Harrington on Hold 'Em, Volume 1

Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Strategic Play

By Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie

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Average Rating: (See all reviews) Format: Paperback, 385 pages Other Information: Illustrated Published In: United States, December 2004 Other Editions: Paperback, USA $85.99 $79.98 View Quantity Available: 1 24 hour shipping Harrington on Hold ?Em takes you to the part of the game the cameras ignore ? the tactics required to get through the hundreds and sometimes thousands of hands you must win to make it to the final table. Harrington's sophisticated and time-tested winning strategies, focusing on what it takes to survive the early and middle stages of a No-Limit Hold ?Em tournament, are appearing here for the first time in print. Now, learn from one of the world's most successful No-Limit Hold ?Em players how to vary your style, optimize your betting patterns, analyze hands, respond to a re-raise, play to win the most money possible, react when a bad card hits and much, much more. 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 iin 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2576). Publisher: Two Plus Two Pub. ISBN: 1880685337 EAN: 9781880685334 Dimensions: 21.54 x 14.22 x 2.64 centimeters (0.64 kg)

When I was a relative new-comer to the hold 'em scene I was your typical player who thought it was all about the luck of your hand, bluffing, and experience that helped you read your opponents and the exact cards they had. Personally, I avoided buying poker books as I thought they would all be like your usual 'self-improvement' or 'how-to' books that are big on generalisations and basics, and little on good, relevant information about the actual topic. I thought that most poker books would be very basic showing hand rankings and describe how to play the game.

I was wrong. This book describes in depth - starting requirements, playing styles, betting strategies, pre-flop situations, post-flop situations, pot odds, and bluffing. It makes you realise there are other factors involved in a hand, not just your own cards.

The book is extremely well laid out. Each chapter goes over the basics, then more advanced material. At the end of each chapter are problems, mostly from real hands played, that challenge your comprehension of what to do at the tournament table, and starts making you think about how to play out a hand, whether or not the player has actually made the right move. Each problem has a diagram of the table, chip counts for each player, your knowledge of the opponents and even irrelevant information. A big part of the decision-making process is recognising and ignoring the irrelevant information. In addition, it brings you into Harrington's thought process and strategy, and how he compares all the factors and makes a recommendation.

The book also addresses the relative merits of various playing styles, how to play against each type of opponent, and even choosing one for yourself. It's very logical, as to win at this game you need to know how to play against all types of players, their tendencies, and what they are most likely to do in a given situation.

What I like about Dan Harrington is that he seems to be very open minded about poker strategy. He acknowledges that there are many styles of play and more than one correct action. However, there are basic rules and fundamentals you need to stick to regardless of your overall strategy to avoid losing out.

From my perspective, this isn't a book that should be read, it needs to be studied several times.

There’s a reason this guy made 2 straight World Series of Poker final tables (a feat most people rank as one of the most impressive in modern poker history – even more impressive than Johnny Chan’s back to back victories, because Harrington competed against a field of thousands each year.) He knows his stuff cold.

I had always been an above average fixed-limit hold’em player, but was the first to admit that I was absolutely CLUELESS when it came to no-limit (and no-limit tournaments). Harrington, however, explains VERY clearly how to approach the early and middle stages of NL tournaments (the 2nd volume to be released later this year will cover the late stages – I can’t wait). This book helped my tournament play more than ANY other book or friendly conversation I’ve ever had. I started off tackling the low-limit online sit and go NL tournies, and ended up in the money (top 3 out of 10) around 50% of the time. The examples from his book are priceless – taken from actual tournaments he has played in – and he always, always takes time to explain how his read on a player affected his decision. By FAR the best section, in my opinion, was the authors’ discussion of when to call what you suspect might be an opponent’s bluff. That’s probably the situation that gives me the most trouble, but Harrington clearly and explicitly discusses the considerations that you should run through, including assigning specific probabilities to the possibility that you’re facing a stone-cold bluff; it was utterly invaluable.

Perhaps what I appreciated most was that unlike nearly every other book I have read, Harrington doesn’t preach his style of play as the be all and end all. In fact, several times he goes out of his way to note that there are a number of different styles that could be adopted – and even praises many of his peers as masters of a looser/aggressive styles than he’s comfortable with. Whereas other books I have found leave you pretty much stranded if you don’t agree with something the author writes, Harrington explains the THOUGHT PROCESS so clearly that should you choose to deviate from his strategy, you have a good idea just how to do that.

Take all of my feedback with a grain of salt, because I really have stuck mostly to online tournaments, but I’m sure that his advice applies expertly to live casino tournies as well. Personally, I like online play better – I was a little hesitant at first, but after taking the plunge, I don’t understand what all the worry is about. Read some site reviews and get sign-up bonus codes at POKERCROAKER.com that will help you pick which poker site to try. Overall, I’m extraordinarily happy with this book, and eagerly look forward to the 2nd volume.