SNGicons.com Review

SNGicons touts itself as the "premier SNG instructional site on the internet" & specializes in SNG instruction as well as MTT videos. In addition to the videos, the site also has some blogs & the mandatory site forum and chat room. The main instructors are Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little, Joey "bigjoe2003" Michael, & Chip "z32fanatic" Ferguson, ricestud, Kenny05, Darinvg .

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Membership Options

Full: $19.95/month with $99.95 Initiation Fee

Payment Methods:

VISA, Mastercard, Paypal

Videos	Streaming?	Downloadable?	Hand Replayer?	Forums?
335+

Instructors

Chip "z32fanatic" Ferguson
Joey "bigjoe2003" Michael
Jonathan "FieryJustice" Little
Grayson "Spacegravy" Physioc
Darin "Darinvg" Van Gammeren
Ken "Kenny05" Smaron

Guest Pros

Pudge714
RiceStud

Video Variety

NL Holdem:	8 videos
Limit Holdem:	0 Videos
Tournaments:	55 Videos
Sit-N-Go:	203 Videos
Satellites:	4 Videos
Release Schedule:	No Set Schedule, very sporadic release of videos but they are all high quality

Notes:
Due to the nature of SNGIcons.com focusing on providing training on primarily sit n gos, video variety cannot be properly rated.

Rating:

Cash Games

NLHE - 6 Max

Pro: Assassinato

Notes
The cash vids were sparse but then again this is a site dedicated to SNG video's so not surprising here. FieryJustice was the sole contributor doing some Low Limit No Limit videos. They are not bad but we're talking about 4 videos in total. It would be interesting to see more from them.

Rating:

Multi Table Tournaments (MTT)

Pro: FieryJustice, z32fanatic, BigJoe2003

Notes:
The MTT vids were mostly by FieryJustice & z32fanatic with 2 by BigJoe2003. They were for the most part done in a series with z32 fanatic having a 7 video series. FieryJustice has a 3 video series on a PokerStars rebuy as well as a series on FullTilt. With FieryJustice getting some primetime exposure with the WorldPokerTour season airing, this would be a great time for him to release a whole series of tournament videos. While the videos are ok they are not great & need some fine tuning in the delivery department. FieryJustice has stepped his MTT game up by proving himself to the world by winning the WPT player of the year award for 2008.

What Members are saying?

Ratounet said about Jonathan's latest video: One of the best video series I ever seen.... Pretty unlucky on your rebuy but just doesn't understand why you rebuy until the very last end of the rebuy period.

Rating:

Sit-N-Go's (SNG)

Pro: Fiery Justice, z32fanatic, Spacegravy & bigjoe2003

Notes:
SNG instructional videos are the forte & the heart of SNGicons. The instructors at the site are predominantly SNG players as opposed to cash players though FJ has recently stated in one of the vids that he has been playing more cash online. This was what the site was created for & what they emphasize. Having said that there are some problems most which deal with production quality & overall professionalism.

They clearly discussed their thought processes behind the decisions they make during the games as well as delving into some concepts that relate to specific hands even though they might not be occuring at the video at the time. These "what if?" scenario's are very helpful to understanding how they arrive at their conclusive decisions. Jonathan Little seems to be very adept at explaining his ideas in a clear & articulate way. He talks through the decisions during dead time (when he is folding/folded on several games) like push chart ratings, books he has read, how he got started, what he has been doing to improve his play etc. In short I enjoyed his video's the most due to his explanations going far beyond the videos at hand. Some of the other instructors while being great players sometimes lack the ability to fully convey their thoughts. z32 fanatic expanded his play from full table SNG's to 6 max games which was very nice for SNG variety. This was a very welcome change to the standard full table SNG play. The caliber of the instructors for SNGIcons is clearly top notch with FieryJustice having 6 WSOP cashes & 2 WPT final tables, z32fanatic with over 30,000 tourney's with over 14,000 of them being in the over $200 category, & bigjoe2003 being the 2nd ever PokerStars Elite player (1 week after elky!). So the quality of instruction is top notch.

What Members are saying about the quality videos?

keke1 said about BigJoes video: Very good video. You are the best at explaining stuff at sngicons, you make it look so easy.

shaharidan said about Darinvg's video: Another great video from Darinvg. i really appreciate commenting on all the hands even the ones your not involved in. It's why I'm willing to pay the subscription fee. Keep up the good work!

Rating:

Other Games (Stud Omaha, Razz, etc)

Notes:
One Chinese Poker video presented by FieryJustice.

Rating:

Weaknesses

SNGIcons only release 3-4 videos a week at this point which is a bit behind the other sites that focus on a ton of videos covering all different types of games. Because SNGicons focuses on tournaments and SNGs they have chosen a quality over quantity approach which works for them but still needs to be pointed out. There was also a lack of professional etiquette during the filming of some of there older videos themselves. Some of the incidents I witnessed while watching video's was a phone ringing & being answered by the instructor during the video. I keep thinking that should have been an easy edit OUT by whoever finished producing/editing the video.

Other problems were background noise such as people talking or watching TV, one instructor watching "a bowl game" as he did the video & even stating that, one instructor making a video after New Years day & stating he was not in best shape to make a video & it shows. More than one instructor (must be a corporate thing) had the annoying habit of making noise with a straw in a fountain drink running the straw up & down incessantly which was VERY annoying. In another video there was simply a lot of dead air time with no comments by the instructor in between the comments he was making thus making for a lot of time simply viewing a screen with not much happening. . That is where Little excelled in making very useful commentary not directly related to the video in hand but to the game in general. In short they need some serious editing or direction change to make their vid's up to par with competitors.

Strengths

The strengths of SNGicons lies solely on the play of the instructors themselves. It's obvious the guys know SNG play inside out. Topics such as ICM, early low blind play,mid blind play, high blind bubble play & heads up play are all clearly covered. Another thing I found to be refreshing & interesting was variance in action. Watching an instructor not win every single SNG they play was quite interesting! In some instances some instructors would have 4 games going on at once & not place in the money in a single game. Watching an instructor bust out on the bubble after making a correct play only to get sucked out on was enlightening. It also happens to the pro's. We know that but for the most part don't hear about it much less see it happening.

Video's range from simply watching them play games & commenting to replaying hands & even replaying & critiquing students/members playing SNG's. Overall some of the video's were very good. Some editing work would bring that standard up very much as the instructors are top notch players.

Expected Value: Is SNG Icons worth it?

After the initial sign up fee the cost is a mere $19.95 per month which is the cheapest of the sites out there. But you have to put up with a lower standard of video quality as well. You get what you pay for. However it is not the look of the site that is the problem as much as the poor production of the vids which is hard to overcome. That being said, they have worked hard at the end of 2008 to package together a complete more high quality training site and they are being rewarded by retaining their members and keeping them happy.

Overall Rating: