Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8947 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 418 pages

Customer Reviews

Very good cash game book
Harrington's tourney books are probably the best books on the market for no limit hold em tourney's.
I was a little sceptical though whether Harrington would be able to write a book just as good for cash games.
I didn't need to worry, he explains the difference of why hands like top pair top kicker are great in tourney's but are very average in cash games.
Also the chapter on small hands small pots was very good at explaining that even pocket aces on a flop can be a small hand.
The explanation that the difference between hands like 67 suited and poket aces comes down in deep stack poker was very good.
Basically if you're a new player or a player moving from tourney's to cash, this is a must read.
I've been playing cash and tourneys on-line now for 5 yrs and still found it very useful even if only to confirm what I thought was the case.

Simply The Best On Offer
This book brings Dan Harringtons excellent teaching style straight to the novice Cash game player for No Limit Texas Holdem.

The book demands that the reader has some knowledge of Poker, this is not an ABC guide of Poker from "how to play in position" the reader should have a basic grounding of strategy before embarking on unravelling this book.

The book mostly deals with pre-flop and post-flop play and whilst the turn and river are covered, Harrington leaves the in depth discussion of fourth and fifth street to the second book (Harrington on Cash Games 2 - Blue Book) which focuses more on the turn and river play and strategies.

What I enjoyed about this book is that I picked it up with little if any knowledge of cash games but finished the book fairly confident I could mix it with even a reasonable cash game player. Especially at the lower limits, you will be much better equipt for having read this book than not. Players at the lower levels are generally straight forward and understanding the virtues of the books principles will stand you in good stead.

The way that you approach cash games is different to tournaments, and Harrington really drills down on what the main differences are - especially when it comes to dealing with pocket pairs, position, and hole cards in relation to the size of your stack. The size of your stack of chips makes a lot of difference to how you play the hand. Harrington uses clever analogies to demonstrate the differences between what hands you play compared to what you might do in tournaments where blinds are high and you must act decisively with strong pre-flop hands. This is possibly the hardest thing for a cash game newbie to grasp. You really can, with good intentions, play 10 8 offsuit (in position) in order to gain the opportunity to win your opponents entire stack, whilst in a tournament that would be stretching the "mix it up" deception plays to the maximum.

Check this book out on amazon.co.uk by following the link. It is not cheap, but worth consideration if you are seriously wanting to understand the principles of cash game play.

A must-read for any and every NL HE cash player
Dan Harrington's three 'Harrington on Holdem tournment books have a generally excellent reputation, as does the author himself, particularly in NL tourneys. Now, he has turned his attention to cash games, again with co-author Bill Robertie.

As a regular cash game player with four years of experience at the micro-limits - 1/2c - 25/50c - I have found that Volume One, which focusses on pre-flop and flop play only, is invaluable because many concepts that are crucial to succeed in NL cash play are explained in the clearest way that I have come across so far in poker literature.

One important thing to mention is that essentially Volume 1 and 2 are two parts of the same book. Consequently, the reader will need both volumes to improve all parts of the game. However, Volume 1 includes an extremely useful introduction to basic ideas and key principles of cash game holdem (c. 115 pages), about 50 pages of Tight-Aggressive pre-flop play and approximately 100 pages each of Tight-Aggressive Flop play Heads Up and the same for Multiple opponents. There are also a number of problems, which should help illustrate key concepts, at the end of the three sections on the play of hands.

On the down side, some players of cash games suggest that his advice is a bit on the tight side for today's very aggressive online games. Sadly, too, there are some typing errors so be careful. Also, this book assumes the reader is familiar with many basic concepts and may not be a suitable introduction on its own.

Any cash game holdem player who is prepared to read this and think about the concepts, the hands, and their game should find that this book pays for itelf hundreds of times over. A must-read / must-have for anyone who wants to improve their cash game play considerably.