Customer Reviews:
Best Detailed Hold'Em Book Out There.......2007-09-21
We Bought all Three Harrington on Hold 'Em books and I'm still reading through the first one. There are real examples that you can read through and decide if the way you would play them matches how they should be played. He'll tell you precisely why the hands should be played that way. I can't wait to read the next two. There are excellent insights into starting hands, playing against aggressive players...well you just have to get the book to find out all the goodies inside. I have many other books on poker already (Super System I and II, etc.) but this book by far is the best one out there for No Limit Hold 'Em. Especially if you want to refine your play. I'm an advanced player but this is great for beginners too. It brings you back to basics. Enjoy!
Great book! Don't buy this if you are going to play against me........2007-09-17
This book has really helped me improve my game. It is very thourough, and gives you example hands with detailed explainations as to why you should play them a certain way. Don't read this if you want to stay mediocre in your Texas Hold-em game play.
Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1.......2007-09-16
Helpful, essential; valuable information. Not boring or hard to read, but delightful, enjoyable, easy to read, understand, and apply. One of the best books available.
Excellent Strategies.......2007-09-08
Few players rape the tables as brutally as Harrington. In this valuable book he 'tells em as they is'. Standard strategies like the 'San Andreas Meat-grinder' (perfect for unloading double buffers into an end-zone packed with natural flankers) and the 'Chicago Steamer' (a honey-trap that could leave your opponent fencing against a semi-Lazarus) are explained with great attention to detail. He also has plenty of cavaliar gambits for more experienced snipers to deploy. Although the 'Fibonacci Fallout Shelter' may be too complex to smoke out an amateur cave-jacker, he claims that you can use it against pros to rotate the step of a goose-dance. Just DON'T try to detonate a Dutch grenade with it- use the 'Tallahassee jail-break' instead! My favourite is probably his slant on playing the 'Kentucky Monkey' (the best racket to reverse the polarity of a south-bound pot). Although there is the danger of being drowned in a mud-slide before the penultimate flipper, it usually guarantees the chance to fire a clockwork shotgun into the flood.
PS. I haven't tried my hand in any tourneys yet, but I did beat the rest of the Redhart family once- after I decided to go all in before the flop (with an unsuited 4 7) and pulled a straight.
The best no limit tournament guide.......2007-09-01
Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie take you step by step to show you how to become a winning no limit tournatment player. Their secret lies in the problems at the end of every chapter to show you exactly how a no limit tournament is played. Their style is easy to read and understand (providing you have a basic knowledge of poker) and the attitude is open minded and thoughtful of the reader. You will learn a lot from these books. Books? Yes, you will need the entire set of three volumes to fully understand the concepts that Harrington and Robertie are trying to teach you. It will be well worth the investment. The final volume (III) gives very concrete examples of the playing styles of many of the pros you see on TV as Harrington tries to get into poker thoughts of the champions of this game. I am only getting better because of Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1,2 and 3.
Product Description
Poker has taken America by storm. But its not just any form of poker that has people across the country so excited its no-limit hold em the main event game. And now thanks to televised tournaments tens of thousands of new players are eager to claim their share of poker glory. In the first volume of this series, Harrington on Hold em: Volume I: Strategic Play, Dan Harrington explained how to play in the early phases of tournaments, when most players at the table had plenty of chips, and the blinds and antes were small. This book, Harrington on Hold em: Volume II: The Endgame shows you how to play in the later phases of a tournament, when the field has been cut down, the blinds and antes are growing, and the big prize money is within sight. Harrington shows you how to make moves, handle tricky inflection point plays, and maneuver when the tournament is down to its last few players and the end is in sight. Hes also included a whole chapter on heads-up play, whose strategies up to now have been a closely-guarded secret of the games top masters. Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make it to the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2,576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Hold em, Harrington and two-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive book on no-limit hold em for players who want to win and win big.
Customer Reviews:
Harrington continues.......2007-09-14
Excellent continuation of vloume 1. I know that reading these books will improve my game with time, it's a lot to learn and try to implement. Anyone can improve using the guidelines and tips given.
Great Book.......2007-09-08
Strategy illustrated in the book seems to work well. This is a definite need for any poker player. Highly recommend.
Terrific Book.......2007-07-25
I've now read both Harrington's Volumes I & II on Texas Hold em - terrific books. This volume (II - Endgame) is an essential follow up to Volume I. I've read Brunson's Super System. He's got some good insights, but alot of rambling too. Alot of these poker books are about the authors philosophy of poker and the great accomplishments they had - who cares? Just tell me how to make good bets! And that's just what Harrington does. Harrington's book really gives you the nuts and bolts of good poker. When I was at my first tournament, I remember most of the time not really knowing what decisions to make, whether it was pre-flop, post-flop etc. I was always going by my "instincts". Well guess what? My instincts suck - as do most people's. Yeah, you may get a good read once in a while, but that's it. I finally feel like I can make good decisions. I never had any idea the game was so complicated, but I have a much better appreciation for it now. One of the best things it taught me, and that I wasn't doing, was to try and figure out what the other players had based on their betting and their styles. If you do read this book, I hope I never have to play against you!
