Dan Harrington On Holdem Poker
by Ashley Adams |
Wed, 4 May 2005
Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy For No-Limit Tournaments/Volume 1: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie. Two Plus Two Publishing, Nov. 2004.
There's no question about it, in my opinion. Harrington has written the best book on poker ever -- and without a doubt the best text on No Limit Holdem.
Let me go into a little detail about how the book is organized and the information presented.
Harrington begins with the assumption that the reader knows something about the subject at hand. As such, this is surely not a book for a beginner. In fact, it’s fair to say that it makes sense for the reader to read some preliminary book about holdem and no limit Texas holdem poker, or to have played for a while before picking up this book. Harrington counts on some experience and some knowledge. There is no explanation of many basic concepts of play. You will not learn how to play Texas Holdem by reading this book.
But then, is there anyone out there interested in buying poker books who doesn’t at least know how to play the game?
But from a plateau of even very basic knowledge, Harrington’s book builds an extraordinary house of poker strategy and wisdom. For me, his chief accomplishment is explaining how one's natural style of play should help dictate specific action at the table, understanding how one’s image in his opponent’s eye is important to his play of the hand.
It’s funny. I’m a poker author myself. And so I wanted very much to find flaws with this book. I had an eye on what points weren’t being made. I enjoyed a few moments when I noticed that this book failed to account for certain exceptions or contradictions in how one should play a hand. But often, just as I thought of what Harrington had failed to account for, I found myself reading that very point in a subsequent section. Quite remarkable, no?
Here’s an example of that. On page 98, just as I was reading how Harrington explains how you must deduce from your opponents’ actions what they are likely to have, I thought, “Yes, but you must also think about how your opponent views you to fully understand what their action must mean” -- and then he writes all about how a successful no-limit player must consider how his opponent views him. He devotes an entire section, in fact, to this very point in “Observing Ourselves.”
This happened more than once. Unlike many poker book writers, the authors of this book seem to anticipate even the most thoughtful questions, and they answer them simply and clearly.
The best part of the book, if one can pull out a further superlative about a book that is consistently fabulous, would be his hand analysis. Harrington takes the reader into specific situations that he may face and then provides the voice of reason thinking through the play of the hand. He then clearly explains why certain actions make sense and others don’t.
This is most important and most instructive. Often, writers -- even the best writers -- stop at the theory. They fail to provide the many practical situations that arise in actual poker games. This leaves the reader ill-prepared for real play.
Harrington’s book is especially helpful because it is written in a style and with an organization that is simple and clear. His writing is smooth, his prose excellent. So his words of instruction are clear to even a novice poker player. I should admit that I may be unfairly ignoring Mr. Harrington’s co-author, Bill Robertie, who also comes to the book with a well-established vitae as a professional player and writer. For all the reader knows, it may have been Mr. Robertie’s prose that graces these pages. Whoever is responsible, Harrington or Robertie, this book is truly the masterpiece it has been proclaimed. This book is, by design, written to teach people how to win no limit texas holdem tournaments. But it accomplishes much more than that. Harrington presents the essence of successful poker play, and with it builds the firm foundation of understanding that is so often missing from other poker books.
I am a poker author. It is with a deep sense of humility that I admit that I wish I had read this text before I wrote my first poker book or poker article. And I certainly wish I had read it before my first no limit holdem game. Once again, I truly believe this to be the best poker book ever written -- and there's another volume yet to come. Bravo, Action Dan.
