[Poboy]

Title: Harrington on Hold 'Em Volume 1
Author: Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
Publisher: 2+2
Retailer(s): Retailer(s) www.holdempokerchips.com, most major retail/online bookstores, Overstock.com, Wal-Mart.
Average Price: Cover price $29.95, Online ~$23 w/shipping
Member Review by: Poboy

Harrington on Hold 'Em is considered by many to be the best No Limit Tournament book out there (it is actually two volumes, this review is on Vol.1), which is why I bought it. The book is a must read if you are a beginner NL tournament player.

Overview

Volume 1 is pretty much a basic strategy book. The intended audience seems to be mainly recreational players, or those that have seen tournaments on TV and want to play. No Limit or Limit cash game players that have not forayed into tournaments will also find this book helpful. The book has seven 'Parts', or chapters. Part One: The Game of No Limit Hold Em. Part Two: Playing Styles. Part Three: Reading the Table. Part Four: Pot Odds and Hand Analysis. Part Five: Betting Before The Flop. Part Six: Betting After the Flop. Part Seven: Betting on the Turn and River. Each section is followed a set of sample hands, with an analysis of correct plays, as well as mistakes. These are called Problems.

Reviewers Comments

I will probably be run out of poker for this, but I was disappointed with Volume 1. Before I get into why, I'll mention the good. The 10 Elements of a Hand early on is pretty vital to tournament play. If you don't automatically consider these things at the table, I don't think you can win very often. I also liked some of the examples Note: not the Problems section, but examples within a chapter. Harrington's coverage of his own thought processes, his opponents' thought processes, and the situation leading up to the hand show how far the thinking/strategy goes back. Each hand is more than just the hand being played.
Now for the bad. Well, not exactly bad. Being a small stakes limit ring game player, I thought this would be a very good book for me, but I just didn‘t find it particularly helpful. The sections on Pot Odds, playing styles, and hand reading were nothing new. The betting strategies were basic straight-forward situations. One of my particularly tough situations is mid pair, especially when over cards come and there was not much help on that in this book. Also, I pretty much just play online since I'm not near any casinos, and the book had a mix of online and live game problems. Considering online and live games have pretty different structures, I expected some more in depth discussions where the structure came into play. Instead, there didn't seem to be much about how that might affect a play. There were no strategies regarding the various stages of a tournament.
I was looking for more out of this book. I wanted to know what this much ballyhooed ‘M’ was all about. I wanted strategies for accumulating chips with factors like level of the tournament, stack sizes, and what risky or foolish plays to avoid. I assume Volume 2 has that kind of information.
Having said all that, I’m happy enough with my purchase. Even though I already knew most of what was presented, I still like having read it in a tournament-specific setting. And, I gleaned a few nuggets here and there.
I recommend this book for beginners and those who don't play any no limit or those who don't play tournaments. If you have read other books, such as Super System 1 or 2, have a good understanding of it, and have played a fair amount of tournaments, you could probably do without Harrington on Hold Em Volume 1. It can't hurt to own it though.

Review didn't make the cut. I had a good discussion going with jojobinks, so thought I'd ask, what do you all think of the book/my opinion of it?

[TheDuke]

No offense, but I wrote more in depth book reports in grade 5.

Such a brief overview does not do the book justice. Beef it up.

[jojobinks]

my two responses to poboy from our PM convo

Originally Posted by jojobinks

i think you miss the point. it was published in two volumes b/c there's A LOT to be said. kill phill is getting lots of good reviews right now, but it's very limited in scope, and as a result is only 300 pages. HOH 1 and 2 are over 800 together, and for good reason. vol 1 covers only a safe value-betting strategy that works well when stacks are deep...complaining that it doesn't cover M is like being upset that salinger's 9 stories doesn't ever mention this holden caulfield that i've been hearing so much about!

HOH2 covers making moves as well as shortstack, shorthanded, and headsup play.

these are not beginner's books. i don't know any experienced players that have dismissed them the way did.

i just don't get it...

to the idea that HOH doesn't cover any new ground in poker literature (after reading s/s, sshe, and wllhe

Originally Posted by jojobinks

really? you think HOH doesn't cover ground uncharted by those limit books and SS?

the s/s NL section is manically aggressive, which is (to say the least) very diff than HOH. besides that, none of the others talk about sizing bets in NL. vol 1 is kind of only about that...deciding when to bet, and then how much...

poboy was hoping (and me too) that by posting here, we could start a real discussion about the value of this book. so the "better book report in 5th grade" comments are done, i hope...

[SpeakEasy]

Seems like you went into the book with the mindset of "how will this help my on-line low-limit cash-game play?"

