Power Hold'em Strategy [Paperback]

 

 

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Having just finished this book, I'm left feeling completely underwhelmed. With the exception of Daniel Negreanu's section, it seems a rushed and lazy piece of work.

The initial section, by Evelyn Ng, can be entirely skipped. Aimed at beginners, it attempts provide a "system" to avoid difficult decisions and post-flop play in general. The objective seems to be to minimise the edge of better players, but to be honest you shouldn't be sitting with better players in the first place- particularly if your knowledge of poker is this basic. There are more efficient means of learning the fundamentals than by following a "system". I would advise "The Theory of Poker" by David Sklansky for those among you who consider yourselves to be intelligent beginners.

The second section comprises of Tod Brunson's advice on high-limit cash games. It lacks structure and is fairly short. There are a few bits of useful information in there, such as never bluffing an idiot, however most of it is common knowledge: certainly to the players intending to play high-limit cash games.

This chapter should have taken a far deeper look at the subject. It certainly shouldn't have been the second chapter in the book. I have to add that, while Tod Brunson is undoubtedly a fantastic player who has achieved a lot in the game, there was an elementary mistake in the chapter which was nothing short of embarrassing. On page 129 he states in an example, "You figure it's 10 to 1 against his bluffing..." and later states a few lines down regarding the same example, "You may have picked that 1-out-of-10 times this guy was bluffing..." Now that to me is extremely disconcerting (should read "1-out-of-11") given that we are taking advice on high-stakes hold 'em! The basic nature of the error demonstrates a total lack of care.

The third section deals with online play and is contributed by Erick Lindgren. This chapter is far more carefully structured than its predecessor. It provides generally useful advice for the intermediate player, though that is accompanied by a couple of contentious pieces of advice. Firstly, "Maintaining a consistent bet size" is a controversial bit of advice given the benefits you forfeit by doing so. All that is really required is to sufficiently mix up your play. The second(less contentious, more misleading) piece of advice is "Protecting the Babies." It implies that you should take the number of chips in the pot that came from your stack into account when making a decision about whether to make a bluff on the river. Now this implication is dangerous. As Mike Caro correctly states, "What you've already invested doesn't matter." All that matters is the mathematical expectation of the play- the fact that some of the chips in the pot were initially yours has absolutely no bearing on that.

The following section, written by Paul Wasika, deals with short-handed games. I found a lot of his advice to be very solid. The small section on ego wasn't anything revolutionary, but it's extremely important. I found his coining of player types a bit counter-productive as there are more efficient ways of doing this, such as those purported in "The Psychology of Poker" by Alan N. Schoonmaker. Much like Lindgren's section, it provides generally useful advice for the intermediate player.

The fifth section, by David Williams, discusses mixing up your play. Now some sections were informative such as "Making Moves," but as far as mixing up your play goes, this section was pretty much devoid of useful information. The assertion that you should generally play in a more straight-forward manner against top/unpredictable players is another contentious one (I'm being kind: "contentious" should be read "completely wrong"). While it's prudent to avoid- where possible- entering into hands against skilled players when there are weaker players at the table to target, it is of the utmost importance that you mix-up your play if you are forced to play an accomplished opponent (e.g. heads-up or at a table comprised completely of top players). This was at no point acknowledged in this chapter.

The entirety of this chapter could have been comprised of a single tip from Mike Caro and been far more useful:

"Against very weak opponents, it's usually not necessary to randomize your decisions. You don't need to be very deceptive, because a straightforward strategy will usually earn the most money. But against more experienced players it's a good idea to mix it up, as long as you don't sacrifice too much in the process... One very easy way is to decide to choose the standard play for close decisions (such as mostly calling, but sometimes raising) three-quarters (75 percent) of the time and the exception one-quarter (25 percent) of the time. For situations in which a three-to-one ratio of standard play to exception seems reasonable to you, you can simply consider the suit of the FIRST card dealt to you. If it's a spade, choose the exception and raise (for the sake of this example). If it's any other suit, go with the standard play and just call. As an extra precaution against the unlikely event that an opponent will catch on, you might change the exception suit from time to time. You could change it each session or even each hour."

There is something amiss with a 70-page section when one paragraph can improve your game to a greater extent!

The final section, penned by Daniel Negreanu, covers the "small-ball" strategy he has become synonymous with. Finally! A section that met my expectations. A well structured and interesting look at the "small-ball" strategy: essentially trading small mistakes on earlier, cheaper, betting rounds for big mistakes from your opponents on later, more expensive, betting rounds. This section is entirely responsible for earning the 2 stars awarded to this book.

A final mention for the author of the preface, Avery Cardoza. It was an extremely bias and infuriating preface that spends a few pages talking up the books under the cardoza publishing banner. Not good. His derogatory comment aimed at mathematical analysis was concerning. I worry that his opinion of mathematics cost us some insightful and more in-depth discussion of the differing mathematical expectations of certain plays throughout the book, especially in Negreanu's section.

Cumulatively then, this is a fairly poor piece of work saved only by Negreanu's final section. More advanced players should take a look at "No-Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice," by David Sklansky and Ed Miller instead.

The premier chapter is D-Neg's. I think he wanted to write 'poker bible', I think it's the only reason to get the book. The other chapters, are both superficial and superfluous - I reckon D-Neg must be disappointed by the other contributors efforts. Perhaps them being 'poker buddies' meant he was unwilling to be too critical and / or push to make similar effort. Given the delays in the books publication, they could be because he was keen to keep tweaking his chapter; or, he had to keep badgering the other contributors to pull their fingers out. Some of them I think must have only had beer mats to hand when they put together their chapters.

I don't think small ball is going rip the tables up on mid to low stakes cash tables, especially online where the call button is too easy to hit. Possibly, on a very tight tables it might yield some good implied odds situations; equally high stakes too. Of course, you'd have to be open raise with a wide range of holdings.

I see small ball primarily as a deep stack tournament strategy, with its chip accumulation strategy through a lot of positional blind stealing, implied odds benefits, and post-flop out maneuvering.

The only reason you have to buy this book is of course the chapter "small ball"

In this chapter a player (especially the intermediate) will understand that poker is not only bet-raise-reraise-bluff-rebluff!

There is a misunderstanding today that only with agressive poker you will become top Pro.

The other part sof book is not something special.

Nevertheless it a almost complete book for no limit texas holdem but i cannot tell that it is "the super system of 21th century"

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5.0 out of 5 stars A good book
The book is really great if you like deep stack tournaments, the part by Daniel Negreanu is really eye-opening.

The other parts are not bad, but nothing particular.

Published on 6 Nov 2009 by P. L. Placa

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