PF: 3B=ATo, CAI=ATo

If you find the title of this column puzzling, keep reading. In fact, even if you don’t find it puzzling, keep reading. I usually have one of a few reactions when I read a poker book. The most common is that it isn’t a very good book. This includes books that contain a lot of mistakes or seem to get some important things wrong.

Whenever I finish one, I’m happy I didn’t write it. It is possible to learn something from these books, however. They may present an occasional good idea or new concept, or perhaps just the process of diagnosing why their advice is bad can make them beneficial.

More interesting are the good books. They generally get things right and often present some good ideas. When I finish one of them, I often think of it as a lost opportunity — that I easily could have written that book.

The really great books, though, are different. I agree with what they say, but more importantly, they provide a wealth of new information. When I come across one of these books, my reaction is to wish that I had known what it contains long before it was written. If I had been one of the few to know and apply its recommendations, my results would have been a lot better. I realize that I have been operating at a big disadvantage, not knowing and applying the information that it contains. Harrington on Online Cash Games, by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie, is that type of book.

There is no doubt in my mind that my online results have been significantly worse than they would have been if I had read this book five years ago. (Of course, that would have been hard to do, since it was only recently published.)

Dan and Bill begin with a summary of a sensible online strategy. They also emphasize the fact that anyone who is serious about learning poker should begin online. They state, “Online poker is the best training venue ever devised. You can start for incredibly small stakes, play hundreds of thousands of hands, analyze your play along the way …” There are certain tools available to the online player that are not available to the live player. Probably the most important of these are the tracking software and the ability to take notes.

The book carefully describes the ways to use tracking software to maximize your advantage and to examine your own play. I have never used it, but now I am starting to follow some of the book’s recommendations for the sensible use of software. There is a ton of good information about what various stats [statistics] mean on their own, and how they can be viewed in combination with other stats to provide an accurate profile of your opponents and their tendencies.

You might think that using this software replaces the need for taking notes. Certainly, many of the notes that I have routinely taken can be replaced by the software. But there are other crucial items that Dan thinks should be the subject of notes. Since space is precious, he recommends simple abbreviations for you to use.

The cryptic title of this column is the recommended note for a player who preflop three-bets with A-10 offsuit and then calls an all-in reraise. There are other recommendations, as well.

Dan and Bill present some insights into the pros and cons of multitabling [playing multiple tables simultaneously]. They also provide very detailed and thoughtful coverage of using ranges. They discuss typical types of players and their ranges.

They also provide information to show how specific hands stack up against the likely range of hands that an opponent will have.

I could continue to describe all of the good things about this book, but if I say too much, you’ll start to think that Dan or the publisher has paid me off. I will simply conclude by saying that any reasonably serious online player who doesn’t get this book will be doing himself a huge disservice. The book will make it more likely for you to take advantage of your opponents’ mistakes and patterns, which will enable you to win. It also will help you improve your skills and plug the leaks in your game. ♠

Steve “Zee” Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. He usually spends much of the fall hanging out in his bars on Avenue A — Nice Guy Eddie’s and The Library near Houston, and Doc Holliday’s at 9th Street — in New York City.