John - Barry and Jared done a lot of advertising a promos before and when the book came out. A lot of reviews could simply be those first customers responding to a simple email/tweet/blog sent en-masse to all those who purchased asking to review. Something that is very standard in marketing.

Is your conclusion here consistent with the points I outlined? Do you dispute the points I outlined or the logic I used to draw a conclusion. You are a psychiatric nurse, no, trained in making conclustions all the time?

Lastly, in making my own conclusions, as you recommend a couple of pages back, I can only surmise that you are trolling for some strange reason

If your definition of 'troll' is someone that makes some points that not everyone agrees with, then troll I am. I was just using you as an example of tilt, if that's what's riled you this time. You exhibited your blog everywhere and linked there with half of the world, and every other post was about tilting, and getting angry at beats. I ended up thinking, my god, this guy must really hate vegas

Do you suffer from headaches much John?

Only when I'm punched in the face by aspiring poker authors

No ad hominem attack, as I don't know who you are or why you have such an intense, personal interest in the subject matter.

If I was thinking of buying the book, I'd definitely listen to the reviews from a lot of the people on here, many of whom are decent poker players and have stated that they benefited greatly from the book.  I've also read it.

Either that, or I'd buy the book and make up my own mind.  As you've got it in audiobook format, you can very easily make up your own mind.

I can't not really in audible format. I've already had to resort to taping it while I listen so that I have something I can shuttle about, as I would a book. He makes a lot of points that actually require a great deal of thinking and exploration to establish even if the premises are true or not.
I think if people, like vegaslover for example, spend half their poker time in monkey tilt then any book that forces them to address the causes of it, then it's bound to work wonders. There are a substantial number of people for whom it is a much more subtle affair, and it's absolutely requrred that the authors be completely accurate and comprehensive in dealing with the matter, and I do not think that this is occurring here. I also think that it is subtle, requires asking the right questions in a really informed and ruthless way, that just being a  decent poker player certainly does not on its own qualify you to make that judgement. It may feel like it has produced a big change in your game within the first year, because you are at last turning and addressing the issue head on. But if you're going to be relying on the content in 4 years time, staring down at an 800 pound call, and scrutinizing the distortions of your own tilt, and relying to do so on the musings of the leading expert who didn't even know that those distortions existed...then good luck!

John - you seem to know a lot about Amazon, so can you answer me this?

Is the 'Amazon Verified Purchase' only for one when Amazon sell the book direct? ie. not when a licensed vendor is selling them through their Amazon seller account?

99% of our Amazon sales in the first 3-6 months were from our Amazon vendor account, not Amazon themselves. We also didn't release the kindle version until much later.

I don't know the answer to the above, I've googled it and looked at the T&Cs on Amazon but cant find an answer - but it may be an explanation to why there are not many early verified purchases.  

I don't know one way or another Barry, could well be something like that. I'll have a snoop around, I bookmarked quite a few links earlier when I was looking into it.

[as you have]

John, who are you and what is your agenda here? 

Your analysis of the reviews and feedback this book has had is far more involved than that of someone with a passing interest in the book.

For what it's worth, I bought the book when it was released in kindle format, and thought it was OK.  I didn't feel I learnt a lot from it, but maybe one or two things were helpful, and that's usually the same with every poker book I've read.  However, these one or two things can make a big difference over the long-term though and so I'd view it as value for money.  I also couldn't give a toss what the reviews on Amazon say, as I've already bought the book - as you have.  I'd prefer to make my own mind up and worry far less about the reviews on Amazon and their legitimacy.

If you have an axe to grind, and you're questioning the integrity of Jared and Barry, then full disclosure from you would probably be sensible.

No - he said he was THINKING of buying it. (See John's first post).


I am thinking of buying this book on Amazon.com

Ahh, I got confused. He also said.......


I am makin my way through the book, a lot of interesting points about learning in it. I can feel my inner inchworm growing...

I have some queries about certain aspects of the book, and its approach

So maybe he made a mistake in his first Post here.

I think what you mean by the last sentence is 'He was lying.' Which I am not. I am thinking of buying the book, I am making my way through it in audible format which was available as part of a promotion (and in effect, free).

John, who are you and what is your agenda here? 

Your analysis of the reviews and feedback this book has had is far more involved than that of someone with a passing interest in the book.

For what it's worth, I bought the book when it was released in kindle format, and thought it was OK.  I didn't feel I learnt a lot from it, but maybe one or two things were helpful, and that's usually the same with every poker book I've read.  However, these one or two things can make a big difference over the long-term though and so I'd view it as value for money.  I also couldn't give a toss what the reviews on Amazon say, as I've already bought the book - as you have.  I'd prefer to make my own mind up and worry far less about the reviews on Amazon and their legitimacy.

If you have an axe to grind, and you're questioning the integrity of Jared and Barry, then full disclosure from you would probably be sensible.

