Reading Harrington’s Original Books

[sammy22]

Hello everyone,

Is it a complete waste of time reading Harrington’s original volumes on tournament poker?

Basically a novice tournament player over here, I have his original books and wondering if studying them will help me be competitive in todays tournaments.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MemphisGrind]

Hello everyone,

Is it a complete waste of time reading Harrington’s original volumes on tournament poker?

Basically a novice tournament player over here, I have his original books and wondering if studying them will help me be competitive in todays tournaments.

Thanks in advance!

So here is my .02

You can read and invest your time into anything, and you will find a mix of both helpful information and also some stuff that is outdated or just not good information overall. That being said, it is the great part about studying being able to understand what is and isn't relevant. You take the information and understand the value in it, and make the decision whether or not it is valuable information.

I have never read any of those books, So I don't know if it's old information or still relevant in today's game. However, I'm sure there is something valuable in there. If you have the time going through information even old and outdated you can find stuff that will help. Some of the best lines and strategies are hybrids based upon multiple strategies.

So even though you don't want to follow strategies to the T because everyone knows those strategies and how to exploit them, you can use parts of the info. to form your best strategy.

 

[sammy22]

Thanks so much for your response....and I really appreciate it.

Everything you said makes a lot of sense, and I understand what you’re saying.

The problem I’m having is, without having a lot of experience and being somewhat new to tournament play, how do I know which info/advice is outdated...good...bad...relevant...etc?

 

[MemphisGrind]

Honest answer you might not.. Best solution. After studying post a scenario or specific question about something you learned and find out if it's relevant. It can be practiced and tested as well.

The way I fixed leaks was recording EVERY hand I lost and figuring out if it was something I did wrong. If yes, I work hard to find out what I could have done differently. If no, I'm happy I made the correct decision and trust Math. I wish I would have done this earlier in my poker journey. I would have saved myself a lot of money.

 

[sammy22]

Thanks so much for the great advice....I really appreciate it!

 

[Poker_Mike]

Hello everyone,

Is it a complete waste of time reading Harrington’s original volumes on tournament poker?

Basically a novice tournament player over here, I have his original books and wondering if studying them will help me be competitive in todays tournaments.

Thanks in advance!

I really like Memphis' answer.

If I were you I would start with reading the most recently published Tournament (only) books and work your way backwards in publishing dates.

It might take you a few months or so of playing tournies to see for yourself what is useful and maybe even what the author is even talking about. Ex. a chapter on bubble play but you haven't made it that deep much to see how that works.

I always tell people that they don't have to read a tournament poker book from cover-to-cover. Flip through the table of contents and see what chapters catch your eye.

Good luck !

 

[RocwX]

I've read one of Harrington's books years ago and it was very insightful for me back then. I was just starting to learn the theory behind poker and the book was a solid start. Even though it is a bit outdated for major tournaments with professional players, it's perfectly fine for playing small stakes. After you feel like you have dominated the basics, you can look into more advanced books like Matthew Janda's Applications of No Limit Hold'em, which is a very technical book and could give you the knowledge you need to start catching up with the pros.

 

[sammy22]

I've read one of Harrington's books years ago and it was very insightful for me back then. I was just starting to learn the theory behind poker and the book was a solid start. Even though it is a bit outdated for major tournaments with professional players, it's perfectly fine for playing small stakes. After you feel like you have dominated the basics, you can look into more advanced books like Matthew Janda's Applications of No Limit Hold'em, which is a very technical book and could give you the knowledge you need to start catching up with the pros.

Do you remember which Harrington book it was? Was it one of his original books from 2005 or his more modern book from 2014?

 

[RocwX]

Do you remember which Harrington book it was? Was it one of his original books from 2005 or his more modern book from 2014?

It was Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1, published in 2004. I didn't even know he had a more recent book.

 

[sammy22]

It was Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1, published in 2004. I didn't even know he had a more recent book.

He came out with a revised book in 2014....but most players I’ve talked to still recommend his original series of books over this one.

 

[okeedokalee]

I got Vol 3 out of the library and am working through a few exercises, it is a good starting place for you. Gives a good grounding for novice players.
There is a fair bit on the net once you have the basics.