Poker School Online

[TIGERsrm]

Looking for any information regarding PSO. Stumbled across it today and it looks to be some kind of training site ($15 p/m fee) but not much information is given in the preview pages. Seems to boast some top names as contributors. Any info would be much apprecciated.

[Gonso]

I sure hope a couple of those instructors do a better job then they've done with their books.

[Jan]

You'll find a lot of articles which are usually pretty good. I think new material comes out monthly. The names change...after I joined a few years back, the poker boom took off and most of the big names left. Didn't really matter though as you could read articles from the big names all over the internet and in poker magazines. So, while the articles are good, you will probably find the same information for free all over the internet.

Maybe once a week or less, one of the instructors will host a small tournament/cash game where you can play and ask questions about play. NOTE: Not all the instructors are big names. Some of them have just been members of PSO for a long time.

They have a lot of "leader type" boards, where you play a certain number of tournaments a month and the top 3 players get PSO points. Once you've accumulated enough points, PSO will pay your buy-in to a live tournament. Note: You need to collect a LOT of points and they are not easy to collect. The advantage goes to those who have a LOT of time on their hands and can play a lot of tournaments every months. The times of tournaments are limited and the availability of tournament types are limited also, both by time and # of players. Forget the SNGs, you'll wait forever before 10 players enter.

The MTTs you have to play to be in one of the "leader boards" are usually only offered 3 times a day throughout the day. However, there are several different leader-type boards, meaning there are more than 3 tournaments a day. But, to play for a specific leader board, usually that means 3 tournaments offered a day throughout the day. For most people with jobs, that means you can only play one of those tournaments, though for me that one tournament would usually be at 10-11pm at night start. Yuck. If don't have a job or staying up late hours doesn't bother you, than it might be worth it.

Also, the entry #s for tournaments are very low. When I first joined a typical tournament would have 100-200 or so entrants. Now, that number is basically down to something like 40. You can download their software: it includes pokerpages.com and Bugsy as well, and you can view the tournament list for PSO and judge for yourself the level of activity for games.

Last I looked, cash games were hardly ever played, though that could have changed since then.

The forums are horrible. They certainly don't hold a candle to the forums here and very often the forums would turn into nothing more than a soap opera.

When I was brand new to online poker and Holdem, I thought it was a great site, although at the time the leader boards were set up in such a way that weak-tight play was rewarded. Don't know if that has changed or not. Also, at the time it had the advantage of learning poker and playing tournaments against others who were in it for the competition for only $15 a month. Eventually, all the poker sites started offering more and more low buy-in tournaments, so even that wasn't a plus anymore.

On a whole, there are too few tournaments/games, with articles on topics you can read elsewhere, instructors who periodically show up at tables (never when it's convenient for you, of course), very low numbers at the tables, inconvenient tournament times, and a terrible forum.

Of course, you could always join for one month and decide for yourself. There are still members there that have been members for many years, so they must still see something in it. Also, I am sure they have made changes since I left a couple of years ago.

If you do decide to check it out, come back and let us know what you thought.

[TIGERsrm]

Jan, Thanks alot for your comments. Doesn't sound like it would add much to the already exhaustive list of strategy resources I use/am a member of like CR, Stoxpoker, 2p2, countless books etc so I'll give it a miss. Thanks once again for taking the time to provide a review.

[RowdyZ]

I would say that about 90% of the information supplied by Jan the former member is out of date.

RZ

[Gonso]

[ QUOTE ]
I would say that about 90% of the information supplied by Jan the former member is out of date.

RZ

[/ QUOTE ]

Would you at least update it then? She made a decent effort to describe the site (in detail) as it was when she was a member, and it sounded pretty lame. Is that not the case now? What 90% is outdated?

[RowdyZ]

Honestly they have changed so much and are in the process of making even more changes. A couple of things, the "Dean" Al Spath holds many many training sessions a week. Others like Rolf Slotboom hold training sessions less frequently.
Also they many chances for you to earn Sponsorship Points. (where they will buy you into a tournament of your choice, 500 dollar mim buyin) They sent people to the WSOP Main Event and 1 to the WPT 25K Championship. and next years promotions are going to send at least 3 people to the WSOP Main Event. It is different from other school sites in that it has actual tables you can play at not just watch video or read articles. Really a whole lot to cover. Some people love it, it isn't for others and I would honestly say it probably isn't for most 2+2ers.

RZ

[JohnG]

It's mainly a social club with decent play money tournies.

With regards learning, it is best suited to beginners.

[phydaux]

Stox & Cardrunners FTW!

I'm tracking to be able to pay for a 6 month Cardrunners subscription out of my winnings (and still be comfortably rolled) by December.