Professional No-Limit Hold 'em Volume 1 Review Thread

[Gonso]

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Just wanted to say that it's easily the best poker cover design I have ever seen. Matt

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i just realized how sad i am to see the guns go

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[ajloeffl]

I've finished with the book now and have to say it is really ground breaking as far as literature goes. This offers an interesting mix of insights of how to think about poker and how to plan a hand. It may take a while to work some of these ideas into my game but I think it will be well worth the effort. I've really started to focus on commitment thresholds as I play, and I really watch the pot and possible future bets in comparison to my stack. It definitely helps lessen the number of tough decisions I have to make at the table, though poker is a lot about tough decisions so I will never be rid of them entirely.

I'd have to say most of the materials in the book are geared towards play with "aggressive" or "tricky" opponents which as you move up limits you will find more of. Against a pretty straightforward or passive opponent though, I don't mind passing the threshold and don't worry as much about SPR etc since decisions are usually easier with them at that point. They bet the nuts and check everything else.

I hope to see a couple more books in this series!

[facepull]

is this book suitable for 100xblind max 1-2 no-limit games? or is it mainly for 5-10 no-lim it and above?

[Gelford]

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[ajloeffl]

You will find benefit from this book no matter what blind level you play. You will just find more benefit from certain parts of the book when facing different types of opponents.

[Matt Flynn]

Gonso: Outstanding sir. We have to have a gun for volume 2.

ajloeffl: Thanks for the comments and yeah, spot on about these techniques being more useful against tricky and aggressive opponents. As you pointed out, against straightforward players you'll usually know when to fold, so commitment thresholds and SPRs aren't as helpful. Glad you liked it!

[ajloeffl]

This book is very useful to me personally because of the opponents which this strategy is geared for. I don't have much trouble playing against a straightforward or passive opponent. I do however have issues against aggressive players. They seem to build huge stacks stealing (or appearing to steal) lots of medium size pots when people get too far in and then fold. I now make sure to either get out quick or commit to the pot (or have a plan).

[steamboatin]

Arguably the best poker book I ever bought. Really complicated subjects are explained simply and are easy to understand.

I haven't played much NL and don't hang out in the NL stategy forums so much of this is brand new to me.

Ps. It is an easy read.

[binions]

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I have to say some of the ideas are quite radical! Min-Reraising with AK, or limping QQ to get to target SPR's etc. This book certainly has the potential to really change how the mid-stakes no limit games are played.

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I agree. I have a lot of thinking to do.

A couple of questions for the authors:

I play in NL and PL holdem games that tend to see quite a few multiway pots at the 5-5 and 5-10 level (less so at the 10-25 level).

When a 3xBB EP raise can expect 3-5 callers half the time and relatively few reraises, doesn't it make sense to raise with any pocket pair no matter what your resulting SPR? If you give me 4:1 preflop with pocket pairs half the time, I don't need to make much when I flop a set to compensate for the times I don't.

Conversely, the conventional wisdom is that suited connectors play well mulitway. However, I have found that when 4-5 people see the flop for 1 raise and I flop a draw, I have surpassed the commitment threshhold on the flop. The problem is that so has anyone else with an overpair, 2 pair, set, etc. So, unless I have a combo draw, I have to decide whether to commit with at most 32-35% equity. Not fun ususally.

So, how do you handle 5-way pots with suited connectors when you typically wind up with SPRs of less than 10 on the flop? Fold preflop against conventional wisdom?

Many thanks.

[Sunny Mehta]

Excellent questions Binions. FYI, we'll be discussing this topic at length in Volume Two, but here are a few things to think about.

You absolutely hit the nail on the head with the inherent differences of small pairs to suited connectors. Even though most people tend to categorize them both simply as "drawing hands", huge differences arise in how the two hands play out from the flop on. Namely, with a small pair the main "inflection point" occurs between preflop and flop, whereas with sc's often you need all the way from preflop to river.

So it is our opinion that "implied odds" with regards to sc's - that is, the simple looking at "I should call x amount preflop to win y" - are very often misrepresentative, and in fact "effective odds" are much more important. (Actually, that sentence applies to MUCH of nl hold 'em in general.) And that's essentially what SPR is - a numerical "gauge" of your effective odds.

So, as to your specific game scenarios, you're absolutely right that if you don't face pf rr's often, you LIKE those multiway pots of SPR 4 with a small pair. And you're right that that same situation is often suboptimal with sc's - you're better off either just playing them less frequently, or perhaps playing them more with the purpose of stealing and range-masking in mind (you'll have to determine for yourself how viable that is in your games).