3/29/2005 - Poker is like....(and, oh yeah, a book review!)

No poker news since I've been busy the last few days, but I did come across a very apt analogy over at 2+2. 

Poker's gambling. Its like playing a game of chess for $1 and afterwards flipping a coin for $3.

I have to say, that is probably the single best analogy I've ever seen for describing poker.  Now, personally, I would probably say that poker is like playing a game of chess for $1 and then flipping a coin afterwards for $6 or $7 (or $8 or $9), but the basic concept is pure gold.  It's so simple yet so true.

I wish I'd thought of it. 

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Harrington on Hold 'em Review

Before I start my review, I should add a little disclaimer.  Unlike most people, I have not read many poker books in my life.  More accurately, before this book, I've read exactly one poker book in my life, Poker Essays II by Mason Malmuth, which I read during a long road trip since a friend had it and I was extremely bored.  I therefore have very little to compare Harrington's book to.  However, I have been a student for the vast majority of my life and have played a lot of poker, so I think I can give a humble opinion on the book as to how well it explains concepts and whether or not those concepts are worthwhile.

The full title of what I call Harrington on Hold 'em (or HOH) is a real mouthful, Harrington on Hold 'em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments; Volume I: Strategic Play.  It is from 2+2 publishing, which has published some of the most popular books on poker, including those by David Sklansky. 

Now although I've not read any Sklansky book cover to cover, I am currently reading Theory of Poker and I have read excerpts from Hold 'em for Advanced Players as well as his own various posts on the 2+2 forums.  Therefore, I am somewhat familiar with his style.

Dan Harrington's style is definitely not like Sklansky's.  The best way to describe Sklansky's style is that he often incorporates the Socratic method.  He will give very thorough, and often mathematical, explanations of the basics of a theoretical concept, but then often present problems and either not give an answer or give the (often counter-intuitive) answer but without a full explanation and expect the reader to fill in the remaining logic. 

Harrington's style is a lot more straightforward and a lot less theoretical.  All through the book he explains the various common situations that arise and how he would recommend handling them.  He gives concrete problems with usually-concrete answers and full explanations.

HOH begins with the basics of no-limit hold 'em and tournament play, and then he proceeds methodically through playing styles, starting hand requirements, pot odds, reading your opponents, and his recommended betting preflop, on the flop and on later rounds.  His suggestions are sometimes mathematically determined (betting enough that "your opponent is making a mistake if he calls"), but are often enough feel based.  He talks about continuation bets that he likes to be a certain size of the pot or bets with made hands on vulnerable boards that he likes to be another certain size of the pot, but often times those numbers are arrived at through experience rather than arithmetic. 

The end of each section has a set of problems with provided answers.  These problems for the most part are very good for elucidating given concepts , and there are one or two tricky problems that were interesting, but for the most part they are straightforward.  Occasionally, they're elementary almost to the point of being insulting--is raising KK preflop really that difficult a concept once someone is two-thirds of the way through the book? 

Because of its straight-forward presentation and the fundamental nature of the concepts covered, the level of reader the book is aimed at is definitely the knowledgable and serious beginner.  A person should be familiar with hold 'em and  tournaments and hopefully had played in a few, but also really want to improve his or her game. 

However, someone who already has pretty extensive playing experience and success, even having not read a book (someone like me, for example) will probably find that HOH does not present many new or exciting concepts.  The book can probably be used to fill in the gaps in some more experienced player's fundamentals, or to further reinforce that person's developing game, but for the most part I'd recommend the book to people who are generally recreational home game players who now really want to improve their game without the high time and cost commitment required by simply playing every day.   

For the right audience--serious beginners--this is a very good book, and for those who like ratings, I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.  HOH is very clearly presented, pretty thorough (he differentiates nicely between live and online tournaments, for example), and its only drawbacks is that it could have a few more difficult situations presented so one could have a better look into the mind of world-class player, and perhaps a few less ultra-basic problems presented (raise preflop with big pairs!). 

I'm eagerly anticipating Vol. 2: Endgame Play, as hopefully he will get into more advanced topics. 

Comments

[Evan]

I thought his explanation of the squeeze play was decent. My review of HoH would be more positive than yours.

[Learn poker]

Great! As more and more people are hooked to playing online poker, I hope that these tips help you out. Looking forward to more advanced tips in the future. Thanks.