Book Description
Written by World Champion players T. J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy (8 titles between them), this is the definitive guide to winning at two of the world's most exciting poker games! All the answers to players most important questions are here: How do you get inside your opponents' heads and learn how to beat them at their own game? How can you tell how much to bet, raise, and reraise in no-limit hold'em? When can you bluff? How do you set up your opponents in pot-limit hold'em so that you can win a monster pot? What are the best strategies for winning no-limit and pot-limit tournaments, satellites, and supersatellites? Rock-solid and inspired advice from two of the most recognizable figures in poker.
Customer Reviews:
Meh.......2007-08-10
I'm not sure who this book is intended for. The down home, folksy style of writing makes it easy and accessible, like a good beginners book. But some topics that beginners absolutely need to learn, like pot odds and implied odds, are skimmed over and barely touched on. Other times, they'll simply repeat the same thing over and over again, with different ways of phrasing it. I get that you need "iron balls" to play hold 'em; no need to word it 5 different ways in the span of two pages.
The authors also like to make grand pronouncements and hold fast rules, as if they're reading from a stone tablet or something; "Thou shalt not draw to a flush unless ye have the nut flush draw AND two overcards!" Ignore, for a second, the absurdity of that statement; I just hate it when poker players say things like that as if they're the gospel truth. There are going to be times where you should put money into the pot with a non-nut flush draw or even simply two overcards, let alone both of them. The overall strategy described in this book is uber-tight, to say the least. They're much more concerned with protecting their own chips then taking them from others. At a table full of weak players (i.e. your average home or online poker game), I'm not sure why you would want to play in this manner.
This book is not without it's highlights. The discussion on how to play small pairs is refreshing, if only because two dissenting viewpoints are discussed. T.J. doesn't really like them, Tom will play any pair. Personally, I agree with Tom, especially if the stacks are deep. The implied odds you get from hitting a set make it a very profitable hand to play, as long as you can get some action when you hit it. If you're at a table full of nits who don't pay off (players like T.J., for example), you probably shouldn't waste your money with the small pairs unless you're simply trying to steal the pot pre-flop (basically playing it like a semi-bluff.)
Overall, I was very disappointed with this book. I think the main problem is it's target audience. It seems like the authors wrote this with serious poker players in mind, but it reads more like a beginners book at times. If I had read this a few years back when I played ATC (any two cards) this would have been exactly what I needed. Now that I know how to play the good kind of loose, this book does nothing for me. If you're a real tight player, you may find this book comforting. Everyone else should move along, there's nothing to see here. If this is "the bible of poker", as the back cover claims, then call me an atheist, cause I ain't buying it.
I was hoping for more..........2006-05-11
This book contains many stories and not that much poker-tips.
The tips are pretty basic and many of them are told repeatedly throughout the book. The result of that is a book with 304 pages that contains a net total of maybe 100 pages of poker-lessons. Not good. Sure, the stories are very entertaining to read and the authors both have a LOT of experience, but I got this book to get better at tournaments. Not for entertainment reading.
I regret that I bought this book. Recently I threw myself into Dan Harrington's vol.1 and vol.2 and they're great. I highly recommend them. Actually I can't even think of a single bad thing to say about them.
Sorry T.J.!
Great book for reference!.......2006-05-10
I must admit this is one essential poker book that should be in every poker player's library. Tj and Tom give you expert analysis on the proper way to play particular hands. I really value their experience given all the bracelets and tournaments they've both won. Tj Cloutier gives great advice on knowing your opponents and tendencies to make your decisions at the poker table. Even though much of the advice in this book at first look can be interpreted as conservative, its really the best book on tournament poker strategy. Tj stresses no limit holdem is all about survival and making smart decisions where you don't have to take too many chances will ensure you do survive. For example Tj states "In the first round of the World Series, as well as in the first round of the smaller buy-in events at the WSOP, a pair of kings is not a big enough hand to get broke with. The only hand that is big enough to get broke with before the flop is two aces." Who'd a thought that at first glance!
