Recommendation

I seem to be having problems getting beyond the 25% mark.(if 100 players I finish approx 25th.)I think I get involved in hands that are relatively strong but lose all or most of my chips at that point in one hand instead of letting it go and perhaps continuing on. Wonder if someone could recomend a tournament (hold em) book..Thank you

FMonti,


I'm sorry to say that I can't recommend any of the books that are currently available. I've got them all and you will only find bits and pieces in each one that are worth reading.


My recommendation, is to read this forum and look in the archives. Most of what Ray Zee says is true, about poker only. Greg Raymer is right most of the time, when he is not he will get an argument from others. I'm only right some of the time.


Good Luck


Mark

This problem is common and relatively easy to solve. All good players go through a point where they are frustrated by repeated late finishes with no big scores.


Your play is too tight/passive in the early and middle stages of the tournament. Players who frequently make final tables do so because they have learned to acquire large chip stacks while the rest of the field is struggling to survive. I think the single most important skill in tournament poker is learning to acquire a big stack in the middle stages of a tournament. The second most important skill is learning to use that big stack to make the final table.


Generally speaking, here are some strategy changes that will help you finish higher (and lower) more often, with less 25th percentile finishes:


1. Play fewer hands out of position

2. Play more hands in late position

3. Raise less for value preflop

4. Raise more to limit the field preflop

5. Attack smaller stacks

6. Avoid bigger ones unless you're trapping


These are neither secrets nor golden eggs; they just highlight some common mistakes made by conservative players.


And I agree with Mark; unlike live play, there are no good books on tournament strategy with the exception perhaps of Max Stern/Linda Johnson's book on Stud which has a few tournament chapters that are worthwhile.


good luck next time out.


Craig H.

Agreed on the Stud book there is a single chapter in there written by TJ about playing the final table which helped me enormously at the time.


Any book that is good and can make you think can be helpful even if it is about a different game or not even about tournaments. In fact reading about a concept and thinking about how to apply it to your own game helps to understand it at a deeper level. The one book that has helped me more than any other over the last year is "Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon" which is based around 5-card draw cash games !


Andy.

I've read most of the books on tournaments, and none of them were very enlightening. If you are a good tight/aggressive player in ring games, the best way to become a tournament master is to play a LOT of them. You will realize how your play should vary in the beginning, middle, and end of a tournament. If you understand odds, chip value, and timing, you should become a good tournament player.

Andy,


That was one of the first poker books I read. Great book, because it's about reading your opponents.


Good Luck


Mark