Please Don't Buy This Book - I Want to Beat You.......2007-07-20
My success has gone up dramatically since I have read and applied these concepts. I do not want the Harrington Way becoming well known or standard play because right now I have an advantage. Concepts like M, Q, Randomizing, and his concept review of late stages - all just brilliant.
a must read for serious players!.......2007-07-15
great follow up book to volume 1.
dives into the finer points of no limit holdem.
i'm looking forward to reading volume 3.
Customer Reviews:
Harrington's Great Works!.......2007-08-01
Another Super Harrington Work!
Great workbook format!!
Helps organize the way one approaches tournament no-limit hold-em poker!!!
Very well written........2007-07-09
It must be difficult to write a book to a market of poker players of greatly varying skills, but I feel Harrington has done it masterfully. It educates without pandering, and amuses enough while making the reader think and rethink moves that he might otherwise perform on auto-pilot. Pot odds (a now abused catch-phrase amateurs spit out at the table tautologically to compensate defensively for their bad play) are gone into in depth from both points of view (the player and his opponent...i.e. pot odds given and pot odds offered), and rationally shows that no-limit doesn't have to be all about mindless chip-shoving. Looking very forward to his other books. Do me a favor and don't read it.
Good Hold'em Workbook.......2007-07-03
This was a great book with real-life examples. Dan shows all points of views for each of the hands (not just what he would do). Talks about ramifications about different ways to play each of the hands. Good for the intermediate to advanced player.
Hold 'em.......2007-05-13
The workbook is beneficial if you have already read part I and II. The workbook has problems for a person to work, based on the knowledge gained from the first two books.
If you want to improve your game........2007-05-13
If you are tired of contradictory advice read this book.
The author gives an excellent tutorial with loads of real world examples.
Product Description
- How often does each starting hand win against a specific hand or random hand? - What are the odds of your opponent holding a pocket pair when he raises? - What is the probability that an over-card will flop when you hold JJ? - How do you determine if drawing is profitable or not? Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities answers all of these questions and more. Every single decision you make at the poker table is in some way related to odds and probabilities. Whether you are deciding to bet, call, fold, raise, or even bluff, odds and probabilities are an integral part of the decision-making process. Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities covers all forms of the game, including limit, no-limit, and tournament situations. This book does more than just show you how to calculate the odds - more importantly, the focus is on how to apply odds to make better decisions. Hilger's approach shows that you do not need to be a math wiz to be successful in poker. Simple concepts and strategies that anyone can learn will have you matching wits with the top players in no time. Some of the topics include: raising draws for value, backdoor draws, facing all-in decisions before the flop, protecting your hand, the impact of stack sizes, and much more. In addition, the most comprehensive collection of Texas Hold'em charts and statistics ever put in print is provided as reference. Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. Expert players understand the simple math behind every decision they make - now you can too. Matthew Hilger is also the author of the best-selling Internet poker book, Internet Texas Hold'em and is coauthor, with Ian Taylor, of The Poker Mindset.
Customer Reviews:
Too basic -- too little content.......2007-09-26
If you had trouble with math in grade school, then this book may be just right for you. But I personally found it was too elementary. Come on--do you really need to explain how to add fractions and how to convert 1/3 to decimals? If you are THAT math-challenged, you probably can't count outs either! By spending so much time on remedial arithmetic, he doesn't cover a lot of ground.
If you've never heard of implied odds and don't have a clue how to size your bets, then by all means buy this book. For anyone who has read one or two poker books, this stuff is too basic--and nothing is new.
This book WILL improve your game..........2007-09-20
Unless you're a math genius or your name is Chris Ferguson, you need this book.
Top-to-bottom odds and probabilities for limit and no-limit hold'em.
Loaded with charts and explanations. I purchased this book after seeing the charts in the back of the book ... unlike any I've seen elsewhere. You can't go wrong with this book ... it's one of my top favorites.
Good book; Great vendor.......2007-05-16
Looks like a good book. I have not made it through the whole thing yet, but I can definitely recommend this vendor.
slow start, ok finish.......2007-01-20
This book will boggle your mind in the beginning with terms and number crunching that probably will need a second or third reading to fully digest ... That is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't get frustrated trying to get the the 'meat' of the book. The book gets rolling with more 'advice' and good scenarios from the middle to the end ... although the author does favor certain types of hands. I would not recommend this as a first read for a novice player, but is a good addition to gain this author's prespective on the game.
