Book Review: Championship Hold 'em

I believe it is important to point out that you have to put yourself in the mind of a new player. This book does an exceptional job of getting players out of trouble. Your right you can't win with this book but you can use it to float with(instead of immediatly drowning) while your learning to swim.


I also think it is important to point out that some books ie HFAP costs players money by making them play in a way that they don't yet understand. A good example of this would be after my brother started reading HFAP he said the book was crap because it told him to raise with a suited connector, this was mostly do to the fact that all beginners have the idea that Hold'em is a Big Card game. They have trouble balancing something that seems contradictory. It literaly took me 15 minutes to explain to him the concept and what the book really meant. Where as in the Championship book they talk about how two suited cards dont have the value people think. Which when transferred to the table and the moron is dropping the "well they were suited line" the beginner remembers the book and keeps his nose clean instead of raising UTG with 89s.


Both here and on RGP I have read the same arguments but have yet to see anyone explain what I just wrote I hope it is somewhat thought provoking.

"This book does an exceptional job of getting players out of trouble. Your right you can't win with this book but you can use it to float with(instead of immediatly drowning) while your learning to swim."


I strongly disagree. Giving bad advice that you can't win with is not the way I want to get out of trouble. But even if you're right, I still think you are worng. Remember this book is called Championship Hold'em and the authors make it very clear that they are (trying to?) giving winning advice.

Championship Hold'em and the authors make it very clear that they are (trying to?) giving winning advice.


Yes the title is misleading, I bought the book expecting much more but that does not change the fact that no one book will make you a winner. If one was already beating a hold'em game at any limit the book would be a waste of money not because it would cause you to form bad habits but because the good advice it gives should already be known and the bad advice while thought provoking is easily picked out, again Im saying this if one was a winner and this is the minority. If however you are a loser this book enables you to lose less, this is an extremely important point. No 1 book can turn a loser into a winner so if a book can save a loser some more money then the book should be considered a success.


Giving bad advice that you can't win with is not the way I want to get out of trouble.


Again yes this is true but my point is that most players are losers and they will never be winners. While a goal of a book should not be to save a losers money by making mistakes. A book should also not be critiqued in a way that it's considered useless if it enables a player to buy more time to learn from their mistakes.


I understand your points and agree with some of them but to blast the book without out bringing up these vital issues I believe is incorrect.

I need to respectfully disagree with both Ryan and Mason.


First of all, as a losing player, buying the book is either a waste of money or a catastrophe.


If the losing player who buys it does not really wish to study the book, it is simply a waste of money. You may argue that player who has purchased the book intends on studying it diligently. I would disagree with that as most (losing) players, I believe, will not follow through with their studies. I hear players all the time say "I read this book or that book (citing a respectable book)...and I still lose. It wasn't worth reading."


If the losing player does apply him/herself to studying this book with the intention of bettering their game, they will not be able to sort the good information from the bad. Sure, they will pick up some decent advice, but they will also pick up poor advice and apply that to there game. Ironically, this poor advice MAY (or may not) make them better players than they are currently, but there is one major problem. They will be held back terribly by these bad plays and will not progress further without UNlearning many things. What's worse is that perhaps they saw an "improvement" in their play that they may not be willing to unlearn. Thus, they may never become "good" players even if they are willing to put some effort into it.


So if a losing player is truely interested in learning the game, have them start off by reading "Winning Low Limit Holdem" by Lee Jones and FOLLOWING the advice (not just reading it...). While not TOTALLY accurate, it presents a framework that can easily adapt to further learning.


As for winning players, I believe they can pick up some bits and pieces of decent information, and KNOWING THAT THERE ARE ERRORS, use their brains to THINK about what they may be. If they are unsure of something, DISCUSS it with others.


I found the book to be easy reading and it often made me think critically (like poker books so often do) about the game.


So in conclusion, I believe this book is bad for beginners and losers, but could be useful for winning players. It was well worth the price I paid.