And the Winner Is:

[Mason Malmuth]

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

[Gonso]

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

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Gonso:

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

Best wishes,
Mason

[parachute]

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.

[LionelHutz00]

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

[BozMan82]

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.

[OMGuraBOT]

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