Harrington's classic, vol. I. Review.

[SternSwiss]

Reference

Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie.

Dan Harrington on Hold’em. Expert strategy for no-limit tournaments. Volume I: Strategic play.

Twoplustwo Publishing 2004, 381 pages.


Blacklava recommended me Harrington’s series after an expert lesson some time back. I finally took the time to order the 3 volumes. Here is my review of volume one.

I will focus, on the book content. If you do not know Dan Harrington, there is more than plenty of information on the net about him.


Contrary to many books whose table of contents I browsed, this one does not provide you with the basics (rules of the game, hierarchy of preflop hands, etc.). The reader is expected to have a basic grasp of the game and some tournament experience behind him. It is a fact I really appreciated. I find it a waste of space and money, to be exposed over and again to information basically available anywhere.

The first volume is organized in 7 parts. Each part is basically structured in the same fashion: an introduction to the topic, a theoretical development of the topic with examples, and a problem section relative to the topic (one of the big asset of the book).

For each of the problem sections, you have a brief description of the aim of each problem (ie: a hand unfolding) at the beginning of the section and then the discrete problems are proposed one after the other. Each problem puts you in a real situation with all bagkround information (type of tournament, position, information on other people at the table, blinds, antes, stacks, etc.). Each time a decision has to be taken, you are asked to ponder the whole situation and give your answer. Harrington then gives his view on the situation, exposes alternative good plays (or mistakes to avoid) and then gives an decisional outcome (not always the one he advised... and also not always a good one, which makes for interesting cases) and proceeds with next stage: new situation, new decision, etc. until the hand is resolved and commented upon a bit more. Then next problem starts.

The volume of information and insights in these problems is huge. And working your way through them (taking the time to ponder the situation, caluclate odds and give your own decision) is a very strong learning tool. Anyone proceeding with the book is strongly advised to take the time to work on each problem instead of just reading thru and assuming it all makes sense. Much more will be brought to benefit your game this way.

Part one covers some generalities, most importantly the definition of what a hand is. Harrington defines 11 elements to take into account in a hand, only one of whose being the actual cards that you hold. Doing thus, Harrington immediately places poker into real situations and explains how pros think about them as a whole, each element having an effect on the decisional outcome. This approach is not only an abstract statement: it is fully implemented in the problem sections, which demand of the reader to ponder all relevant factors before making their decisions. This first part is the only one without a problem section, but a very long example is unfolded and commented.

Part two introduces different styles and their respective merits and dangers, ways to alternate them, ways to counteract them (definitely some useful information for those afraid of very aggressive players). It also, includes info on different types of tournaments and on ways to manage a tournament.

Part three covers elements for reading the table: physical tells, betting patterns, self observation (including the image that you imagine other have of you at a certain stage), etc. All throughout the book, at each stages of the problems, Harrington discusses intepretation of what players might be holding and what they might see you as representing, which I find the very rewarding because while proceeding through the book you do improve on such skills.

Part four covers hand analysis: pot odds, expressed and implied odds, odds calculation & some standard probabilities

Part five discuss in length preflop betting strategies, with a strong emphasis on position, actions undertaken before your turn to speak and possible actions to expect after your turn. How to handle limpers, raises, sandwich effect and all-ins is also discussed.

Part six covers betting after the flop, including the notions of flop texture, value bets, continuation bets, probe bets and some more complex scenarios.

Part seven discusses betting on the turn and the river: how to maximize money with good hands, how to play drawing hands, how to play against drawing hands, what to do when bad cards hit & all-ins.

All these notions are addressed practically and at length in the problems. Situations proposed varies from live to online situations (with expected differences in play to be expected discussed) all with very different tables settings. While the book is written from his Harrington’s playing style perspective (tight, rather conservative mixing up some more aggressive stances), he does a great job in explaining other styles, perspectives and their potential strength and shortcomings throughout all the problems.

The book, while thick, is pleasant to read and the lay out is user friendly (with the exception of some problem charts at the bottom of a page and the rest of the info on the back page). Harrington (& co author Bill Robertie, a pro backgammon player) writing style is precise, fluid and not devoid of a zest of humour.

The book is complex, but accessible. Nothing is made esoteric or artificially arduous but is a book that requires concentration (basically the same kind you use when you play) and active participation for the problems.

The general reputation of this series is to be amongst the finest published ever. While I do lack the comparison basis to evaluate that claim (I only had read one – lousy – poker book so far, some magazines and a whole lots of web based articles); I can only agree on the fact that this is a really good book. One to read, work your way through and come back to again for getting more of the details and finer points to improve your game.

Highly recommended for anyone serious about the game.


I can’t wait to attack volume two, which covers more advanced topic and endgame situations. I will of course review it when I find the time.

[SternSwiss]

Oh yeah, And I forgot to precise something:

Volume one emphasis is on early stages of tournaments, where most of the following applies:

- Tables are realtively full
- Stacks are sill large in ratio to blinds / antes
- Stack sizes vary but no one is desesperate yet.
- Points / money is still a long way to go.

[arjun2001]

Nice, thanks for this

[arjun2001]

Thanks for this.