Title: “Power Hold’Em Strategy”
Author: Daniel Negreanu
Facts: “Power Hold’Em Strategy” has 504 pages and features contributions by Daniel Negreanu and many younger successful poker players. It can be bought from Amazon in 2 formats and editions, with the paperback version costing $23.54.
About The Author
Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu is listed as the author but this 500-page text also features contributions made by Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Erick Lindgren, David Williams and Evelyn Ng. All the contributors were in their twenties and thirties when the book was published and they represent a young poker player generation that “Kid Poker” is a huge part of. Negreanu covers over 200 pages of the book though and his contribution cannot be dismissed. Learn more about Daniel here.
Review
“Power Hold’Em Strategy” can be considered as being the Super System of this generation of players, with Negreanu leading the way. Every single contribution is important as it brings us a view of a different professional, all summing up to an entire generation of young poker players that did manage to change the way in which the game is played.
The Big Bet Strategy
Evelyn Ng writes the first chapter. It outlines the really easy Big Bet strategy that is sort of the opposite of Daniel Negreanu’s. The strategy is linked to Negreanu and the advice he offered her when playing the 2003 WPT Ladies’ Night event. It is suitable for beginners as it advocates staying away from really difficult decisions that some find themselves having to deal with post-flop through large bet sizing.
Playing No-Limit Hold’Em Online
This chapter is covered by Erick Lindgren and obviously talks about online poker. You receive advice that is suitable for someone that wants to play poker on the internet from how to recognize betting patterns to the importance of timing tells. A highly useful strategy is offered for taking advantage of short-stackers.
Short-Handed Online No-Limit Hold’em Cash Games
The section is handled by Paul Wasicka. It is the shortest that the book covers but is really well managed. The topics covered include online tilt, meta-game bankroll management and much more.
Mixing It Up
This section, covered by David Williams, also talks about meta-game. The chapter is organized around hand analyses from tournaments and cash games. Context is covered and great pieces of advice for various poker scenarios are offered.
Small Ball
As expected, Daniel’s contribution is lengthy and mainly talks about his favorite way of playing poker: small ball poker. In case you are not aware of this, small ball is right in the middle of strategies when comparing based on aggressiveness. This is a strategy that can easily confuse your opponents when you use it properly.
For many, the small ball part of “Poker Hold’Em Strategy” is a real jewel. When you understand it properly, you gain a new weapon that you can use during online and live play. This style is tough because you remain active and you have to find ways to increase your stack while not taking inordinate risks.
Daniel’s section is very smartly ordered and well-written. It will not focus on tournament stages. All the instructions are based on the 4 betting rounds. Small ball is explained as well as it can be. This is valuable because the strategy is currently used by many poker professionals, especially in deep stack no limit games.
While it may seem weird that a strategy like small ball is featured in a “power poker” book, the deceiving nature of how you play is something that will help you out much more than you may be tempted to believe at first glance.
Conclusions
“Power Hold’Em Strategy” is a really valuable contribution to the poker world, mostly possible because of the hard work that Daniel Negreanu put into developing a nice contribution from many professionals, together with showcasing his small ball poker strategy. If you enjoy poker and you particularly enjoy deep stacks, it is a guarantee you will love the strategy, especially when referring to being able to play more while risking less.