Not the best available.......2006-04-11
As the title implies, the authors discuss every hand that [they] think is playable in a tourney and describe how to play them in limit, no-limit and pot-limit events. There's also a discussion of some important hands that were played in past WSOP championship events. However, I found the information and discussion to be a bit shallow.
McEvoy and Cloutier seem to take a cookie cutter approach when describing how to play the hands. When you have hand X you do action Y. While they [somtimes] modify the action to be taken based on position, there is almost no discussion of the changes that your stack size would dictate. Nor is there much discussion of how hands play differently early in the tournament at full tables vs. late at short tables.
Discussion of how to play various hands on the flop and later are seldom given much in-depth discussion.
Anyone following the advice would be fairly predictable.
Lastly it should be noted that the authors are two long-time successful players. While overall I was disappointed, there were a few points that struck me as very useful. Hence the two stars instead of one.
championship no limit&pot limit hold/em.......2006-02-25
there is some good stuff in this book and written in simple terms
Book Description
For players hungry to win hold'em and Omaha tournaments, the world's greatest tournament player gives specific advice on how to get to the final table where the big money is made-and then how to win it all! Players learn how to build up enough chips to make it to the final table and give themselves the best chance of winning the title, the trophy, and the money, using the same strategies that have taken T.J. Cloutier to the championship table of more tournaments than any player in the history of poker. Thirty-five chapters discuss key concepts: stack sizes, antes and blinds, table position, opponents styles, chip count of players, number of tables remaining, and tons of other concepts found nowhere else.
Customer Reviews:
Write a storybook next time, T. J........2007-06-06
I love watching T. J. Cloutier play, so I jumped on this book with anticipation. Basically, it's a long discourse in which he takes every opportunity to tell you to play good hands and do your best to get paid off for them, and never stop studying your opponents.
Although the author uses tournament theory throughout, he never particularly explains it, or ties it in to his exposition, except in the discussion of when to go all in in the big blind.
He breaks down the exposition by number of players left and stack sizes, but his advice for playing the big and medium stacks is almost indistinguishable. He does give some good advice on which players to attack and which to stay away from, but it's slightly spoiled by the
superstitious injunction, repeated two or three times, to stay out of the way of players "on a rush." If you always do that, you'll miss your chances to stop someone's "rush," now, won't you?
There's a chapter where he goes over the critical hands from the 2005 WSOP $5000 No-Limit Hold'em event. This is the high point of the book, but if you compare the commentary here with the kind of analysis Harrington gets into in Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook (Harrington on Hold'em), it's pretty airy.
What one does get out of this book is a sense of how much patience one has to apply, and (at least vaguely) what standards to use on one's hands. For some players, this will be a needed tonic.
In many places throughout, the author admits he's just pointing to something he can't teach directly; he can give you an idea just how well-developed a top player's intuition and sense of timing are, but give only a couple of hints on how to get to that point: paraphrasing, they would be "study your opponents" and "remember your mistakes."
The advice in this book is tailored for big tournaments with relatively deep stacks. In the tournaments most of us play, we'll bubble out if we try to follow T.J.'s advice without adjustment, which is exactly the problem the book sets out to solve.
I do wish all my opponents would read this book, though, especially the ones who keep overplaying KJ and drawing out on me.
Terrible. .......2006-09-22
Don't believe the positive reviews, this book is awful. It's rambling, imprecise, and purely anecdotal, the worst example of the unhelpful "play the player" style of the lesser poker books. Over and over again TJ's grand sum total of advice in all kinds of different situations is to "learn your opponents" so you can "make moves" and "then you can really play poker". And that is it, the entire enumeration of the "strategy". Nothing about how to go about actually -learning- your opponents, nothing about -moves- to make, nothing about his way of -really playing poker-.
The scenarios he sets up are the same thing you have heard a hundred times elsewhere. Anyone who has read other books (or played tournaments) will already have a firm grasp on basic beginner logic like, "if you're seriously short stacked, you've got to gamble". Just compare that to the in-depth examination of M and Q done by Harrington in his series.
Anyone who hasn't read other books (and doesn't have much experience) will not find advice in this book that will improve their game.
