andre - JSho,
I fully agree about the importance of the underhook. It isnt essential, but it's obviously an important part of control. But I just dont think that you can say the person on the bottom, for example, doesnt have the half guard if he doesnt have the underhook, or that the person on top in the halfguard if he doesnt have the underhook. I might have misunderstood his point, though.
I agree that I think he was making that point--that the advantage goes to the person with the underhook.
Speaking as a half guard fanatic, I also agree that he is mistaken, if he really means it that way (and not, as some have said, as a point of emphasis).
andre - "Half guard is the position. Neither person owns the position (ie. he has it or I have it). Your either it Top half-guard or Bottom half-guard."
I agree. I thought this was the standard way of looking at it...which is why I was confused by that part of the video.
I think half guard is the first position that most people encounter that doesn't give an automatic advantage just "by being there". It CAN favor either player.
With that said, it has been my experience that there IS one single factor that determines who has the advantage in half guard. I taught a seminar on HG last month in DC, and this was our focus throughout--establishing and maintaining an advantageous position from the bottom, and the three primary attacks in my HG game.
(This is how organized my HG game is: I've been teaching both my Level 1 top game and Level 1 bottom game to my students all month. This week, I've promised to teach them my entire Level 2 top game--counters to bottom Level 1--and my entire Level 2 bottom game--counters to top Level 1.)