Harrington on Cash Games: Volume II continues where Volume I left off. In sections on turn and river play, Harrington explains why these are the most important streets in no-limit hold em, and shows how to decide when to bet or check, when to call or fold, and when to commit all your chips. In later sections, Harrington shows how to play a looser and more aggressive style, how to make the transition from online to live games, and how to extract the maximum profit from very low-stakes games. Volume II concludes with an interview with Bobby Hoff, considered by many the best no-limit cash game player of all times, who shares some of his secrets and insights.
Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2,576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Cash Games, Harrington and two-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive books on no-limit cash games. These books will teach you what you need to know to be a winner in the cash game world.
Table of Contents
About Dan Harrington v
About Bill Robertie vii
Tight-Aggressive Turn Play 1
Introduction 2
Characteristics of Play on the Turn 3
Sample Hand 6
Balancing Bet Sizing and Pot Commitment 8
Reasons for Betting the Turn 9
Sample Hand 13
Bluffing on the Turn 17
Leverage on the Turn 19
Sample Hand 19
Checking the Turn 22
Sample Hand 24
Handling Top Pair 26
The Problems 27
Tight-Aggressive River Play 73
Introduction 74
Deep-Stack Cash Games Versus Tournament Play 75
Betting the River: Where Do You Stand? 76
You Have the Nuts 77
You Have a Very Strong Hand, But Not the Nuts 80
You Have a Good Hand Given the Board and the Betting Action 81
Sample Hand 84
You Have a Hand with Some Value 87
Sample Hand 88
You Have Zilch 90
Sample Hand 92
Bet Sizing on the River 94
How Good is Your Hand? 94
How Big Are the Pot and the Stacks? 95
How Much Strength Has Your Opponent Shown? 96
What Do You Know About Your Opponent? 96
Calling Bets on the River 98
Sample Hand No. 1 100
Sample Hand No. 2 102
Sample Hand No. 3 103
The Problems 105
Tells and Observations 165
Introduction 166
Evaluating Tells 167
Sample Hand 168
Playing in Live Games 171
Disguising Your Own Play 172
Defending Against Tells: The Patrik Antonius Way 173
Another Approach: The Scripted Defense 173
Observing Betting Patterns 177
Loose or Tight? 177
Aggressive or Passive? 179
Straightforward or Opposite? 180
Fold or Call? 181
Top Pair, Top Kicker? 182
Sample Hand 183
Conversational Gambits 184
The Dangers of Table Talk: A Concrete Example 187
Sample Hand 187
A Quick Glossary of Conversational Remarks 193
Playing the Loose-Aggressive Style 195
Introduction 196
Strengths of the Loose-Aggressive Style 197
Picking Up the Blinds 198
Applying Pressure 198
Maximizing Payoffs 199
Sample Hand 199
Reaping Rewards of Volatility 204
Seeing More Flops Cheaply 205
Drawing Limits: How Far to Pursue Weak Hands 207
The Tactics of the Loose-Aggressive Style 209
The First-In Bluff 209
The Squeeze Play 210
The Continuation Bet 210
The Bad Board Bet 211
The Check-Raise Bluff 211
The Check-Call Bluff 212
The Double-Barreled Blast 212
Three Barrels 213
Switch to Tight Play 214
How to Play Strong Hands 215
Downsides to the Loose-Aggressive Style 217
Adjusting to a Loose-Aggressive Player 221
Sample Hand 224
What Style is Best? 226
The Problems 227
Beating Weak Games 261
Introduction 262
What's a Weak Game? 265
At What Stakes are Weak Games Found? 267
General Advice for Beating Weak Games 269
Preflop Play in Weak Games 273
Initial Raise Sizing in Live Games 277
The Power of Observation 278
The All-In Move in Weak Games 281
Sample Hand 281
Adjusting to the Tactics of Low-Stakes Games: 16 Hand Examples 285
Last Example 309
Bankroll Management and Other Topics 311
Introduction 312
Bankrolls 313
Who Needs a Bankroll? 313
Start Small 314
Moving Up and Moving Down 315
What These Guidelines Accomplish 316
Multi-Tabling 318
Tilt and Its Forms 320
Other Times for Sitting Down 322
Paying Taxes 324
Transitioning to Live Games 329
An Interview with Bobby Hoff 335
Introduction 336
The Interview 337
Conclusion 367
Index 369
Biography
Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2,576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Cash Games, Harrington and two-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive books on no-limit cash games. These books will teach you what you need to know to be a winner in the cash game world.
