Championship Tournament Poker - Tom McEvoy

I don't know who this book is supposed to be for. Certainly not someone who wants to learn any of the featured games. It's assumed you already know the games well. Certainly not anyone already playing much tournament poker. Perhaps the delusional player who is just starting to play in tournaments and wants to play in every available event at once. The book is just silly. There are a grand total of 20 pages on no-limit hold 'em for example, and most of those are repetative. In other words, Tom easily could have put 10 pages that say the same thing into the fine book he co-wrote with T.J. Cloutier.

The "advice" mostly consists of Tom rephrasing the very problem you probably wanted answered. In the brief section on strategic concepts, for instance, Tom repeats in several different sections the need to stay calm and guard against making errors based on personal dislike of an opponent. He says things like take a deep breath after a bad beat (well, duh!). What he doesn't say, are things like how to adjust your play if you've got a very aggressive player to your immediate left (which is useful to know).

He says things like "The champions know when to push a marginal hand and when to back away from it," but makes no attempt to try to quantify how or when they know this. So it isn't very helpful. The chapter on playing poker as a business is probably useful, except it's only useful if you're good in the first place and if you are you aren't reading this book, you're saving your $30 and playin poker with it. There are much better books out there and unless you are going to run right out and enter tournaments in every event, pick up a book that deals with the game in which you want to excel and stick to that. The stuff in here you can find in articles on-line, or figure out playing poker on-line.

J. Fuchs "jax76" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews



How To Win No Limit Holdem Tournaments

Of the 10-15 poker books I have purchased, this is easily the biggest waste of money. The practice questions were fit for a 3rd grader and I can honestly say I leared less than nothing. I take that back, I learned that I know a little about poker already.

Save your money, purchase dan harringtons books instead.

Russell Hull - See all my reviews

Marty Smith adds: I scanned through this book without buying it because it is another blatant cash grab for newbies to the poker world. I decided not to reward the publishers in thier ongoing fleecing operation. There is no way you are going to see a quality writers name like Harrington, Vorhaus, and Gordon on a book remotely this bad.

Poker Book Review: Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold'em by TJ Cloutier and Tom McEvoy

I purchased this book because it's one of the few that discusses specific strategy in No-Limit tournaments (it also addresses Pot-Limit Hold'em, but I don't really know how many people use that style for Hold'em... Omaha and Stud, maybe, but not Hold'em, usually). Now, before you all buy it as the definitive guide to winning your buddy's weekend $15 buy-ins, just be aware that this book is addressing high-stakes tournaments against tough opponents who are thinking the same way you do. Most home games involve people who want to gamble and have fun. This book isn't for those kinds of games.

The book turned me off at first. Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier spend many pages talking about their wonderful careers and, as great as they may be, I'll buy a biography if I really want to know. Eventually, they get to the good stuff. Now, they continue to throw in personal experiences, which work a lot better as examples of strategies rather than "look at me I'm great" chapters.

Cloutier is a very tight tournament player, a style used by many players because it works. Because of this, he only goes into detail about playing premium hands: AK, AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, and KQ. He doesn't bother much with other hands that most people play because he doesn't feel that they hold much value when the betting gets so high. This might seem a little narrow-minded, but Cloutier does such a good job breaking down how to play each hand that you won't even notice. If you don't know how to play any of the above hands after reading this book, then you have problems.

Unfortunately, some of the other sections involve a lot of, "oh, this is real important", but how to do it is never addressed. For instance, Cloutier stresses over and over again how important it is to "read" your opponents and pick up on their tendencies so that, when they raise, you know exactly what they have. However, he never really explains how to do this. No tips or anything, just "hey, make sure you observe your opponents". I think we all know this, but we need guidance as to what the best approach is to gaining this information. Many hands never make it to a showdown, so you need other methods of reading players. My assumption is that you can either do this naturally, or you can't. Cloutier can, and very, very well.

One good thing Cloutier does is keep a strong, consistent theme throughout his section, emphasizing the need to protect and build your chips over time, not in one hand. Amateur players seem to have a hard time understanding this, instead they try to double up every time they get a half-decent hand. Cloutier's super-tight style might be a turn off to some, but he shows you why it works. You don't have to follow it, but you can't argue with the results.

Overall, definitely pick up this book if you plan on playing in tough tournaments. It's a hit-or-miss style that many people won't find particularly interesting, but those who want to play at a high level will find the advice invaluable.

M. Lenhart "yeltzen" Pittsburgh

Related Links
Phil Gordon
Dan Harrington
Phil Hellmuth
John Vorhaus