Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves [Paperback]

Normally when I review a poker book (and I've reviewed perhaps a dozen, including Mitchell Cogert's previous one on Razz) I like to take issue with a recommended play or two. The truth is there IS more than one way to skin a cat (a catfish, that is), and opinions can differ. Furthermore it's fun to offer a different strategy. Here, however, I'm going to skip the quibbling and just say straight out that Cogert knows what he's talking about and his advice really is "expert."

What I especially like about this book is how Cogert combines personal experience (he's a very good player who has, among other things, won the Northern California Championship for no-limit hold'em in 2002) with knowledge from books and from watching some of the top pros. His basic point is that to get beyond the bubble in no-limit tournaments you have to be willing to take risks. Nobody ever won a big no limit tournament who didn't gamble, and some of the most spectacular wins (Chris Moneymaker in 2003 and Jamie Gold in 2006) came about after some really wild rick taking! The plain fact is that in any tournament luck is a huge factor. You can increase your luck (or decrease it!) by taking chances. What is taking a chance? It means not playing "scared poker." Yes, it will happen that 65 percent of the time an overcard to your pocket jacks will fall on the flop (as Cogert explains in the appendix on "Most frequently asked poker questions"). And yes, pocket rockets tend in no-limit to win a lot of small pots, but when they get cracked, they drain your chips seriously--although people tend to forget that some of the biggest pots are won when pocket aces improve, or when somebody decides to make a stand with a painted pair.

Regardless of the danger, to have any hope of winning a tournament you must play aggressively and, well, bravely. In poker the aggressive player has the edge--that is, up to a very fine point where one can be too aggressive. Most players, as Cogert points out, tend to revert to survival mode sometime during a tournament. This can be a huge mistake. Follow Cogert's dictum: "Risk is good" and don't be caught leaning back in your seat until the tournament is over.

Another thing I like about "Tournament Poker: 101" are the tips themselves. They have the power even if never used of opening the player's mind to the possibilities and to what the other guy may be up to. And of course you're unlikely to ever use all 101 of them, and in fact, as some of the plays become routine, you'll have to abandon them, and come up with counter plays. But that is the beauty of poker. You need to change your strategy for the situation, to counter the moves of your opponents. Switch gears. Be creative, but avoid Mike Caro's Fancy Play Syndrome, Cogert advises.
In a way this book is a kind of original digest of the three volume set written by Dan Harrington, which is considered the "bible" of tournament play. Cogert's book doesn't have the seating diagrams with pot size and bets that Harrington's book has--which I think are okay but unnecessary--but it does have something else. Instead of precise analysis (although there is plenty of that), Cogert gives the reader the view from reality with the understanding that you and I are not Jesus Ferguson level mathematicians or Dan Harrington level analysts. Cogert conveys in his recounting of hands played, or in his advice on how to play a hand or how to make a "play," the actual sense of the experience, and lets you know how it feels to get there. Or not.

Cogert emphasizes the rough and tumble of tournament play, the psychology of not only your opponents, but the psychology of the tournament milieu itself and how it can affect you, as for example a run of dead cards leading to a migraine. He provides an appendix on "planning" which he calls "boring but necessary," both before the tournament and during each hand, from before the cards are in the air through the flop, turn and river.

Finally, "Tournament Poker: 101" is just simply a lot of fun to read.

While Harrington on Hold'em will probably remain the ultimate guide to tounament play for many years to come, the books are chunky tomes which are hard on the hands (IMO) and require a substantial investment of time to digest. This little beauty, on the other hand, can be read easily in an evening and feasibly slipped into a travel bag (or possibly a large pocket) for some pre-tournament mental preparation.

The 101 moves is probably more like 91 since a few of them are repeated to fit into the book's structure of following the action, i.e. pre-flop, post-flop, turn and river, but I guess 101 sounds better and there's still plenty here to chew over.

For those who emphasize the importance of hand examples, each suggested play is backed up by case studies and there's a sprinkling of anectodes too, which add to the book's easy-to-read feel.

As it says on the back "If you take a way just one winning play from this book, it will pay for itself many times over". That may be something of an exageration, however it is fair to say that this book should get you thinking about the different ways you can play a hand and that can only improve your play and your profits.

Probably the only book that I've read that goes some way in describing how good players think! My only negative (not a negative really just a comment) is that the moves need to be applied in the right circumstance. By circumstances I mean table dynamics and the villains profile and from what I remember this topic isn't touched upon nearly enough. You raise from early position with AQ and get a call from a station. You cbet on a 972 rainbow flop and he calls. The turn is a king (great scare card right?) There is little point in representing a scare card on the Turn if he has hit the 7 on the flop - he isn't going anywhere! He probably isn't even aware that this could be a good card for you considering your preflop early position open.....if you get my drift. Other than that I loved the book and when applied properly it works well.