This is not the focus of this book. This book sets up basic, conservative TOURNAMENT strategy. Many of the principles are useful for NL cash play (pot odds, hand evaluation, players styles), but this is a primer for tournament play, plain and simple.

A review based on the fact that this was not useful for your low stakes on-line play is not fair criticism.

[SpeakEasy]

Originally Posted by jojobinks

poboy was hoping (and me too) that by posting here, we could start a real discussion about the value of this book

Who should read it?

Every player that plays SNGs and tournaments.
Professionals and amateurs.
High stakes and low stakes plays -- any levels.
Basically, this should be required tournament and SNG reading.

Why?
Teaches you about styles of play.
Teaches you a basic, conservative strategy, if you are searching for a playing style.
If you are not prone to play conservatively, teaches you how to play against conservative players.
Even if you are a pro or play SNGs all the time, it is a good refresher course in many basics that are easily forgotten through sloppy, repetitive play.

Harrington is a proven winner, and a very solid writer -- what student of poker would not want to get inside the mind of a multi-million dollar WSOP champ?

[SpeakEasy]

AND

The way he illustrates sample hands -- with the little oval, players and stack sizes -- is the most effective way to illustrate a hand. Better than all other poker books that I have read.

This diagram is so much better than just text description of a hand. Poker players naturally visualize a table and players sitting around it, so placing the players on a simple diagram it an incredibly useful aid. Greenstein has something like this with pictures of cards and chips, but the Harrington method is more useful because its uncluttered and simple -- table, players, stack size, button, SB, BB.

[Poboy]

Originally Posted by SpeakEasy

Seems like you went into the book with the mindset of "how will this help my on-line low-limit cash-game play?"

No, I wasn't looking for the book to help my cash game play. I wanted to learn good tournament play. I added the games I usually play to show where I was coming from.

Teaches you about styles of play.
Teaches you a basic, conservative strategy, if you are searching for a playing style.
If you are not prone to play conservatively, teaches you how to play against conservative players.
Even if you are a pro or play SNGs all the time, it is a good refresher course in many basics that are easily forgotten through sloppy, repetitive play.

Harrington is a proven winner, and a very solid writer -- what student of poker would not want to get inside the mind of a multi-million dollar WSOP champ?

That's kind of what I meant. It's basic. Bet sizes, playing against conservative players, value betting are all things a NL ring game player should know.
Harrington is certainly a solid writer. This book is well written, explanations are clear, and it's an easy read.
I was thinking when I bought the book that maybe I'd buy Volume 2 first, but chose instead to start at the beginning so to speak. Now I think I would've been fine with starting with Volume 2.

TheDuke, the initial draft here never went through any revisions to make it more complete since it wasn't accepted. It's posted here because I wanted to know what people thought of what I wrote.

[mac40k]

Are you kidding me? I'm halfway through the 2nd vol and I found the first to be very well written, full of great analysis of how various hands are played in different situations, and can attest to the fact that it has improved my game. I've read several poker books. These will prbably be the first I re-read, and often.

Hate to contridict you, but there are several places through the book where he clearly makes a distinction between online and live play. For example, he points out that a "standard" raise of 3x or 4x the BB in the early round of an online tournament will not drive many out of the pot, especially those that already have chips commtted to it. That's just one example. There are several of the problems where he states that a certain play recommended for live play wouldn't work online or needs to be adapted.

As a self-professed low stakes limit player, you are clearly not the target audience for the book. The fact that you didn't find it that useful to you is not all that surprising.

[Poboy]

Originally Posted by mac40k

Hate to contridict you, but there are several places through the book where he clearly makes a distinction between online and live play. For example, he points out that a "standard" raise of 3x or 4x the BB in the early round of an online tournament will not drive many out of the pot, especially those that already have chips commtted to it. That's just one example. There are several of the problems where he states that a certain play recommended for live play wouldn't work online or needs to be adapted.

I don't mind being contradicted. I get more out of discussions like that. You're right. I usually read a book, then start re-reading immediately. I re-read a few sections four times already. There are sections where he differentiates online and live play. However, the distinctions are not regarding structure, ie. the faster format with less starting chips. Mostly, it's just about making bets bigger because online players call more. Which is helpful, don't get me wrong. I just hoped for more meat on this subject.

As a self-professed low stakes limit player, you are clearly not the target audience for the book. The fact that you didn't find it that useful to you is not all that surprising.

I thought I was the target audience for this book. I'm a relatively inexperienced NL tournament player looking to get better at NL tournaments. I've played dozens of online tournaments/SNG's. My strategy is my own, cobbled together from my general style (I'm on the loose edge of Harrington's conservative style) and stupid mistakes that put me out in the past.