Harrington on Holdem - Volume 3

by Dan Harrington

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Reviewer:  Wixx

Ok so I didn't see the subtitle “The Workbook” when I first picked this book up. I got home I flipped through it and I thought this is a book that is nothing but a quiz. There are 50 problems and a scoring system where you get points based on your answers. I almost put the book down, I don't want a poker quiz…I don't need a poker quiz. I read through the first problem anyway…and after reading several pages of what each person did, why Harrington thought they did what they did and how the final answer was something that I could remember and use, I decided that maybe I did need a poker quiz.

He covers many real hands played by top pros, such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Harrington himself as well as many others. Dan Harrington, as most should know, plays a conservative, tight style, but many of the other players are very aggressive. This allows you to get Harrington's intelligent thought process on hands and style that he does not play. He covers many different issues that all players deal with in no limit holdem tournaments but can be translated towards a ring game as well. I especially got a lot out of the example where Phil Hellmuth is betting and Harrington explains the thoughts he has on Phil's attempts to bet the proper amount. This will help me as I will no longer be a straight 4XBB better anymore.

As for other issues that he covers, he goes into a lot of detail explaining when to call all-in bets and the importance of position, pot odds, pot equity, etc as it relates to tournament play. I think I will definitely think more when I play in some of those large scale freerolls than I had in the past because I read this book. There is a lot of discussions on playing the bubble, for instance you are down to the last 4 or 5 players in a Sit-N-Go that pays 3 places. The examples help you try to make smarter plays so that you do not make a mistake and miss the money in such situations. A lot of the examples were covered in the first volume of the series, and I suspect a few more were covered in the second volume, but in this installment, you get a lot more analysis to go with the lessons. Hopefully after reading the books in this series, you will be a better after flop player. This means that you will have more options to bet if you hit the flop and fold if you miss. I know I do now.

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