There is ONE actual concrete move described in this book, and that's the fact that when there's a preflop raise, TJ likes to reraise to steal the blinds + the original raise, which allows him to keep even for a few orbits. The rest of this book is at the level of advising you to "get your money in with the best hand".
The final insult in the book is to recite the action of ESPN-televised knockout hands from the 2005 WSOP $5000 NL event. Great. But there's barely any _analysis_ of the hands, what was done right and wrong, what Cloutier might do differently or emphasize. Just a flat recitation of what was shown on TV. (I can't say there was _no_ analysis. Cloutier does at one point add the insight that "sometimes you just have to make the decision to go for it.") Again, compare to Harrington's deep analysis of D'Agostino vs Ivey.
Just an awful book from an otherwise great player, a cheap attempt to cash in on the televised NL tournament poker craze, can't hold a candle to Cloutier's earlier (highly regarded) works with Tom McEvoy or the absolutely brilliant new standard for NL tourneys defined by Harrington or the very crisp and insightful ring game advice from Phil Gordon.
Well worth reading.......2006-08-28
Like most of Cloutier's books, this reads like a transcript of conversations with him. It is not that well organized, and more specific examples would be helpful. BUT, you learn about the thought process of one of the best. It is hard to imagine too many serious players, who would not benefit from reading this book and thinking about the ideas. I probably won't re-read this book as often as Harrington or Gordon's, but it will be on the active part of my poker bookshelf.
Inside TJ's Mind.......2006-06-07
I have almost 30 books on Hold'em. Other than Harrington's books which are excellent, almost none put you really, and I mean REALLY inside the mind of the author/player (Erick Lindgren's book does a good job of this though). I've had the good fortune to have met TJ a couple of times, and ask him some questions. But in How To Win The Championship he brings you into his thought process, to the point where he even says that some more mathematical players may not agree, but he does it so-and-so way and here's why. The information is non-stop, with essentially no fluff. But be warned, if you are just a beginning player who hasn't played in a tournament before, he doesn't go into basics and it doesn't tell you what to do at the beginning or middle stages of a tournament. This is really for a bit more experienced player. His book essentially starts off at the point where you are 1 table before getting into the money and goes on from there to heads up. Being a tournament player myself (I don't play cash games much at all), this book is perfect. I better understand why I've hit walls in the past and how I need to adjust my play to win or at least get into the top 3. I get in the money a reasonable number of times in live tournaments but have real trouble breaking into that upper pay echelon. He gives great advice on how not to flame out when you just make it into the money but not into the bigger money. Really key points that I haven't seen in other books. I realize that at some point we all need to stop buying all these books (yeah, learning never stops but 30 books? I must be a junkie!), but I really can say if you want to improve your tournament play, TJ's book is a must. His writing style is like he's talking to you about exactly what he does and why (also what he doesn't do and why you shouldn't either).
Chapters include:
* When you're one table away from the money
* When you've made it to the first money table
* When you've made it to the second money table
* When you've made it to the final table
* Six-handed at the final table
* Playing three-handed and heads up at the final table
* Several chapters on tournament strategies and some other thoughts.
As you can see, this book's content is pretty specific and I haven't seen this in other books. In fact, in many of those chapters, he further breaks them down into if you are a short, medium or big stack, because the size of your chip stack greatly influences the types of situations that you should get involved in. It's like you've got a coach you can talk to as you continue to advance in the tournament...especially useful for those who haven't been into the money or final table before or keep seeming to make mistakes and missing the big money.
Overall, highly recommended and it absolutely will pay for itself, whether you play in live or online tournaments.
Book Description
Hard-hitting hold'em the way it's played today in both limit cash games and tournaments. Get killer advice on how to win more money in rammin'-jammin' games, kill-pot, jackpot, shorthanded, and other cash games, plus tournament strategies for small buy-in, big buy-in, rebuy, incremental add-on, satellite and big-field major tournaments. Players learn the thinking process for the pre-flop, flop, turn and river including play-by-play analyses. Specific advice for rocks in tight games, weaklings in loose games, experts in solid games, how hand values change, when players should fold, check, raise, reraise, check-raise, slowplay, and bluff. Wow!
