Harrington on Holdem

Dan Harrinton has written one of the most difinitive books on no limit tournament poker. It is a very comprehensive look at competing effectively in multi table no limit tournament. Just who is Dan Harrington, and why would we be listening to him?

Dan “action Dan” Harrington first showed up at the WSOP in 1985. He had a final table appearance that year, and has gone on to have an impressive pro tournament career. He currently has ammased over $6 million in tournament winnings.

Dans’s real claim to fame is two fold. First, he is the 1995 WSOP Main Event World Champion. Secondly, after the fields started growing significantly, his feat of back to back Main Event final tables in 2003 and 2004 was considered an even more impressive accomplishement than then win.

In 2003 he was 3rd in a field of 839. The following year, 2,576 players entered. Dan battled through that field to find himself getting knocked out 4th. With poker getting increased TV viewing, this incredible feat was heavily noted by the commentators. Some commentators and players were claiming it was harder to do than winning back to back when the fields were much smaller.

So, I think you would agree, Dan is very qualified to tell us how to play no limit holdem tournaments. His books are a three part series. In this article I am going to discuss the first two books, as the third is more of an extention of examples of play anyway. Okay, let’s get started.

In volume 1, Dan sets up the basics of playing tournaments. He covers the basics to the point where a beginner could get started. He gives a very detail look at what you will be getting yourself into.

He tells you the types of styles that players use. From rocks to hyper aggressive players, he details what to expect from them. Although he teaches you how to play a tight agressive game, he points out that many of the best players are much more aggressive.

His point is that you should learn a more conservative, solid game, because the decisions are much more complex in an more aggressive game. Once you have gained more experience, you can find your own personal style. All styles can work.

Next Dan deals with starting hand requirements. He gives you a very detailed guide for the tight aggressive style. He deals with all the possible situations you will encounter pre flop.

This guide is an impressive tool that gives you a great foundation for playing tournaments. This I think is the best part of volume 1. He give lots of actual hands to analyze and train you on what will happen when you play.

There is a lot more to volume 1 but I think this should give you a sense of the quality of the book. In volume 2 things get even better! He discusses more profound situations that are particular to tournament play. please go to part two to read about volume 2.

Harrington On Holdem (part 2)

Volume two of Dans books is, in my opinion, the meat and potatoes of his teaching. Here he teaches us how to play when we find the blinds going up and players are dealing with being short stacked etc. He gives a very comprehensive guide to dealing with your own stack relative to the blinds and antes.

This information is really key to understanding how to succeed in tournament play. There are two things to consider when you are working your way through the field in a tournament. He calls them Q and M. Q is the average chip stack size. M is the number of orbits around the table your stack can survive.

Of the two ideas, M is much more important. Although Q is important to note, and you want to stay near the average, if you can, it doesn’t dictate your play like M does. M is critical to your decision making.

When your M level gets low, you need to take action. The lower it gets, the less time you have before you get blinded out. Whem you M is larger, you are in no hurry to play hands. You can just play your game.

Dan shows you how to calculate your M. Once calculated, he has strong guidelines as to how to play from various M positions. Of course, other players are in the same boat, and you need to consider how they will react to your play. Dan goes through example hands of actual play and shows why you would make certain plays.

The understanding of the M dynamic at work in the later stages of MTT events is where many players get lost. Many players have no sense of this and will call bets with marginal hands when they need to be folding to save their chips. You won’t make this mistake after you read volume 2.

The hand examples are very well done. He sets them up in the form of a quiz. He takes you through a situation and you decide what action you would take. He then looks at each option he gave you and grades it as an option. Not all hands are cut and dried. Sometimes more than one decision is acceptable, but usually one is better than the others.

He breaks M into 4 basic levels, green, yellow, orange, and red. The goal, if possible is to stay green. In the green level your M is above 20, so you have plenty of chips and can play any style you like.

When your M is yellow, you have between 10 and 20 orbits. Here, he recommends tightening up. Some hands you might play before, like suited connectors, aren’t worth the risk. You don’t have enough chips to get paid off well if you hit.

In the orange zone (5-10) you need to take some chances. You chip stack is still big enough to threate your opponents stack, and stealing the blinds is necessary. In the red zone (0-5), you have no choice. You have to try to double up.

Another key concept is what Dan calls first in vigorish. It simply means that being the first one to put their chips all in, has the advantage of winning the hand two different ways. First, everyone could fold. Second, you get called and win.

This makes pushing all in first much more powerful than calling an all in. When calling you have to win the hand. You need a stronger hand, in general, to be calling.

He does a detailed analysis of push/fold considerations for small M situations. This gives you a good foundation for handling these decisions. Most players are too consertive in these situations.

He covers many of the other basics that other poker books cover, like pot odds, and implied odds, etc. But these other ideas, M, first in vigorish, etc., set this book apart from most other poker books. It’s very well done, and highly recommended.