And the Winner Is:
 

Hi Everyone:

Here are the results of our cover contest. But first, I want to thank all who participated. There's no doubt that we got more quality covers than we can have winners, and I'm sure our selections will create lots of discussion. So here goes:

And the winner for Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller is Gonso with this design.

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/44.jpg

We need a couple of fixes which we would like you (Gonso) to do in a post below. First, use the Roman Numeral "I" instead of the word "one" and numeric "1". Second, on the back cover put the author names underneath the title, and then leave the rest of the back cover in the basic cover design. Author pictures, bar code, Two Plus Two logo, Verbage boxes, etc. will be dropped in at our printer.

Your prize will be $500 plus a Two Plus Two shirt. To get the shirt go to https://www.conjelco.com/twoshirts/t...two_shirts.php and decide which color and size you want. Then send me a private message where you include the shirt information, your email, and a phone number that I can reach you at. We'll need to talk to you about how to get the cover downloaded to our printer, and you'll probably be talking to our printer as well. In addition, we'll also be using your design when Volume II comes out and you'll get another $500 there as well.

And the winner for Sit 'n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman is OMGuraBot with this design.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3...nalbookuf5.png

We need a couple of fixes which we would like you (OMGuraBot) to do in a post below. They are:

1. Reverse the apostrophe. It should be in a comma position with the tail part down.

2. We would like only the first letter in each word in the title to be capitalized. Also, the "n" in the word 'N needs to be lower case.

3. The words on the chip need to be a brighter color. White might work or perhaps a different color.

4. The heart symbol and the diamond symblo on the chip should be red.

5. We need the title and subtitle at the top of the back cover with a "by Collin Moshman" on the line underneath.

6. Leave the rest of the back cover in the basic cover design. Author pictures, bar code, Two Plus Two logo, Verbage boxes, etc. will be dropped in at our printer.

Your prize will be $500 plus a Two Plus Two shirt. To get the shirt go to https://www.conjelco.com/twoshirts/t...two_shirts.php and decide which color and size you want. Then send me a private message where you include the shirt information, your email, and a phone number that I can reach you at. We'll need to talk to you about how to get the cover downloaded to our printer, and you'll probably be talking to our printer as well.

And the winner for World Class High Stakes and Short-Handed Limit Hold 'em by Ray Zee and David Fromm with Alan Schoonmaker is RoxySurfergirl00 with this design.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...rsion2-Red.jpg

We really liked the three faces, and we would like for you to reproduce this cover in a post below with the new title and authors. Also Your prize will be $500 plus a Two Plus Two shirt. To get the shirt go to https://www.conjelco.com/twoshirts/t...two_shirts.php and decide which color and size you want. Then send me a private message where you include the shirt information, your email, and a phone number that I can reach you at. We'll need to talk to you about how to get the cover downloaded to our printer, and you'll probably be talking to our printer as well.

Since we have so many good covers, we have also decided to hold three covers in reserve for possible future use on Two Plus Two books. This is something we didn't announce in our initial contest. So for each of these designers will get a payment from us of $200 now, and then an additional $300 if and when we do use the cover. In addition, each of you gets to pick a Two Plus Two shirt.

So our reserve winners are (in no particular order):

Richark K with

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...PNLH_Cover.jpg

Stuey with

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19...book1suits.jpg

and Gonso with

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/101.jpg

To get the shirt go to https://www.conjelco.com/twoshirts/t...two_shirts.php and decide which color and size you want. Then send me a private message where you include the shirt information, your email, and a phone number that I can reach you at. We'll need to talk to you about how to get the cover downloaded to our printer, and you'll probably be talking to our printer as well. In addition, the version that we'll probably download at our printer will be a generic version with no title or lettering on it.

Finally, I want to recognize all the other designers who participated in this contest. They are:

MKresibows
Kabouter
Croujean
ezdonkey
ZenMusician
blueflame
Sharagoz
Wht Rbt
ama0330, and
rothko

For each of you we have a Two Plus Two shirt. Again, they can be found at https://www.conjelco.com/twoshirts/t...two_shirts.php

Then send me a private message with which color and size you want plus an address to send them to. (If I missed anyone let me know.)

