Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

I have read most of the well-known limit holdem books. They mainly categorize your actions into flop, turn and river neglecting the whole development of an individual hand from the preflop to the river.

Example: you are in BB, flop middle pair, the action gets checked to the button who bets.. The recommendation could be to raise (depends, of course). But the point is that the continuation of the hand is neglected in almost all books.. What if he 3-bets you.. Or what if he calls you, you bet the turn, he calls.. what about the river..

My first book was the one of Hilger's.. chapters are divided into flop, turn and river, the hand examples give you recommendations on each particular street but not the whole hand.. The same goes for Miller's SSHE..

The biggest problem in my game is what to do after you see the action of your opponent, when you made the single decision which is supposed to correct in one particular part of the hand.. Well, maybe it's not a problem in my game *any more*, but I had to construct these ideas myself, I never found good advice from the books.

Any thoughts why the authors have taken this approach?

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

Good point. My guess is that Hilger's and Miller's books need to focus on fundamental play which emphasizes pot odds, implied odds, pre-flop tight play, etc...

The coverage that you are looking for probably justifies an entire book onto itself.

You may want to consider checking out "How Good is Your Limit Hold'em" by Byron Jacobs and Jim Brier.

This book is cover quite extensively in this forum so do a search and you will find a lot of opinions/reviews.

This book is basically a series of quizes through a series of actual hands. You answer questions on what to do on each street with reactions on what your opponents do. Check it out.

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

Thanks for the recommendation. I usually order several books at one time so now I have another one in the basket [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

in addition to the Byron Jacobs book, another good "anecdotal-style" limit book that covers a hand from start to finish is "Real Poker II" by Roy Cooke. it used to be on MCU but I believe Conjelco has now reissued it.

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

i generally agree with comment...

i know that the pro's can easily recognize "betting patterns"... can't remember, but i think i saw a few good articles on this i.e. tell-tale signs

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

[ QUOTE ]
Any thoughts why the authors have taken this approach?

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If this is how you prefer to learn, than How Good is your Limit Hold'em is a good book for consideration.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

Re: Books concentrate too much on individual actions
 

[ QUOTE ]
in addition to the Byron Jacobs book, another good "anecdotal-style" limit book that covers a hand from start to finish is "Real Poker II" by Roy Cooke. it used to be on MCU but I believe Conjelco has now reissued it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am reading it right now. Although I really enjoy his analysis, I have found a few judgmental errors in his thought process. As you read it soak it up with a grain of salt.

Very interesting column about an infamous flame war on RPG between David/Mason and the upper middle limit pros vs Daniel Negranu and a few big game players. Of course Mason's play of the hand was correct, but this was the first time I actually learned what the thread was actually about.