Championship Hold'em Tournament Hands: Championship Strategies at Limit and No-Limit Hold'em! Paperback – February 1, 2005

I first heard about this book when I read Jim MacManus's Positively Fifth Street last summer. By the time that I finished, the manual was out-of-print, but it has since been reissued. Its re-release is most likely due to the Hold'em craze, but, I believe, that its excellence made it difficult for its publishers to ignore.Overall, I'd place this one right behind Doyle's Super System, Number 1, in terms of educational and helpful works concerning tournament poker. I know this to be the case because I just returned from Vegas two days ago and finished reading it during my plane flight over. Championship... was fresh in my mind during the games that I played on vacation.I signed up twice for the 30 dollar, 30 person daily tournament at the Mandalay Bay. The first day that I attended, I wound up making it to the final table and finishing seventh--two spots out of the money. I had enough chips to allow me to coast to third or fourth place but, when Big Slick, a King/Ace of Hearts, fell into my hands, I had the sensation of hearing T.J. Cloutier whisper into my ears, "This is exactly what I meant."My mind immediately scanned back to page 299 where he states that what you do with Big Slick, and how you play when the other player holds it, makes or breaks you during tournaments. Here, Cloutier shares that it is also known as "Walking Back to Houston" as it has so often broken the players who held it. I knew that folding it would have been cowardice--particular with three spots vacant at the table.The flop fell three suited and A, 8, K. I had two Aces and two Kings. The guy across from me went all in with a few more chips than me. I followed suit. He didn't bet before the flop and I thought he had two 8s or a small pair going in. I was wrong. He had J, 10. When I turned my cards over, the table gasped. I had him, until a Queen fell on the River and he made a straight. It was I who was walking back to Houston. I dragged my way back to the Tropicana in a haze, but T.J. was right, Big Slick would have made or finished my tournament.That's the way the book is though. It is a play-by-play analysis of what one should be doing during tournament Hold'em play and I thought it incredibly valuable. It's much better than the Sklansky books as it's not as tight and I found it to be infinitely more realistic. It adapts to the changing conditions of play.Another thing I'd like to mention is that Tom McEvoy has to be one of the most underrated of all the pros. You know, he won the World Series of Poker back in 1983 but he is not given any coverage by ESPN. He really deserves an expose. Tom's point of view is quite valuable and I enjoyed the insights he shared, independent of T.J.'s. I have to state that the book is worth the money that you'll pay. If you want to save a few bucks, it's available from the Amazon z shops. All the buyers that I've made purchases from have been reliable.

Firstly, I have to say that the credentials of the authors are absolutely unquestionable. Each author has had a very illustrious career playing tournament poker. However, the effort to translate their experience and knowledge to the written page has met with limited success. There are several key issues which prevent me from giving this book a higher rating:(a) They combine limit and no limit hold 'em into a single volume - limit and no limit are completely different games and to cram them both into a single book demonstrates lack of foresight. It is possible much of the audience will only ever read half the book(b) Very little of the book is devoted to outlining the different strategic considerations between cash games and tournaments. In tournament poker, it is critical to consider your stack size relative to other stacks as well as your stack size relative to the blinds. Playing Ace-King in a deep stack situation is very different to playing Ace-King in a shallow stack situation.(c) Cloutier and McEvoy advocate a very conservative style. Whilst the book is meant to be a guide to how they play poker, I still think it is important to consider alternative styles of playing. For example, they advocate always checking Ace-King when the player has missed the flop. However suppose you play an aggressive brand of poker and you are acting behing a single, conservative opponent who has checked the flop. In this case a bet may be warranted. Subtle nuances like this are not discussed in sufficient detail.(d) Some of the hand discussion is outright poor. For example, the treatment of middle pairs is very shallow. The book basically says "if there is any heat, get out". It doesn't discuss important issues such as position, texture of the flop and so forth.At the end of the book there is a discussion of key hands from the World Series of Poker which I did enjoy. Overall, the book does provide some very solid advice but its primary drawback is that it takes a "cookie cutter" approach and doesn't discuss many of the subtleties of the game.

One of 3 books on poker I bought. Good read and very comprehensive. Would recommend it to anyone. Its got something for everyone. I've started playing online in the last two months and its been really helpful. You can dip and choose from sections, or just read it cover to cover. Good examples and well laid out. This book will improve your poker playing.

I really enjoyed Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em and was looking forward to reading this book. The book is about 1/2 limit hold'em hands and 1/2 no-limit hold'em hands. The no-limit hold'em hands are the same as the material presented in Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em. So if you are looking for different material on no-limit, this book is not it. It also contains actual hands played from many different WSOP championships, which are interesting. It's a good book, just not much different from Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em.

This could be a good beginners book. The layout and presentation is easy to read. The text is big and you can read through this book rather fast. It will teach you hand rankings and how to play certain hands in different situations. Unfortunately it's a big basic if you have been playing for some time and won't find too much new information here.

Good format. It is in an easy readable format to follow. I beleive its for the medium to advanced player. You need to have a working knowledge of the game. I have read many hold'em books and found this book to be the most sound. His approach and style are basically conservative, although he touches on the aggressive and super aggressive players. His explanations and reasoning on his methods are stellar and highly analytical. Throughout the entire book you will find buried treasures. You will not be able to put this book down.

having read championship pot and no limit holdem i eagerly awaited the arrival of this book.unfortunately this is basically a rehash of that book.there are two sections the first one on limit and one on no limit broken down into analysis of the play of different hands.alas sometimes the informtion in the second section is the same as the first.why waste the space?presumably to make the book a bit thicker.the final chapter deals with hands taken from the wsop and is of more interst although there is not enough there to justify the price.if you are interested in tournaments you should read dan harringtons excellent books instead