I read Sklansy's tournament book yesterday. Today I went back and read some of the parts again (how sad that I read the whole book the day I get it and then read it again the next day, considering that I never read more than 2 chapters of my text books the entire semester when I was in college.)
Anyhow, while I agree with him on a lot of the material, I came to the hand quiz part and I think he must have been huffing paint or something when he came up with hand #33. Here is the scenerio he presents.
"It is the middle of a LIMIT holdem tournament. No one is on a short stack. Three people limp in and you call in the SB with Td9d.
FLOP Ad 7h 6s
Should you come out betting?
The next situation he presents is similar where you have Td9d in the big blind an EP raiser with 3 calls in front of you and you call from the BB.
same Flop Ad 7h 6s
Should you bet?
The way Slansky does things, I think he would suggest a bet. He is obsessed with the idea of always reacting to potential pot odds, and eventual winning %.
I think he would bet because he expects someone behind him to raise, knocking out the other 2 players, increasing both the odds he gets for his money, AND his winning %.
Then again I've read Slansky where he says to fold A10 With an Axx flop without even checking, if there are 5 people in the pot and you have to act first.
But I think in this case, since you are on a draw, he would suggest a bet, expecting a raise behind you. That's my guess.
I've read three of sklanky's books as well as super system and some others that dont even deserve to be mentioned and my personal opinion is that while you can definetly learn from all of the books written about "hold-em" the reality is that you learn by doing. "Repitition is the mother of skill". I learned that at my first job and it still is true today 12 years later. You may not know me and may think who the hell am I but I have been playing and winning online and in live games for about two years now. I have found that my ability to win is based on actual play at tables and not from reading.
My point is regardless of what book you read or what style you practice, poker especially hold em is a basic game. If you have the natural ability of being half mathmatician and half hustler you can be a great player, if you dont have those skillz quit now or it will be a painful life for you, at least as far as hold-em concearned.
It was 1875 in Dodge City...all the fast gunslingers had come to town for the annual fast draw competition...they were all there, Hickok, Billy the Kid, Johnny Ringo, Hardin, Wyatt,the RifleMan, Holiday, Luke Short, Annie Oakley, others... Any one of them on a good day could be the best for THAT day... Hickok had been on a bad run lately, but had been surviving, the Rifleman also had been getting some bad breaks but hanging on...The Kid had been on a tear, as had Ringo...the others so so. (NL cash game, all the top names had been playing for 3 hours straight, Doyle was down to 1/3 of his buy in, TJ was getting low stacked, meanwhile Stu was running hot as all his bluffs were working and he was hitting his flush draws like it was unreal. Helmuth was bullying the table also, and catching unbelievable sets on the flop. Ivey, Lederher, Annie Duke and MoneyMaker were holding their own)
Suddenly, everything started to click for Hickok, he outdrew Hardin and Short with both hands, putting them both out with his ivory handled Colts. The Rifleman fired off 6 quick shots with his 44-40 into the bunched up Oakley, Ringo and Wyatt, putting them out. The Kid and Holliday had it out and they were both so dam fast, they put each other out. (Doyle limped in with pocket 2’s and so there were 2 other people in the pot, w/ their AJ, AKo... flop came A22, Hellmuth went all in with his AJ, Lederher stared at him for 17 minutes then called with his AK and Doyle came on in...taking it all down...
Next hand,
TJ slowplayed his AA, Annie Duke raised 3X BB with her KcQc, Ivey called with his JJ,
MoneyMaker came in w/ his 45hearts...TJ called... flop came Ah, Jc, 2h... TJ immediately checks, Annie raises the pot w/ her strt draw, Ivey calls... MoneyMaker? ha, are you kidding? goes all in. TJ goes all in, Annie being short stacked now goes in, Ivey also. Turn 8c, ... River, the 3 of hearts?
No, MM’s luck ran out... the last Ace. TJ pulls it all in.
Hickok and the Rifleman KNEW they’d had a good run suddenly and didn’t want to push it, they left the competition and went to the Soiled Dove Saloon for libation and “other” recreation. All the others fought it out till Holiday and his luck came back and he once again survived and won it all...even though he WASN”T the best. (Doyle and TJ left the game, knowing that when you’ve been on a long drought of bad cards and bad beats and suddenly come back in a single session, it’s time to take a break and be glad you’re leaving even. They remembered how many times they’d come back and gotten a bit ahead, thought about quitting, but kept playing tired, only to lose it all back, then cursed themselves for having kept playing. Stu went on to win all the cash...only to self destruct a week later...Annie was just happy to go back to her real treasure, her kids. MoneyMaker quit his accounting job and started giving lessons on how to play the river.)
(Hickok’s gone for the Summer, may you all get the Holy Absolute Nuts at least 5 times while i’m gone... “En Vino Veritas”)
