Grade the May Magazine

[Dynasty]

The May issue of the Two Plus Two Magazine has a couple of popular authors returning- "Jeffage" and Tysen Streib. For the first time, my personal favorite article is Timothy Bruce's interview. In it, Laak comments about a couple 2+2 threads in which possible angle shooting took place. The breakdown of the Magazine is as follows.

Strategy- 6
Anatomy of the Continuation Bet by Tysen Streib
Hidden Cost in Tournament Poker by Andrew Brokos
Standing Pat When You're Not the Favorite by Mark Gritter
Bluffing and Calling in Pot Limit Omaha by Marshall Farrier
Completing From the Small Blind- Deceptive Odds by Frank Jerome
Balancing Concepts for Maximum Profits by "Jeffage"

General Poker- 2
Towards a Skill Ratio by Ryne A. Sherman
Why it Happens to You by Ray Zee

Poker Journalism/Stories- 2
30 Questions with Phil Laak
Classic Article: The Most Important Hand Ever Played by Mason Malmuth

Non-Poker- 1
Baseball Teams Take Turns to Hit

We had good variety in this issue with hold 'em, tournament poker stud, omaha/8, PLO, and TD 2-7 all being covered.

[skillzilla]

can i get the books bonus if i already have an account @ partypoker

[SGspecial]

First, I want to thank Dynasty for getting the magazine out on the 1st. I was getting worried.

Second, I very much liked Mason's article on the most important hand ever played. I think it makes a strong argument that the skills needed to excel in poker are very similar to those needed to excel in lots of areas of life. Hopefully, he is doing all he can to convince those in the political arena of this fact and that poker (specifically online) should not be persecuted along with mindless games of chance which all eventually lead to ruin.

[Farfenugen]

This month was really good.

[Ghazban]

There continue to be formatting issues with the magazine. It would be great to get some padding on the edges of the screen and a consistent font across articles.

[Phat Mack]

I gave it an A+. I think this is the best one yet, and shows the true potential of the 2+2 Magazine endevor. I liked ALL the articles (but don't pretend to fully understand Rynes's).

Notes:

The link to the mag on the sidebar is correct, but the link below the mast links to last month's. It only took me a day or two to figure this out.

Formatting was fine on Firefox.

Prevalence of typos was distracting.

[Sherman]

[ QUOTE ]
I gave it an A+. I think this is the best one yet, and shows the true potential of the 2+2 Magazine endevor. I liked ALL the articles (but don't pretend to fully understand Rynes's).

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be happy to clarify/step through any part or issues with my article (Skill Ratio) in another thread if you or anyone else would like clarification.

~Ryne Sherman

[Sweet]

I think a couple of the articles kind of stink. I'm not sure how you select articles, but I would prefer it if you were slightly more selective. If you get an article, and you don't think it's that great, just don't publish it. I don't mind if there's only 7 articles, or if you use 2 classics. You could even scan the 20 longest posts of April and take the best one of those... I bet it would be better than this month's worst article.

Please don't get me wrong though, thanks to all the submitters for their effort, and special thanks to the authors of the good articles. I very much look forward to the magazine every month.

[NickMPK]

I thought this was a very good issue...the continuation bet article was probably the best I have ever read in the magazine.

And I feel like I nag about this every issue, but what is wrong with the fonts! There are at least four different fonts used for the main text of articles, and several different line spacings. Some fonts change in the middle of an article for no apparent reason, and in at least one case, the font changes in the middle of a sentence!

This content of the magazine is professional enough that it is really a shame the the production is so amatuerish.

[jfk]

The strategy contributions (I'm including sports betting in the group) this month are as good as they've ever been. There's a lot to consider and many different games are covered. It has made for excellent, thought provoking reading.

Ray Zee is a deservedly beloved icon at 2+2 but his last couple of contributions here bring to mind stories about Picasso in his later years angling for free restaurant meals by doodling on a napkin. His was a poor effort.

Mason's article is no better and reflects an overwrought view of history. Taking an interesting footnote and making absurd extrapolations doesn't make for good reading or good historical interpretation.

If the "celebrity" interviews continue, it would be of interest to see more involved questions. Might Phil Laak discuss how much of his income is now derived from play and how much is derived from endorsements, backing or just being Phil Laak? How much has television pumped money into the pockets of recognized players? To what extent is a gimmick, a nickname or a contentious personality a key to getting noticed and being included in the non-poker derived income stream. Exploring that portion of the poker economy/world would make for good reading and may point players towards more reliable sources of poker income.