Customer Reviews

Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II: How to Play No-Limit Hold 'em Cash Games

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book along with the first volume are the only books that I found to give in-depth coverage aimed specifically at NLHE Cash Games. The biggest thing going for the books is that they're thorough. Around 800 pages of strategy, quizzes, examples, and some light mathematical explanations. Thankfully, not a page wasted on teaching you how to play. Even the English is quite good! (Most poker books are near unreadable.) I reread this before every game to tighten up and remind me to be aggressive and I've certainly improved. I actually ENJOY reading it, too.

The only downside might be that the examples seem sometimes inconsistent, such as recommending a raise 80% of the time in one situation and 70% in another where it seems the recommendations should be reversed, though who am I to judge? Harrington's playing style is very tight and very loose players might find too few recommendations on how to act in situations with poor hands.

Neither of the above gripes is enough to knock these books down from a 5-star review. In short, you'll enjoy reading this book and play better afterward. Definitely get the first volume, too.

In my opinion the turn and River are the most difficult and misplayed parts in No-Limit Poker. This is why I got this book, to improve these areas of my game.
The things I love about this book are the hand examples and analysis. After playing no-limit Texas for a couple of years I have often either gone bust or not maximised my winnings on these streets because I'd reach a situation where I didn't know what to do.
Some hand examples tell you what you should do or not do after you've made your continuation bet, or called/raised one. This may vary on who your up against and any reads you might have on a particular opponent.
Other examples compose of some difficult situations you might face where you are holding medium strength hands and your stuck between checking, betting, raising etc.
Whilest others analyse how to get the maximum when you flop a set or a big hand.
The turn and river are the most profitable or expensive streets on poker. This is why this book is great value.
There is also some extra info in this book such as beating low-limit games, bankroll and tilt management.

This volume completes the series. I play only on-line. The whole section on tells is about betting patterns. On-line thats all you have to go on. So this works great for me. Combine that with the board reading skills I picked up in the first volume and my NL cash game has improved a whole lot. I think anyone that has some basic skills in poker and is a break even or loosing player will improve to a winning player after a couple of reads.

The Harrington cash game series makes an excellent addition to any poker player's library. Of course, players must realize that cash game play is not as dynamic or exciting as tournament play (the subject of Harrington's three volume hold em series). To profit in cash game play, you need to be patient, avoid serious mistakes and maximize value on each and every hand you play. There's no larger macro-tournament strategy to keep in mind: you simply play the cards that you're dealt and try to wring whatever value you can from your hands.

In a lot of ways cash game play is more basic than tournament play, though in practice you need a lot more skill to turn a consistent profit. Raw aggression can often compensate for a lack of subtle hand reading skills and value betting in tournament play; raw, untamed aggression in a cash game will get you felted.

Harrington knows his subject well, but he's not an expert cash game player. There have also been many books written on cash game play, starting with Doyle back in the late 70s. So there's not the groundbreaking effect we saw with Harrington's tournament books in these two volumes on cash game play: but as I said with Vol. 1, they're well-worth the price of admission. You can learn a lot about playing the turn and river for maximum value in Vol. 2 here, and that can make all the difference between a winning and losing session. This may not be a must-read, but you'd be hard-pressed to find too many other capable books on no limit hold em cash game play.

I'd also recommend Poker Tips that Pay: Expert Strategy Guide for Winning No Limit Texas Hold em for readers that are looking beyond the Harrington series, for additional hand-based poker strategies and techniques.

This is a must read for any non- or only marginally winning player. While it is true that much of what he discusses is available elsewhere (with several hundred "how to play hold-em" books available, how could it be otherwise?), Harrington's style and use of detailed hand descriptions, explaining the thought process required to read your opponents hand, makes it one of the most useful guides out there.

It is true that these books are not as easily applicable to play as his wonderful tournament books. I believe this is due to the greater complexity of the live games. Much of the action in a tournament is effectively forced by the increasing blinds and relative stack sizes. In the cash game, especially the deep stack cash games, that forcing factor is greatly reduced. The greater variety in the variables to indicate a "correct" play would challenge any writer. I think Harrington's book (especially Volume II) is the best one out there.

I am writing this review for both of Harrington's books on cash games.

There are a lot of good, and not so good books on playing Texas Hold'em cash games. Harrington's books, "Harrington on Cash Games", I and II are a couple of the best. Granted, 85% of the series repeat what many others have written, many times. This series is very well written, Harrington's concepts are clearly expressed.

The difference between these and other books are in that 15% extra. For example his discussions on how to play deep, moderate and short stack games. Or how he sizes bets under different circumstances. Discussions like these are where Harrington really separates his books on cash games from most other books.

I would rate this book a notch (abet a very small notch) above David Sklansky and Ed Miller's book "No Limit Hold'em in Theory and Practice", since Harrington's book is a bit easier to read, and concepts are presented a little clearer. Both are great.

I enjoyed the reasoning for doing certain things differently and why, including losing plays. The Megagame was a different thought. Takes some courage to do some of these moves, but it sure is fun. The examples are terrific, but hard to remember. In fact don't know who could remeber all the detail, all the different percentage plays when in a live game. Great book.

This second volume is more useful than volume 1. In fact it speaks about turn and river play which is often underrated...many good problems explained by Harrington help the reader to develop a feeling for the different situations...it's far from perfect but more useful than volume 1...if you have to buy one buy this...

Well...I've always been a tournament player for as long as I can remember, but started playing cash games a year ago and was always looking for a good book on cash games. For those who have looked for poker cash games books, you know that its quite difficult to find great books on this subject until Harrington came out with this cash games book almost 2 years ago. Now I'm not any big time cash player, so my primary interest was low stakes NL cash games ( 1-2,2-4 ). Now, to my pleasant surprise, there is an entire section on beating weak games toward the back of the book. This was EXACTLY what I was looking for...." how to beat weak low stakes games " Anyhow I found the information remarkable and indispensable to say the least. I already knew how to make adjustments from playing tourneys to cash games and now this book has allowed me to understand the thinking behind playing a certain way against players at this level. I've already made a good profit in the last 3 sessions Ive played at local casinos.
Now...let me be clear on one thing....by following these tips, you are by no means guaranteed to win as many of you know....but it does give you a guide and framework to work with, adopt and practice against these low stakes games.
As in any poker game, cash or tournaments, the caveats of poker success like flexibility, making proper adjustments to your opponents, knowing proper odds, as well as mixing up your play hold true as ever.

I am currently a published author of my own poker book and have collaborated around 30 poker books. Hands down this is the one I recommend in taking your game to the next level. I own all the Harrington books and they are all well written, lots of text and the logic on everything is spot on. I never have had any complaints with his books unlike others I've read.