I have no axe to grind and I have no agenda of any sort in this. I asked a very clear set of questions about the objectivity of the reviews on Amazon, they went unanswered, I was told that the Barry was honest (which I already believed), that the book was fantastic (which I am still trying to establish). The actual questions I raised, which were about objective facts available on Amazon, and which never once directly questioned the honesty of the authors, remained unaddressed, so I asked them again, in a way that could not be unaddressed. I never once made it an ad hominem attack but you seem to wish to turn it into that. I will not get involved in that type of discussion, I already stayed clear of it. All I did was point out what I saw. If there is a legitimate reason for the facts I observed (and i presented facts, not assumptions) then that will come out. I offered to retract, and the author insisted that what I was doing was in fact good for his publicity therefore i repeated what I had asked but in clearer and more specific terms. I am not an author and I would like very much to read a good book about this kind of thing as a lot of money is riding on whether or not he topic can be cracked, for anyone seeking to address it in their game. I have an intense, personal interest in the subject matter, apologies if this gave rise to probing questions on your forum. I'll make the next one about massaging my calf muscles. What do you want me to say? That I'm a poker author and I'm trying to bring down Tendler and Carter? My points would remain. You're a bright guy, do the reviews look legit to you? They matter to me, I actually do buy a lot on there based on reviews, as do many others.
I didn't buy the book, I am swithering about buying it so that I can more concretely pull sections from it that I want to address. I am making my way through it in audible format, which was (in effect) free.

If this is the trouble you go to before buying a book for twenty quid, booking a holiday or buying a motor must be a nightmare 

There was no foundation to that restraining order by Jeremy Clarkson and you know it :p

firstly i have never read the book (or plan to) and have no affiliation with the authors

why do you care john?

Firstly because whether the reviews are legitimate or not are of interest to me just for curiosity value, and secondly when I look at how many people are handing over fairly decent sums based partly on reviews they see on amazon, when anyone can write those reviews, and the reviews look questionable to me, then I'll go ahead and ask the question. In those other online reviews , which lead to a lot of sales, and where a large number of reviews were fake (30 percent, I believe), the perpetrators were relying on posts like mine not being made. I'm not saying anything like that happened here. And I'm certainly not pointing fingers at Barry Carter. I just wrote out what facts I saw, and asked how they could be explained. I

[The cluster of early reviews is as much a bi product of how heavily we marketed the book in the first 3-6 months than anything else. We had a lot of people eagerly purchase the book in the first month and we also did tons of marketing, guest articles, magazine articles, interviews, webinars etc.]

The book was actually released in April that year, but only became available direct from amazon in may,  and as previously mentioned we actively encouraged people on social media to post review - however we never asked them to give is five star or tell them what to write. That may also account why there may be some unverfied purchases.

The cluster of early reviews is as much a bi product of how heavily we marketed the book in the first 3-6 months than anything else. We had a lot of people eagerly purchase the book in the first month and we also did tons of marketing, guest articles, magazine articles, interviews, webinars etc.

I have nothing to hide, I won't be trying to get your posts removed and have never done anything shady, with this book or my day to day work, of this nature. The book has sold very well, not because we manipulated anything, but because people liked it and told their friends.

Intense marketing in the early days, eager buyers and a vague review solicitation would produce some skewing and a little clustering in the results, maybe. However that kind of thing would produce nothing like this. Why would there be intense clustering over 8 days? Why would there be such intense clustering on one of these days? Why would all reviews in that week be from purchases unverified by Amazon, when most outside that date are verified? Why would most of these people log in just to review that one book, on a site they don't appear to have bought it from, and then never review another one there? Why would they all write in that style? Why would they go to the effort of setting up accounts on a site where they probably hadn't bought it, just to write a review designed to specifically encourage the audience to buy?
To be honest, I'm not querying your honesty, I would not believe someone if they told me you had anything to do with this. I'm not interested in this turning out to be one thing or another. Many of the reviews just look really weird to me, and that's the only reason why I asked. If many people pay a decent sum for the book, often on the back of very positive reviews, I think this exercise is perfectly legitimate.
I did see other reviews for this book on amazon specifically targetting this very issue. I saw one of them (one star) removed, and another query their authenticity, which was replied to, but not addressed by, the author. So I thought I'd bring it up here.
The facts remain unexplained...I did ask, without the graphs, sorry.

If I were going to make a post such as this, I'd check when the amazon verified purchase began on amazon.co.uk.  If I didn't do that, I'd run the risk of making a bad conclusion from the evidence presented. 

My posts and graphs all relate only to reviews and purchases on Amazon.com, not Amazon.co.uk.
When I first saw the data, your point came to mind, and I checked...Amazon Verified Purchase was going way before this book was published.

Click to see full-size image.

http://i.imgur.com/deh2iVy.jpg

Of all the 5-tar reviews submitted over 3 years, almost half (15) occur during a Golden eight day period between 7-15 June 2011. There are clusters within this cluster, 5 reviews were submitted on 8th June 2011 alone.

Most of the reviews (13 out of 15) submitted during this golden eight days were by usernames who had reviewed no other item, before or since.

