Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook [Paperback]

Dan Harrington (Author), Bill Robertie (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Two Plus Two Publishing LLC; Workbook edition (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880685361
• ISBN-13: 978-1880685365
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Poker

More About the Author

Dan Harrington began playing poker professionally in 1982. On the circuit he is known as Action Dan, an ironic reference to his solid but effective style. He has won several major no-limit hold em tournaments including the European Poker Championships (1995), the $2,500 No-Limit Hold em event at the 1995 World Series of Poker, and the Four Queens No-Limit Hold em Championship (1996).

Dan began his serious games-playing with chess, where he quickly became a master and one of the strongest players in the New England area. In 1972 he won the Massachusetts Chess Championship, ahead of most of the top players in the area. In 1976 he started playing backgammon, a game which he also quickly mastered. He was soon one of the top money players in the Boston area, and in 1981 he won the World Cup of backgammon in Washington D.C., ahead of a field that included most of the world s top players.

He first played in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold em Championship Event of the World Series of Poker in 1987. He has played in the championship a total of 15 times and has reached the final table in four of those tournaments, an amazing record. Besides winning the World Championship in 1995, he finished sixth in 1987, third in 2003, and fourth in 2004. In 2006 he finished second at the Doyle Brunson North American Championships at the Bellagio, while in 2007 he won the Legends of Poker tournament at the Bicycle Club. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most respected no-limit hold em players, as well as a feared opponent in both no-limit and limit hold em side games. He lives in Santa Monica where he is a partner in Anchor Loans, a real estate business.
Bill Robertie has spent his life playing and writing about chess, backgammon, and now poker. He began playing chess as a boy, inspired by Bobby Fischer s feats on the international chess scene. While attending Harvard as an undergraduate, he became a chess master and helped the Harvard chess team win several intercollegiate titles. After graduation, he won a number of chess tournaments, including the United States Championship at speed chess in 1970. He also established a reputation at blindfold chess, giving exhibitions on as many as eight boards simultaneously.

In 1976 he switched from chess to backgammon, becoming one of the top players in the world. His major titles include the World Championship in Monte Carlo in 1983 and 1987, the Black & White Championship in Boston in 1979, the Las Vegas tournaments in 1980 and 2001, the Bahamas Pro-Am in 1993, and the Istanbul World Open in 1994.

He has written several well-regarded backgammon books, the most noted of which are Advanced Backgammon (1991), a two-volume collection of 400 problems, and Modern Backgammon (2002), a new look at the underlying theory of the game. He has also written a set of three books for the beginning player: Backgammon for Winners (1994), Backgammon for Serious Players (1995), and 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (1997).

From 1991 to 1998 he edited the magazine Inside Backgammon with Kent Goulding. He owns a publishing company, the Gammon Press, and lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with his wife Patrice.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harrington Gets Aggressive in the Best Installment of the Series!, July 1, 2006

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Poker Pro "Always Learning" (New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook (Paperback)

I agree with all the other reviewers: this book is Dan Harrington like you've never seen him before, kicking butt and taking names. Finally we get an entire book devoted to analyzing pre-flop and post-flop action across every decision point of the hand. Even better, Harrington has shed the pure conservatism of the first two volumes. In this book, he advocates a variable style of play that includes loosening up against more aggressive opponents looking to push you off the table. The first two volumes will give you fundamental, mathematically-sound conservative play. This volume includes a great deal of more aggressive, "playing your opponent" kinds of moves. This is brilliant analysis.

I absolutely cannot rave enough about this book. Harrington takes your hand and walks you step by step through the decision-making process in dozens of hands. Along the way, he scores the quality of your decisions. Although he remains conservative and likes to play a hand substantially according to its potential, he respects more aggressive plays. He discusses the merits and drawbacks to other types of plays throughout, and tells you what he would do and why. An awesome display of poker analysis.

Some books are so good that they define their field. Every book that comes after may agree, disagree, or clarify what a definitive book has to say on its subject, but there is one thing subsequent books can't do: they can't ignore it. If you're a serious tournament poker player, you can't ignore the Harrington series. This is THE classic text on Texas hold em poker tournament strategy, bar none.

Vol. 2 continues the greatness of Harrington's series by moving away from the formulaic, conservative approach taken in Vol. 1. This is understandable, since you have to learn to walk before you can run. And by the time you finish Harrington Vol. 2, you'll be ready for the speed trials! Words like "highly recommended" can be overused, so I'll just say you'd be crazy to gamble any serious amount of money without buying and completely absorbing all three of Harrington's books. You should also re-read them right before any major event to clarify your thinking. They're THAT good!

I'd also recommend The Poker Tournament Formula and 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. Both books compliment Harrington's approach to the game quite well.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dan Remains the Same., December 5, 2006

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Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!" (CHICAGO! USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook (Paperback)

This work, just as Volumes 1 and 2, is near spectacular but Volume 3 is rather unique in the series. Unlike the first two offerings, this one is short on theory but long on practice. It is solely devoted to hand analysis, but what makes it unusual for a hand manual is that the examples come from celebrities. Readers now have the chance to be Phil Ivey--if only for a few moments--as Harrington provides a breakdown of his play against his opponents. The same can be said of many pros including Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. The real idea behind the text is that you learn by doing which is exactly what occurs here. The effect is accentuated should you make a point of answering the questions as you go and follow it up by consulting the "Categorizing your Errors" section in the back. It contains groupings of wrong answers which allow us to see what exactly it was that you did wrong. Despite their excellence, I wouldn't suggest novices studying these volumes out of order. If you haven't read the first two, jumping to 3 will diminish its value. However, with Action Dan it's hard to go wrong with any subsection of Harrington on Hold `em.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Putting Your Poker-Thinking to the Test, January 15, 2007

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M. Thea Temple "Texus T" (Dallas, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategies for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. III--The Workbook (Paperback)

This volume is the natural offspring of Harrington's other two tournament books, I and II. Approaching Texas Hold 'Em as a hybrid of practical science and art, Harrington sets up a number of real hands borrowed from a variety of tournaments, some famous, some not-so famous, and asks how you would play the hand. There's a score-card in the back to keep the work-problems interactive and to stimulate a poker-player's "game gene."

This book is not an easy read, as it requires hard work and thinking--which is to say that it is not for the casual poker player--but if you are a serious student of the game, this is the natural and invaluable next step to his other two books.

One of the great things about ALL of the Harrington books is his willingness to challenge his own style of play and his own knowledge by offering advice and then showing how NOT following it sometimes still leads to success. This open-minded, and yet vigorously disciplined, approach to the game shows Harrington to be an exceptional teacher who is neither didactic nor short-sighted as to the myriad of choices available to the growing poker player, both in terms of individual hands, and in terms of overall playing styles.

Again, please note: this book is not for the casual poker-player, but for the serious student of the game. Also note: it is essential to study the preceding volumes I and II--not read, but study--before moving on to this "advanced" text. But if you ARE a serious tournament player, this book can bump you up a notch in your ability to play with complexity and nuance.