Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I [Paperback]

Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (Author), Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner (Author), Jon 'Apestyles' Van Fleet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2008

Want to win poker tournaments?
Now you can learn exactly how consistent winners REALLY do it!
Meet PearlJammer, Rizen, and Apestyles. These top guns of tournament poker are frequent winners in today's highly competitive online scene, as well as in live tourneys. Their collective experience and track record is staggering: more than 35,000 tournaments played, more than 1,000 final tables made, over 200 major wins, and more than $6,000,000 in cashes. They regularly outplay fields consisting of other top professionals victories that are documented by detailed online hand histories.
Are you ready to learn winning ways from today's true tournament experts?
The authors are not only consistent winners, but powerful teachers as well. Step-by-step, they reveal their decision-making processes, using hands drawn from actual play not examples contrived to fit a particular poker theory.
Reading this book is like attending a master class in tournament poker.
You'll see the way cutting-edge pros use their wisdom and incredibly extensive experience to analyze almost every poker situation imaginable. Deep-stacked or short-stacked, against single or multiple opponents, you'll learn the skills that will make you a winner, including:
- When and how to play aggressively or tightly
- When to make moves
- When to make continuation bets and when to hold back
- How to induce and pick off bluffs
- How to accumulate chips without constantly risking your tournament life.
Poker is a fun game, but it's even more fun when you win.
If you want to become a great tournament player, shouldn't you be learning from the best? NOW You can!

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book typifies the precise insight most players have sought for years. I have recommended Harrington in the past and will continue, however I have found a "new favorite poker book" and gladly will promote its purchase to members at PokerSchoolOnline (the largest online poker school). --Al Spath - Dean, PokerSchoolOnline

About the Author

Eric 'Rizen' Lynch
Eric 'Rizen' Lynch is recognized as one of the top tournament players in the world in both live and Internet play. In just two years at the World Series of Poker, he has seven cashes, including a 2nd and 3rd place finish. He finished 26th in the 2006 main event, winning $494,000, his biggest prize so far. His lifetime total for cash finishes in live tournaments is a little shy of $1 million. Online, Eric has over 50 wins, made 300 final tables, and has won over $1.5 million. In 2007, he won one of the major Sunday tournaments, beating out thousands for a prize of $156K.
Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner
Well-known for his online prowess, Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner, who also plays online under the name 'PearlJammed', actually got his start playing live games in Raleigh, NC, and then later in Las Vegas. He won the 2007 Internet Player of the Year award, tracked by InternetPokerRankings, after a 3rd place finish in 2006. Over the last couple of years, PearlJammer has amassed an impressive online resume: He has over 100 wins, made 600 final tables, and won almost $2 million. In 2007, he placed second in one of the major Sunday tournaments to win his biggest online cash prize of $100,000.
Jon 'Apestyles' Van Fleet
Jon 'Apestyles' Van Fleet started playing professionally in 2004 after graduating from college, and quickly moved up the ranks in the online poker world. He ranked in the top 20 in both 2006 and 2007 at InternetPokerRankings. Jon has made close to $2 million playing in tournaments online, including over 350 final tables and 70 wins. His biggest online cash to date is $135K when he finished 2nd in a major Sunday tournament.

Product Details

• Paperback: 423 pages
• Publisher: Dimat Enterprises, Inc. (June 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974150274
• ISBN-13: 978-0974150277
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thinking about the hand, July 7, 2008

By 

Herman Jackson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I (Paperback)

I was in the process of reading another poker book when this one arrived in today's mail. A quick glance made it clear that "One Hand at a Time" should be read first.

The book is organized in four sections, one written by each of the three authors and a fourth in which each gives his analysis of a hand that had been played by Matthew Hilger. I think this organization is great in that it lets the reader vicariously enter the mind of each player and experience thinking about hands with the style of that player, then the different playing styles are brought into (sometimes) stark contrast in the final section where each of the three gives his take on a Hilger hand.

It is tempting to compare this book with Gus Hansen's recent book, the "Hand by Hand" books of Neil Myers, Johnny Chan's (with Mark Karowe) account of the playing of various hands, or others of the same type. I have read several books of hand descriptions and have learned from them all.

However, "One Hand at a Time" stands out because of the collaboration, and the organization. Each hand description is organized in sections titled:
..Setup - giving the tourney type, buyin, info on other players, etc.
..Pre-Flop - Describes the preflop action and thinking.
..Flop - Describes the flop action and thinking.
..Turn - Describes the turn action and thinking.
..River - Describes the river action and thinking.
..Outcome - Describes in a single sentence the outcome of the hand.
....Actually this section does not exist -- BUT IT SHOULD!!!!

Immediately following the title of each hand section the pot size is given, making it much easier to follow the action than many books of this type in which you have to keep track of the pot size yourself. Others writing books of this sort - or those reprinting such existing books - would be well advised to adapt to this format. The graphic depicting the table is superior to those you'll see in most books, making it easier to focus on the logic rather than having to keep re-deciphering the table layout. Most of the hands described were successful for the author though some bad beats and questionable decisions are included. I didn't attempt to tabulate the win-loss ratio though I'd expect these players to win many more hands than they lose - my own record in successful vs. unsuccessful tournaments suggests that should be the case.

An index would have been helpful and I hope the authors and publisher will view this as a necessity for the upcoming Volume II. One index I would like to see would be based on the type of hands (i.e. "Top two pair with flush draw on the board").

I've come to believe that anything Matthew Hilger, the publisher, is involved in is to be respected. This volume only reinforces that belief.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone willing to take the time to read it carefully and think about the hands. Seeing the logic explained so coherently will certainly improve your tournament play. I'd also recommend for those who do purchase the book that they read it with notepad in hand and that as they progress through the book they create their own indexes of the type I mentioned above. Read it to learn, create the index to turn it into a valuable reference.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three pros breaking down the game, July 28, 2008

By 

Paul Myers "mindreader" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I (Paperback)

I just finished this book up last week...first thought is what an easy read. The book really moves through and organizes everything well.

Rizen and Pearljammer are a good contrast since Rizen is a looser player while Pearljammer seemingly makes some impossible laydowns. The best part of this book is that it goes through the thought processes that true pros go through during a hand. It really helps you out when you're thinking through a hand in a tournament.

I thoroughly enjoyed the organization of the breakdown on the thought processes. It shows you what they were thinking during the setup, pre-flop, flop, turn, and river individually. It also updates the pot size accordingly, which most books I have read in the past do not.

"One hand at a Time" was a great read, very informative, and actually has improved my tournament play already. I would highly recommend adding it to your collection as soon as possible.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid ABC Poker, December 23, 2008

By 

G. Wardlaw (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I (Paperback)

This is a good book. I guess it reaches a market of poker players who are not watching online training videos - because this really is just a written text version.

The three authors each explain their thinking pre-flop/ post-flop/ turn/ river, for real hands they played online (194 in total).

Essentially, the book is a demonstration in ABC poker - including continuation betting, the odd bit of stealing, and way less bluffing than most poker players think must be used.

This book would introduce a number of new concepts to less experienced players (like reads, puting your opposition on a range, playing the player, considering stack sizes/tourney stage, table image, etc..)

For me it was re-inforement of good solid poker play.

Each hand is laid-out well with logical explaination of their actions on each street - and also includes the result (which does not always go in favour of the hero).

Note that this book only covers hands up to near the bubble of a MTT. A planned 2nd issue will cover hands played during the money to final table stages of a MTT.