Farha on Omaha - Anybody read it yet?

[SuperUberBob]

I saw threads about the book, but no actual opinions on anybody who has read it yet. I didn't think it was even out yet, but my friend says it is.

What level player is the book most useful for? Any opinions in general?

[Professionalpoker]

Its out - I have them in stock but have not had time to read it yet.
Mike

[BlackMajic]

I went to the local library (Barnes and Noble) and read about a third of it (Mainly the chapter on Pot limit Omaha). I did this rather than spring $14 on Amazon because I was dubious of its quality after seeing the example pages on Amazon.

Okay the book is broken up into five section. The first, an intro and review of basic omaha play and strategy . The next three go over Limit Omaha, O8, and finaly Pot Limit Omaha. The last chapter is a perfuctory sumation of his basic strategy.

The good. The book is fairly short and to the point. He constantly talks about what would be considered the typical good play versus what he would do. He gives specific exaples of how image can be used at the table to your advantage. Some of his advice goes very contrary to what would be consisdered "good solid omaha", but it obviously seems to work for him. While a lot of the advice relies a lot on his ability to read people at the table, he does give some insight on how he does it. While this part is almost put in as an afterthought, I thought it was interesting. He also talks about how to play against Short stakers

The bad. The book is badly organized. It is obvious it was written mainly by Storms Reback from a couple of interviews he probably had with Farha. Because of this, it feels a bit shallow and lacks some depth.

In general, the book is not horrible, but nothing I think really necessary to have. There are some good insights, but just not enough meat to make it great. Whether it is worth buying can be determined by your reaction to this line in his book, " You should'nt play agressively from early position ... unless your name is Sam Farha.". I laughed and got some entertainment value. If you cringe, then I would'nt get it.

[Niediam]

I read about 1/3 of it (not a specific third but random sections) and skimmed the rest. I wasn't very impressed.

Writing style is not good. Has a TJ Cloutier book feel to it.

Not very long and seems to just cover basic stratigy. A third of the book is on the dead game limit omaha high. I don't think I read any advice that was horrific though.

Couple funny things... Sammy mentions that part of his success is good bankroll management. Then he goes on to tell a story about how once he had a huge draw on the flop that would be +EV to get his stack in. However, he decides to fold instead because it was the last hand of the night and he wanted to make sure he had a winning session. He also said that you should 'run it twice' when you are ahead because there are a lot of good cards in the deck for you but should only run it once when you are behind because you need to get lucky to win. (Whatever the hell that means.)

[Gonso]

I can't help but to wonder how truthful some of those Big Game players are regarding what they know and what they've studied. I've heard some pretty highly regarded players says some pretty dumb things when talking about things like EV, running it twice, insurance and so on. Some are old timers, but you'd think they'd have picked up that running it twice doesn't really make a difference long run.

I'm not suggesting that these aren't good players anyway, but they've been professionals for a long time and you'd think they'd know these kinds of things.

[Xibalba]

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He also said that you should 'run it twice' when you are ahead because there are a lot of good cards in the deck for you but should only run it once when you are behind because you need to get lucky to win. (Whatever the hell that means.)

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Does this sound completely voodoo & "bad conclusion from small sample" to everyone, or am I not getting it?

[Doc T River]

If it has a TJ Cloutier feel to it, I am staying away.

[awjpoker]

Not sure if you get it or not but my take is if the odds are in your favour then the more times you run it the better the chance of getting the more likely result. If the odds are against you the less times you run it the less chance for the true odds to come through. However the difference between running it twice or once this might be slim although be interested if someone can demonstrate if his advice is good or bad.

[Hattifnatt]

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If it has a TJ Cloutier feel to it, I am staying away.

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same, was somewhat excited when reading the topic. and one third limit, lol.

[SNOWBALL]

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Couple funny things... Sammy mentions that part of his success is good bankroll management. Then he goes on to tell a story about how once he had a huge draw on the flop that would be +EV to get his stack in. However, he decides to fold instead because it was the last hand of the night and he wanted to make sure he had a winning session.

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I just wanted to say that in the book he said he was a favorite to win the pot, and not that it was +ev. In other words, he folded as a favorite getting odds, and is bragging about it. I mean...

This is the guy that made a 25K (300/600 blinds with a 4x straddle on I believe) coldcall with K7o vs Hellmuth who had to have something good in a multiway pot NOT closing the action. He said "I have a gambling hand" lollolol