new Phil Hellmuth book?

[adam74]

This was in a review for a book on amazon.co.uk...

Books that claim to teach you how to play poker are almost always very dull and badly written.

Lol!

[adam74]

At High Stakes bookstore they quote Amarillo Slim as saying: "Play Poker Like the Pros is the best poker strategy book ever written."

I saw that as well. I wonder if he _really_ said that. If he did say it, I wonder if he _really_ meant it. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]

[Softrock]

And those that aren't dull or badly written are typically wrong!!!

[jack1234]

Hi Mason,

have you finished reading the book yet, and will the review get posted on here or somewhere else? I guess its the no-limit hold-em and tournament sections that everyones interested in - theres a heat for late nite poker where he straighfacedly replies to a queston that his Q-2 is 'no worse than 8-1' against QQ' all-in! so much for his 'i just try to make logic and reason and mathematics my friend' then, i guess its really all still about looking into peoples souls...

fly me to vegas,
jack

[Daithi]

In a nutshell Phil recommends you only play pairs down to 88, plus AK, and AQ. When you are in a pot bet like a maniac. Use raises preflop and on the flop to narrow the field and find out where you are at. Do this even when you miss the flop. You can play smaller pairs and suited connectors to vary your play when you are in a later position. (Atleast that is close to what he recommends).

I tried following his advise on Paradise $.50/$1 and $3/$6 and in both cases I won pretty big. However, I just couldn't bring myself to three bet a pair 3s. But I did raise just about every hand I played preflop as well as on the flop whether I hit the flop or not. At one point I raised with AQ before the flop, and the flop is T92 rainbow. I'm bet into and I raise and am called. Turn is a brick. It is checked to me, and I bet and am called. River is an Ace. It is checked, I bet and am called. After I show my pair of aces he turns over JTs and says "U R NUTS". At another point a maniac who played way too many hands and I were in a pot with a normal player limping before us. After the flop the normal player bets, the maniac raises and I reraise. The normal player folds and says "You guys scare me". The maniac checked and folded the turn. I had a pair of tens that the regular player most likely would have beat. Stuff like this was happening all night long.

For the most part it was working pretty well, but I don't know how much of that was luck in catching cards, or poor play in others at the table not adjusting to this maniac style. I tend to think a bit of both.

[slavic]

I tried playing his basic strategy tonight on a PP .5/1 game. You end up being so wild on 99, TT, AQ that you get a lot of action on AA, KK, QQ. Of course thos hands don't want too much action, but when you hit you hit big. I had lots of big swings before ending up the evening .... er well even.

His recommendations to call 2 cold with 22 and Ax floor me, plus to raise and limit the callers with small pairs seems just about crazy. 3 bets with 44?

I'll read the NL stuff tomorrow, but limit strikes me a such a play the odds game and he ignores it. If you could always play his hands heads up you have great long term odds, but how often does that happen?

I'm interested in seeing Mason's review. I'm also interested to see a Turbo profile done with this.

[Dentist]

Phil Hellmuth's book may suck - I don't know because I haven't read it.

However, the guy takes a lot of heat on this website and in the media... WHY?

I know he's got attitude problems, but everyone disses his game, but he now has NINE Bracelets.

How can you NOT say the guy's money?
I know ring games and tournaments are different, but unless this guy didn't divulge how he really plays in tournaments, how could his advice be anything but the best?

I wish Doyle had a tournament book.
And who wouldn't want to read one by Johnny Chan, Men the "master", John Juanda, or Phil Ivey?

Tournament poker gets all the publicity, yet Sklansky and Malmuth aren't even known for tournament success? Why not?

Furthermore, I would pay mucho $$$ to get advice from someone like Phil Ivey on how he went from novice to tournament monster at such a young age - same thing from Hellmuth.. or even Julian Gardner...

It seems like this year at the WSOP more than ever the big guns are winning... or maybe their just the only ones who keep entering over and over again??? NAH, that can't be it.

Yet Phil Hellmuth's Cardplayer article talks of there being a lot of huge upsets lately at tournaments... is there too much luck involved? My feeling is no because too many legends are winning this year or at least making final tables. How do they do it if they're not following 2+2 poker protocols??

This is what I think about when I'm not drilling teeth.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Dentist:

Actually, the best tournament players do play as described in Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. They are just very good at it. However, standard ring game play is very different, and if a top tournament player plays in a ring game the same way he plays in a tournament, he'll have problems.

The players you mention are all very good tournament players. There's no question about that. But most excellent tournament players don't do so well in the ring games, and the opposite is also true. That is most good ring game players don't do that well in the tournaments.

From my point of view, tournament poker is another form of poker. Sort of like hold 'em and stud are two different forms. There are also very few people who are good at many forms of poker, and unless they are playing the tournements they don't get much publicity.

best wishes,
Mason

[Cyrus]

. . . I hear is kinda peculiar and you should be careful when you open it up. If you draw your hand against it, you hear a sorta whining sound.

The bookbinder can't explain it.