REVIEW
Until
this book was written, the best advice
on playing Texas Hold'em in Pot Limit
or No Limit games was the section from
Doyle Brunson's epic, Super System. Since
the writing of Super System the state
of the art in poker writing has advanced
considerably. There certainly remained
a lot to be said about "the Cadillac of
poker games".
T.
J. Cloutier, who has been competing in
big time poker events for the better part
of two decades, has impeccable credentials
as an expert in pot-limit and no-limit
Texas Hold'em. The question is, will his
expertise translate into a good book?
This was especially of concern because
although his collaborator, Tom McEvoy,
has been one of the most successful tournament
poker players in the last 20 years, his
book, Tournament Poker was a mediocre
offering at best, offering few, if any,
significant new insights into being a
successful tournament poker player.
I'm
happy to say, that these fears turn out
to be unfounded. This book was written
clearly, as a spoken exposition by Cloutier.
The topics in this book are well organized
and carefully spelled out. All aspects
of the play in these poker games, with
a special emphasis on tournament play,
are covered. More importantly, there is
a significant amount of information here
that has never before seen print.
Cloutier
goes through how to play starting hands
in various positions in detail, covers
having various hands on the flop, turn
and river. He discusses carefully how
to get a read on one's opponent, the skill
Cloutier believes most critical in winning
these games. This is a difficult topic
to discuss, reading players is much more
instinct than science, but he does a respectable
job of it.
There
are two chapters specifically devoted
to tournament play, a very good set of
practice hands with commentary by Cloutier,
and the book concludes with a set of tales
from Cloutier's colorful life.
I
like this book quite a bit, but it is
by no means perfect. First, charging $39.95
for 206 pages of paper bound content seems
a little steep to me. While one could
rightly argue that if this book saves
you just one bet at a game of these limits,
or moves you up one money place in a medium
sized tournament, you've recovered this
money, it's out of line with what I expect
from books in general.
My
second complaint, with which it may be
fair for the author to take issue with
me, is that I get the sensation that the
author is holding back a bit. There are
several places, where Cloutier does a
good job of explaining what one can expect
in situations, except that one has a feeling
that the author was almost ready to continue
with an "... except in these cases..."
or "... but watch out for ..." but didn't.
This
has been a point of a great deal of soul
searching by poker writers for years and
can be found in Super System and Ray Zee's
introduction to Texas Hold'em for Advanced
Players among other places. However, the
sense I've gotten from Brunson, David
Sklansky and Mason Malmuth is that after
a great deal of soul searching, they decided
to "damn the torpedos" and bare all to
the poker public. I don't get the same
sense from Cloutier. Again, this is merely
my impression. I'd be very interested
in hearing how the author answered this
question, very diplomatically worded,
of course.
Nonetheless,
this book represents the current best
information in print on pot-limit and
no-limit Hold'em. If you are a beginner
or intermediate Hold'em player interested
in pot-limit or no-limit ring games or
tournaments, don't be afraid of this book's
price tag.
Capsule:
Unless you're a big money winner of pot-limit
and no-limit Texas Hold'em games, this
book will provide enough useful information
to more than justify its cost. While not
perfect, this book represents the best
information publically available on how
to play and win in these games.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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