[Bluffoon]

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Just to follow up, I understand that SSH is not "complete" in that it does not cover every possible game situation. For example, it does not say much about short handed play. Also, the writers of SSH did assume that most readers have read books such as WLLH or ITH.

But what I really want to know is what in SSH do people find so "dangerous"? These comments border on implying the book is wrong in some way. Because if someone says it is dangerous simply if you do not follow the advice correctly, that could be said about any poker book ever written. What is so exceptional about the danger of SSH?

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Sorry Cowboy hopefully I play poker better than I express myself.

SSH preaches aggression. Without the proper fundamentals this aggression can easily result in a lot of chip-spewing.

If you don't fully understand the differences between a loose/tight/passive/aggressive games you are going to be playing aggriessively with a lot of hands you shouldn't be playing. Evaluating a game and adjusting your hand selection is a fundamental skill.

Folding is also a fundamental skill. If you don't fold in appropriate situations you are going to to be playing aggressively with a lot of losing hands. Very expensive.

Gutshots and second pair with an overcard and back door draws are tricky and dificult hands to play. It takes a lot of experience to know when these hands can be played and when you should push with them and when you should lay low. SSH advocates that you play these hands very aggressively. Without a lot of experience playing these types of hands you can get cleaned out very quickly.

So I guess what I am saying is that I believe that it is better for a novice to play in a weak-tight Lee Jones style and to add aggressiveness and skills slowly in order to be able to better evaluate how effectively you are implementing various plays.

So I have worked on various skills and my fundamentals are sound and I am winning steady and I pick up SSH and I see that I can improve my hand protection skills and be more selective with overcard play. So I plug these skills into an already functioning agame and I immediately see positive results. But if my semi-bluffing skills were weak and I peeled too many cards on the flop with I would be making horriblly expensive mistakes trying to protect hands on the turn with inadvisable semi-bluff raises with hands that I should have either folded or never even played.