory”) videos. The first sets out thirty very useful tips for play at the relevant levels, the second teaches how to deal with opponent aggression, and the last offers a discussion of play from the blinds. The content of these videos is very strong, with particular attention paid to (amongst other things) the value of leveling and balance, slow-playing, not over-adjusting, planning ahead and controlling one’s own ego.

It should perhaps be noted that, contrary to the title of the package, the treatment of these topics, useful though it is, does not really amount to a system for beating 200NL. On the other hand, just because the videos do not present a system does not mean they are not systematic. On the contrary, all three videos are tightly and logically organized. This, as always, is the sign of a teacher who has put a lot of effort and thought into his work. The advantages of this here are twofold. Firstly, everything is much easier to understand, remember and utilize when each point of detail flows from a wider concept, and when each such concept forms part of an overall approach. Secondly, it means JH never needs to pause between slides and explain why he is addressing a given subject, or why the subjects are arranged in this order rather than another. The result is that no time is wasted and there are no distracting detours. In a nutshell, where there are no gaps, there is no need for filler.

It is also worth mentioning that the slides are very clearly set out, with a limited amount of text on each page. The bullet points are comprehensive and use mostly accurate English (albeit often in “note-taking” style rather than full sentences). There no stray apostrophes or unorthodox spellings, no wild variation in font sizes, and no pages crammed with dense text. The fonts and backgrounds are simple and easy on the eye. These may seem like minor points, and Goldman Sachs's graphics department won't be losing too much sleep, but too many distractions of this kind make single videos difficult to watch and would be a disaster in a long series like this. Full marks to DV for their attention to detail.

In fact, so far, full marks for everything. There is no doubt that there is a ton of useful material here for anyone aspiring to play MSNL. Thoroughly recommended.

By Rizzitano

February 23, 2011

After being on a downswing for several weeks, I decided to invest the money and bought The Six Figure NL System, in order to hopefully improve my game a bit. My thoughts about it:

Part I: Theory

The course begins with three video lessons on theory, each video has a running time of roughly 45 minutes. The material in these lessons is presented through PowerPoint charts – very sober, it is the information that matters. Moreover, Mr. Hudson has a pleasant voice, and doesn't speak too fast, which may be of importance for viewers whose first language is not English.
Altogether the theory part is of very high quality - particularily the material contained in lesson number three on OOP Play is truly excellent. All the relevant scenarios one may face when OOP are discussed here, with a particular focus on the play in the blinds. The author illustrates his thought process in these situations very well, and constantly calls for attention in spots where people are likely to make mistakes.

Part II: Practice

The subsequent three lessons focus on practical play, which means that irunlucky comments on his play from two different sessions. Thereby video one and two combine to one session in which he plays 9 tables, and video three is on another session where he plays just six tables. These lessons contain a lot of interesting hand examples that show how the concepts from part I should be applied. The commentaries given by irunlucky are competent, precise and always cut to the chase of the matter.

part III: Analyse

The course finishes with two lessons on game analysis, where irunlucky uses Holdem Manager to filter out common pre- and postflop scenarios, e.g. he discusses calling 3-bets with AK vs. 4-betting, playing trouble hands like TT and AQ in 3-bet pots, donk-betting etc.

Conclusion:

I am sure that everyone, unless he or she is a master of the game already, will learn something over the course of the eight lessons here. And if beyond that you are willing to put in time and effort to study your game, I am convinced that The Six Figure NL System will help you to improve significantly. Highly recommended.

By browerkid

February 28, 2011

When I heard James was making a video series focused on 200 nl 6 max play, I had very high expectations due to previous conversations and just playing against James for so long. I have to say my high expectations were not only met, but they were exceeded. James puts hours of "homework" away from the tables on his game and his opponents tendencies, and this shines through each chapter of his video series . Having problems with aggressive players?? with certain postflop situations?? reviewing key Holdem Manager stats?? Its all covered in the video series in a clear consise manner.

I think this video series a no brainer purchase for any 100-200nl reg who wants to get better, move up in stakes, and/or improve there winrate...and for the cost of less than 1 buyin at 200nl??? What an amazing value.

By Droschopf

March 6, 2011

As I've won this video series through a review contest for "Dynamic Full Ring Poker" at Daily Variance, I may be qualified to give an unbiased review of the "6 Figure NL System". The problem with many reviews of expensive poker training products is that a lot of people give biased reviews even if they didn't like it. It's pretty hard to admit to yourself that you wasted tons of $$$ for useless advice, right?

That being said, the 6 Figure NL System series is a great product overall. The eight videos are divided into three parts. The first three videos are theory based: although I've heard of / though about many of the presented concepts already, there is some powerful advice. For example: a wide range does not mean that our opponent will take certain actions with a high frequency. That is something I've never thought of in this manner (see the preview of the series on Youtube or DV Publishing). Obviously I don't go into further detail here, but there are other similar valuable tips.

Videos 4-6 are session reviews of live play by the author. This part was the most valuable to me. It showed one thing that really opened my eyes in some way: it's okay to fold! There was a part in the session where Irunlucky had to give up a lot of hands in a row. When this happens to me, I usually spew off at least one stack or make one of my awesome "I call because fk him, that's why" calls. The live play content shows the importance of solid play. Note that solid play is not the same as straightforward, predictable or ABC Poker. Solid play means that you pick your spots to be aggressive when the time is right but that you don't spew like a monkey as you usually do.

Part three of the videos is an instruction to find leaks with HEM. This part was useful for me as I never really looked into the advanced functions of HEM. The filters and all that nerdy stuff did scare me in some way That said, I'm really pleased that I've started with database analysis - I did find some major leaks in my game with the help of the video instructions. If you would like to do some leak finding with HEM but you don't know where to start, this part of the videos will be perfect for you.

Some thoughts on the end that have to be made. Is this eight part video series worth the money for half a year of membership at a poker training site? Well, it depends: If you have a lot of time, you may be better off going with a training site as you could find all the content (and probably even more) in their videos. For example: BFP and CR have quite extensive video series on plugging leaks with HEM as well. On the other hand, the quantity of content at training sites may be a problem for people like me who don't have that much time for poker and especially not for poker training. Do I really want to watch 5 fk hours of HEM leak finding? Err... no. This is the value of the 6 Figure NL System: it combines the most relevant content to beat the current 200nl games in a reasonable time span.

In addition to that, I really like that the results are public for the author of the series. On training sites you can't be sure if your teacher is a winning player in today's games... (to be fair: there are certainly some public screen names with impressive results on training sites, but for the most part you can't be sure).

Concluding I would recommend this series to all ambitious players at 100nl and below and to all struggling players at 200nl and even 400nl.