Tag: Strategy

Hold'Em Poker

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Hold 'Em PokerAt about $20, this book is no where near being worth the purchase. I’ve only read one other Sklansky book, so I’m not an expert on his writing, but Hold’Em Poker comes up short in value. I own Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big With Expert Play, which is a much better book. Everything that is discussed in HP is in SSH and with 10 times the amount of detail.

While reading through all 108 pages of HP, I didn’t really learn anything I hadn’t read in SSH. The concepts are all the same. Since HP was one of the first books written on Texas Hold’em the information is also a bit outdated for today’s game. If I hadn’t read SSH first, I think I would have been confused by some of the advice Skansky gives in HP. He discusses a lot of great information, but a reader is left without the proper details. There are a few hand examples to illustrate some of the concepts, but not nearly enough.

Where the book is useful is in the sense of a refresher course. While reading it, I was reminded of a few things I had forgotten from SSH. Also, since the book is so short (I already mentioned the whopping 108 pages) you can easily take it with you anywhere.

In my opinion, if you are going to buy a book, spend the extra money and get SSH or even The Theory of Poker. I haven’t read TOP, also by Sklansky, but it’s the next one on my list after I review some of SSH.

If I had to grade Hold’Em Poker, I’d have to give it a C+.

Play Your Own Game

Nick Momrik10 Comments

Yesterday I was browsing around the 2+2 forums, reading all kinds of advice. From a few threads that I read, it looked like I wasn’t playing enough hands from early position. I’ve been following the preflop recommendations from SSH for playing on a tight table (3-5 people to the flop on average) and things have been going really well. But what the 2+2 people were saying is that you should be playing hands like AhXh in early position. Hmmm, maybe I’m missing out on some extra wins by not playing some of these hands up front.

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Growing Up

Nick Momrik2 Comments

My game is steadily improving each time I play. I’ve started reading Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big With Expert Play for the 2nd time in the last few weeks and I’m catching a lot of stuff I missed the first time around. The $20-some odd I paid for the book was worth every cent.

I haven’t really tilted like I used to in the past few days. When I get beat by someone hitting their two out draw on the river I think completely different from how I used to. Before SSH, I’d think, “Jesus Christ, another fucking miracle card for these assholes!” Now I think, “Keep playing just like that fish. I’ll beat you way more often when you have those cards than you’ll beat me. Push the chips over here next time.” Once you come to the reality that you need players to actually hit these “miracle” draws once in awhile, it makes all the difference. If they never hit them, they wouldn’t keep playing them and paying you off. It’s as simple as that.

I still have leaks/weaknesses in my game. A lot of them. But in a short period of time, with the help of SSH, I’m a lot better player than I was 2 or 3 weeks ago. The single biggest improvement in my game has been increasing my aggressiveness during all betting rounds. It’s winning a lot more pots than the old passive player I was. My post flop play can still get pretty bad at times. I tend to give away bets when it’s pretty clear I’m beat.

Want to improve your game? Buy SSH, buy Poker Tracker, and start playing low limit cash games on Party Poker. If you are serious about your game, you shouldn’t have any problems winning on their tables with all of the fish swimming around. Start small and think big.

Texas Hold'em Odds

Aside Nick MomrikLeave a comment

I found a very useful pre-flop calculator to see what your chances are with particular hands. The same site also provides a very detailed odds chart which is useful for comparing to pot odds. I think this chart will be my new study guide. Any poker player who wants to be serious should memorize these […]

Tilt-A-Whirl

Nick MomrikLeave a comment

Last night I realized something. Usually when I have a bad session, it’s related to going on tilt for a bit. I know I shouldn’t do it and I always try to prevent it, but sometimes I just don’t see it coming until after I’ve lost everything I sat down at the table with. Afterwards it’s easy to look back and say, “Nick, you dumbass! Don’t let it get to you when someone hits their hand on the river.”

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Party Poker and Poker Tracker

Nick Momrik2 Comments

With my recent switch to Party Poker, I decided to give Poker Tracker a try. Let me tell you…it’s one fine piece of software for the online poker player. The program allows you to import your hand histories from a number of online poker sites. It stores everything in a database and gives you so many statistics about how you play it’ll blow your mind. In the next few days I’ll be making the $55 purchase to register the software. I get to import 1000 hands to try it out, but that won’t last long.

Earlier in the week I made the switch to Party Poker because I’ve heard such great things about the games there. I’ve been reading Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big With Expert Play and Party Poker has all the fish, so I figured it would be a good site to work on my poker game. So far in three sessions of play I’m averaging 20 BB/hr, so there definitely is money to be made. I know that rate won’t last long, but it sure feels good now!

For other beginners out there trying Poker Tracker, I found a page explaining how to track your progress.