The Limit Hold'em Section in Super System 2

[The Prawn]

Any reviews/recommendations please? I own it, and am currently reading it, but want to know if what i'm reading is what i should be reading, in a nutshell.

Cheers,

Prawn

[LordBaldrick]

Jennifer Harman (the author) is a well respected professional player as far as I know and her chapter on Limit Holdem is a good starting point. For a more in depth look at Limit Holdem I would recommend Small Stakes Holdem and Holdem Poker for Advanced Players (both by Sklansky et. al.) as well as Weighing the Odds in Holdem Poker by King Yao.

Good luck with your reading.

LB

[Shandrax]

She gives you advice concerning how hands should be played in certain situations. Don't expect detailed hand groupings or lots of math. Overall she advocates an agressive style that works well in heads-up situations. Unfortunately this won't work well in small stakes games, because your brilliant "isolation-play" will usually get 5 callers.

Basically this section is awesome, but as contradicting as the rest of the book. They teach you how to play at high stakes games, while treating you as a beginner at the same time. Maybe it's a primer for the whales who want to play the "big game" with them.

[playersare]

I didn't read anything in Harman's chapter that wasn't more accurate or better explained in books like SSHE, ITH, WLLE and HEFAP.

but in of itself...SS2 is technically okay.

[JCCARL]

I've read the section myself, the info is OK. As with anything though, don't limit yourself to just this source. She recommends aggression (seems to be an underlying theme in the chapter) abiove all else.
Regards,
Carl

[jimitilt]

It is important to be able to put her advice in the proper context- she is a high stakes player with a deep bankroll; she advocates pushing very hard with small edges. This is good advice but it is very good advice in the games that she plays and where players are capable of making bigger laydowns. If you are playing lower than 30-60 it may be a little higher variance than you are used to so read it with that caveat. When you push very hard with small edges your short term swings can be larger but your long term win should improve markedly. Plus your image will change if you have not been playing this aggressively before which will change how players play against you; this is also a good thing as it adds a layer of deception simply by the way you play versus what you play. Some good angles of the game played at the higher levels so worth reading but not totally applicable in many lower stakes games.

[AEKDBet]

[ QUOTE ]
Basically this section is awesome, but as contradicting as the rest of the book. They teach you how to play at high stakes games, while treating you as a beginner at the same time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jen did a very good job.

On the topic of fighting with the best hand, albeit marginal, applies 100% to small-medium stakes short-handed games.
This is also where the fun in poker is to be found

[AEKDBet]

jimitilt is dead on