Harrington Cash games vol1?

jugglegeek

First book I've read on poker and I found it an interesting read but there were a lot of things that he sugest that I found supprising?

for example. open limpping with hands like KJ/QJ/KQ and calling other players who have limped in early possition with suited connectors and Ax suited. Not playing TPTK hands agressively, folding bottom set! folding small pocket pairs pre-flop

The suggested style of play seemed super-conservitive and seemed to advocate only playing for full stacks when you have the nuts.

I'm playing at NL8 at the moment so I don't know how bigger levels really play but is this really how it's played? I thought higher levels were all about wide 3-bet ranges and double-barrelled floats out of possition and the dreaded tripple-range-merging! Is it a case of read other books too and play a combination of styles.

Have I been playing too much NL4 where TPTK and any set is the nutz and it's "get your whole stack in for value" time whenever you flop such a hand?

Dudeskin8

I have never watched them (probably should lol) but I think those training videos that are posted online are a lot more helpful than most books. Also simply posting hands on the clinic is very useful.

AMYBR

Common consensus is that books are outdated.  Training sites being your first port of call.

Funnily though did the quiz for a particular site that gives you $50 a while back.  You have to do a 20Q quiz prior to it though.  Surprisingly I was shocked by much of the answers.  Answers being sourced from in house material.  Had to say didnt agree with much of it.  Many people I know felt the same.

That being said, I'm a big time losing online player

DrSharp

Hi Jungle.

I have read vol 1 and also vol 2. I find them absolutely fantastic. If you have vol 2, then you will find that at the very end it has a small section on weak small stakes games where it does indeed suggest that top pair top kicker is the nuts and how to play these stakes/games.

I think the majority of the books info is slightly outdated already as you say. Alot of the very good cash players now play loose aggressive whereas the book is largely based on a very tight aggressive game. I think the more you read of these the more it sort of balances it out a tad. There are some really good insights in to how to read your way through the hands and how to play 'small hand, small pot' poker.

I found them hugely beneficial to my game and my profits have increased since i read both of them.

I sent you a PM btw!

offshoot

bear in mind that Harrington has never really played online cash and pretty much doesnt play poker anymore. You could probably get better advice from a 50nl player.

grantorino

Havent read it, just out of interest are the hands 6max?

His tournament books advocate too much limping for my liking, certainly isnt aggressive enough for 6max online 50NL up. However the way he describes the thinking through a hand evaluating all the info is excellent imo, and if you are a newish online microstakes cash player that would certainly help your game

google fees 6max for a good read on online cash games

In general though as stated by others training sites, vids, online forums are better than books for online cash