Everybody Respects Matthew. .......2006-08-15
At least all the players I know do. Matthew Hilger, as both a player and author, has been greatly admired since his very clear and excellently organized, Internet Texas Hold'em, came out in 2003. He also has a website that's very popular with a forum discussing all kinds of issues which arise in poker, gaming, and life. With this book on Odds and Probabilities, he has added to his stature as an advisor because he expands his focus by addressing limit hold'em, no limit hold'em cash games, and no limit hold'em tournaments. He actually fills in nicely for the (very few) areas King Yao does not cover in his book. Hilger's approach is ideal for beginners because he not only explains pot odds, implied pot odds, and effective implied pot odds, but also rudimentary concepts such as adding and multiplying fractions along with probability. These are the types of questions that many newbies swept into games by the poker popularity explosion may be too embarrassed to ask on their own. Hilger made a good decision by sticking with the same type of organization he had in his first book. Every idea is followed up with sections called Test Your Skills and Chapter Review. Most players, I have found, really improve by studying expert hand analysis which is something Hilger performs many times throughout these pages. Although for me, my favorite section was the one concerning probability of winning with particular hands. Overall, Odds and Probabilities was invaluable.
Product Description
Written by the publisher of Card Player Magazine: the Poker Authority, 52 TIPS FOR TEXAS HOLD'EM POKER is an easy to understand, well written 'how-to-book' on how to play Texas Hold'em. It is loaded with practical tips that will make learning and improving your poker game easy and fun. No words are wasted on meaningless anecdotes or hard-to-remember, complicated statistics and tables. The one and only thing it will do is make you a better poker player.
Customer Reviews:
Very basic tips.......2007-05-13
Mostly tips for limit texas holdem, very little on no limit. Very basic level tips, not as good as i thought it would be
How to beat your buddies!.......2006-09-30
I play poker with the boys on Monday nights, and when we first started playing I wasn't doing as well as I wanted. In fact, I kept losing all my money to them! So I decided that I would take matters into my own hands. A friend recommended this book to me, so I picked it up here on Amazon. I wasn't very interested at first because I didn't think a book could tell me what I really needed to know about how to play poker. But boy it proved me wrong! I learned how to read my friends a lot better, and I also learned how to keep my own cool when I had a good hand (or I was bluffing big time). I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve their A game, or knows they aren't that good across the board. Trust me, you need this book no matter what your level of playing is at.
A must-have for any poker player!.......2006-09-16
So I've really gotten into Texas Hold'em lately, I play a lot with my friends and sometimes on Party Poker Net. My game was pretty good before, but this book really helped me tighten up my skills and taught me a few tricks I hadn't thought of before. My favorite tip is number 17, where he says to bet on the flop if no one else has yet. You wouldn't believe how much this pushes people to fold and gives you the pot! If you want to win every time, grab this book and carry it around like your best friend.
Good tips.......2006-09-15
I got this book to learn how to play poker because I never have anything to do when my friends get together for a game. There are a lot of simple tips and basic strategies that were really easy for me to remember and follow. Now I am a regular in my friends poker game and I do really well thanks to the advice that Shulman gives. It is definitely worth getting if you want to learn.
An Easy Win!.......2006-09-09
I'm just starting out as a poker player, but this book has definitely raised my game to the next level! It is well laid out and easy to read and understand, and incorporating the tips has helped me immensely!
Customer Reviews:
Loose Agressive.......2007-05-15
Vorhaus advocates a kind of early Gus Hansen style of crazy-aggressive play. It's not for everyone, but after reading this book I dominated a 5/10 NLHE game, and it was the most fun I've ever had at the felt.
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
In Play Poker Like the Pros, poker master Phil Hellmuth, Jr., demonstrates exactly how to play and win—even if you have never picked up a deck of cards—the modern games of poker, including: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, and Razz.
Phil Hellmuth, Jr., a ten-time World Champion of Poker, presents his tournament-tested strategies to beat any type of player, including:
The Jackal (crazy and unpredictable)
The Elephant (plays too many hands)
The Mouse (plays very conservatively)
The Lion (skilled and tough to beat)
Play Poker Like the Pros begins by laying out the rules and set-up of each game and then moves on to easy-to-follow basic and advanced strategies. Hellmuth teaches exactly which hands to play, when to bluff, when to raise, and when to fold. In addition Hellmuth provides techniques for reading other players and staying cool under pressure. There are also special chapters on how to beat online poker games and an inside look at tournament play.
