Coaching Poker Forums

I usually mess up in the first 5 or so minutes too. If I saved every out take, most end with something like jumbled words in a transition to "blahh Mike you suck."

Is the DC office anything like the MAD magazine office in the Simpsons? If so can I visit?

Also, do you guys actively try to recruit winning players at various stakes to make videos or would they have to have a history of making videos or get in touch with you guys?

What are the funniest/most difficult conditions under which someone has made a video? We've all heard the Krantz "no sleep for 48 hrs straight in Vegas" story, but has anyone topped that? IE made a video in Antarctica on an iphone and gotten chased by a polar bear half-way through it or something.

I've never done a second take of any vids. I have recorded maybe 4 or 5 sessions I ended up not making a vid of, but that's normally because it's HU play against someone I decided I'd probably play later

+1 to never doing a second take of a video because I do something stupid. Seems kinda artificial to me. Plus that way you guys don't miss out on any of the "ums" and "likes" people love so much.

What are the funniest/most difficult conditions under which someone has made a video? We've all heard the Krantz "no sleep for 48 hrs straight in Vegas" story, but has anyone topped that? IE made a video in Antarctica on an iphone and gotten chased by a polar bear half-way through it or something.

I'm sure this isn't really what you're looking for, but when DogIsHead and I did DIHU, we would literally get the video done at like 5am the day it was supposed to be realeased, so I was usually so exhausted during recording. Not once, but almost every week this happened, and it obviously drove the higher ups nuts. Why? Because Haseeb was seriously the biggest procrastinator I have ever met; even for a poker player he was kind of ridiculous. But DC just dealt with it because the content was so sweet

Aside from yourself - obviously - what players would you say had the most influence on your game and on your video making?

Are there any players who make videos for other sites that you guys think are absolutely terrible?

For me, I would have to collectively say fish. Although fish by definition play poorly, I have been introduced to so many unorthodox lines that when used in the right situations can actually be brilliant. Even though they usually take unusual lines that are -EV, these same fish are the ones that first got me thinking outside the box when it came to poker.

Bart doing a video is something we've talked about - this is a good reminder to follow up with him on that!

Chef Robert too! Heh.

After a video gets recorded what is the process? Who does it get sent to, what do they do, does it get reviewed or watched before being posted? Can you take us step by step behind the scenes on a video or series being created?

Once a video is recorded it gets sent to us here at DC via our dropbox. I take the video and any associated audio and using camtasia and audacity I clean up the audio (i.e. remove static or background noises) then match the audio with the corresponding video. I put the appropriate intros on as well as remove any trouble spots the producer noted in an email to me.

Once clean I produce a high quality .avi of the full video. This then gets reprocessed into a preview file (2-3mins long), mp4s, wmvs, mp3s, and m4v (ipod if applicable). Once all of these are done I test them to make sure they produced in full by listening to small segments throughout the video. If they are complete they get uploaded to our server, if not I reproduce them.

After uploading I set a release date either based on the regular schedule or I bank the content for a special release and let Jay and those incharge of scheduling know that it is ready when they want it.

If the video is from someone who has not made a video for us it will be reviewed in full by 1 or more of the founders based on what game type it is. I am responsible for all of this for all videos unless I am sick or on vacation (and sometimes I still do this process) 365 days a year.

-Rusty

Is the DC office anything like the MAD magazine office in the Simpsons? If so can I visit?

Unfortunately not. We have 2 offices, one houses a small desk and 2 servers downtown Seattle that I visit once a week to work while I am killing time downtown. The other "more productive" office is out in the burbs in a little 3 story brick building. This houses Rob, Aaron G, Ben, and any other code monkeys we might have on staff. Most of us have setups at home thought for the majority of our work.
-Rusty

Yeah... tubasteve and I used to talk a lot when both of us were starting out. I kept playing SnGs when Steve moved to cash, and I basically learned cash by discussing his hands while I was still grinding the 60s.

I also learned a ton from reading Ansky's posts on 2p2.

More recently, I've learned a lot from talking with chipchucker.

When you guys are trying to select a new coach and receive a demo video form somebody, what exactly are you looking for? Say you were thinking about hiring a new micro stakes coach or something and told him to make a video to see how he sounds on camera, what kinds of qualities are you looking for? Would you want to see a live ghost video, a session review, a hand replayer? What sorts of things would make you guys go "wow, I think he'd be a great addition to the team."

When you guys are trying to select a new coach and receive a demo video form somebody, what exactly are you looking for? Say you were thinking about hiring a new micro stakes coach or something and told him to make a video to see how he sounds on camera, what kinds of qualities are you looking for? Would you want to see a live ghost video, a session review, a hand replayer? What sorts of things would make you guys go "wow, I think he'd be a great addition to the team."

Quality of analysis is #1. Flow is awfully helpful but something that most people pick up more over time, so we're really looking for someone who knows how to ask questions that are interesting and how to make a situation interesting and educational even if it wasn't in the moment. For example, look at Emil's recent PLO vids - the 88** where he flopped a set was a great example of that: "if I was OOP, this is what I'd do, if we were 100BB I'd do this and why, etc."

We're all about teaching people what questions to ask and how to think about poker, so getting into the details that way is a sign of a great video maker and coach.

Rob

What are the funniest/most difficult conditions under which someone has made a video? We've all heard the Krantz "no sleep for 48 hrs straight in Vegas" story, but has anyone topped that? IE made a video in Antarctica on an iphone and gotten chased by a polar bear half-way through it or something.

i actually got in a little trouble with DC for my inability to find a decent place to stay long enough to record video series...
my two favorites are these:

1) I recorded a Bart Hanson podcast from a landline phone in the Grand Cayman Islands. that was pretty ghetto. I had just played a 10hr HU 25/50 session sv CadX which I had ended up like 50k, and hten I lost all of it to Joker-JSB in like 3 hands and then he quit me. Then I watched the movie Hitch twice, back to back, on TV. sick life.

2) I recorded a video, I think coaching tree season 2 but i'm not positive, sitting at a table at an outdoor restaurant in Southern Jamaica with like romantic couples all around me having dinner. That was pretty hilarious too.

Andrew

Yeah... tubasteve and I used to talk a lot when both of us were starting out. I kept playing SnGs when Steve moved to cash, and I basically learned cash by discussing his hands while I was still grinding the 60s.

I also learned a ton from reading Ansky's posts on 2p2.

More recently, I've learned a lot from talking with chipchucker.

Mike is a student of mine too! So ya I guess I should add that as well, even though it's pretty cliche: My game has improved dramatically from coaching. Sometimes that comes from a student putting me in my place when reviewing a hand, but more often it comes from having high level discussions with my students that allow me to consider something I may not have because of their unique perspective.

Chef Robert too! Heh.

OMFG if Chef Robert did a cooking for poker players series that would be so epic, or at least an episode for the Good Life... Roflmao