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Those are some sharp covers. The Flynn/Mehta/Miller Vol. I looks particularly classic.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Nice choices Mason.
Definitely an improvement over previous covers imo.

I like Roxy's cover the best.

Also, I never knew that Matt, Sunny and Ed all looked so much alike.

FWIW - I'm not a huge fan of Gonso's purple SNG cover that you selected among the reserves.
Richard K's I'm undecided on.
Stuey's I think I like but the front-cover looks too much like a big blood-splatter.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Congratulations all! I guess I just don't have the "Vegas touch" [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Look forward to seeing the new titles on the shelves!

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Congrats to the winners and all the participants. You all did great work.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

thanks,

Mason I'll make the changes and send the PM later on. In retrospect I'm kind of glad you thought the others were too dark, I actually liked the white ones better

[ QUOTE ]
FWIW - I'm not a huge fan of Gonso's purple SNG cover that you selected among the reserves.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not either TBH, but revisions have improved it and forget that weird purple color

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

i like the stuey better but they al look great

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

those are the best 2p2 covers ever

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

zenmusician got robbed.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Excellent choices Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

[ QUOTE ]
Sharagoz got robbed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Can't argue with the winners, but I really don't like either the bubble or the exploding diamond runner ups. I agree that Zenmusician had a strong entry. I wish he was a back up instead of the bubble one.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

what the [censored] ever just put the sucker book out already [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

For the SNG book I liked Zen's the best, although OMG's is sharp also (though I liked one of his other versions better than the one that was selected). Same thing with Roxy's cover, I thought other versions looked better then the three-headed one. I think all three of the runner-ups (including mine) will improve greatly with some revision & color work...

Richard K's design is especially first-rate IMO. The colors though, especially the grey, don't seem to work. I really think that this might have been a winning entry with a less complex color scheme.

There were so many good designs though, I'd guess a lot of them might not have been selected due to covers being too dark, or some other marketing-type reason.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

I also liked Zen's submission, I thought it was a great visual interpretation of an sng. With my design I was going for a bold, sleek, and simple design with text that was easy to scan. Gonso, I like the white revision better as well.

As for the noted revisions I went back to school tonight so I can work on a large monitor tomorrow. I will work on incorporating the red for the diamonds and hearts into the chips and probably post a few different color schemes. I changed the title to lower case, and I like the look. Should the subtitle stay caps?

Good submissions everyone. I thought of doing a similar design as Richards before the chips, and I like how his turned out (-colors).

-Jim

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

[ QUOTE ]
those are the best 2p2 covers ever

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this statement but I have to say that the SNG cover with the stopwatch was top notch and should have gotten the nod.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi Cornell:

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with this statement but I have to say that the SNG cover with the stopwatch was top notch and should have gotten the nod.

[/ QUOTE ]

While we thought that was an excellent cover, we also felt it didn't look enough like poker to be the best selection.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

I agree with Gonso, that Richard K's book would benefit from a reworking of the colors. The red lettering on the gray is really odd. But the design itself is really nice.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Mason, here are the covers with your changes made including the ones in the PM, and also a few fixes. I did not add the authors names to the back cover and removed the logo there until we know the layout - these case be duplicated from the layers on the front cover easily anyway.

BTW the actual ones are in 600 dpi, so they're WAY to big to go here.

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/... vol1 copy.jpg

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/... vol2 copy.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

With the lightened backdrop, which looks cleaner IMO

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/...vol1a copy.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

And this is the little box on the spine, actual size. Obv the resolution and image quality are more than fine.

https://home.comcast.net/~electrobc/sample spine.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Gonse ... Two questions

Wheren't you supposed to render to suits on the fron and not just let them be white.

And a roman numeral or something on the spine ??

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

1) Yes, and I did, though it's tricky to see. Look closer at the heart especially and you'll see it. There's no white anywhere on the cover as you see it here, it's all the background showing through.

