No-Limit Texas Holdem: A Complete Course

The answers are complete with explanation. Along the way Angel interjects some appropriate and sometimes amusing stories or footnotes. The material covered is surprisingly broad. Included is a significant amount of psychology, both as theory and as practical applications. No-limit is a people game, and Angel gives insights into and applications of the personalities of the players that populate LLNL. One additional plus that will help nearly all players is a section on practical note taking primarily style and tendency with an example from a session he played.

In a couple cases the presentation of math or logic was less complete than it should have been or otherwise less than straightforwardly explained, outside the mathematics chapter. In one specific explanation Parlaying Decisions the math and logic used to present an otherwise valid argument is unfortunate.

In another case with a hand example, a footnote tells you that he would not play the hand this way but needed to do so for a later comparison while justifying the play in the actual text. One would wonder why a clearer example or different approach to the explanation was not used.

The last paragraph of the book contains the following sentence: The flaws in the book are communicative in nature and should not be dangerous. All advice, good or bad, is subject to misinterpretation! This is a valuable book for anyone who wants to convert to LLNL from limit, or improve their game if they already play LLNL and are not already killing the game. Experienced players need only pick up one new thing to recoup the price of the book. The quizzes should be completed in order to get the most value out of this text — even in areas the reader thinks they already understand.

Mixed strategy mixed play is only mentioned in passing. Hand charts are provided as an appendix with no explanations. Also has controversial advice in a couple areas, which he duly notes. Still, there is quite a bit of very good advice.

See a Problem?

Readers are assumed to know the mechanics of the game. I agree that such games have a strategy distinct enough to merit a full book on how to play them.

I also agree that quite a bit of the knowledge presented in such a book applies to other areas of no-limit play. However, this does not excuse using a subtitle that is clearly aimed at widening the range of potential purchasers rather than describing the contents of the book. Another aspect of the book makes it less than complete.

Even though this is not mentioned anywhere in the book, it is evident that the author plays in and discusses only live games. Nowhere is Internet poker addressed, even though there is a substantial difference between live and virtual poker. Before the big poker boom of the 21st century, someone taking up no-limit hold'em would undoubtedly have had prior experience at limit hold'em, so that he or she would certainly be able to do rudimentary things such as reading the board properly.

Nowadays, enough people go directly to no-limit hold'em without knowing how to play any kind of hold'em that it is necessary and appropriate for a book aimed at the low-limit player to start out by assuming that the reader may well know zero about the game. The information in the book about the author is meagre.

Since this is Mr. Largay's first poker book, and he is not well known in the poker world, one would think more would be told about his background than that he now lives in Las Vegas and has previously lived in Alaska and California. Largay has a good command of English though his style is a bit too breezy for my taste , and his book is well organized, so I expect some teaching background.

His discussion of mathematical issues in poker is quite good, and some tables in the back appear to be both accurate and valuable, so he evidently has both math and computer skills. I do not understand why he would not give us more information on what he did before he seriously took up playing poker. Despite the extensive discussion of poker math, Mr.

Largay also puts a lot of emphasis——as he should——on people skills such as reading opponents and adopting the proper strategy for each opponent type. He presents information using a good blend of theory and illustrative hands. I am sure the bottom line on any poker book is whether the advice in it is to be trusted. Most of the advice in this book is good, but the author is no Dan Harrington or T. I found some things in it that I did not care for.

Here is a sampling.

1 808,52 RUB

When the pot odds are not adequate for calling on a draw, you need to look at the implied odds. Largay suggests that you call when the player is a loose calling-type player, but fold if the opponent is a really tight player, because your hand is not going to get paid off. For example, he describes a hand in which the opponent is a tight player who has raised preflop on a probable big pair, you have called on a 6c-5c which I consider a bad play when no sandwiched players have called ahead of you , and the flop comes 8s-4d-2c.

What do you do? Here is what Mr. I suggest that if you are facing a player who is going to fold on the turn if you apply heat, your chances are even better than if you are facing a player who is going to pay you off when you hit.