DeucesCracked Poker Training Site Review

DeucesCracked is one of the oldest and most well-known poker training sites. Along with Stoxpoker and CardRunners, they pioneered the emerging market of poker education and created a new standard for coaching videos. That was almost a decade ago and poker landscape has changed dramatically since then. Despite that fact, DeucesCracked is still going strong offering their forums, articles and a huge library of videos to new users. Let's take a look at the quality of those services and figure out if the DeucesCracked subscription is a worthwhile investment.

Videos

DeucesCracked releases new videos with a fairly high frequency. They posted 18 new videos on their website in January. The content revolves mostly around 6-max no-limit hold'em, PLO and MTT. Players who used to be subscribed to DeucesCracked back when the site was still in its prime will be happy to know that some of the well-known, old, and respected DC coaches (like WiltOnTilt, KasinoKrime and BalugaWhale) are still producing videos for the site. Potential new users may be interested in the fact that most of the DeucesCracked coaches have a tremendous amount of experience with both playing and teaching poker. DC might not be leading the industry anymore when it comes to the educational quality of their coaching videos, but there's still much most people can learn from their content.

Forum

The DeucesCracked forum is somewhat active... as long as you're mostly interested in micro/small stakes NLH. Other parts of the forum might seem abandoned and it looks like some of them have not been updated in ages. While this doesn't really paint a nice picture, it might not be very important for most players. Again, the NLH section stays somewhat active and can be an effective tool when it comes to poker education.

Pricing

DeucesCracked pricing is really simple and easy to understand. There's no sign-up fee only a monthly subscription priced at 29$ that gives you access to all of the videos available on the website. You can also save some money (up to 20%) if you opt for a 6-month or yearly subscription. It's important to point out that DeucesCracked trusts their users and doesn't really put any kind of DRM on their videos. You're welcomed to download them on your computer and watch anytime you want. Lastly, there's a free 7-day trial period for new users that can help you decide if you want to invest in the DeucesCracked subscription.

Part of History

While a good amount of solid new videos and partially alive forum might not look particularly appealing at a first glance, DeucesCracked is much more than that. It's a part of poker history with a huge library of videos. While most of them haven't really aged well due to the fact that poker is constantly and rapidly evolving, you can still find some old gems that have the potential of inducing some 'aha moments' and are simply enjoyable to watch:

• "The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment" by Tommy Angelo and Wayne Lively. This series alone is worth the price of admission. Even though it's almost 7-years old it aged tremendously well given the subject matter. "The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment" is one of the most unique, valuable and enjoyable educational material when it comes to the issue of poker mindset. It's filled with information, masterfully paced and filled with humour and, therefore, accessible to everyone, even those players who tend to downplay the importance of the mental game. 

• "The Coaching Tree" (seasons one and two). This NLH series is absolutely unique. Even though it's more than 7-years old and should be completely unwatchable given how fast poker is evolving "The Coaching Tree" is still perhaps one of the best video series you can watch to understand the fundamentals of winning poker strategy and - what's even more important - to learn how to play against the classic loose-passive recreational player type. If you're willing to look past a bunch of outdated information and focus on the core principles you'll build a great framework and learn how to make money when playing against a weak opponent. Lastly, Andrew Seidman has this amazing gift of explaining really complicated ideas in a very simple way and he makes this series an absolute joy to watch.

• "Mathematics of NL Holdem". This 8-year old granddaddy of poker videos aged very well. While you won't find some of the new and exciting poker math concepts in this series by WiltOnTilt and while it's not as enjoyable to watch as the other videos mentioned above "Mathematics of NL Holdem" is a great tool if you want to build solid fundamentals when it comes to the problem of math in poker. 

• "The Thin Red Line". This is perhaps the most seminal coaching video series in the history of poker. Grindcore blew the minds of thousands of players by showing them what the real exploitative playstyle looks like and how much you can really get away with in the world in which "just value bet your top pair three times and fold when they raise" was the recipe for printing money. "The Thin Red Line" was a real game changer that forced the entire generation of poker players to improve their game dramatically. While nowadays we all understand the value behind bluffing and protecting our ranges and while Grindcore's series is no longer this huge game changer, watching it can still lead to some 'aha moments'.

Other amazing, classic series in the vast DeucesCracked library:

• "2x6" by Vanessa Selbst
• "2 Months 2 Million"
• "Dog is Heads Up"
• "Real Life Part Time No Limit Grinder"

Verdict

DeucesCracked is perhaps not the most attractive coaching website out there and it is definitely past its prime, but it's still a solid choice even if we only took the new content into consideration. Easy to understand pricing, lack of DRM and the trust that DC puts in their user base is something that shouldn't be overlooked, but by far the most important quality of DeucesCracked is their vast library full of seminal videos that shaped the way we're thinking about poker today. While there's little incentive to stay subscribed to DC for a long period of time, the before mentioned library and classic videos are the reason every poker player should become a member of DeucesCracked.com for at least a month in his/her career.

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