Customer Reviews:
Like listening to two great players chat about the game.......2005-08-16
Although Tom McEvoy and T.S. Cloutier are world class players this is not a world class poker book. They repeat themselves a lot and and even contradict themselves a little, and they do ramble on. One gets the sense that somebody miked them up and had them just talk about how to play various hands in various positions in various circumstances, mostly limit hold'em and in tournaments.
For the not really booked up player this might be exactly right, but for the experienced player a lot of the advice is old hat. McEvoy and Cloutier recognize as much because on a couple of occasions they apologize for the repetition and advise the reader to take what they're saying as a "refresher."
There is more than some merit to this advice. Anybody who has played poker for any length of time knows that you can go through stages where you drift from correct play to careless play to downright bad play. You are winning day after day, and you start to get overconfident and play more hands than you should. Next thing you know you're raising with ace-rag and calling with J9 offsuit and leading into the flop with second pair, no kicker. Reading this book will get you back to reality and tighten up your loose play, because believe me McEvoy and Cloutier do NOT play rags. Well, except when they know you're going to toss...
Generally, just about everything they say is correct or at least debatably correct. Nonetheless I want to take exception to a couple of things, and to point out where what they say is only part of the story.
Here's a good example. Cloutier says, "I never--and I emphasize never--call a bet on the end just because of the size of the pot. (p. 213)
Well, if the pot is ten grand and your only opponent coyly pushes fifty bucks into the pot, you're gonna call. And when I say "you" I mean T.J. Cloutier as well. You're also going to call if it's a limit game and your lone opponent flips his last dollar chip into a five-hundred dollar pot. What Cloutier really is saying is that he reads the other player and the action. He recalls what experiences he has had with this player while he considers what his opponent's likely hand is, and that all of these considerations are more important than the size of the pot.
Here's another. Cloutier says, "If there is more than one other player in the pot and you try to bluff on the end in limit hold'em, you might as well just donate your money to charity instead." (p. 215)
In a sense this is just an exaggeration to make a point. But if you look deeper you can see that this cannot be right. True, trying to steal the pot with a bet on the river is a losing proposition in limit hold'em. However, if everybody only bet the goods on the river there wouldn't be much of a reason to call except in those cases where it's unclear who has the best hand. Furthermore, if you NEVER bluff at the pot on the river, you are--in the nicely expressed words of David Sklansky--"giving away too much information."
Here's a third: Cloutier describes a situation in which you raise preflop with AJ and the flop comes rags and you have two opponents who check to you. You bet and they toss. Cloutier says, "You might have the best hand, don't get me wrong, but you're still bluffing with the best hand." Actually, what you're doing is semi-bluffing. You have two overcards, and a not unreasonable expectation that you do indeed have the best hand at the moment. Why give a free card for one of your opponents to snag a pair?
And then there's the "free card" play. Cloutier makes the very excellent point that "If you're going to make this play, you had better be drawing to the nuts. You don't want to be drawing to a jack-high flush and raise to get a free card in a multi-way pot."
Amen to that. However, when you are in last position and raise with a four-flush on the flop you are making a play for a half-priced card, and if the play works, the card you're getting for half price is the river card NOT the turn card. (You can simply call and see the turn card for the flop bet.) You pay an extra flop bet (half the size of the turn bet) in the hope that everybody will check to you on the turn and you can check to see the river for "free"--or actually for the flop bet you raised with. Another point to understand here is that when you are drawing to the nuts and there are three or more players in the pot with you who will just call, you are actually getting proper odds for your raise.
All in all an interesting if not entirely instructive book. One of the best features is their advice on how to play twenty "practice tournament" hands from AA to some rags including 75 unsuited. There's some good advice on tournament strategy and how to play in various kinds of games, tight, loose--no fold'em hold'em--and how to play against various types of players, maniacs, super tights, etc. There are some interesting poker stories. One of the best is about Cloutier being dealt AA in a $100/$200 hold'em game in San Jose. The flop came A-Q-9. T.J bet and got called by one player. The turn was a five. Again it was bet and call. The river was a four. Cloutier doesn't give the river betting, but you can be sure it was something like bet/raise!/call because he concludes by telling us that the Asian businessman he was playing against showed him three-deuce!