Written and read by Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
Customer Reviews:
Rivered by Phil.......2007-01-27
This CD set was just a re-hash of his other books...Great Bluff Phil
Book Description
Poker tournaments are very different from conventional poker games, and there are very few players who excel at both. But it can be done!
There are many reasons for these differences. The most important ones are: The chips change value due to the fact that most tournaments are "percentage payback." Rebuys are available early on. And, many players over adjust their playing strategy because they are aware that after the rebuy period you cannot purchase more chips if you lose a couple of hands.
Consequently, there are many strategy changes that you should be making when compared to conventional poker where you are always trying to win the most on any hand that you play. Sometimes you should be trying to accumulate chips, sometimes you should be on the attack, and sometimes you should just survive. In fact, a tournament expert will occasionally make plays which would be very wrong in a "side game."
Author Sylvester Suzuki has played in many poker tournaments. Even though the name is a pseudonym, he is a real person who understands the underlying theory that governs tournament play. This text should prove helpful to virtually everyone interested in this form of poker.
Customer Reviews:
Tournament basics.......2004-11-28
This book is obviously not intended for the professional but is intended for the small stakes recreational player who plays in the daily tournaments that many large casinos sponsor as a promotional tool.
The book describes the different ways in which tournament chips are acquired and explains how this affects the play in the early stages of tournaments. For example, in a progressive stack rebuy tournament, the number of chips that a player receives increases as the tournament progresses. Because nobody wants to get less than the maximum number of chips for his rebuy, players tend to play conservatively during the opening stages of these tournaments.
However, in a constant stack rebuy tournament, the number of chips that a player gets remains constant throughout the rebuy period. In the early stage of play in one of these tournaments, because the opening limits seem small and unlimited rebuys are permitted, some of the players will be throwing money around like a bunch of drunken sailors. What these drunken sailors don't seem to realize is that what they are actually doing is adding chips to the stacks of rivals and then replenishing their own stacks by buying more chips. One of the keys to success in any poker game is having knowledge of how others are playing. This give you that information.
The book also describes how the tournament pool is distributed to the last few player and how this affects the manner in which a tournament should be played. For example, a Sudden Sayonara Tournament ends when the number of players remaining in the tournament declines to a specified level. In most Sudden Sayonara Tournaments, the last few players are paid a predetermined percentage of the tournament pool. Thus if the last four players are to be paid; first place is normally worth 40% of the tournament pool, second place is worth 30%, third place is worth 20%, and fourth place is worth 10%. In this scenario, a player who finishes fourth with only one chip will have a nice payday. On the other hand, if the last four players are paid on a chip count ratio based on the size of the ending stacks, finishing fourth with only one chip might be meaningless.
Notwithstanding what some earlier reviewers have written, for the targeted audience, the book has much useful information. In fact, because the book discusses some tournament formats that are not often seen today, this simple little book which was published by a widely respected Las Vegas firm that specializes in books on gaming, might someday become a collector's item.
Tournament Advice.......2003-11-10
If you are looking for a book that promises to teach you how to play poker like a professional then this is not the book for you. This is a book not about poker per se, but about playing in poker tournaments.
The book describes various types of tournaments and explains why differences in payout and rebuy structures dictate how each type of tournament should be played. For example, it explains why it is wise to play a strong starting hand aggressively in some instances and why in other instances it is wise to play that very same hand conservatively. The book also includes a chapter on how to determine the value of your stack of chips at the last table and how to negotiate a favorable deal to "chop" the money remaining in the tournament.
In summary this is not a sophisticated "how to" book for scholarly poker theorists who thrive on charts, graphs, or complex mathematical formulas. This is a plainly worded primer for "us dummies" who just want to learn the basics about the rapidly growing world of tournament poker...
Wait for Sklansky's upcoming book.......2002-04-02
David Sklansky has a tournament poker book coming out in late April 2002. Though he's not the most organized writer, he knows poker very well. Also, he gives plenty of specific examples, which Suzuki fails to do.
BTW, others rag on Suzuki for not being a known tournament player. The book quite clearly states that Suzuki is a pseudonym. So maybe he is a known, successful player. But this book has about 20 pages worth of content repeat ad nauseum, and precious few examples. The most non-obvious section (on the mathematics of final table negotiations) originally appeared in Sklansky's book anyway.
Ever hear of Suzuki?.......2002-03-10
Suzuki is not a well known or successful tournament player and this book will probably not help you become one either. I got my copy as a freebie, and would have been unhappy if I had paid for it.
If you want to learn about or improve your tournament play, I suggest "Tournament Poker" by Tom McEvoy.
Same information over and over.......2000-07-24
While this is a little useful info in this book, it was really not what I was looking for. It also repeats the same information several times.
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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
The Theory of Poker
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em
