Strategy

Harrington on Holdem 2

The second installment of Dan Harrington's Harrington on Hold 'Em series, published by Two Plus Two publishing, was just recently released. For those who are familiar with Dan Harrington and read his first book, you probably know what to expect out of the book. For those who read Two Plus Two books regularly, you probably know what to expect out of the editing job.

The contents of the book are of great value to a no-limit tournament player. The topics cover how to make moves in the later goings of a no-limit tournament, and the guidelines you need to follow on how to adjust gears as you progress towards the end. Some of them might not be new to the reader, but for those who have never discussed no-limit strategy at great length, it should greatly improve your game. It's loaded with real-life examples to help you grasp the ideas clearly.

I mentioned the editing job for one reason-it's atrociously bad. I can't even begin to tell you how terrible Mason Malmuth's editing job is in this book. I literally stopped reading at one point, because the page was so full of errors I had honestly lost track of what the passage was trying to say.

Normally I don't care about minor errors and little details that are messed up. But the problem is, there's so many in this book, that there's probably going to be a book published just as long as this one is with all the corrections in it! Two Plus Two is known for not caring in the least about these things, and it hurts this book greatly.

If you can get over the numerous grammatical and context errors (numerous times, examples have bad math and incorrect references to their diagrams), then the actual lessons learned in this book are invaluable to the reader. I had a tough time separating myself from the writer in me and the interest I had in finishing the book.

One of the best sections for beginners is Harrington's heads-up play section. If you've never played heads-up poker or haven't given it much thought, you can learn a lot from this. I've never seen anyone discuss how to play no-limit poker heads up, and he gives it a thorough write up. Everything from what hands rank well against a random hand, to how to play your hands. The best part is, he takes real-life examples (one from the Turning Stone tournament Phil Ivey won on live TV), and simplifies them so you understand why each player is doing what they are doing.

Overall, if you're looking to add to your collection of poker books, and you've read the first volume, then this is a must have. I would recommend waiting until they release a later print of this book, with less errors in it. If they decide that it's important enough to do so.

Review by Jon Eaton

Harrington on Holdem

Dan Harrington has finally written a definitive book on the basics of no-limit hold 'em tournament poker. For the first time in print are many of the techniques that pros today use to their advantage to win major poker tournaments.

Many of you are familiar with Dan, but for those who don't know who he is' his list of accolades start with the 1995 World Series main event championship, and most recently he reached the final table in the 2003 and 2004 world championship events. He's won numerous tournaments in his lifetime and has two total World Series bracelets.

In Harrington on Hold 'Em: Volume 1, Dan teaches basic fundamental pre-flop and post-flop play as well as how to change it up and how to bet your hands. Dan also goes through some basic bluffs and reads on hands. It's not for the novice-you really must know how to play poker fairly efficiently first.

However, if you are like many other poker players and are new to no-limit tournaments, this is an excellent foundation for you to have underneath you. For those of you who already know most of this material, it never hurts to have a little refresher.

Knowing your own game inside and out is a key thing, and Dan teaches that to you. He teaches you to know your own table image and how to play off of it. You can see this in action-watch Dan bluff in tight spots at the 2004 World Series final table on ESPN! Dan gets respect for his image at the table, and he can make bluffs as such.

I highly recommend this book. I was so highly convinced this one book took my tournament game to the next level of steady cashing, I told my friend if he didn't cash in his next tournament after finishing the book I'd pay his entry fee back. He made the final table and was convinced of it himself.

The one thing he told me was the book made him in control of his play throughout the tournament, and he was more observant of everything that went on around him. One thing I notice is the book has me looking at every detail going on around me at the table-noting every time someone bets and raises and noting the amounts and when and where in my mind.

Two Plus Two publishing have been innovators for years in the field of poker publishing. This book follows their last hit in the poker world, Small Stakes Hold 'Em. That book was one of the first ever produced for play against loose, low-limit games. Others have touched on the topic, but they dominated the category with that book.

Likewise, Harrington On Hold 'Em is a very good read that will teach some fundamentals of play in no-limit tournaments never available elsewhere. If you're a tournament player, you must read this book-your opponents will be.

Review by Jon Eaton

High Low Split

High-Low Split Poker For Advanced Players by Ray Zee is the classic book on hi-lo split. An important read for beginners and anyone preparing to play either online or live. The two games are very similar in approach and the insights and strategies into one game can often be applied to the other. Understanding the winning principles will also give your overall poker game a boost, especially in holdem, lowball, Omaha high, and seven card stud.

Both of the sections are especially well structured and organized. The keys to these games are in two areas that Zee addresses quite well. The first concept being the relative hand strengths. This reading provides the basics for playing split games in ring games and shorthanded tables.

Understanding starting hand strength relative to that of your opponents is extremely important, especially when trying to raise for value in a multi-way pot and when trying to isolate another player. Ray Zee offers solid strategy approaches to playing low style drawing hands and big pairs, key hands in these games.

