Probably the greatest tournament poker book ever written, and the most controversial in the last decade, Snyder's revolutionary work debunks commonly (and falsely) held beliefs. Snyder reveals the power of chip utility - the real secret behind winning tournaments - and covers utility ranks, tournament structures, small- and long-ball strategies, patience factors, the impact of structures, crushing the Harringbots and other player types, tournament phases, and much more. Includes big sections on Tools, Strategies, and Tournament Phases. A must buy!
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About the Author
Arnold Snyder is a regular winner in no-limit hold’em tournaments. He has been writing about casino gambling for over two decades and is widely considered one of the world’s foremost gambling authorities. In January 2003, Snyder was elected one of the seven charter members of the "Blackjack Hall of Fame." He is the author of seven gambling books and a long-time gambling legend revered by millions of players who have made money from his advice.
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More About the Author
Arnold Snyder is a high-stakes professional gambler who has been writing about casino games for over two decades. He has authored hundreds of articles on gambling in dozens of publications in the past twenty years, including Blackbelt in Blackjack and the Big Book of Blackjack. In January 2003, Snyder who is one of the great legends of blackjack, was elected one of the seven charter members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Playing Players, Not Cards,
By Kevin O'Mahoney (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies (Paperback)
Last June, I was playing in a Caesar's Palace Megastack tournament. I was down to $4,000 in chips, from a starting chip stack of $12,500. I was livid and decided I was going to play poker by my instincts and reads, rather than whatever the hell "the book" or "books" recommended. Out of 561 players, I made the final table and we chopped.
Playing by the book will never make you a winner. But, of course, I'm always on the lookout for a good book on poker. I had real doubts about an author claiming to have a winning tournament formula. What a bunch of nonsense and what nerve? Yet, Snyder's The Poker Tournament Formula was a damn good read. His explanations of player types he's labeled as "boat people," "Canasta Ladies," and so on, were spot on and hilarious. Snyder's analysis of tournament structure, while overly detailed, was a novel insight. His "rock, paper, scissors" analogy was genius and very accurate. He also gives the best explanation of position play that I've ever read. Nevertheless, I was, and remain, skeptical of his relying too heavily on position and not enough on the cards -- even for the fast tournaments his first book is geared toward. The Poker Tournament Formula 2 is much, much better than TPTF. His re-examining of the theories he recommended for fast tournaments for slow tournaments shows him to be an original thinker, adapting to circumstances rather than adhering to dogma. He rips Sklansky's half-baked ideas on calling requirements and chip values (i.e., "the less chips you have, the more each chip is worth, and the more chips you have, the less each chip is worth" is correctly ridiculed) and the overly tight, rigid play recommended by Harrington in his 3 volume set. Calling the Harrington devotes "Harringbots" is not only accurate, but damn funny. Snyder recommends not surviving, but thriving -- by accumulating a big stack and using your chips as artilery. His explanation of "chip utility" accurately describes, and simplifies, how the size of your stack compared to the blinds/antes and those of your competitors enables you to play poker or cripples you -- and you're headed for the rocks much earlier than you would have thought, at least according to Harrington's "M" formula. Most surprising about TPTF2? Snyder doesn't recommend a "forumla." He emphasizes "chip utility," reading your opponent, worthwhile gambles, tournament structure, and tournament stages. He seemed to articulate my thoughts on playing tournaments; but since all the authors seemed to disagree with my thoughts, I assumed I was wrong. Snyder has been bludgeoned on some websites for his theories and recommendations, but most of these criticisms seems to be from people who seem too devoted to the common accepted poker theories to see anything worthwhile in Snyder's unconventional theories. Snyder's book is well-thought out, well-written, and witty. I highly recommend it. If it's not the best book on poker I've read, it's in the top 3.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Consider Your Chips,
By TheGreeneShark (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies (Paperback)
Anybody that buys a poker book and then tries to play poker exactly as stated is a chump. That's not how the game works. There's too much variation. Too much that is unexpected and unpredictable. Until someone can create a theory for poker that takes all this into account (highly unlikely) the result will be the creation of poker theories that provide great insight into a few aspects of the game, but are deficient in others. No matter what any author tells you, it's up to you to put the various pieces together.
So this book, it's not a formula that you can play by--at least not strictly. I love the idea of Harringbots, because that's definitely a danger that you face when following Harrington's approach to the letter, but the same danger is here as well. However, there are some really useful concepts that blow some old stodgy ideas out of the water. The most interesting of them to me was Snyder's view of chip utility. The way he formulates this idea, that stack size can do so much more than just indicate strength or weakness, and his principles for thinking about leveraging stack size and the usefulness of (or lack thereof) calculating pot odds is much more effective and accurate than what some others (ahem, Sklansky) have indicated in books. Less useful are his thoughts on game selection and bankroll management. Also, I continue to be skeptical of how much he talks about position versus cards. I think this can work in places, but it can really get you into trouble if you're not confident about how to use it right and when not to use it. I can imagine getting stuck up an unfortunate creek by relying too much on position, just because someone's figured out the strategy and knows I don't hold the cards. Still, all in all, there's stuff in this book you can't get from anywhere else and that alone makes it a must read.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An exception poker book!,
This review is from: The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies (Paperback)
I like this book because it doesn't go in detail on what starting hand requirements a person should play. This is an advanced concept book and is not for folks who are just starting out playing hold'em.
I won't take away from Mr. Snyder and lay out the content of his book online. You can purchase the book for all of that. However, I will describe a few of topics otherwise no one will be inclined to read his material. One of the interesting things about the book (and it's not even listed as a selling point) is the 10 functions you have with your chip stack. Think about it for a second, can you list down all the functions your chips stack has besides adding to the pile? PFT2 goes into detail on how to use your chip stack to make information bets, value bet, dominate small stacks. The books primary focus is utilizing the weapons you have at hand to develop a monstrous chip stack.
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