Poker Book Review: Making the Final Table by Erick Lindgren

Lindgren became prominent on the WPT by winning a couple of tournaments and making several final tables, beating the likes of Daniel Negreanu. A good looking young man with humility and manners is something of a rarity on the tour and guys like Josh Ariah, and Scott Fischman could take multiple lessons from.

Another book from the World Poker Tour think tank, and thank God this one is much better. Erick may be a young professional but has proven himself on the WPT and internet play as well. One of the new faces of poker that is just as succesful online as in live play. This is interesting to be sure, because such a viewpoint has to be valid as half the field of 5000+ WSOP contestants are internet qualifiers now.

The style Erick Lindgren talks about in this book is Loose-Agressive. "I like to play a lot of pots". In the fashion of Negreanu, Ivey, Raymer, and Fishman it is a "get ahead or get out" philosophy. Erick talks about consistent raising from most positions to help disguise your hands and will loosely raise 76s the same way he raises KK.

As this style works for several pros, it must be said, that not all of them use it - Harrington, Hellmuth and Ferguson among them. And let me tell you from personal experience that doing this in a 800 player 20 buck tourney online is a sure way to a quick bedtime. Suffice to say that it works for some with exceptional skill and reading ability. but for the rest of us, Erick, unfortunately does not get into enough detail for anyone to parlay his strategy into success on thier own. Further, a good chunk of this material is quite basic - ie. accumualte chips - don't just survive, which has been written before and in better prose.

More of an, "How I did it" rather than a "How you can do it", this book does otherwise offer some easy and entertiaing reading mixed with some completely useless gibberish about how to manage your million from the WPT! Good for Erick that he has yet another source of income, but I feel he is holding back the goods.

by Marty Smith @ PokerStrategyArticles.com

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