Dan “Action Dan” Harrington is a moderating force in today’s world of loose super
aggressive tournament play. He is known💰 as one of the most solid and conservative
players on the poker scene today. But don’t mistake his rock like💰 discipline for weak
play. He has an uncanny ability to know exactly when to make his move. This ability has
💰 allowed him phenomenal success in No Limit Hold’em tournaments – finishing at the final
table of both the 2003 (against💰 a field of 839) and 2004 (against a field of 2,576)
World Series of Poker Main Event Tournaments.
Dan shares the💰 secrets of his success in
Harrington on Hold’em Expert Strategy on No-Limit Tournaments, Volume 1: Strategic Play
(co-written with backgammon💰 author Bill Robertie). The authors felt that there was too
much information on the subject to fit into one book.💰 As a result, Strategic Play is
the first in a two part series. Strategic Play offers advice on the beginning💰 and
middle stages of a tournament. Volume 2, End Game focuses on the final stages of a
tournament.
Strategic Play is💰 mostly likely to appeal to beginning, intermediate and
expert tournament players looking for practical advice on playing No Limit Hold’em
💰 tournaments. This is not a “how to” book for the rank beginner. Hand rankings, game
rules and general poker theory💰 are not covered in depth in this volume. As a result,
some previous general knowledge or experience in poker is💰 a prerequisite for gaining
the most knowledge from Strategic Play.
Strategic Play is well organized into seven
distinct sections, each containing💰 easily digestible and actionable information related
to common tournament situations. In order to gain full value from the material, readers
💰 are encouraged to treat the hand analysis (contained at the end of each section) as
quizzes and to look at💰 the author’s advice only after they have wrestled with the
problems themselves.
Poker players familiar with Harrington’s style may expect a💰 book
filled with solid and conservative advice. Instead, they are treated to more dynamic
recommendations. One of the more compelling💰 sections of the book is titled “Playing
Styles and Starting Requirements”. In this section, the authors describe the types of
💰 playing styles common in today’s No Limit Hold’em tournaments: Conservative, Aggressive
and Super-Aggressive. They go on to make recommendations on💰 when and how to use each
style and offer advice on when and how to play against each style.
The authors💰 also
recognize the fact that not all readers will be playing in theR$10,000 Main Event at
the World Series of💰 Poker – which is played with a large amount of starting chips and
over several days. More realistically, readers will💰 play in a wide variety of buy in
amounts and structures. As a result, strategic advice also varies based on💰 tournament
types.
The most significant value in Harrington’s book, however, may be gleamed from
the problems contained at the end of💰 each chapter. It is in these sections that the
readers are allowed to take a peak into the mind of💰 one of the best tournament poker
players in the world - and then compare it to their own analysis. The💰 problems are very
detailed, and include a vast amount of information about the conditions relevant to the
play of a💰 particular hand. The reader is bound to miss something, and will then learn
from what they missed by reading the💰 subsequent analysis. It is like having a world
famous poker coach all to themselves – someone who sweats their cards💰 during a
tournament and then tells them what he would have done himself.
Poker players whose
only tournament experience includes watching💰 it on TV may be under the impression that
No Limit Hold'em is a relatively simple game. They may watch💰 the aggressive players on
television and simply determine that success is a matter of continued aggressive play.
However, after reading💰 Harrington’s book and participating in the exercises, one of the
key take aways that readers are left with is that💰 No Limit Hold’em is indeed a very
complex game. There are times to be aggressive and times to be conservative.💰 Learning
to recognize when and where to use the correct approach is critical. As a result, the
importance of a💰 well thought out plan and thorough analysis at the table is
illuminated. Harrington on Hold’em Expert Strategy on No-Limit Tournaments,💰 Volume 1:
Strategic Play teaches its readers how do just that and is therefore a great addition
to any tournament💰 players’ toolbox.
Buy Dan Harrington's Book