Amazon have a system called 'Amazon Verified Purchase', each review has one or it does not. You can submit a review to Amazon without having purchased the thing you are reviewing there. You may have purchased it elsewhere, or not. One would ask why you wourd visit Amazon to write a review for an item you have not purchased there.
However, overall, the AVP badge is one more indicator of the likelihood of a given review having been written by a random punter as opposed to someone with a financial interest in whipping up sales. The latter is likely not to go through a purchase for each review, when they have the option to review without purhase.
That said, we look at the period outwith the Golden 8 days, and a wopping 85 percent of the reviews are from Amazon Verified Purchases. Conversely, we look at the 15 purchases in the Golden Eight days, and not one is from an Amazon Verified Purchase, 0%. This is statistically significant and shows that with a very high degree of probability, there was something else going on with the reviews during the Golden Eight days that differentiates them from the reviews outwith that period of time. Combining that with the clustering, and the lack of other purchases, I still find it very hard to believe that these reviews were by random punters, or even just someone 'asked to write a review wherever they had bought the book'. Far more likely that tbey have been written not each by a unique sale, but by someone sitting down just bashing out reviews. Their tone and style looks the same. They cluster by date and the operation appears to be concerted.
Those are the facts. You can draw your own conclusions.

Click to see full-size image.

http://i.imgur.com/l9AFQmi.jpg

Are you taking any malaria precautions? It's not very pleasant to get. Neither is mefloquine to take either lol
I took antibiotics for about 2 years, which is kind of inadvisable. I also wore long sleeves a fair bit, used the sprays, and a net at night.
Presume that someone will try to save money by serving you water from a tap, presented in a mineral water bottle. Refuse to drink it unless you saw the seal broken with your own eyes.
Don't know the HIV rate, but pretty high in all of West Africa. You certainly don't want to go sleeping with anyone there, easier said than done when you're on your own, drunk, at 2 am in a nightclub and local lovelies are throwing themselves at you. Then you wake at 10am, she's gone, so is your money, and the pack of condoms has remained unopened. Or, she's planted drugs, and called the cops, who are about to show at your door for their share of the pay-off. So the best precaution is not to get wasted at night in places full of hookers. I did write up a big guidebook once on getting by, it didn't stop most people I was with taking no antimalarials and taking plenty of ladies of the night.
Went to a couple of casinos, would expect them to be pretty corrupt, almost as much as the gaming boards. I refused to pay bribes to government officials (who demanded it to my face), nearly did jail time as a result. Good luck.

After the airline food is Shite rant from someone I feel the need to report this.

Had a breakfast today/yesterday (my days are upside down) it was alright, not perfect but wtf do u expect? However, there was a perfectly cooked poached egg on all of our trays today (well me and the guys next to me), how the hell did they achieve that on an airline platter? with soft yolk etc?

Learning how to handle yolks is a big part of pilot training these days.

[One of the first videos I saw was from some guy called Tony Kendall who expressed his skeptiicism about the approach,]

Thanks for the kind words Craig and Tikay (the cheques are in the post)

You're even soliciting thumbs up in your avatar! :p

Rereading, I'm wondering if I came across as a bit harsh and I'm considering just deleting my post. Sometimes I just say what I see. (or think I see).

I am makin my way through the book, a lot of interesting points about learning in it. I can feel my inner inchworm growing...

I have some queries about certain aspects of the book, and its approach, now is probably not the time. I have watched and read a lot of stuff by the author online, I'll admit from a critical (in the positive sense) viewpoint. One of the first videos I saw was from some guy called Tony Kendall who expressed his skeptiicism about the approach, I'm yet to finalize my thoughts on it all. I did start a journal of 'ideas and reflections' on all the issues I thought Tendler and Barry had brought up, and I ended up reading around the ideas quite significantly. Desperate to see what Volume 2 has to say.

You don't want to take much notice of him, he's extremely old for a start.

I do recall the vidoe though, & his initial reservations about the Content. He then read the book - with an open mind - & has since stated, on numerous media platforms, including magazine articles, videos, TV & forums, that he thinks the book is superb.

And before we get in a tangled web in this really most peculiar thread, & as I'm pretty sure you already know.......I am that man. 

I'm sorry, your back is to me in your avatar. I was confusing you with the dark-haired gentleman with the moustache.

Thanks for the kind words Craig and Tikay (the cheques are in the post)

You're even soliciting thumbs up in your avatar! :p

Rereading, I'm wondering if I came across as a bit harsh and I'm considering just deleting my post. Sometimes I just say what I see. (or think I see).

I am makin my way through the book, a lot of interesting points about learning in it. I can feel my inner inchworm growing...

I have some queries about certain aspects of the book, and its approach, now is probably not the time. I have watched and read a lot of stuff by the author online, I'll admit from a critical (in the positive sense) viewpoint. One of the first videos I saw was from some guy called Tony Kendall who expressed his skeptiicism about the approach, I'm yet to finalize my thoughts on it all. I did start a journal of 'ideas and reflections' on all the issues I thought Tendler and Barry had brought up, and I ended up reading around the ideas quite significantly. Desperate to see what Volume 2 has to say.