Page 13 - May 2008 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Jim Mercurio: Poker
GAet Ready for World Series of Poker Time
s some of you may have gured out, a year or so ago, I switched my focus from tournament to cash games. I think cash games are where the money is. I will spend some time at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this year, which runs from May 29th to July 16th at the
Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, with the intent of playing the side games and playing a few satellites for the $2k-ish tournaments.
If you are going to go, here are a few of my reviews of a mixture of books and one DVD that will help your tournament play.
Harrington on Hold’em (Volumes I, II and III)
by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
ese books revolutionized how the masses play tournaments. Harrington quanti ed the concept of
“M,” stack size relative to the pot, and taught players how to adjust to ever-increasing blinds. e fundamentals in the rst two books are prerequisites to playing tournaments. e third book is a workbook that
tests your understanding of the rst two books.
Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon
is is a DVD, so if you have a short attention span, this might be for you. is easy-to-watch educational tool walks you through a ctitious nal table with Phil Gordon and parodies of well-known players and types. With humor and patience, Phil uses dramatization and plenty of voice-overs to help explain concepts like domination, position, gap concept and “M.”
The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition
is book was
edited by Michael
Craig ( e Profes- sor, the Banker, and the Suicide King) and features stand- alone chapters by many of the best- known poker play- ers in the world: Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, Gavin Smith, Ted Forrest and many others.
What this book lacks in cohesion, it more than makes up for with concise and varied information. Howard Lederer’s de nition of leverage is worth the price of admission and Chris Ferguson gives many examples— laying out his line play for several common scenarios. And a few players like Gavin Smith and Ted Forrest chip in with some contrary advice.
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players
by David Sklansky
is was one of the rst books to start analyzing the theory and principles unique to tournament play. Some of the recent books are more thorough, but this is a great primer to the underlying foundation of tournament poker.
Kill Phil
by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson
is book expands upon an idea introduced in Sklansky’s book that uses the all-in move to lessen the edge great players have in no-limit tournaments. For my full review of Kill Phil, see page 22 the February 2006 issue of the Southern California Gaming Guide online at www.TheGamingGuide. com, under Past Issues.
The Poker Tournament Formula
by Arnold Snyder
is book thoroughly analyzes the relationship of the blind structure and starting stacks with respect to luck and skill. For those serious about tournaments, this allows you to choose your tournament wisely or set up a home tournament with
an appropriate structure.
Every Hand Revealed
by Gus Hansen
ree-time World Poker Tour Champion Gus Hansen details every hand he played in a major tournament. Not available for review at the time of this article.
At the WSOP, there are a lot of players who are playing for recreation. If they are semi-serious, here are the cash games books that they have probably read.
Professional No-Limit Hold ‘em: Volume I
by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller
is is a solid book on No-limit that emphasizes planning a hand out from the beginning and explains the value of a hand relative to stack-size and the pot-
size. ese guys try to teach the sh not to go down in ames with top pair, top kicker.
No-Limit Texas Hold’em: A Complete Course by Angel Largay
is is an okay book and I suspect the writer is a good— not a great—player. But his advice and thinking process mirrors that of decent, experienced players or low-limit pros. Know thine enemy!
Harrington on Cash Games (Volume I and II)
by Harrington and Robertie
ese books just came out. ey are aimed at deep-stacked games a step or two above the ones Largay talks about. Not as revolutionary as the tournament series, but good solid advice that everyone will be reading, nonetheless.
Even if you think
your game is good-
to-go, consider reading
these books as a way to beat your opponents. ey are reading these books. And you can’t use counter- strategy on them until you know their strategy, right?
See you in Vegas!
You can buy Jim’s lm Hard Scrambled at www.hardscrambled.com or if you like his column, contact him at jim@jamespmercurio.com.
May 2008
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 13
Poker: Wired Aces and River Rats