Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16168 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 450 pages

Customer Reviews

Harrington�s second volume is a masterpiece
I, along with most other tournament players I know, had been eagerly awaiting the release of this second volume of Harrington's work after being blown away by the first, and it does not disappoint. The first volume discussed only early and mid-stage tournament play, and this one completes the circle with excellent analysis of late-stage and endgame play. It helped me win a satellite tournament that won me a seat in the 2005 world series...hopefully it serves me there just as well! Understanding the thought processes of a master such as Harrington really leaves you in awe about the true skill difference between he and the amateurs he routinely runs over. If you have seen him play, it is like watching a man amongst boys, and this book brought me a step closer to understanding just why that disparity exists.

A couple sections I felt were overhyped as utterly revolutionary in the months preceding this book's release, especially the concept of "inflection points", described by editors as theory that had never before been put into print. I found this claim to be somewhat exaggerated. The fact is that in poker there are really only 3 decisions to be made: bet, call, or fold. That's it. Every strategy has, at one time or another, been published, and sometimes I felt like the authors were just slapping a new name on an existing strategy. But I suppose I can confidently say that never before have many such strategies been covered so thoroughly, yet succinctly, with underlying reasoning explicitly laid out. The examples at the end of each chapter continue to be my favorite: they're not just hypotheticals, but often actual hands that Harrington played in various tournaments, where he describes not only the cards but also the reads he had on other players, and how they affected his play. His is also one of the first books I have found that addresses the very real differences between live and online play (in fact, he pre-faces each of the example hands with a description of whether it's online or in a live setting). I've found other authors to assume that online strategy is analogous to live play, which - as anyone who's played online for a while will attest - is nonsense. Even an "old geezer" (as my son likes to call me) such as myself plays online these days. Another review here had a good suggestion to check out pokercroaker.com if you're going to open an account online as they had site reviews and sign-up bonus codes for most major sites. In fact, most online sites have tournaments going around the clock, meaning you don't have to wait for the once-a-day tournies most casinos run if you want to try out some of Harrington's strategies. In summary, Harrington's 2 volumes have set the standard by which all other NL tournament holdem books will be measured. The price is a pittance compared to how much it has improved my game.

Keeps up the high standards set by the first book.
Harrington follows on from the excellent first book with a book devoted in the main to the middle and later stages of tournaments. With the blinds rising and the stack sizes shrinking critical adjustments to your game need to be considered. Again the pages are laden with example hands that are full of information. Inflection points are discussed in depth, as are short handed play and the often over looked importance of having a solid heads up game. In fact the heads up section is the first book I have read that goes in to any depth on this subject. After reading these two books you'll be able to turn up at your local casino or card club confident that the decisions you make will be more informed and purposeful than before you sat down to read these two books. Only negative is that you are paying double price for what is just a long book, but it's superiority over lot of the others on the market make it a worthwhile investment.

Buy it.
Ive not been playing poker for too long but im very keen and have read quite a few books all ready. This book and to a lesser extent the 1st one is by far the best one. Very well written and easy to understand with lots of new concepts I hadn't come across in any of the other books ive read. Loads of set problems to solve in each chapter make you think about what you've read before and help the information to 'go in' and hence remember for the future. Some people may be put off as Harrington is renowned for being super tight (everyone wants to play like Doyle Brunson and Gus Hansen these days), but i think you may be surprised as to some of the moves he is happy to make. All in all a crackin' book that any poker player can't fail to learn from. My advice - Buy it and start winning!!!