[Adman]

This thread is just so stupid I can't believe I wasted my time reading it all. I am no 2+2 groupie but their books are the best in the field bar none. I truly don't believe that for the average player (that is anyone who is not incredibly gifted with a super analytical mind, amazing math skills and great card sense), it is possible to become an expert in the game of hold 'em without reading the material on this subject published by 2+2. Some of these books have literally single handedly introduced ideas and concepts that have (or had at the time) never appeared in print before. I mean we are talking REVOLUTIONARY ideas here! Who gives a f*%@ what kind of binding they have? SSHE alone has paid for itself hundreds and hundreds of times over for me! I could not care less what type of glue is in the spine or how thick the paper is or whether the suits of the cards are in red and black or anything else. We really must be running out of things to talk about here.

One other thing, I always have to laugh when I read an excerpt from an advanced hold 'em text and people make comments like; "Gee what's so special about that?" or "That's nothing revolutionary is that it?" and so on. You have 5 options in this game: Check, bet, raise, call or fold. What are these people expecting to read? The differences in the way a given hand can be played from a beginner to an advanced player are VERY subtle differences. A beginner might just call in a situation where an advanced player would raise. Understanding the conceptual ideas behind a given play and why that particular hand should be played the way it was is what separates experts from fish. You just aren't going to discover some "sixth option" that you have never seen or heard of before! However, you may very well learn how to think about a given situation in a different way (albeit subtly different of course- remember you only have 5 options) than you did previously and over thousands of hands, this could drastically effect your bottom line which is what it's all about right?

That's why I hate it when I hear stupid statements like, "Small stakes hold 'em is no use anymore because you don't have games where 7 people limp pre-flop." Anyone trying to play by wrote is totally missing the point. What, because you don't have a whole table full of loose passive players limping in for one bet you are in the dark now because SSHE didn't explain word for word what to do if the game gets a little more aggressive? It's the concepts and way of thinking about the game that have to be absorbed and are what allow you to adapt, not being able to recite the starting hand chart from any given text verbatim! The starting hand charts are like training wheels as the book itself says. It's the conceptual ideas that matter.

I can't put into words precisely the point I am trying to make here but I think some of you will know what I mean. A book that says "In this situation do this, in that situation do that....." and so on could never be totally complete, there are too many possible scenarios to cover every single one. What you need (and what you get from 2+2 books) is "In these types of situations, here are the things you need to consider in weighing up your next move." At least thats how I see it.