| |  | Authors: Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie
Publisher: Two Plus Two Pub.
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $11.92
as of 9/4/2010 14:33 CDT details
You Save: $18.03 (60%)
New (31) Used (35) Collectible (1) from $11.92
Seller: auctionbullet
Rating:  254 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,745
Media: Paperback
Pages: 381
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1880685337
Dewey Decimal Number: 795.412
EAN: 9781880685334
ASIN: 1880685337
Publication Date: December 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 246-250 of 254
The New NL Poker Bible February 21, 2005
Jim Watson (New Haven, CT USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've read them all... Super System, Play Poker Like the Pros, Ciaffone's Book, Cloutier and McEvoy, and numerous others, and I can say that this is by far the best book on NL Hold Em that is out there.
It is geared towards tournament play, however it is also very helpful with cash games. If Harrington's Volume II is as good as this volume is, the two of them together will collectively become the "Bible of NL Poker".
One thing about this book though is that it isn't going to be an easy read, and it's not supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, Harrington writes extremely well, but you have to really be *thinking* as you read this book. You need to *study* this book and re-read sections and always think to yourself "Why is this a good play to make for this particular situation?" The reason you need to do this is because one play that might be right in one situation can be terribly wrong in another situation (as we all should know), so you must constantly remind yourself of what situation you're in, hypothetically, as you read.
I honestly cannot say enough good things about this book. I've read so many books on NL Hold Em, and none of them (not even the classic Super System) come close to this IMO. Maybe that's because my natural style is closer to "Action" Dan's style of play, but maybe it's just because this book is indeed the best there is on NL Hold Em.
Top notch; very pleasantly surprised February 15, 2005
M. Grapenthien (Chicago)
560 out of 571 found this review helpful
No limit hold'em, obviously, is a complex game. So complex that there has never been a good comprehensive treatment in a book form; I had thought that this was because it involves more "table feel", experience and intuition that can't be easily taught or expressed in a useful format.
Harrington and Robertie have done just that. Harrington is the 1995 world champion, and the only player to make the final table in both 2003 and 2004, overcoming the two biggest fields in World Series history (839 and 2,576 players, respectively). Robertie is a top backgammon player and author of several excellent books on that game.
Among the top players, there are drastically different styles of play, from conservative to super-aggressive. One problem I expected was that given Harrington's solid, fairly conservative style, he wouldn't be able to give much useful information on playing at the other end of the end of the spectrum, styles such as those employed by Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen.
I was wrong. The book does a fine job addressing the relative merits of various styles, playing against each type of opponent, and even choosing one for yourself. This makes sense; no matter his own style, to be successful he has to have spent a lot of time thinking about, observing, and combatting all different types of players. Further, a playing style isn't cast in stone; even the most conservative players have to switch gears and become much more aggressive at times, and vice versa.
A few more notes on this idea: first, Harrington's own play as described isn't as conservative and cautious as many think. Second, a fairly conservative approach is demonstrably the more sound one for the student, and anyone without many years of experience. Hyper-aggressive play would be much harder to teach well, and also much harder to pull off successfully. The players who thrive playing these aggressive, gambling styles have exceptional talent as well as lots of experience and a great feel for the game and their opponents, and are faced with difficult decisions under lots of pressure much more often. For those who insist on trying, it probably still makes more sense to learn a fundamentally sounder style first and then proceed from there.
The book is laid out well for learning. Each chapter starts with a discussion of the topic, touching on the theory. There are several example situations with the authors' answers and detailed reasoning, as well as the merits of alternative plays. Following each chapter there are problems, mostly from real hands. It provides a diagram of the table, the chip counts for each player, your knowledge of the opponents, etc... all the relevant information. The problems usually provide all this information even when some of it is irrelevant to the problem, which is a strength. A big part of the decision-making process in poker (as well as lots of other things) is recognizing and eliminating extraneous details to make analysis more managable.
This is the first in a two volume set. I thought this was odd, as this is first for 2+2 poker books, but the first volume is bigger than most of their others already. The book is self-contained; there are no partial answers or information that tell you to buy the second volume for the details. I don't think there has been an official announcement on when Volume 2 will be released, but I've heard sometime this spring.
The book is geared specifically toward tournaments, and especially toward those with well-defined formats, such as major casino/cardroom events and those on the Internet. For cash game players, a solid understanding of tournament and poker theory would be necessary to make the appropriate adjustments to cash play. Most of the book would still apply, but some situations would change drastically in a side game, where simply getting your money in with an advantage, rather than survival, is the main goal.
For those newer to poker, to get the most out of this book, I would recommend a few others be read either first or at the same time: "The Theory of Poker" by David Sklansky, "Small Stakes Hold'em" by Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth, and "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones, especially for the newest players.
UPDATE FOR VOLUME II:
Many of the same comments apply to Volume II, which is more of a continuation of the first than a separate book (even the chapter numbering picks up where the first left off). It focuses on the endgame; the late stages where everyone left is in the money and the blinds are relatively very large. They use the ideas of zones and inflection points to give effective generalized advice about different situations, evaluating your chip position relative to both the size of the blinds and the other remaining players.
The last few sections cover short-handed and heads-up play, where strategy often changes radically. In most tournaments the table only gets heads-up at the very end and doesn't last very long, but the difference between first, second and third place is huge, even millions in the biggest events. Given that one position makes such a big difference, strategies changes dramatically, and most players have little experience heads-up, this material is extremely valuable.
A third volume is in the works, in workbook style with problems and examples, which should nicely complement and review the material in the first two.
Excellent Book on NL Hold 'em Tournament Strategy February 10, 2005
Rob (Chicago, Il)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
This book wildly surpassed my expectations. I have read several poker books and I am a big fan of Sklansky and Malmuth's books in particular. Having read so many books on poker already it is rare that I find one that contains much new information. Mr. Harrington's book was a delightful exception. It seems as though he truly held nothing back and revealed the full spectrum of his tournament strategy for the early rounds (at least as much as possible for such a situation-dependent game).
I highly recommend this book for beginners and experienced players alike (although I recommend the beginners "fill out" their poker knowledge with other books as well). I definitely recommend it over _Pot Limit and No-Limit Poker_ by Ciaffone and Reuben, and _Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold 'em_ by Cloutier and McEvoy. An aspiring expert should read all of these books eventually, but Mr. Harrington's is definitely the superior treatise on the subject of No-Limit Hold 'em--buy his book first.
I hope this review was helpful to you.
Takes The Place of SuperSystem January 24, 2005
9 out of 20 found this review helpful
If you wanted something to replace supersystem this is it, Harrington teaches the right play in nearly every situation with many examples, it's a like a quiz book for perfect poker play. You can't go wrong buying it.
NL excellence January 24, 2005
W. Martin
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is probably the best poker book I have ever read. The book is a blend of math, stories, strategy, and analysis of actual hands.
The book begins by discussing various popluar styles for NL holdem and their strengths and weaknesses. Moves to starting hand selection by table condition, then on to post flop play.
Hand analysis is a round by round analysis of the way to get the most chips with the least risk from your opponenets. Dan even shows you how to recover from mistakes in the previous round.
Can't wait for VolII.
Showing reviews 246-250 of 254
|
|
|
Return to PokerSupplies.com Homepage
About Us
Privacy Policy | |
