Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

The authors consider mostly bets in the .5 to 1.25 pot size range, with around 3/4 being kind of average, but pot size most useful for making clean SPR calculations. The details do change if you make smaller than pot sized bets, but the overall ideas are the same.

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

jeffnc, thanks for the info on the bet sizing.... but if you bet 1/2 to 2/3 the pot, you get to a much smaller stack size being played safely... i think the whole hook of this book is that you can play pretty good sized stack with AK hitting A on flop.... seems like alot of outstanding players seem to advocate much smaller bets. of course, they are outstanding.

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
jeffnc, thanks for the info on the bet sizing.... but if you bet 1/2 to 2/3 the pot, you get to a much smaller stack size being played safely... i think the whole hook of this book is that you can play pretty good sized stack with AK hitting A on flop.... seems like alot of outstanding players seem to advocate much smaller bets. of course, they are outstanding.

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IMO, no. The whole hook of the book is definitely not that you should be playing big bets and big stacks with AK / Axx. The whole hook of the book is that you should pay attention to things like SPR to help you decide if that's what you want to do. In fact, they specifically use SPR examples to show you that in many cases you should keep the pot small (by checking, little bets, or whatever) so that you don't build a big pot or achieve awkward/dangerous SPRs.

I didn't mean to mislead - I don't mean to say you should always be out there betting, according to the book. The 3/4 - 1 pot size bets are basically for looking at SPRs with the most clean numbers - looking at how preflop raises will affect the postflop pot size and SPR, and using that to determine if this is a hand you can get stack committed with. Often, of course, you won't. SPR isn't about committing your stack with constant pot sized bets. It's just that the numbers are more convenient that way when working out "commitment betting", but they never say you should always be committing.

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

I'm not reading through this entire thread to search....anyone know if this will be available in PS or FT store anytime soon?

100,505 and counting

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

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i think the whole hook of this book is that you can play pretty good sized stack with AK hitting A on flop

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Wow. Have you read the book? The "hook" of the book is planning your hand. Not how to play AK.

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

wow, could you be any more vague? basically, it says bet X pre-flop (often an unrealistically high size) and two post-flop bets and you can get smaller of your/opponent's stack mostly all-in, so opponent can't put you to a very tough decision. or have good-sized stack left at that point so that bluffing opponent will fear that you come over top of him...... that's the basic premise of this book. could have been a much shorter book. like i said, i give the authors alot of credit for pulling together an idea that i think many of us knew somewhat generally. and this book has definitely helped my thinking and my game, but i don't buy that it's some amazing planning guide.

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
wow, could you be any more vague? basically, it says bet X pre-flop (often an unrealistically high size) and two post-flop bets and you can get smaller of your/opponent's stack mostly all-in, so opponent can't put you to a very tough decision. or have good-sized stack left at that point so that bluffing opponent will fear that you come over top of him...... that's the basic premise of this book.

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Like binions, I'm honestly wondering if you read the book, or even if you read the book with a preconceived bias or blind eye. Because frankly, that's not even close to the "premise" of the book. (I'm ignoring the fact that you used the word "premise" incorrectly - what you described is a basic strategy, not a premise. And what you described is clearly not the "strategy" outlined in the book either. The book describes how SPR can be used as a tool to guide the planning and play of your hand, kind of like using pot odds or "M" as tools to guide your play in other situations.)

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

jeffnc, with all due respect, you and binions sound like you read the book jacket or work for 2p2.... i thought the book had a good central idea but wasn't this amazing all-encompassing "planning guide". very padded as well (or at least the title is quite misleading)

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

first two book reviews on the internet (non-2p2.com) that i saw. a few of the paragraphs look pretty similar to mine. and i'm pretty sure these reviewers have read the book.

http://cardsharp.org/?p=89

http://www.parttimepoker.com/poker-r...-no-limit.html

and here's the search so it doesn't look like i cherry-picked:

http://www.google.ca/search?client=firef...G=Google+Search

i will admit i don't know if those reviewers are perpetually negative but their comments aren't great (the one though is strange as he gives the book high scores in many areas and then a pretty lacklustre final assessment... the other is very negative)

Re: Professional No-Limit Hold \'em Volume 1 Review Thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
wow, could you be any more vague? basically, it says bet X pre-flop (often an unrealistically high size) and two post-flop bets and you can get smaller of your/opponent's stack mostly all-in, so opponent can't put you to a very tough decision. or have good-sized stack left at that point so that bluffing opponent will fear that you come over top of him...... that's the basic premise of this book. could have been a much shorter book. like i said, i give the authors alot of credit for pulling together an idea that i think many of us knew somewhat generally. and this book has definitely helped my thinking and my game, but i don't buy that it's some amazing planning guide.

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hi smbruin,

i think the title alone is the source of most criticism.

imo, SPR is obvious once explained. people who "get" no-limit, like you, could get SPR in 15 pages instead of the 100 we spent on it. but players who aren't as good or experienced need more help. also, many of those 100 pages are examples, which is a big reason it's so easy to get.

we don't say you can just raise to X whenever you want and bet-bet all-in. we did include many caveat sentences in SPR saying "this is what you do if you can get away with it," "if your opponents won't know what you have," etc. it may sound silly if you play $5-$10 online, but you can sit in most any game at the Commerce for example and whale away with SPR, even $10-$20 if you don't buy in too deep.

so my summary: SPR is a way of understanding how hands will progress, not a cure for anything. it's the best approach imo for someone learning to play in loose live games and weak online games ($1-$2 at the time of the writing, now $0.50-$1 and some $1-$2). it also explains concretely why shortstacking works against tough opposition. btw i hate shortstack poker.

in mid and high-stakes online games and deeper-stacked live games against better opponents, you build your play around ranges instead of individual hands, and you play to steal a lot of the time. that's not what SPR is for. it still helps to understand what the goals are with pocket pairs and how shortstacking takes the fun and difficulty out, but SPR is not the main focus for planning hands in those games.

matt