Andy B's 4000th Post: The Book Thread to End All Book Threads

[Andy B]

Reading West is far better than reading no book at all. While the example I cited above is absolutely terrible, most of his advice is at least reasonable. I just think that there is a better approach.

West gets hung up about "quality" and "non-quality" three-flushes. He advocates throwing away the non-quality three-flushes for a raise. If the hand is likely to be heads-up, I agree with him. In my experience, almost all of which is at the lower limits which West is addressing, you're going to have multi-way action even if it's raised on third street. If it's a six-way pot, I'd rather have 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] than K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Since three-flushes are some of the most profitable hands in loose games, I can't endorse a book whose author goes out of his way to find reasons to fold them. If your cards are dead, yes, fold. If your cards are live, though, I'd need a very good reason to fold on third street. Having it raised in front of me usually isn't enough.

There's more but it's nap time.