Championship Advice. .......2005-06-17
I first heard about this book when I read Jim MacManus's Positively Fifth Street last summer. By the time that I finished, the manual was out-of-print, but it has since been reissued. Its re-release is most likely due to the Hold'em craze, but, I believe, that its excellence made it difficult for its publishers to ignore.
Overall, I'd place this one right behind Doyle's Super System, Number 1, in terms of educational and helpful works concerning tournament poker. I know this to be the case because I just returned from Vegas two days ago and finished reading it during my plane flight over. Championship... was fresh in my mind during the games that I played on vacation.
I signed up twice for the 30 dollar, 30 person daily tournament at the Mandalay Bay. The first day that I attended, I wound up making it to the final table and finishing seventh--two spots out of the money. I had enough chips to allow me to coast to third or fourth place but, when Big Slick, a King/Ace of Hearts, fell into my hands, I had the sensation of hearing T.J. Cloutier whisper into my ears, "This is exactly what I meant."
My mind immediately scanned back to page 299 where he states that what you do with Big Slick, and how you play when the other player holds it, makes or breaks you during tournaments. Here, Cloutier shares that it is also known as "Walking Back to Houston" as it has so often broken the players who held it. I knew that folding it would have been cowardice--particular with three spots vacant at the table.
The flop fell three suited and A, 8, K. I had two Aces and two Kings. The guy across from me went all in with a few more chips than me. I followed suit. He didn't bet before the flop and I thought he had two 8s or a small pair going in. I was wrong. He had J, 10. When I turned my cards over, the table gasped. I had him, until a Queen fell on the River and he made a straight. It was I who was walking back to Houston. I dragged my way back to the Tropicana in a haze, but T.J. was right, Big Slick would have made or finished my tournament.
That's the way the book is though. It is a play-by-play analysis of what one should be doing during tournament Hold'em play and I thought it incredibly valuable. It's much better than the Sklansky books as it's not as tight and I found it to be infinitely more realistic. It adapts to the changing conditions of play.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that Tom McEvoy has to be one of the most underrated of all the pros. You know, he won the World Series of Poker back in 1983 but he is not given any coverage by ESPN. He really deserves an expose. Tom's point of view is quite valuable and I enjoyed the insights he shared, independent of T.J.'s. I have to state that the book is worth the money that you'll pay. If you want to save a few bucks, it's available from the Amazon z shops. All the buyers that I've made purchases from have been reliable.
Book Description
This absolutely essential guide is the only book completely devoted to how hands are actually played at tournaments, and thus, a must-buy for the millions of players. Two tournament legends show players the key concepts and thinking behind 100 actual hold'em hands-including 45 pivotal champion hands! Readers learn how to use key poker concepts and develop their intuitions as they work their way through 57 limit and no-limit hold'em practice hands and 45 key hands as played by champions in turnaround situations at the WSOP. Players gain tremendous insights into how tournament poker is played at the highest levels by champions.
Customer Reviews:
Good advice but could be more tournament oriented.......2006-04-09
Firstly, I have to say that the credentials of the authors are absolutely unquestionable. Each author has had a very illustrious career playing tournament poker. However, the effort to translate their experience and knowledge to the written page has met with limited success. There are several key issues which prevent me from giving this book a higher rating:
(a) They combine limit and no limit hold 'em into a single volume - limit and no limit are completely different games and to cram them both into a single book demonstrates lack of foresight. It is possible much of the audience will only ever read half the book
(b) Very little of the book is devoted to outlining the different strategic considerations between cash games and tournaments. In tournament poker, it is critical to consider your stack size relative to other stacks as well as your stack size relative to the blinds. Playing Ace-King in a deep stack situation is very different to playing Ace-King in a shallow stack situation.
