The Poker Tournament Formula by Arnold Snyder...

[SplawnDarts]

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I think his book is a mix of the obvious, the correct and previously published, and the highly suspicious. You could arguably get the good without the bad by going elsewhere, but you could also do worse.

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gosh, if that's the criteria, i'll be having a bonfire at my place later.

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I tend to be very critical of poker books, FWIW. There are very few that I think are worthwhile, and my list doesn't include some very popular ones.

[SplawnDarts]

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But the TRUE benefit of this strategy is that he's more or less DARING you to be bolder than that even! He's saying, call that 2x raise on the button with J6o. If he checks, bet. Robusto. If he bets weakly, raise!! Robusto!!


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Wasn't that already in everyone's playbook?



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All the authors tell you your cards don't matter and you have to pick your spots, but they never really tell you how to pick those spots. Snyder does.

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Hasn't the answer always been "When you read them for weakness" or when M-logic (to put it in Harrington terminology) dictates that you semi-bluff weaker hands?

I think my issue with this book, if I have one, is that I'm not the intended audience. Most of the material it's presenting is stuff I've known for a long time, or stuff that's been supplanted by more advanced plays in my tournament game. The book might be wonderful for someone seeing the material for the first time.

[rokstedy]

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But the TRUE benefit of this strategy is that he's more or less DARING you to be bolder than that even! He's saying, call that 2x raise on the button with J6o. If he checks, bet. Robusto. If he bets weakly, raise!! Robusto!!


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Wasn't that already in everyone's playbook?



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All the authors tell you your cards don't matter and you have to pick your spots, but they never really tell you how to pick those spots. Snyder does.

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So true. This is where inexperienced players make their mistakes. The spots they pick are so random they wind up busting out.

Most authors pay only lip service to this type of thinking. They suggest it perhaps, but don't really explain how or when to look for these spots. I can't remember ever reading an MTT book where the auther literaly writes in the text to call preflop raises with trash with the pure intention of stealing later.

What Snyder has provided, for me anyway, was the license to do this. A system, for lack of a better word, for picking these spots.

[jeffnc]

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I recently had dinner with Dan and we talked about this very subject. Dan's opinion was that having the blinds go up every 15 minutes as compared to every 60 minutes should have absolutely no effect.

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That doesn't make any sense Mason. Dan already wrote in his book that strategy is affected more than raw M alone would dictate when blinds are coming up very soon. In a fast tournament, the blinds are coming up very soon all the time. If he says the blinds changing every 15 minutes instead of every 60 has absolutely no affect, then it must not have any affect if they change every 10, every 5 or every 1 either. And that makes no sense, even according to Dan.

[Mason Malmuth]

Reread what I wrote.

MM

[bozzer]

Appreciate your continued responses in this thread Mason.

So Dan thinks 15 min blind levels won't make a difference. Did he happen to mention 5 minute levels? I know this is getting nitty, but I just want to see if you think tournament 'speed' is important in any realistic situation. If you don't think it is, that's absolutely fine.

[Red_Diamond]

Alright. My snyder book FINALY arrived today. I will get to it shortly during next month (I hope!) then just maybe I can contribute some of my own meaningless & flawed 2 cents to this thread.

[jeffnc]

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I know this is getting nitty, but I just want to see if you think tournament 'speed' is important in any realistic situation.

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Mason says it isn't. Dan says (implicitly) that it is. Mason says that Dan says it isn't. Mason can't admit it's not true or else he will lose face with his previous statements and also have to admit a non 2+2 book contributed something new and expanded on Harrington's efforts.

[Mason Malmuth]

No. In Harrington on Hold 'em: Vol II, and I'm going by memory, Dan and Bill state that if your M will be changing very soon you should make an adjustment. That will be true whether the rounds are 15 minutes or 60 minutes or more.

MM

[BarbarianX]

Very interesting thread but sooo much to read. Mason, how do you find any time to actually PLAY poker?