Reddit reviews Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
We found 10 Reddit comments about Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Two Plus Two Pub
What? That isn't what happened at all. Shit, now I have to rewatch the video to show why you are wrong. God damn it. Will edit soon.
Edit below:
First hand he says, "I chose to call because I had some aggressive players here and I just wanna be sure there aren't any big cards here."
First off, that is anathema to poker theory. Calling is always the weakest move and he's making a joke by explaining the hand backwards. Inside joke for people who know poker theory. You flush out big cards (especially on a 378 flop) by betting into the pot not by calling. Calling doesn't push anything out. Two spades on the board and calling player has 2nd highest flush draw with QK. One of the worst positions to be in, he loses the hand on the river versus a Jack of spades which is a double slap in the face because its the only card that improves both of their hands. Adds insult to injury.
Second hand "JJ in small blind, this is a great spot to get them." He's not wrong there, but he only calls which pulls the big blind into the hand (he mis-speaks and says, "Oh the small blind called", he meant to say big blind). Flop comes 433 with a potential flush draw but this is a good flop otherwise for JJ with three players in the pot. BB goes all-in in a confusing turn of events as there is no pre-flop hand that he should've called the original raise with. BB hole cards 38 giving him a set of 3's with the flop. Basically big blind was playing stupidly in order to draw someone in (or was just an idiot playing poorly). In either case it fucks the Jacks.
Third hand JJ late position with aggressive players behind you, the player calls and another players (presumably conservative) goes all-in in what the player assumed to be heads up which throws a wrench in his plan. Player calls because he has jacks and gets fucked by the aces. Aggressive player from original explanation folds and isn't even in the final hand.
Fourth hand "Pocket Jacks here, middle position, cash table, low stakes" JJ versus overcard (an overcard is a single card on the table higher than the cards in your hand which may potentially be paired with another player's hole card), this is already looking bad for the player. "That means you bet!" He's right, if you want to detect an overcard you have to bet into it, either they will bluff the card and you'll win, or they have it and you minimize your losses by betting into it and folding. Player bets 50% pot which is an acceptable bet. Note he's playing against the biggest stack at the table, who is likely more willing to call bets which are <1/10 his stack. Second overcard comes out, same as before except now twice as bad because there are two. Big stack bets 1/3 pot, player re-raises 1/4 pot (a pointless raise that anyone would call, bad play), then he gets pushed all-in which he should've expected because he played meekly.
Fifth hand Tournament play, not a cash game. Dealer shoves and Jacks called heads up, perfect scenario and if this happened a million times you'd do the same thing every time. Dealer shows A3, an awful hand. Statistics are strongly in favor of JJ. Post flop only 5 cards out of 45 can save him, then 5/44 on the river. JJ looks in the clear but dealer gets an Ace, two pair wins. Nothing was done wrong on the part of JJ here.
Sixth hand Tournament play. JJ in BB against short stack who is probably on tilt. JJ v JA, JJ has the advantage but not by much. Flops turns a straight draw, only 7 cards in the deck out of 44 can save his opponent. He hits one of those 7.
Seventh hand Cash game. JJ on BB, two overcards on the flop (which sucks, potential fold here). His opponent bets in a way that doesn't maximize on his hand which makes him appear weak. Jacks lose to a hand that was played poorly, but a loss is a loss.
Eighth hand Tournament play. JJ in position again. JJ raises 3x BB, gets raised all-in. Pretty self explanatory. QQ > JJ.
Ninth hand Tournament play. Jacks looking double solid with the straight draw, but there is an overcard on the board. JJ notes that his opponent is aggressive which calls for a change in style of play, you have to confront aggressive players to get them to back down and/or defeat them off the table. Pushes the "idiot" player in, cards turn and idiot has 36 chasing the flush (a very stupid thing to do) hits the flush on the turn and hits his stupid hand. Hands like these are why poker is profitable, the opposing player did a dumb thing and chased a stupid hand that is only profitable approximately 40% of the time, 60% of the time the Jacks would have won so our player did the right thing. Still lost, this is the 40%.
Tenth hand Cash game. Confronts a loose player with JJ in order to get a payout. Aggressive player responds conservatively and disappoints the player.
TLDR: He make a combination of jokes giving bad advice, but generally doing the right thing and shows that no matter how well you play Jacks they will fuck you in the ass.
To reply to /u/Balthanos
>He kept losing because he was not paying attention to his opponent. He was betting when another player went "all in" which usually infers they have something.
When another player goes all-in, there are only two replies.
