Harrington on Hold 'em

Last updated
Harrington on Hold 'em

Harrington on Hold 'em.jpg

Cover page for the first book in the series

Volume 1: Strategic Play (2004)
Volume 2: The Endgame (2005)
Volume 3: The Workbook (2006)

Contents

Author Dan Harrington
Country United States
Language English
Publisher Two Plus Two Publishing

Harrington on Hold 'em is a series of poker books about poker strategy, particularly for Texas hold 'em poker tournaments. They were all written by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie and published by Two Plus Two Publishing.

Poker is a popular card game that combines elements of chance and strategy. There are various styles of poker, all of which share an objective of presenting the least probable or highest-scoring hand. A poker hand is usually a configuration of five cards depending on the variant, either held entirely by a player or drawn partly from a number of shared, community cards. Players bet on their hands in a number of rounds as cards are drawn, employing various mathematical and intuitive strategies in an attempt to better opponents.

Texas hold em poker variant

Texas hold 'em is a variation of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards, later an additional single card, and a final card. Each player seeks the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards of the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot.

Poker tournament

A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table, and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables. The winner of the tournament is usually the person who wins every poker chip in the game and the others are awarded places based on the time of their elimination. To facilitate this, in most tournaments, blinds rise over the duration of the tournament. Unlike in a ring game, a player's chips in a tournament cannot be cashed out for money and serve only to determine the player's placing.

Background

The Harrington on Hold 'em series of books were written by Bill Robertie and Dan Harrington, a professional poker player who has earned over US$4.5 million during his poker career. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets, including one from the 1995 World Series of Poker Main Event, [1] and he has made it to four final tables in total at the World Series of Poker (in 1987, 1995, 2003, and 2004). [2]

World Series of Poker bracelet award

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". During the first years of the WSOP only a handful of bracelets were awarded each year. In 1990, there were only 14 bracelet events. By 2000, that number increased to 24. As the popularity of poker has increased during the 2000s, the number of events has likewise increased. In 2011, 58 bracelets were awarded at the WSOP, seven at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and one to the WSOP National Circuit Champion. This brought the total number of bracelets awarded up to 959. Five additional bracelets were awarded for the first time in April 2013 at the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia.. In 2017, 74 for bracelets were awarded at the WSOP and an additional 11 will be awarded at the WSOPE in Czech Republic.

The 1995 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe.

Synopsis

Volume 1: Strategic Play (ISBN   978-1880685334), which contains seven key sections, begins by introducing the reader to poker and its history, along with a glossary of poker terms. The book is not written for novices to the game, therefore it does not include some of the more basic information about the game, such as poker hands, the game's mechanics, betting, etc. [1] This entry in the series focuses on the basics of poker, such as playing styles, starting hands, pot odds, and hand analysis. CardPlayer felt that Harrington, a former chess master, wrote the book like a chess guide, noting, "He poses situations, asks the relevant questions, and then provides solutions. A simple diagram depicts position, blinds, and chip stacks, and then a specific challenge is articulated." [2]

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Texas hold em starting hands

In the poker game of Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's "playing hand", which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards. Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole cards, or starting hand.

Volume 2: The Endgame (ISBN   978-1880685358) focuses on strategies used in poker tournaments, particularly on how to change playing styles depending on how large a chipstack is compared to the blinds. It also introduces related concepts such as the M-ratio and the Q-ratio. [2]

In no-limit or pot-limit poker, a player's M-ratio is a measure of the health of a player's chip stack as a function of the cost to play each round. In simple terms, a player can sit passively in the game, making only compulsory bets, for M laps of the dealer button before running out of chips. A high M means the player can afford to wait a high number of rounds before making a move. The concept applies primarily in tournament poker; in a cash game, a player can in principle manipulate his M at will, simply by purchasing more chips.

The Q-ratio is used in poker tournament strategy. It is also known as the "weak force." The Q-ratio describes the relation of the player's stack to the tournament players' average stack. A low Q-ratio — less than 1 — indicates a below-average chip stack, implying disadvantage against opponents. It is an addition to the M-ratio and usually doesn't play a large role in tournament decision-making. However, its importance grows as the table average M-ratio drops.

Volume 3: The Workbook (ISBN   978-1880685365) is essentially a workbook containing many example scenarios for readers to apply concepts learned from the first two volumes in the series. [3]

Reception

Greg Hill of the website Poker News noted that since Volume 1 does not include some of the more basic information about poker, it potentially discriminates against novice players and therefore could possibly be restricting the book's audience to a more limited audience. However, Hill noted that the book is "well written and well structured", making it easy to pick up the book and begin reading from any section of interest. [1] Tim Peters of poker magazine CardPlayer felt that the books are essential in helping players prepare for poker tournaments. [2] Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun considers the series to be "required reading" for anyone interested in participating in high-stakes tournament poker. The level of play in major poker tournaments have gotten significantly tougher and more competitive since the release of the first book in the series, according to several experts on poker tournaments, including poker professional Blair Rodman and Mason Malmuth, the owner of the books' publishing company. Harrington himself is sometimes the victim of the strategies that he suggests in his books. [4] In addition, players have thanked him afterward for teaching them the new moves. "I find people are using a lot of the techniques I wrote about in the books against me," said Harrington. [4]

The Las Vegas Sun is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now included as a section inside the pages of the morning Las Vegas Review-Journal but continues operating exclusively on its own website.

