PRO POKER SCHOOL Learn Before You Earn

Poker Review

Review by Jon Eaton

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.