2) Something Mason and I discussed later via PM, trying out another idea with that.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Mason,

In this revision I changed the text and changed the layout of the back cover. If the other layout is preferred I can change it back. Next post I will work on adding the red into the chips and change the text on the chip. I also noticed that the order of the suits on the chips is different. This will be fixed.

-Jim

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...ites/book4.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

I like the blue king with the white grey backround.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

FWIW I've always known it was David Sklansky who was behind the Flynn, Mehta, and Miller pseudonyms

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Another color scheme:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...GreenCover.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

[ QUOTE ]
Another color scheme:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...GreenCover.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a really nice color, however I really like your original one better. The contrast of the black and the brighter green makes it stand out a lot. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi Mason,

I made the changes to the title and added those revisions to the names that you mentioned earlier. To the design itself, I re-drew the king's face and added his beard.

I do have another question regarding the back. Will there also be a picture of Alan Schoonmaker included? I took a guess and only put two image placeholders.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...orldclass2.jpg

Please let me know if you would like me to make any changes.
Thanks!
~Marcia~

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi OMGuraBOT:

I think this is looking better and better. Once the coloring on the chip letters are brightened up, it should look great.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi Roxysurfergirl00
I'm going to let others make their initial comments before I do. However, Alan Schoonmaker's picture should also go on the back cover as the third picture in a row under the title.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

hey are gold or silver foil accents an option with Creel?

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi Gonso:

No. Foil requires a different type of printing than what we do.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

It's really nice to see 1) 2+2 covers getting so much better than years past, 2) how much design talent there is among the 2+2ers.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

the covers look great. when will i be able to read them?

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Congrats to all the winners. Very much looking forward to reading the books and to seeing the final covers.

Here's some feedback/advice for each of the covers.

Gonso/PNL: I liked the idea of making the Roman numberal I or II the same color (red or blue) as the color used to fill the king. The dark gray on a light gray background is a little too subtle. Also, maybe it's just me, but the column of suit symbols on the right looks just a sliver (pixel or two) higher than the king. Hard to tell for sure without a really hi-res shot. For incorporating the vol # on the spine - How about simply putting the red "I" or blue "II" after the NLHE.

OMGuraBot/SNGS: I also liked the black background better. It made the chips stand out more. If the black is too dark, maybe try a background green that contrasts more with the green used on the chip. Also, I think there's a typo on the spine. "go" and "strategy" are not capitalized.

Roxysurfergirl/WCHS&SHLHE: Looks like the hardest part of converting your design is arranging this book's really long title. One thing I really liked about your design (PNL version) is how the black script font fell just perfectly inside the light-colored suit symbols on the front cover and spine.

I wonder if the title can be reworded so that some of the adjectives come after "Hold 'em". For example, High Stakes and Short-Handed Limit Hold 'em: World Class Advice. Basically, just move some of the words in the title into a subtitle. Can anyone else think of a way to reword and/or shorten the title? Another challenge is keeping the title distinct enough from the Stox book. Mason would obviously have to approve of any change, though.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Mason,

Here is the cover with red and white for the text on the chip. I think the white is the way to go, as it stands out more and is consistent with the rest of the text.

Bozman,

Thank you for the feedback. I agree that the black background is better. I tried different green backgrounds, but no matter the shade a good contrast wasn't there.

-Jim




http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b.../whitetext.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...es/redtext.jpg

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Hi OMGuraBOT:

I think this needs a little more work. The problem, looking at it now, is that the chip is too dark relative to the background. A solution might be to make the black sections of the chip another bright color. In fact, that would be consistent with the design on many casino chips. So why don't you give that a shot.

Thanks and best wishes,
Mason

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

Mason: Have not heard from Creel yet.

Re: And the Winner Is:
 

I am totally blown away by all 3 of these and several of the "losing" covers. Great work everyone.

Roxysurfergirl's cover is fantastic, the best in fact, but I don't like the "World Class" part being stuck onto the corner.

OMGuraBOT's latest attempt with white writing on the chip gets the balance just right IMO. Red version is horrible though.

Gonso's looks perfect.