Phil Hellmuth's book

[JJNJustin]

Phil Hellmuth's book
10/06/05 06:54 AM Edit Reply Quote



Earlier in a thread a few people emailed me a link to this book Play Poker like the Pros, by Phil Hellmuth, obviously feeling that I could benefit from it. I just wanted to say that I have read and enjoyed the book several times. I dont feel there is any information in this book that hasnt already been thoroughly covered in Sklansky and Malmuth's writings, and I believe that Sklansky and Malmuth do a better and more succinct job, as well. I wanted to say that one thing I do find fundamentally wrong about the book is in the limit hold'em section is Hellmuth's aggressive stance (i.e. 3 or 4 bet) with middle and even small pairs. This type of play is extremely volatile and not advisable except for all but the best players hold'em players(i.e. him), let alone beginners. This type of play may be a correct strategy for no-limit hold'em, but in limit, small pocket pairs play best as drawing hands before the flop, and not the virtual "monsters" that Hellmuth recommends.

Other than feeling as if he wrote the book in a hurry, this is the only criticism I have of this book. But I have found this new style of playing small pocket pairs to be carried to the local poker tables: many players are pushing small pocket pairs very hard, even with over cards falling. Constantly taking small pairs up against bigger pairs and getting pot stuck, is in general, a losing strategy. I feel it is a strategy left to all but the best hold'em players in the world, of which I'm definitely not one.

good day
-J

[brazilio]

You're not even clever.

I agree with you, about the way medium pairs should be played. Unless in a NL tournanment, these hands are best as drawing hands from late position. They are especially nice when an overcard flops (and you make your set), as the hand is well disguised and has tremendous implied odds. The only problem becomes when you need to protect your set, but fail to do it, because the board looks so non-threatening.
As far as Phil is concerned, he seems too self absorbed which is not necessarily a abd thing, but does not help one become a great teacher at anything.

[winky51]

Phil's "if you feel your ahead, raise" style of play just doesnt cut it in limit.

But what I have found about his books is that he has some insight to the game that only comes from years of experience. Little tid bits I find in his books that make you go "hmmm". Usually its a tell, or a situation and how to handle it from a table read point of view.

There was this one I read where he was talking about this profrssional player. When this guy sat at a table for he 1st 20 hands he just raised it up. Didnt make a difference what he had. He plays well after the flop though. The story was about where he did this at a tight table and within 30 mins everyone was going nuts betting and raising. THe pro frustrated the TAGs so much with his crazy play that it allowed him to win. Phil mention that the guy would lose but not as much as you think because once in a while he would hit a hand and the fact that he knew how to play means he knew when to give up. So he dealt bad beats to solid players frustrating them (once in a while) and changed the way the player to loosen up the table. Then he changed and became conservative.

The whole story was quite interesting. Seeing these TAGs get flustered and alter their play style to adjust to the crazy LAG.

His videos are terrible except his tells section. I learned quite a bit from that. Lots of hidden insight.

[Harv72b]

When I was playing mid/high limit, I routinely 3-bet & saw others 3-bet with small/medium pocket pairs. This is a perfectly viable strategy in a game which normally plays tight (i.e., you are not going to have people calling 3 cold when you 3-bet) and against players who are capable of folding a big ace unimproved on the turn (or better yet, flop).

While I think that much of Hellmuth's book is crap, I don't think that his preflop strategy with pocket pairs is. You just have to match it to the kinds of games that he's playing in, and which the book is geared towards (i.e, "Play Poker like the Pros").