You can't reply with a "bet" when an opponent goes all-in so I'm not even sure what you are saying. If you are saying he was betting before the all-in and the mistake was to call, well that's plainly just not true in most of these scenarios, and if you are saying that he should not have bet before the all-in occurred then I want to know where you keep your crystal ball because I could use it for my poker games.
I WROTE THIS REALLY FAST SO I APOLOGIZE FOR MY GRAMMAR
Daniel Negreanu on Jacks.
Poker theory on Jacks (and more).
___
If you've made it to the end of this post, chances are you may be interested in poker. I will recommend some resources for you to further your knowledge and perhaps get some new players into the game.
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is an amazing resource for the beginner and the advanced poker player who has perhaps forgotten some of the basics. Its a nice pocket reference book and a quick read, I have no doubt that it will improve your game.
Harrington on Hold-em this is a TOURNAMENT based book. So if your friends have a game they play on a weekly basis which is a CASH game this book is NOT APPLICABLE. Just be aware that the style of play across Poker is NOT universal. You will play differently in tournaments and cash games and players tend to gravitate toward one or the other. Note on the author, he is an extremely conservative player thus the book is written from that perspective. He does however do an excellent job of analyzing other players and explaining their motivations, using real hands he has been in over the years in real tournaments.
The Theory of Poker another good book for you if you've never read anything about poker.
You might be thinking to yourself, I'm awful with math! I could never understand poker! The statistics, the combinations, the confusion! Well you'd be wrong. The math of poker is not difficult and by the time you've played a few games you've already memorized a bunch of it. Situations repeat often enough that you'll learn to spot them early on and learn to predict the likely outcomes.
It depends whether you are playing tournaments, cash, on-line or live, micro-SnG's etc. Could you clarify this?
I mainly play live tournaments with buy ins between $50 and $1000. The books that helped my game are:
Poker is a fun hobby, and it becomes more fun the more you learn. Don't listen to these guys trying to discourage you from playing live. Have realistic expectations: don't expect to make a lot of money, remember that you'll only cash some of the time, and do not gamble with money that you can't afford to lose.
For these kind of small stakes live tournaments I think Harrington on Hold 'em will give you a basic understanding of tournament play that should give you an edge on the field. Good luck!
Tournament poker?
1, #2:
Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 2: Endgame
Mr Harrington is an excellent teacher. these two will teach you exactly why and when to 'loosen up', and in what spots.
Couple this with [The Poker Tournament Formula] (http://www.amazon.com/Poker-Tournament-Formula-Arnold-Snyder/dp/1580422039/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y) and you should be good to go.
Dan Harrington's "Harrington on Hold'em" Vol 1 & 2. Don't bother with Vol 3.
These are written about multi-table tournaments, with Vol 1 about the early stages, and Vol 2 about endgame (final table). Volume 2 is also very helpful for sit-n-go's, which are essentially final tables.
Volume 3 is a waste because it's basically a bunch of tests instead of new info. I think the first 2 were so successful that he knew he could make a good buck on anything new with the same title.
I hesitate to even spread the word more about these books because they are so good, and who needs better competition?
http://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375465357&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dan+harrington+tournament
Oh I see. Well you can read Kill Everyone [here] (http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/samples/KillEveryone2sample.pdf) which is a pretty good/short read. If you're set on a physical book then HoH is a good choice.
http://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337
I was recommended this book by a poker loving friend
https://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337
It's tournament focused, but a lot of the basic principles are the same. I'd totally recommend reading it with a friend and challenging each other on the questions.
But really, practice. Find a group of good players to join. You'll be donating your money to the table each session, but learning a lot.
Not really more than going to your local casino and play live and have a good time with it now and then and see how it feels. Reading a poker book doesn't hurt in the beginning if you're into that. I can recommend Professional No-Limit Hold 'em for Texas Hold'em cashgame, although it's almost ten years old, and Harrington on Hold 'em for tournaments if you're a beginner although it's a bit outdated if you play seriously.
If you like to watch poker on tv I would recommend watching a show where it's more than coin flip all-in hands. Maybe a final table live stream with or without hole cards where you can try putting players on hands and to predict and understand what's happening. But you should basically try to have fun and learn while you play whichever stakes you're at. It's much more fun as a hobby than a job.
The most fun part about poker in my opinion is reading body language, breathing and eye contact and so on which is something that applies to all parts of life but it takes experience to be able to get that right whether it's about poker or going on dates, and some people will always remain clueless.
If you ever seriously get into it and play online/offline, I heavily suggest Dan Harrington's books.
https://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337
Buy some books such as https://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=575QYQAK0JPE70YK4VP3
But on line poker is nothing like live poker.