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Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments (Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie, 2004, 2+2 publishing).
Masterpiece
Let’s give it straight to you, the Harrington on Hold’em series is, as of this writing, the most detailed work on tournament strategy in print.
It starts with a brief description of important aspects of NLHE, setting the reader right on tracks with a “preview” of what the book covers: evaluate situations, estimate odds and pot odds, and analyze beyond the cards you have in your hands.
It proceeds with a part on playing styles and starting requirements. The chapters are short and to-the-point; the author doesn’t take several pages to develop platitudes. The essential playing styles are described, from the conservative to the super-aggressive player, along with the standards they usually follow. The author also suggests some ways to deal with each type of player. This part ends with a review of several tournaments structures, and how you should adapt your strategy to them. It is followed by problems using the material of the current part - a good way to see how the concepts are used in practice.
Part three is devoted to tells and betting patterns, and part four deals with pot odds and hand analysis. This is a clear explanation of the basic poker maths, and illustrates well what you should base your decisions on.
Part five deals with preflop play. It is extensive, and covers most situations: one limper to you, a limper and a raiser, a raiser and another raiser, etc. It also covers such concepts as the Gap concept, first mentioned by Sklansky, and the Squeeze play. Again, many practical problems illustrate the ideas at the end of the chapter.
Part six explains the play on the flop, depending on its texture. Several types of play are categorized, like the Continuation bet, the Probe bet, the Value bet… These are very important, both for your personal arsenal, and so as to figure out what your opponent is probably doing. Many beginners will profit very much from this part.
The last part is devoted to the play on the turn and the river. It is shorter than the previous parts, but covers important points, like whether to fire another continuation bet on the turn, or how to play against draws. It also goes over what Ciaffone calls “bets that can’t be right”, because you cannot win more but only lose more.
Many of the concepts in this books had never been detailed in print before, and they are of great value both for the beginner and the intermediate player. Even the advanced player will probably enjoy the reading, since it is a big change from the average poker book. The writing style is neutral, each point is concisely explained, and examples abound. It is geared toward tournament play, but many concepts are usable in ring games as well. A must!
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