(c) Cloutier and McEvoy advocate a very conservative style. Whilst the book is meant to be a guide to how they play poker, I still think it is important to consider alternative styles of playing. For example, they advocate always checking Ace-King when the player has missed the flop. However suppose you play an aggressive brand of poker and you are acting behing a single, conservative opponent who has checked the flop. In this case a bet may be warranted. Subtle nuances like this are not discussed in sufficient detail.
(d) Some of the hand discussion is outright poor. For example, the treatment of middle pairs is very shallow. The book basically says "if there is any heat, get out". It doesn't discuss important issues such as position, texture of the flop and so forth.
At the end of the book there is a discussion of key hands from the World Series of Poker which I did enjoy. Overall, the book does provide some very solid advice but its primary drawback is that it takes a "cookie cutter" approach and doesn't discuss many of the subtleties of the game.
GG.......2005-10-17
Good format. It is in an easy readable format to follow. I beleive its for the medium to advanced player. You need to have a working knowledge of the game. I have read many hold'em books and found this book to be the most sound. His approach and style are basically conservative, although he touches on the aggressive and super aggressive players. His explanations and reasoning on his methods are stellar and highly analytical. Throughout the entire book you will find buried treasures. You will not be able to put this book down.
Same material as Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em.......2005-03-12
I really enjoyed Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em and was looking forward to reading this book. The book is about 1/2 limit hold'em hands and 1/2 no-limit hold'em hands. The no-limit hold'em hands are the same as the material presented in Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em. So if you are looking for different material on no-limit, this book is not it. It also contains actual hands played from many different WSOP championships, which are interesting. It's a good book, just not much different from Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em.
Great book for tournament players........2004-04-09
I bought this book a couple of months ago and found it to be an excellent book. Read this book first before reading a book like "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players" by Sklansky. This book will teach you how to play all the different hands in different postitions. It also has some great analysis of key hands played at the World Series of Poker.
Book Description
The super popular satellites-small entrance fee tournaments where the winner earns entrance to the main tournament event-often worth $5,000-$10,000!-are the most popular events in poker. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker earned the $10,000 WSOP buy-in through a $39 internet satellite and won $2 million and the tournament! You can too! Players learn 10 ways to win entry to big tournaments, how to win limit, no-limit, one-table, online and super satellites, and how to play the final table. Insider tips on betting strategies, pressuring opponents, discovering bluffs, playing deceptively, and chip leverage. Bonus chapter on no-limit hold'em satellites!
Customer Reviews:
Decent.......2007-02-19
Relays basic strategy but doesn't tell you how to satellite in other than how to enter
Useless.......2006-12-12
Don't bother spending your money on this. The five pages on satellites in Lindgren's book far outweigh any content in this...its mostly just stories of past satellites with some obvious advice thrown in (auto-checking online is a tell!!! thanks for that)
Not as good as his other books but worth a read.......2006-11-04
I am a big fan of McEvoy's books, probably because I tend to play poker in more or less the same fashion that he does and also generally specialize in tournament play. This book is good, but not on par with some of his other books, such as Championship Poker, etc. I think my biggest disappointment was two-fold: There was a substantial chunk of the book devoted to satellite and super satellite play for limit events (which I don't play at all, and seems on the fringes since most premier events are no limit), and the section on internet satellite play was small. I would have liked to see more content there, especially since this is where most people buying this book will be playing there satellite play. Yes we all know how Moneymaker turned $39 into $2.5M, but it would have been nice to have more in-depth discussion about accomplishing that, especially in extremely low-buy in super satellites with large fields. I did find some useful information in this book I hadn't found elsewhere (the mark of a good poker book in my opinion) so I would recommend it to anyone thinking about using some portion of their poker bankroll as a springboard into large, big-money tournaments.
Nothing new.......2006-08-26
This is mostly a rehash of general tournament advice. If you read everything, you will want to read this, since it is good advice. But if you are pretty experienced, you probably won't learn much.
Delivers as promised.......2005-05-27
If you have never been to the WSOP and plan to play a satellite for your entry you should read through this book at least once. While the online sections can leave a little to be desired, there isn't much difference it strategy or information, I recommend this book to anyone with questions about satellite play. It will cover your basics and break down each tournment into stages so you can focus on one piece at a time.
