Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker (D&B Poker Series)

by Jonathan Little

Tournament poker is a tough game to play but the rewards for success can be huge. Even regular online tournaments offer substantial prizes running to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

Jonathan Little, a highly successful poker professional who has won over $4 million in tournament play in just four years, explains exactly how to succeed in this highly competitive field.

 

Playing technically sound poker is crucial but this is far from the only skill necessary.

 

“Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1” deals with the fundamentals of play and how to handle varying stack sizes. It teaches the reader:

 

·        Why  tournaments are the most profitable form of poker

·        When to play small ball and when to play long ball

·        How to understand effective stack size

·        How to tailor your play to winning, not just cashing

 

...plus much more

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2011

Reviews

[Nicholas Gomez]

Before you read this book, understand you must know the basics of poker and more. If you are an average player, with a great understanding of how Texas Hold'Em works, this is will serve as a massive boost to your play.

Information is concise and easy to grasp. There are tons of hand scenarios covered, real-life examples provided, and in depth explanations to clearly understand when and how to apply certain techniques (as well as when NOT TO).

Although this is geared towards Tournament Poker, it works as a boost for a better overall understanding of poker, whether that be cash games, small stakes sit and go's, or otherwise.

It's a quick read with invaluable knowledge to take from.

[Jim]

This book made me think about my poker tournament game a little different. Not so much on odds and outs as much about calculated risks, thinking several steps ahead, constantly calculating the number of blinds. Some of this advice and foundation was necessary and general. I put this book to good use recently, i was a little rusty from not playing and i sat at a table of Pro’s and held my own for many many hours.

[Alexander Kang]

Solid advice, great place to start for beginners

This is a great book if you're just starting off. Good reminders for those that have been playing. It's definitely one that should stand the test of time.

[Tom Stamper]

I picked this up because I wanted to play in a 100,000 guaranteed tournament, and as a cash game player I wanted a refresher on the important differences between the two formats. With Little I was given a primer in how to play tournaments by choosing positive expected value plays. This is a concept that I was aware of, but Little breaks it down into situations according to your stack size versus the size of the blinds. It requires you to pay attention to every action at the table even in hands you aren't playing. You need to watch whether your competition is playing a loose or tight, passive or aggressive style. Then you take that range and compare it to your own hand and decide whether to play back at someone. If you haven't played a lot of casino poker this will be overwhelming. I remember being confused the first time I read Sklansky because so many poker concepts take experience at the table to begin to understand.

Here Little provides formulas that show your Expected Value by adding equity in the hand versus fold equity you will get by raising. It's a style that creates a lot of variance but will make you more final tables and thus more money than playing it safe and min cashing. And thus you are going to need a big enough bankroll to allow for the variance. One thing the book did for me is get me off a notion I read years ago that said you can't win a poker tournament early but you can lose it early. In the long run we all blind out and our only hope is positive expected value opportunities. It's the lesson you should take into any tourney.

[Al]

A masterpiece for learning how professionals actually play poker and how you should play the same.

[Yves]

Jonathan Little is a calm, organized, and controlled poker player with solid results that allow his books to be taken seriously. Volume one covers tournament poker fundamentals and how to take chips stack sizes into consideration when playing certain hands. Stack size considerations is usually a new concept to amateur poker players (it was to me) so this book was a significant step forward skill-wise for me.

I would recommend this book to anyone to improve their poker game and wanting to play in (serious) poker tournaments. As good if not better than the Harrington series of tournament poker books that I read as well which allowed me to cash in a World Poker Tour Paris 2011. Jonathan Little's books helped directly in a very tough tournament I played in Manchester 08/2013 when I played in a 169 player 400 pound buy-in tournament where I had at my table Sam Trickett, arguably one of the best poker players in the world. Jonathan Little's books gave me the knowledge to make it to day 2 of the event, finishing 25th.

[Petr Herold]

V podstatě je to bible každého pokerového hráče. Informace pokryté v této knize by měl ovládat každý dobrý hráč a já sám jsem si uvědomil pár důležitých věcí. Kniha jako taková je to dobrá a docela dobře se čte, ale musím vytknout, že je autor občas schopný na jedné stránce 2x či 3x zopakovat jednu a tu samou informaci. Docela mě štvalo i české zpracování - překlepy, zbytečné gramatické chyby atd.
Takže za obsah 4* a za českou lokalizaci 3* (je to první kniha vydavatelství Poker Publishing).