Poker News 
/ Short-Stacked Shamus / 18 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Poor Phil Hellmuth. Despite winning 11 WSOP bracelets, earning more than $11 million in tournaments, and authoring several popular poker strategy titles, everybody's picking on him!
The rise of poker forums over the last decade has provided ample opportunities for many to voice their opposition to Hellmuth's play (not to mention other traits we've come to associate with the "Poker Brat"). Then in 2005 came Kill Phil by Lee Nelson and Blair Rodman, a book specifically designed to teach tournament players counter-strategies to those employed by the Wisconsin native.
Of course, Kill Phil might well be regarded as having acknowledged the effectiveness of Hellmuth's style (and that of other successful tourney players, some also named Phil), insofar as its advice was catered toward amateur players looking for ways to minimize the skill divide between themselves and the top pros. Nevertheless, Kill Phil did strongly suggest there were other ways to win than those recommended by its cover boy.
Now comes a new title which also invites us to question the Hellmuthian approach. To be more precise, this new book co-authored by Dusty Schmidt and Paul Christopher Hoppe does more than simply suggest thinking twice before we choose Hellmuth as a model and/or follow the recommendations of the 11-time champ. Indeed, there's a bit of urgency present in the title, which is really a command: Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth.
Following that asterisk on the cover, one finds the authors not merely dissuading us from listening to Hellmuth, but to cast aside also the advice of "a host of other 'world champs', TV commentators and other self-proclaimed experts" on poker. In other words, as is explained further in the book's introduction, Schmidt and Hoppe focus "on correcting the greatest fallacies of poker" -- those cliché-like aphorisms that over recent years have grown into "bloated edicts" thanks to their having been blindly repeated and followed by countless authors, commentators, and players.
A fundamental premise of Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth, then, is that the game of today has changed markedly even from what was played just a few years ago, making the advice one finds in books like Hellmuth's best-selling Play Poker Like the Pros -- first published in 2003 -- not only outdated but in many cases dangerously misleading.
Both Schmidt and Hoppe are successful and experienced online players, and they admit early on that the instruction their book offers is biased somewhat toward the online game. It should also be noted that the emphasis here is primarily on middle-stakes, no-limit hold'em cash games, although the book contains a lot of worthwhile discussion to benefit those playing lower limits, too, with many instances of the authors distinguishing differences in play among various stakes.
The book is divided into three parts. First comes 50 chapters, each titled with a different "misconception" or much-repeated strategic maxim the pair wishes to challenge. These chapters are where the authors most specifically work to achieve their purpose "to ultimately function as a FactCheck.org or 'Mythbusters' for poker." A second part presents 25 online hands played by Schmidt (ranging from $2/$4 to $10/$20 NLHE), the analyses of which help to apply various advice given in Part 1. The book then concludes with a 60-question multiple-choice quiz designed to test the reader's understanding of the book's many lessons.
Those who pick up Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth will likely recognize most the "misconceptions" under attack here, especially if they've read a strategy book or two before.
A lot of the outmoded or disingenuous pieces of advice the authors condemn tend to endorse absolutes; that is, instructions to players "always" or "never" to act in certain ways: e.g., "Never Leave Your Children Out There," "Always Play Your Draws Aggressively," "Never Bet the Minimum," "Always C-Bet The Same Amount." However, Schmidt and Hoppe don't simply point out the need to avoid such rote thinking at the tables, but explain in detail specific scenarios in which it is better to act in ways that contradict what is being recommended by these old chestnuts. (As the pair point out, "Always beware of sweeping generalizations" -- an acceptable instance of absolute thinking.)
The authors describe much of their advice as perhaps tending toward conservative or tight play (relatively speaking). Thus do they counter suggestions that one necessarily has to have a consistently super-aggro style to succeed in chapters like "Calling Is Weak," "Bring Your Big Guns To A War!" and "The key to No Limit Hold'em is to put a man to a decision for all his chips." However, the authors frequently remind the reader to open up his or her game when circumstances warrant doing so
Some might recognize that latter chapter title as a quote from Brunson's Super/System. Indeed, the authors do occasionally quote their targets directly in Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth, although most of the time the "misconceptions" are so recognizable they needn't be attributed to anyone in particular.
Occasionally Schmidt and Hoppe do not flat out refute the "misconception" but instead add further explanation so as to help clarify its meaning. The chapter with the Brunson quote is a good example of that type of response, actually, in which the authors explain the power and significance of the all-in bet within the context of particular scenarios. Another example comes in the chapter titled "Sell Your Hand" in which they don't really reject the idea of value-betting on the river, but emphasize the need to consider betting more than a small amount if there exists a possibility to get paid off.
Other chapter titles give a good idea of topics covered. Indeed, all one has to do is read titles like "Avoid Tough Decisions," "Raise To Find Out Where You Stand," or "Don't Bluff In Multiway Pots" not as truisms but as "misconceptions" to get an idea of the various kinds of advice contained in the book.
One neat aspect of the book is the way these 50 mostly brief chapters can be read separately. There is a method to the order of their presentation. The earlier chapters mostly deal with preflop issues before moving onto postflop play. Also, the later chapters tend to tackle more complex issues and scenarios, including some discussion of sophisticated bluffs. Still, the chapters each stand alone as well, and thus might players choose to reread a few selected chapters prior to a given session in order to refresh themselves regarding the warnings and recommendations they contain.
The writing is accessible and clear, with the authors communicating effectively throughout even when the concepts being discussed become less simple. The authors also frequently demonstrate a sense of humor with their choice of analogies. For example, in "Do Not Touch My Blinds" they emphasize the need to remember that players posting the blinds have no more inherent right to those chips going forward than do any of the other players. "Think of the pot as a bag of Twinkies in a corpse's house after an apocalyptic disaster," they suggest. Who owned the Twinkies beforehand is of no consequence; all that matters is who is going to get them now.
Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth represents both an inspired idea for a new strategy text as well as a needful supplement to (or rebuttal of) books of the past. With a keen awareness of how today's game has changed, Schmidt and Hoppe have provided a useful guide to players that consciously avoids a lot of the pitfalls of previous poker books, suggesting it may well enjoy a longer shelf life than have some of those earlier, now-outdated titles.
At least until someone convinces us not to listen to them, that is.
For more about Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth, including information on how to order, visit DustySchmidt.net
Poor Phil Hellmuth. Despite winning 11 WSOP bracelets, earning more than $11 million in tournaments, and authoring several popular poker strategy titles, everybody's picking on him! The rise of poker forums over the last decade has provided ample opportunities for...
Federated Sports and Gaming and the Palms Casino Resort have released the full schedule for their upcoming professional poker tour. This will be the first-ever season of the professional poker league and a true test of whether it can compete...
There is a well-known saying that goes along the lines of "if it is not broken, then do not fix it" and basically implies that is something is working well then there is no need to alter anything about it....
No comments:
Post a Comment