He also clearly defines the hands in which you should avoid, since their win rate is negative. He also discusses hands that will separate you from your competition.

The other key to success Zee stresses in both this game and Omaha high-low split is the importance of playing tight. The tighter you play in choosing both the hands you play and in deciding the course of action to take after the flop in Omaha high-low (and on fourth street in 7 card stud hi-lo) are essential to understanding the poor expectation of chasing in these games.

For the most part this book can clearly get you headed in the right direction in these very profitable forms of poker. However, to master these games you may have to supplement your reading after this book on these games to get a more complete understanding of aggressive plays and tournament strategy.

Review by Bo Jungblut

Professional Poker

Not one single book in the history of poker should be emphasized more than Professional Poker by Mark Blade. That's how much I believe this book means to the poker world. I mean, Super System might be the Bible, but this book is the Encyclopedia. I guess it depends on your religious beliefs as to which is more important or correct' but just go with the analogy for now.

Mark Blade has written a very practical and useful guide for how to go from a recreational, winning poker player, into a full-time professional. Along the way he helps you decide if this path is correct for you, and gives you some pointers to help your journey. From someone who has been there and done that, he gives you basically all the information that took years of hardships for many before you to learn and accept fully.

Your advantage over those before you is with this book, you don't have to go broke to learn how to play poker. You can now learn the exact principles for bankroll management, game analysis, and moving up in the ranks without dropping $10,000 or more.

My unfortunate belief that this book is so great is unfortunate because I have a feeling not many are aware of this book. When I saw it on the shelf, it really didn't stand out'it looked like one of the dozens of other books put out in the past two years about poker. I glanced through it, and was actually unimpressed at first. In fact, I didn't want to buy it!

Something told me to give it a chance and I purchased it, with the intentions of reviewing it for you loyal readers. When I was halfway through, I was immediately amazed at how well written and organized it was. Everything was clear and concise, and every important point was hammered out for you to fully understand.

The thing about me reading this book is I already possess most of this knowledge, mostly from learning the hard way. Therefore, I can fully understand the concepts presented, and can completely confirm that Mark has done his work here. If you read this book, apply the concepts and learn how to play the game right, you have a winning recipe here. It's no secret that the concepts Mark has given you in this book are winning concepts, because every professional player should already know what Mark knows.

Many professionals got lucky when they started. Whether they really stood the test of time or just had beginners luck may remain to be seen, but this text will spell out for you how to avoid having to just get lucky to succeed at poker. To be fair to those who didn't use the key concepts of this book to make it to the top, Mark does approach topics like playing on a short bankroll and playing for bigger scores through satellites and so forth. There is some legitimacy to these approaches, and he spells them out for you.

Whether you are wanting to do this for a living or you just want to play seriously, this book should be the first thing you buy before going any further. I can't begin to tell you how important it is to understand how long the long run really is, and how to achieve the goals you set out for yourself through proper bankroll management. Mark will completely spell these things out for you in plain and simple English, and if you follow his advice, I will see you at a final table in the near future.

Review by Jon Eaton

Small Stakes Holdem

When the Hold'Em explosion hit poker rooms across America, hundreds of thousands of inexperienced players were beginning to play limit Hold 'Em for the first time. The number still grows today, as poker rooms continue to expand around the country. As a result, 2+2 Publishing put their stamp on the low-limit world with this instant classic, Small Stakes Hold 'Em: Winning Big With Expert Play.

In sharp contrast with their previous writings such as Hold 'Em Poker For Advanced Players, Ed Miller and company suggest playing a new brand of poker. Instead of playing relatively weak-tight for the games today, they suggest playing more pots and playing much more aggressively. The fact that you play better poker and don't play marginal-to-hopeless hands means that you'll exploit your opponents tendencies to offset your slightly looser-than-normal play.

For example, they will recommend in many spots to raise with such marginal hands as A-Ts, even from an early position. The reason behind their logic is today's games are so soft that players will give you action with even weaker hands almost like clockwork. They even advocate some plays that might seem strange to the typical middle-limit player, like raising into a crowd on the button with a hand like A-Js.

Again, this is all a drastic change from previous writings, even on low-limit games. The logic in the past about raising with marginal hands out of position was that if you get action behind you, you are beat and are drawing already. The problem with these previous thoughts is that in games today, players are cold-calling two, three and even four bets with almost any two cards. A typical $3-6 Hold 'Em game could have as many as six players on average seeing a flop.

To beat these games today, you must adjust your style of play. Some of the topics and strategies in here can translate into higher-stakes games, but typically these are best kept to the white chip games and loose middle-limit games.

Overall, if you want to stand a chance in the 'no fold 'em' games of today, you must adjust your strategy drastically. This book offers most players a good guideline how to do just that.

Review by Jon Eaton