Waiting for Straighters: A Preflop Experiment for No-Limit Holdem and Pot-Limit Omaha

by Tommy Angelo

Waiting for Straighters is about folding before the flop at no-limit holdem and pot-limit Omaha. It merges deep geek strategy with the painless perspective.

52 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2018

About the author

Once, during a poker discussion in Las Vegas, several top strategists were debating how to play pocket kings under the gun. Then Tommy Angelo popped in with “I can tell you the best way to play two kings. Decide in advance that no matter what happens, you won’t go on tilt!”

Insights like that are what drove the popularity of Angelo’s first book, Elements of Poker, a tome highly regarded for its fresh and practical perspectives. Since he began offering coaching in 2004, over one hundred students have paid for his candid advice, wanting more of what they found in his 100 articles and 18 videos.

In 2017, Angelo completed Painless Poker. “I have no words left,” he wrote to his mailing-list fans. "I put them all in here.” Painless Poker combines sections of Angelo’s own history with a fictional poker-coaching seminar featuring seven suffering poker players, in an innovative combination of memoir, fiction, and poker instruction.

When at home in Oakland, California, Angelo writes, cooks, reads, and makes music, as part of what he calls his “urban monastic lifestyle.” He cohabits with two cats, and Kay, his wife.

Reviews

[Luigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more useful poker books I've read, because it sticks to just one topic, how to win at Texas Holdem using his 'experiment'. Tommy is very clear that this is not a strategy, yet it is one that makes a lot of sense and is a good addition to my game. I've spent the last couple of weeks, using his experimental in low cost MTT's and have cashed in 8 out of 9 tournaments. I only won one of them and it isn't complete on its own because in most cases I was in the middle to low end of the winnings and the big money is usually in the top 3 positions, nevertheless it is a great result. I have yet to try it in cash games. It does have me keen to play for higher stakes when I can make undisturbed time for it. For now I still need to play the experiment with just a little more self control, which I am getting better with, i.e. not playing a hand which would be good on the button but not on the blind. The challenge with most poker books is that they overload you with information and strategies such that you read the book but don't know where to start in using them. Jack of all trades master of none is a losing combination in the competitive game of poker. This is a short simple read, well written and I hope it doesn't become a best seller because I don't want too many other people reading it. Seriously though, this is a great read and I will be looking for more of Tommy's books, but not until after I can master this simple strategy in isolation and add it into my skill set.

[Gregory Sommerville · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zero depth - a complete waste of money

"Preflop, you should prefer hands that can make a straight." There - that's the whole idea. Now you don't need to buy this. Zero depth, math, starting charts, or evidence is offered. Just his opinion, and the opinion of one or two of his friends. Sad.