[MaqEvil]

I just finished my initial read through of HOH after getting it for christmas a couple days early (also recieved and read Inside the Poker Mind, andother excellent book about how to think poker). I think that it was an excellent book for someone who has atleast some experience with NL holdem tourneys. I'm torn on whether to reccommend it to my father, whom I've been tutoring for a while now and who is essentially a break-even player. I think that a bulk of the book would really improve his thinking about the game, and bring to his attention the important things to consider in any given hand. However, I also think that players (like my father) without strong discipline or solid fundamentals will misapply many concepts in order to support their natural tendancy towards bad play. This is not a knock of the book, without these concepts, the book would not be as good.

I personally hate min-raises preflop and would use them less than he reccommends. As well, he had people min-raising in his examples far more than I see in my tournament play. There was nothing on blind defense, a very important area in which I consider myself weak (although I'm sure that there will be a thorough discussion of this in vol 2). Also, the book could use a final proofreading, there are some grammar errors and a couple spots with bold font where there shouldnt be. Nitpicky things, but I noticed them.

All in all, great book, I can't wait for the next one, especially since I am primarially a SNG player.