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MasterClass.com - backgammon

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Friday, 18 January 2019, at 3:51 a.m.

In Response To: MasterClass.com - backgammon (Stick)

I've never taken a MasterClass.com course but from what I gather, one of their main requirements is that the instructor be a "big name" in the field, if not the biggest name. That's part of their brand. I suspect that this criterion is more important than how good the person is at teaching or even how good the person is at what they do (though it's rare that the biggest name in a field isn't good at it).

So for example, I feel pretty confident that MasterClass.com would be far more interested in Mochy than in (say) Phil Simborg, even if a case could be made that Phil would make "better videos" from a pedagogical point of view. Mochy speaks with an accent but his English is plenty good enough and his cachet as a multi-time #1 Giant is going to count very heavily in his favor.

The other thing that MasterClass.com is looking for is some kind of "angle" that the Master brings to the course. They're playing off the popular conception that the top person in a field has some kind of secret sauce and that if you just manage to get some one-on-one time with them, then you'll get some kind of amazing insights that you just won't get from anyone else. To a large extent, this popular conception is a myth, and people sort of know that it's a myth—you're not going to effortlessly rocket to the top just by spending some time with someone at the top—but people can't resist the idea anyway. I don't think that MasterClass.com is interested in the Master going through standard material that you can easily get elsewhere.

If I'm right about what MasterClass.com is looking for, then I think they would be most interested in Mochy. Almost all the other names that carry the requisite cachet are from a bygone era, with the possible exception of Nack. Nack does have the advantage that he has plenty of "secrets" in his back pocket of the type that MasterClass.com is looking for.

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