Ed Recommends: Winning in Tough Hold ‘em Games

Ed,

I have already started to read the book, but I’ll take your advice and skip to the hands section.

I have been playing 6-max for a while now but my results have been disappointing. I realize I must have some major leaks in my game, and certainly in my blind play. I hope this book can help me turn that around as the game just isn’t as much fun if it isn’t profitable.

I’ve been wondering how useful the concepts in this book will be for people playing lower limits–say $5/10 and under. He’s beating the $300/600 game, but he makes adjustments when he moves down to $1/2, $5/10 etc. in his videos.

It’s so nice to have a book focused on short-handed. I don’t doubt for a second that reading his book will be great for anyone playing at any limits, but I wonder if following the concepts in his book will maximize profits at the lower limits, how much of what he teaches is more relevant at $300/600 than it is at $3/6 etc?

Having read his book, and being familiar with the differences between the high limit and the low limit games, do you have any thoughts on this?

Ed said: “I’ve found that I have two major passions in life: learning new things and teaching them to others.”

Ed, the longer I read this site the more I become conviced that we are alike in many ways. I too spent many hours teaching freshmen in college, just for the love of teaching. In my case it was calculus, physics, and chemistry.

The “those who can’t do, teach” credo exists for a reason. There are indeed many teachers out there who fit it. These teachers are OK for the average student who wants to learn a little bit about a subject but doesn’t really want to do any hard work.

But as soon a “real” student comes along, someone who has real interest, who works hard and asks the tough questions, this kind of teacher falls short. If they are honest enough to answer “I don’t know” when they get asked the hard questions, then it’s not so bad. Unfortunately though, too often they just spew out anything that sounds good to try to hide their ignorance. The good student will eventually figure things out, but it takes a while and valuable time is unfortunately wasted.

Ed, your passion for poker and your passion for teaching are the things that make this site what it is. I intend to keep reading for as long as you keep blogging!

Ordering mine right now Can’t wait to read this one; I’ve been really impressed by his limit hold’em videos. There seems to be a couple of potentially interesting limit books coming out soon from db publishing as well. I’m glad to see that poker books, especially limit books are becoming alot more specialized, straying away from general strategy books and focusing more on specific aspects of the game or game types.

I don’t have the book yet, but I’m definitely going to buy it, but I feel like it’s a must-buy book for any aspiring limit player.

I’m still climbing the first yards of the learning hill, but it’s already quite clear to me that the first real hurdle is the shift from loose/passive micro limit games to the bit larger limits where the games are either tighter (at the full table) and/or much more aggressive (short handed). Most of what’s learned in the first phase (playing tightly, understanding odds and protecting hands, not making “big laydowns” against loose players etc) is still relevant, but if you slip into the weak-tight zone, you’re going to get crushed, in short handed games especially.

For me, personally, one of the most important point is to avoid the “I know the basics now, I’m just going to keep playing” trap. Playing is an important part of learning, but it’s not nearly enough. (So long as you don’t make any significant money..) whether you are winning or losing currently is somewhat irrelevant. Losing might be a sign of leaks and winning might be a sign that you’re doing something right, but then again it might not.

All that really matters is whether you are making the right decisions. You can’t judge that only how your hands went down. You have to have a much broader look at the game. That’s what I’m looking forward for this book to give me. A step in the long learning process.

The book just arrived in my mailbox this morning. I can’t wait to read it.

[...] Stoxtrader’s excellent new book Winning in Tough Hold’em Games, he floats 60% as a rough estimate of how many hands you should call a steal-raise with. That [...]

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