Thursday, October 27, 2005

Book Review: "Ace on the River"

Limit hold 'em is about playing your hand; no limit is about playing your opponents' hands, says Barry Greenstein in his book, "Ace on the River."

Made like a coffee table book, with glossy pages and hundreds of colorful photos, "Ace on the River" reads like a life guide for a poker player. Originally written as a chapter for Doyle Brunson's "Super System 2," Greenstein's book spends a lot of time examining the psychological and philosophical underpinnings of winning poker. It's only in the last third of the book does Greenstein discuss hand analysis and specific strategies.

And perhaps that's the beauty of it. This book, although written for "advanced players," could be picked up at any chapter by anyone. You don't need to know anything about poker to learn about mental toughness, the dangers of gambling and the difficulties of balancing the greedy pursuit of money with self-fulfillment.

The abstract discussion puts readers in the right mindset to play poker thoughtfully and successfully. The strategy section offers real value when you're sitting at the poker table.

The strategies are laid out in a series of hand examples, with photo illustrations showing hole cards, chip counts and pot sizes at various stages of a no limit tournament. Greenstein encourages readers to come up with their own answer to the problem before turning the page and finding the solution.

He discusses bet sizes, the luck factor of tournaments, making bluffs and leveraging your chips. His analysis of the move-in zone (when a player is getting dangerously low on chips as the blinds are escalating) is fairly elementary, but it's always good to hear advice about tournament fundamentals repeated by a pro.

I agree with almost everything in the book, except for a few things.

_In a limit hold 'em hand example, Greenstein cold calls a button raise with A2 suited. He then proceeds to check-raise the flop when the A pairs, bet the turn and bet the river. The river bet is an important value bet even though he may be outkicked. I agree with that. I'm not sure it's such a good idea to cold call with A2 suited from the small blind. I would be more inclined to raise or fold.

_In a quiz about what kind of world views are needed to be a successful poker player, Greenstein says it's wrong to know the value of the dollar. I understand his point that money at the poker table should be viewed more as a tool to an end than an instrument for commercial purchasing power. But I believe there's a balance, that everything needs to be kept in perspective in terms of money. If you don't know the value of the dollar, that increases the likelihood that you will burn money away because it doesn't mean much to you.

_In a no limit hand example, Greenstein suggests some kind of fancy raising when he hits top pair K on the turn despite a pair of 10s on the board. Author David Sklansky took issue with this move a couple of months ago in this 2+2 Magazine article. Sklansky suggests checking the turn and calling a sizable river bet.

The main failing of "Ace on the River" is that it doesn't break much new ground. But perhaps it wasn't meant to.

The strength of this book is that it expresses ideas in a clear manner that will make almost anyone a better poker player. Its advice is especially valuable to winning players who hope not to make the same mistakes as Greenstein did.

At one point, Greenstein had just given some money to a charity that he had won from poker. Upon receiving the donation, someone remarked that Greenstein must be a rich man. Actually, Greenstein says, he was a negative millionaire at the time. Of course, it all came back.

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