Overview:

When I first decided to start reviewing some of the training sites, I decided the first site I was going to review would be PokerXFactor. It was a new site, and with JohnnyBax and Sheets at the helm there was a lot of buzz surrounding the site. At the time, I was mentoring some students, and a lot of people were asking me if sites like PXF were worth it, and some who were already subscribers were telling me 'but sheets said' during our sessions.

Honestly, when I signed up my biggest concern was how much content they would have. I figured being a young site, and with the effort it can take to get GOOD training materials up, they would have a hard time keeping up with demand for new content. Boy was I wrong. When I first signed up about a month ago there were already 25-30 pieces of content posted, and new content is being added at the average rate of about 1 per day, which is a great value especially considering that all the materials I've viewed so far were all top notch.

Instruction:

Training materials come in three flavors, hand histories in the replayer, videos with commentary by Bax and Sheets, and hand quizzes . Raw hand histories from various tournaments are loaded into the PXF replayer and you can see how the pros play from their point of view. The videos, which for the most part are hand histories with commentary are the real value on the site. I found the videos most helpful as Bax and Sheets share their thoughts as they go through their hand histories. I considered myself a very good MTT player before ever visiting the site, but hearing Bax and Sheets say it validated a lot of things I instinctively thought were correct but had never been able to put into words before. It also increased my confidence seeing and hearing top players going through similar processes to mine. Videos also come in a second flavor, and that's the 'Ask Sheets/Bax' flavor. These are hands submitted by PXF subscribers where they have 'asked Bax/Sheets' for their opinion on the situation. These are usually short and revolve around one key decision in a tournament, but they're nice in the fact that since it's just one key decision usually Bax/Sheets go into great detail on that decision, more so than if it was part of a full tournament hand history.

The last type of training material are quizzes. A quiz is essentially a HH replayer that pauses at every decision the 'Hero' makes and asks you what you would do. You're then scored based on if you choose the same action the instructor did. This is GREAT in the fact that it makes you think for yourself. It forces you to think about the situation and not just listen to someone else talk about it. The downside is that you really don't get much feedback on why decisions are being made. I took parts of a few of the quizzes, and I scored ~50% on most of them, and I believe this was due more to stylistic differences in the early tournament phases than any of my answers being 'incorrect'. The other thing I disliked about the quizzes is that there is no way to save your progress, and since most of them are full HHs in tournaments where players placed very high, they can be 400+ hands long, and that's can be A LOT of questions for one sitting.

I really like the quiz concept though and the idea of really engaging the user. PXF has really shown a commitment to improving their product, and I expect we'll see these quizzes evolve over time. I hope they do, because I think the idea of a quiz done right could be really beneficial.

Tools:

Next, I'd like to talk some about the PXF Hand History Replayer/Analyzer. I'm going to talk about the Replayer first, as most of the current videos/HHs are in that format. The replayer is exactly what it sounds like. Your hand histories get plugged into it, and through a flash graphical interface they are 'replayed'. It sounds simple, and my first impression when I heard about it way back in the day on extremetilt.com was 'big deal'. I was used to going through hand histories in their raw format or using something like Poker Tracker's replayer, and I guess I just didn't see any need for the improvement on that. All I have to say there is I was very, VERY wrong. I use the Hand History Replayer (and now the Analyzer) more than any other feature on the site. When you see a hand replayed visually you can focus on big picture things when evaluating your play rather than deciphering the raw text.

The analyzer is sort of the next step in this PXF Hand History evolution. From talking with Mindwise (who owns and operates Mindwise Media, LLC, the company who brings us PXF), this is actually just 'Phase II' along the way of a multi-phased approach to eventually develop a tool that will not only replay but analyze your hands in a multi-street format that should really help players improve their game. I absolutely love the analyzer, but I may like it for different reasons than some people will. The feature I love the most is the ability to sort and organize your hands in the analyzer. For example, you can click one button in the analyzer and it will show you every hand you won or lost more than the big blind and eliminate all the rest. I'm a big believer in self-review, and I review my own hand histories often in an attempt to both improve my game and make sure I'm not introducing any leaks. When going through a huge hand history that can be quite challenging, but by sorting in this manner I can find key hands for review quickly. In addition to sorting by winning and losing hands, you can also sort by premium, strong, moderate, and borderline pre-flop hands under the luck tab. I personally find this very helpful for doing things like looking back and making sure I'm maximizing the value on my premiums and strongs, and that I'm keeping myself out of tricky situations with marginal hands pre-flop. Used correctly for self-evaluation, I really think the analyzer is worth the price of admission all by itself for serious players.

Of special interest among the analyzer tools is the 'Luck' tab. A lot of players will probably find this part interesting, although I'm really not sure how helpful it is in improving your game, it's definitely 'fun' from a novelty perspective. The luck tab basically lets you know how many premium, strong, moderate, borderline, and garbage pre-flop hands you've been dealt throughout the hand history. Now it doesn't take into account things like position or prior action yet, but it does give you a good indication as to how 'lucky' you've been with the cards you've been receiving as well as how lucky you should be at this point. With this in mind, the Analyzer introduces a new acronym, PUFFâ„¢ (pre-flop unadjusted fortune factor). This tells you how good your cards have been in relation to an average distribution. It's unadjusted because it doesn't take position or prior action into account. PUFFâ„¢ is given on a scale from 1 to 100 with 50 being 'average luck'. It's more of a novelty than anything, but it is fun to go back and see if you really were 'unlucky' with your starting hands or if you're just using selective memory.

Miscellaneaous:

A user forum was just added, which was one thing I thought was lacking in my initial look over the site. Each video has a place for comments, which is nice, and helped keep feedback with the video/quiz/HH it belonged with, but there was a certain lack of 'community feel' with the site. The forum is very new so I have no idea how it will be utilized at this point, but I think it's a step in the right direction to have a place for members to post, and get a bit of a community feeling around PXF. One of the things I've been very impressed with so far in the month+ I've been a member is the entire PXF crew's openness to feedback and seemingly genuine desire to make PXF the best training site available. Between seeing new materials virtually daily on the site to the amazing jump between the Hand History Replayer to the Hand History Analyzer it's clear that Mindwise and company are not just resting on their laurels.

When I first signed up for the site to do this review, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I considered myself a very good MTT player already, but I'm always open to anything that might help me improve. I was very pleasantly surprised by both the quantity and quality of content available on the site. Sheets and Bax both communicate very clearly, and don't seem to pull any punches when discussing strategy. I believe there are things to help players of all skill levels available at PXF, but like anything else, you're only going to get out of the site what you put into it. Fortunately for PXF subscribers, there is a wealth of quality options to spend time using to improve your game. I wish these sorts of materials were available to me when I was first learning how to play, as I'm certain it would have substantially shortened my learning curve.

Editor's note: this review is abridged, if you'd like to read the full version please visit:

www.rizenpoker.blogspot.com