REVIEW
Interest
in no-limit Texas hold'em has exploded
around the world. Just a few years ago,
it was almost impossible to find a no-limit
cash game anywhere, and a small percentage
of tournaments were no-limit. Today, nearly
every poker room of consequence spreads
a no-limit game, and many tournament events
are predominantly no-limit. This interest
has been generated by an influx of new
players who have been watching no-limit
hold'em tournaments on television. Hold'em
is a difficult game, though and good no-limit
information aimed at a beginning audience
is scarce. Daugherty and McEvoy's new
book, No-Limit Texas Hold'em aims
to fill this void.
As one might expect from two well-known
and highly successful veterans of the
tournament trail, No-Limit Texas Hold'em
primarily deals with tournament poker.
This is made clear by a statement early
in the book that reads, "... no-limit
hold'em is not usually spread as a cash
game," a statement that is likely to be
a bit more surprising now than it probably
was when the authors first penned it.
Tournament no-limit often plays quite
a bit differently than a cash game. I
have to admit, my personal preference
for cash games leaves me a little disappointed
that this book spends as much time discussing
tournament specific situations as it does.
Additionally, much of the advice given
repeats what's available in other books
McEvoy has authored or co-authored.
The
book starts out by considering some of
the fundamental principles of the game
and discusses the differences between
limit and no-limit. Then the authors go
into discussing their starting hand recommendations.
To me, this reads a lot like similar sections
in Championship Satellite Strategy
and Championship Tournament Practice
Hands. Perhaps this isn't surprising,
but anyone who has read all of these books
is likely to find much of the material
familiar.
The authors spend a good deal of time
talking about appropriate opening bet
sizes for various blinds and antes. Personally,
I think it's better to think about bet
sizing in terms of the initial pot size
rather than the blinds and antes. This
way, one can collapse the information
presented here in two tables into a single
statement, such as, "Make your default
initial raise two to two-and-a-half times
the size of the pot." Moreover, a statement
like this still works when games with
antes become short handed, something the
authors don't spend much time discussing.
In their charts, though, they do mention
a stack size relative to the blinds and
antes that they call the "Trouble Stack".
However, they don't give any really specific
advice on how play with a Trouble Stack
that differs from playing with either
a healthy stack or a "Move-in Stack".
Daugherty
and McEvoy define some typical tournament
player types, discuss bluffing, and then
provide some sample hands. I don't completely
disagree with the way they suggest playing
most of these, but even under the circumstances
presented in the book, I think several
of their suggestions are fairly debatable.
Needless to say, these authors have won
many more World Series bracelets than
I have, so take my advice for what it's
worth. It would certainly be possible
to subject their examples to a deeper
analysis than is done in this book, but,
of course, this is a book for beginners.
I believe, though, that some of the most
valuable information that can be provided
to novices are examples of how an expert
thinks about hands. This is still true
even if the reader is not yet capable
of performing similar analysis in the
heat of battle. Therefore, I believe that
a deeper analysis would be beneficial
to the book's readers.
The
book concludes with a brief section on
no-limit cash games, some good suggestions
about how a player can effectively practice,
and "Brad's Crash Course in No-Limit Hold'em
for Beginners." This is a brief summary
of how to play the game in 20 pages. It's
not bad for 20 pages, and the suggestions
for poker practice are solid.
These
days I see a lot of no-limit hold'em players
who could certainly use the advice Daugherty
and McEvoy present in No-Limit Texas
Hold'em, especially those that are
mostly interested in tournament play.
However, I don't think this material is
presented nearly as well as it could have
been. Advanced players who have read McEvoy's
other books or have read Reuben and Ciaffone's
excellent Pot-limit and No-Limit Poker
are not likely find very much of value
here.
Capsule:
There
are many newcomers to no-limit hold'em
who could certainly benefit from No-Limit
Texas Hold'em, but I don't think it's
a very strong book. I believe there's
very little here for players of intermediate
or better skill, and there's a lot of
room for someone to write a superior book
on the topic aimed at beginners. I don't
completely dismiss it for novices, although
I believe this information could be presented
better.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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