Blair Rodman American poker player

Blair Rodman is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mason Malmuth is an American poker player, and author of books on both poker and gambling. He is the owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, which publishes books and runs an online gambling discussion forum.

Related Research Articles

In poker, pot odds are the ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of a contemplated call. Pot odds are often compared to the probability of winning a hand with a future card in order to estimate the call's expected value.

Bluff (poker) tactic in poker and other card games

In the card game of poker, a bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand which is not thought to be the best hand. To bluff is to make such a bet. The objective of a bluff is to induce a fold by at least one opponent who holds a better hand. The size and frequency of a bluff determines its profitability to the bluffer. By extension, the phrase "calling somebody's bluff" is often used outside the context of poker to describe cases where one person "demand[s] that someone prove a claim" or prove that he or she "is not being deceptive."

David Sklansky professional poker player and author

David Sklansky is an American professional poker player and author.

Howard Lederer American professional poker player

Howard Henry Lederer is an American professional poker player. He has won two World Series of Poker bracelets and holds two World Poker Tour titles. Lederer has also contributed to several books on poker strategy and has provided commentary for poker programming. He is known by poker fans and players as "The Professor" and is the older brother of professional poker player Annie Duke.

Dan Harrington American poker player

Dan Harrington is a professional poker player, best known for winning the Main Event at the 1995 World Series of Poker. He has earned one World Poker Tour title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tournament cashes in his poker career. He is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Greg Raymer American poker player

Gregory Raymer nicknamed "Fossilman," is a professional poker player. He is best known for winning the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Felton "Corky" McCorquodale was a professional poker player, noted as the person who introduced Texas hold 'em to Las Vegas in 1963.

Super/System, one of the first books about poker strategy, was written and published in 1979 by Doyle Brunson, a professional poker player and multiple winner at the World Series of Poker.

Two Plus Two Publishing is a private company established and owned by statistician and poker player Mason Malmuth. The company publishes books on poker and gambling written by professionals in the field such as David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie, Collin Moshman, Ed Miller, Ray Zee, Sunny Mehta, Alan Schoonmaker, William Jockusch, and Malmuth himself.

Ivo Donev Austrian chess and poker player

Ivo Donev is a Bulgarian, with Austrian passport, who is a professional chess and poker player.

Paul Magriel American backgammon and poker player

Paul David Magriel Jr. was an American professional backgammon player, poker player, and author based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In no-limit or pot-limit poker, a post-oak bluff is a very small bet relative to the size of the already-existing pot. This type of bluff may be employed as an attempt at using reverse psychology to steal the pot. It holds comparatively little risk for the player making the bet. The term was popularized by Doyle Brunson in his 1979 book Super System.

Bill Robertie is a backgammon, chess, and poker player and author. He is one of three backgammon players to have won the World Backgammon Championship twice. Robertie also won the Pro-Am in the Bahamas in the year 1993 and the Istanbul World Cup in 1994. In chess, Robertie won the 1970 U.S. Speed Chess tournament.

Negative freeroll is a term used in poker. It refers to a situation, usually occurring in no-limit or pot-limit when contemplating an all-in wager, where the player acting first checks in a situation where they would be forced to call an opponent's final bet. If the opponent has a stronger hand, the opponent will most likely bet and the player will call and lose all their money regardless. However, if the opponent has a weaker hand, betting may be the only way to get the opponent's money into the pot, as checking allows the opponent the opportunity to check in turn.

Bernard Lee (poker player) American poker player

Bernard Lee is a professional poker player who first came to prominence by finishing 13th in the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Since then, Lee has enjoyed some success in other poker tournaments. In October 2008, Lee won the $600 No-Limit Hold’em Shoot-out event at the World Poker Finals. This victory earned him three titles in three consecutive years as he won the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2006 World Poker Finals and the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2007 World Poker Finals. As of 2012, his live tournament winnings exceed $1,900,000.

This is an alphabetical list of poker topics.

Ben Yu

Ben Yu is an American professional poker player, commentator, and writer. He has won three World Series of Poker bracelets and appeared at eleven World Series of Poker final tables. Yu, who grew up in Los Angeles, California, attended Stanford University before transitioning into a career in poker.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hill, Greg (2006-08-16). "UK Poker News Review: Harrington on Hold'em – Volume 1". PokerNews. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peters, Tim (2006-07-25). "Your World Series of Poker Reading List". CardPlayer. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  3. ↑ Hill, Greg (2006-09-18). "Harrington on Hold'em – Volume 2: The Endgame". PokerNews. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  4. 1 2 Haney, Jeff (2005-10-26). "How poker players use strategies learned in Dan Harrington's two popular books on Texas hold 'em". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.