Phil Gordon, a top professional poker player and instructor, expert analyst, television personality, Silicon Valley pioneer, and author, has always strived to be the best at whatever he does. Like many of us, Gordon is generally disenchanted with the traditional “professorial” lecture-based teaching methods. While he doesn’t have it all figured out, Gordon does have a method that works when he wants to learn something new: determine who theleading expert is and get inside the mind of that expert. In 2005, Gordon created Expert Insight to help others expand their knowledge and improve their abilities by using the same approach that has worked for him throughout his life – learning from the best.

When Gordon decided that he wanted to be more than a recreational poker player, he realized that the best way to become a world-class player was to begin thinking like one. He devoured every poker book available, discussed poker with his peers, read internet forums, and played in the World Series of Poker, cash games, and other tournaments. All of this helped him improve his game, but nothing taught him how the top professionals consistently made winning decisions. His “research” was time-consuming and, at times, expensive. Lucky for him it paid off. Gordon has won over $1.8 million in poker tournaments, including two first place finishes on the World Poker Tour in 2002 and a fourth-place finish at the 2001 World Series of Poker Championship Event.

Success at the tables led to success as an author, teacher, and television commentator; all of which helped Gordon quickly establish himself as one of the game’s best instructors. His two books, Poker: The Real Deal and Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book (both published by Simon & Schuster), have become two of the top-selling and best-reviewed instructional books on poker ever written. Building on this success, his growing notoriety on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, and the explosion in popularity of televised tournament poker, Gordon decided to apply his “inside the mind of the expert” approach to create his own instructional DVD.

During production of Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon in the spring of 2005, it became obvious to Gordon and his team that this methodology was not only extremely effective for teaching poker, it was also a natural way to teach countless other subjects and interest areas. With an innovative teaching methodology, award-winning production team and Gordon’s access to world-famous experts across almost every field imaginable, Expert Insight was born.

To build the EI foundation, Gordon enlisted three friends: Michael Keller, Jon Gunn and Rafe Furst. Michael Keller, EI’s Chief Creative Officer, is an award-winning director, graduate of the prestigious Director’s Guild of America training program, and lifelong tutor with a passion for teaching. Jon Gunn, the Director, Producer and Editor of the hit film My Date with Drew, is a rising star in Hollywood whose talents as a filmmaker are rivaled only by his business skills. Rafe Furst, EI’s Chief Strategist and CTO, is an entrepreneur, business leader, web developer and strategist. Together, they have assembled the rest of the EI team and remain deeply involved in the company’s strategy and day-to-day operations.

Current DVD Titles

Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon was launched in July 2005 to rave customer reviews and has been featured on TV (Jimmy Kimmel Live, Best Damn Sports Show) and in notable magazines, including Stuff (July 2005), FHM (Sept. 2005), Playboy (Oct. 2005), All In (Dec. 2005), and Bluff (Dec. 2005). It is widely considered the best instructional DVD ever created for poker.

Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch, EI’s second title, was released in March 2006. Still in its first six months of release, it has already won two national awards for outstanding instructional content: The Telly Award and The Aurora Award. Bloch and the DVD have also been featured in All In, Bluff, Poker Pro, Poker Life, Strip Las Vegas, and The Las Vegas Sun as well as several on-line magazines including Hobotrash.com, TexasHoldem-Poker.com, and Pokerforum.com.

On September 15, 2006, Expert Insight proudly released its third title: Short Game Golf with Jim Furyk and Fred Funk. The only golf instructional DVD on the market starring a currently ranked top 5 golfer, Short Game Golf offers the unprecedented opportunity to learn from two of the PGA TOUR’s best. In just its first month of release, Short Game Golf has been honored with a Silver Award at the 2006 Davey Awards, has been featured in several online and print publications, and has been picked up by almost every major retailer in golf.

Card Trick Magic with Stephane Vanel was released in June of 2007. Stephane Vanel is a world champion of card magic and card manipulation who performs nightly at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. A second volume of Card Trick Magic, featuring all new tricks is to follow soon.