Customer Reviews

How to Win No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments

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

 

 

Of the 10-15 poker books I have purchased, this is easily the biggest waste of money. The practice questions were fit for a 3rd grader and I can honestly say I leared less than nothing. I take that back, I learned that I know a little about poker already.

Save your money, purchase dan harringtons books instead.

I've been playing poker since 2003, and I've faired pretty well. I realize that I still have a lot to learn, but I've won a few local tournaments and made some money here and there.

I purchased this book to accompany me on a business trip last year, and I had not really got very far through it. Recently I picked it up and started to work my way through the book. I got about half way through and realized that this book is by far the worst poker book I've ever read. Actually, I think I read one that was slightly worse, but this is darn close.

In the last section I was reading that professional players use advanced math and clever calculations to figure out if they are getting the right pot odds to make a call. Now I already know that, and have for some time. In fact watching poker on TV will teach you that. Heck I even know how to do this math in my head. But for some reason this book neglects to cover these skills.

Having read this fact I began to realize that this book tells you that stuff is going on, but gives you no tools to realize how to do it yourself. It's like saying, "Tiger Woods hits the golf ball with tremendous accuracy and power, allowing him to drive the ball great distances and more often than not he gets it to land very close to the pin. You will want to do this too if you expect to win a major golf tournament."

The book is full of pearls of wisdom like this. I came here to read the other reviews, since I have only read half the book. But unless the other reviews are wrong, and the back half of this book is completely different this book is a total waste of time.

I suggest you read the Harrington on Hold'em set of books if you really want to do well in a tournament. The only thing this book might be useful for is letting a newbie player know that poker is harder than it looks. Of course it won't tell you how to improve, merely that you need to.

Got to agree with the other reviewer(s), if this had zero starts, that'd be my rating.

I'd like to encourage Tom to continue writing, as his articles published in well know trade magazines are quite good.

Tom McEvoy is well-known as the one-time WSOP Main Event champion and author of many poker books. The question surrounding him is it quantity over quality? Considering the less-than-stellar reviews of many of his books, it seems most people think it's the former.

This is the first McEvoy book I purchased and read cover to cover. I will agree with his critics that his advice is often too simplistic and gives the reader no sense of context. When he advises that a top NLHE player learns all he can about the math of the game, but offers no insight into that area, one is understandably left wanting.

However, if you had nothing but this book to use as a framework for developing a strategy for micro MTTs ($10 and below), I think you would find yourself being very successful. By simply following his starting hand suggestions, utilizing position, and implementing the key concepts and plays from the "playbook" chapter, you will be far ahead of probably 90% of any field in these tourneys. The problem arises once you are in the money and must be a master of push/fold/call in just the right spots, a highly crucial aspect of tourney play that is hardly addressed.

In other words, McEvoy's "How to Win" will get you into the money fairly regularly, but to close the deal you will need experience that only another source or, even better, actual game play can provide. If you are new to the game and play low stakes tournaments, I definitely recommend this book as it will help you beat your opponents, against whom fancier playing strategies would be completely useless. Once you get ready to move up to higher stakes and better competition, you will be ready for something a little more advanced like the HOH series.

In short, I think this book is great for new tournament players or those playing the micro MTTs...not so much for anyone else.