Book Description
Two world champions show players how to win their way into big tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money for a fraction of the cost by playing in small-entry fee tournaments. Chris Moneymaker did this when he parlayed a $39 satellite win into a world championship title and $2.5 million, as did Grey Raymer in 2004 when he turned $150 into $5 million. These exciting mini-tournaments, called satellites, made the authors millions of dollars and now they share their secrets with you. Step-by-step, you¿ll learn proven insider strategies for beating limit and no-limit hold¿em satellites, as well as one-table, multi-table, online, and super satellites. Illustrations.
Book Description
Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em is the definitive guide to winning at the world's most exciting and most profitable poker games. This is the book that James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street, credited with teaching him how to win more than a quarter-million dollars at the World Series of Poker in 1998. The authors emphasize how to win no-limit hold'em tournaments with specific advice on winning the World Series of Poker
Customer Reviews:
Essential NLHE reading.......2005-07-26
A truly great book for some of the reasons below:
Shows and illustrated how a great player like TJ Cloutier plays and thinks about the key hands. If you agree that preflop play is key then you will agee that which cards to play preflop and how to play them after the flop are the key issues.
Introduces key concepts of tourney play and splitting up how you approach the beginning , middle and late stages of a tournment.
The colourful road stories are all a bonus.
Several winners have mentioned this book as being piviotal to thier success including Mcmanus's 5th place at the WSOP main event.
With many newer books on NLH including the two books by Harrington taking a more detailed scientific approach to which hands to play this book is getting a bit dated.
However for ease of learning and its relatively small size which means you can implement your knowledge faster it makes a great primer to the more detailed newer texts.
Also you will learn and understand TJ's style of conservative tight/aggresive play.
Who is TJ Cloutier? The most winning NLHE tournament player. Placed 2nd twice at the WSOP main event (Came 2nd to Chris Ferguson) Holds 6 WSOP bracelets.
Who is his co author Tom Mcevoy?- Former wsop Main event Champion
This was one of the key books that I used to win the weekly Thursday NLHE tourney at the Shara Las Vegas. A $2000 return on my $20 book.
pretty poor book.......2004-04-14
This book is pretty poor relative to other poker books.
It's not that the book doesn't have anything to teach, it's just that I felt that for the cost of the book compared to the material versus the value of other poker books is poor.
Not the bible.......2004-01-21
I would not consider this to be the bible on no-limit. The book starts with an interview of T.J.Cloutier and ends with a few of his road stories. In between there are a couple of examples of how to play certain hands. But in general i found litlle basic big bet poker advice. The tournament section i felt was pretty good. Overall i wouldn't adivce this book to a beginning big bet player. I think they would be better off buying Pot-limit & No-limit poker by Ciaffone/Reuben. If on the other hand you're an somewhat advanced player, then you might find some usefull information in this book.
the best.......2003-09-11
This is the best book on poker from the best player. A great companion to 'Super/System' poker fans will enjoy this hands on gear turning read. Truly a neccesary book for the poker library. In contrast to Sklansky this book will not hold your hand so if your a begginer or your weak you need not pick it up. THis book is for the serious player looking to notch himself up. THis book helped an amateur take 5th in the WSOP and it can help you too!
Don't Leave Home Without It!.......2002-12-10
Probably the best book on "big bet" Hold 'Em available. Written in an easy-to-read, "down to earth" style, making it very easy to understand, with reasons why to and NOT to make certain moves in different situations. Achieved my very first top finish in a "no limit" tournament after reading this book. Part luck, yes, as in all of Poker, but not a total coincedence, in my opinion. Also contains some very colorful and entertaining stories, told by T.J. Cloutier, about his days as a "road gambler".
Product Description
The first definitive book ever written on the Texas derived world championship poker game - by a pro player
Customer Reviews:
Great theory, dated practice.......2007-04-13
David Sklansky, the dean of poker writing, picks up where he left off on the Theory of Poker. It's more practical than his theory book, in that it focuses on one game, but it's less relevant to what many people play - No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. Very useful book, but not the Be All End All of poker playing.
