Question for Arnold Snyder

[Some Pig]

Who specifically did you write your book for? Who is the primary target audience of the Poker Tournament Formula?

How will your book benefit those that are not your primary target audience?

[Arnold_Snyder]

I address the book to players who are struggling to make money in the fast multi-table tournaments, meaning MTTs with blind levels that last less than 1 hour. But the book has original strategies and analyses that also make it of interest to players in slow no-limit tournaments, sit'n'gos, and no-limit cash games.

I believe my book is the first to provide a complete basic strategy for the fast aggressive tournament play style, which I show to be a necessity (not just an option) in fast tournaments. My book is also the first to provide analysis of the mathematical basis for the edge a big stack has over a small stack in a tournament, as well as the implications of this analysis. It is the first book I am aware of to provide the mathematics behind bankroll requirements for tournaments, fast or slow, based on buy-in and field size. It is also the first book to identify and analyze the role field size plays in optimal strategy for tournaments, fast or slow. Now that fields in the big slow events are growing so enormous, field size is having effects that haven't been seen before, and smart players ought to adjust for these effects.

When I started playing poker tournaments, with 25 years as a professional gambler but little experience at poker, I started in the fast tournaments because they were inexpensive, widely available, and... fast. Which is to say, these tournaments end within a few hours as opposed to a few days. The reason these tournaments are fast is primarily because of the blind structures relative to the starting chips.

What I saw very quickly--playing according to the conservative strategies I had found in the books I read--was that I was repeatedly spending the first hour or so waiting for premium cards and situations, then finding myself short-stacked and having to get involved with marginal hands against players with much larger stacks. I also couldn't help but notice that this was the most common result for all conservative-strategy players in these tournaments.

I also noticed that we were not winning, while some players who did not fit this conservative mold could be found at final tables over and over again. There were a few players who played very aggressively in these tournaments far more often than they could have been dealt premium cards. When I busted out I started watching these players. Over a few months in 2003, I analyzed these fast tournament structures and found the mathematical basis for the success of the types of fast-play strategies these players were using. And once I started using these strategies, I immediately became successful too. That is how I developed the strategy that is in my book, and it has continued to pay off for me.

Since the book was published, I have received a lot of email from players who are applying my book's fast basic strategy successfully in online SNGs, as well as in the fast MTTs, much slower tournaments and even, to an extent, in NL cash games. Some of these players have been posting their results on the poker forum at my website. I've never played SNGs myself, as I prefer live tournaments and they are abundant in Las Vegas, where I live. I have started using the fast strategies in my book in slower tournaments, however, and am having results comparable to my results in fast tournaments, at which I have been earning a living for the past three years.

So, again, this book will have value for players who may be interested in using the types of fast aggressive strategies that have not been written about in any detail before, as my book provides a complete "Rock, Paper, Scissors" basic strategy of such play based on chips, cards and position. This book will also be of interest to players who would like to know more about the mathematical basis of optimal poker tournament strategy, and how it is affected by structural factors such as blind structures and field size.

[Some Pig]

"I have started using the fast strategies in my book in slower tournaments, however, and am having results comparable to my results in fast tournaments, at which I have been earning a living for the past three years."

This is a very intriguing statement. Perhaps, there's a way of tailoring your fast strategies to live games as well? Maybe, your fast strategies have more universality.

[Al Mirpuri]

Arnold,

I have a copy of Blackbelt In Blackjack and it looks you are going to do for tournament poker what you have done for blackjack.

Well done,

Al Mirpuri.