Another Excerpt

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

Even though I promised not to excerpt anymore from Get The Edge at Low-Limit Texas Hold 'em by Bill Burton, that was before I read the following. This is from page 211 in the chapter on "Cheating and Collusion," and the game is $3-$6 hold 'em at a Las Vegas casino.

Best wishes,
Mason

This particular casino allows a maximum of four raises during each betting round. On the third hand I was dealt Ah-Jd and limped in from middle position. The player to my left immediately raised the pot. The player to his left re-raised, as did two other players at the table. It was capped when it got back to me costing me an additional $12 to see the flop.

The flop brought Jc-Js-2c and I bet my trips and the betting was capped again. The turn was the 4h and the same betting and raising took place. The river brought a third club on board. I checked and the other four players bet and raised. I figured that I was probably beat but the pot was huge so I called. Sure enough one player turned over T-4 of clubs and the others just threw their cards in face down. It would be easy to write this off as a bad beat, but I had been watching this game while waiting for a seat and had noticed that this player had been playing solid starting hands. I was surprised that he would play a Ten and a 4 in a raised pot from middle position. I had also noticed that there was not much raising going on before I sat down.

Things returned to normal as I folded the next few hands. When I was the big and small blind the betting was again capped before it got to me. Finally, I was on the button and called with a playable but not great hand. The big blind raised me and this was reraised by a playerwho had previously limped in. This time I folded getting out for $3. I then picked up my chips and left the table. It was so obvious what was being done that I had no desire to stick around any longer. It did take me the full half-hour to determine who the sucker was in this game.

[MarkD]

I can't help but think, "huh?"

Not to mention that he called 4 bets cold with AJo preflop.

[scalf]

[img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] even scalf woulda dogged those pieces of cheese in the muck quickly..lol....What the hell is this guy really trying to point out???

lol

gl [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img]

[Andy B]

OK, so playing AJo for multiple bets isn't a good idea. If the guy suspected collusion, he could have asked to see the other hands.

Seems to me that you admonished someone for posting a largish section of one of your fine books on another internet forum.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Andy:

You shouldn't post whole chapters or large sections of copyrighted material. But there is something known as the fair use doctrine where you can post a small excerpt as part of a review or to exhibit a point. That's what happening here.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Dynasty]

You shouldn't post whole chapters or large sections of copyrighted material. But there is something known as the fair use doctrine where you can post a small excerpt as part of a review or to exhibit a point. That's what happening here.

I posted 727 words. I need you to put up one more excerpt to catch up to me. You've only posted 611.

C'mon! I want out of the doghouse.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Dynasty:

Don't worry, you're not in the dog house.

Best wishes,
Mason

[BruceZ]

I think the sucker was him for leaving the game. Looks very beatable to me.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Bruce:

That's exactly the way I see it. Colluding players don't give 4-to-1 on five bets on fourth street in spots where they might be drawing dead. This small excerpt (from a fairly long book) should be enough to show that the author has very little conception of how to play poker well.

By the way, part of the reason I decided to put these excerpts up is that I'm often accused of only giving our books good rating while giving everyone else poor ratings. Of course this accusation isn't true, but it is amazing how bad some of the poker advice books are.

Best wishes,
Mason

[wdbaker]

What did you think about the book though as far as the general advice regarding hands & streets, basic strategy for newbies. I just thought that for someone who is new to hold'em and is not willing to dive into the more hardcore 2+2 books that it wasn't to bad. If all my competition only read this book though I wouldn't be to upset [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

One street at a time
wdbaker Denver, Co