Could use a serious revision & update, but still worthwhile for LIMIT Hold'Em... mostly.......2006-04-15
For those of you who don't know anything about Sklansky's poker books: he's written three books many consider to be absolutely essential for every Hold'em player:
Theory of Poker (this one without question)
Hold'Em Poker
Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players
*EDIT* Add this one:
No Limit Hold 'Em: THeory and Practice is a MUST
"Hold'Em Poker" is for beginners and intermediates, and is based on LIMIT Hold'Em (as is the "Advanced Players" book). A lot of the concepts carry over to No Limit, but a lot do not. They're very different games.
If you're new to poker and you want to start out with No Limit instead of Limit, cause it looks good on TV, you'll still want to read this eventually. What you COULD do for No Limit (if you just can't help yourself) is go get Dan Harrington's 2 books, and Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. That should get you going in the right direction.
Anyway, for Limit folks you just have to have this, even if it could still use a serious re-working (oh, seems like they finally caught on that Hold'em tends to use TWO blinds now, huh!).
Still, though I usually think I've about mastered everything there is to master in this book, a quick re-read points out some things I forgot. Gotta have this one, even if it IS boring.
Decent, but seriously dated.......2006-03-27
A decent introduction to hold-em, but you can find a better written, and more current, book easily. This book was written in 1976 and updated in 1997, although this reprint is from October 2004.
Although a lot of the hand ranking and strategy is probably still applicable, the outdated nature of the book shows through at several points. The author freqently refers to the "new" system of two blinds, and in the "Note to 1997 Edition" says that this is usual at "bigger games." All hold-em games in casinos, at least in any casino I've been in, use the two-blind ("big" and "little") system, and the typical reader will only encounter those games in 2006. Sklansky also admonishes the reader not to play "no limit" games at several points in the book - well, in 2006 "no limit" is the most common game in casinos, and you'll be pressed to find a "limit" game in hold-em. Last two times I was in a poker room, there were no "limit" games even listed for hold-em. If you want limits, play Omaha.
This is a significant limitation to the book, because as I understand it, no-limit makes a significant difference in how you play. The book also does not address the differences in strategy between tournaments and cash games.
Finally, the author's use of the badly outdated terms "fourth street" and "fifth street" is just annoying - except for one twit on TV (either WSOP or WPT, I forget which) who has an idiotic affectation for referring to the turn as "fourth street", NO ONE uses these terms any more - it's "the turn" and "the river." It doesn't affect the instruction, but it really grates on the nerves almost immediately, and probably confuses the rank beginner who turns on the TV and hears different terminology used. It would have taken no time at all to change this before the 2004 reprint, if not earlier.
In short, a useful book, but you can do better for the money.
Too dated and difficult for a beginners book........2006-02-16
I read this book as a Beginner and found it very hard to follow. David Sklansky may be a great poker player but he is a lousy author. Beyond the basic rules of the game, trying to understand the concepts are too much of a chore. I think you would do better buying a more recently written poker book. The recent boom in pokers' popularity has brought many other well written books on strategy and instruction to the market, and you don't need to waste your time and money trying to plow through this short book.
Classic book now good for a new class........2006-01-11
This books is not wrong about anything. This book is right about almost everything. Mostly though, this book is great for the beginner. If you play poker for fun, and want to learn more about how to play holdem, this is where to start, and after a while, move to its big brother, Holdem for Advanced players. This book has starting hand requirements that work for most levels of games, and is one of the most in-depth books about how to play that still allows comprehension of the lessons in the book by the layperson.
It is not the best book on the subject, but it is by far not the worst. This might be the best first-book on poker for someone, as it is a very good introduction towards the style of most noteworthy poker books, and it doesn't really have too many flaws (in regards to detail).
In the areas where this books lacks, just get the Advanced player book, after fully digesting this one, and you will have plenty to chew on.
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Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 2: Endgame
Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook (Harrington on Hold'em)
Caro's Book of Poker Tells
Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker
