First time reading a poker book and utterly fascinating. I had a lot of fun with this - working through the problems and getting almost every one of them wrong. This really helped me appreciate how complex poker is.

This is, by far, the best poker book I've ever read. It's well written, very informative, and contains many example hands to show exactly how different scenarios should be played. The important thing here isn't just how to play - it's WHY to play a certain way. And he tells you in very straightforward fashion.

A must for any poker fan unless I'm playing against you.

This was incredibly informational. I've always like playing poker with the guys and have held my own in the past. With the massive explosion in Texas Hold'em's popularity, that has become the game of choice of my friends.

A friend, who is known as one of the best players in our group, mentioned these two books by Dan Harrington. If you got caught up in the ESPN WSOP telecasts with the infamous Chris Moneymaker winning, you may have seen Dan at the final table and described as one of the better overall players. His credentials do speak for themselves. He has a similar style to mine, more conservative and let the game come to him. I truly enjoyed this first book. It is really a 4.5 starts, but only one item is missing for me.

He starts with the basics of the game and what are "good" hands (of your two hole cards) and what are "bad" hands that people think are good. Then discusses betting patterns and the process to systematically win more chips (not necessarily pots) than lose chips over time in a game, tournament, or just in a fun evening.

He goes from Hands, positioning, identifying player-styles, stack size, and tendencies. It is a bit overwhelming to the novice player, but then he takes each of these in bite-sized portions to explain the strategy/philosophy. Very intriguing.

Then he gets into examples/problems of different hand combinations. He goes through this with initial cards (before the flop) and then after the flop on 4th street (turn) and 5th street (river). It is outstanding instruction.

The only thing missing is how to play against/set up different playing styles. I'm not a fan of playing with the very aggressive bettors, so I'd like more knowledge about that (hence the 4.5 stars). There is a Volume II, which I also own, and will be reading soon. He also had references a ton of other poker books out there.

Thanks to Dan Harrington for putting much of his knowledge (I'm sure not nearly everything he knows) into an instructional format. Good luck to every player and give this book a try.

A gd book to pick up fundamentals in tournament poker from.

Harrington forgot more about poker this morning before breakfast than I will ever know.

Definitely a solid book. Probably best when used as a follow up to Sklansky's Theory of Poker and Tournament Edition for Advanced Players.

If you play tournament No Limit Holdem, this is an important book to read and to understand. I think the easiest concepts in Holdem to learn is pre-flop strategy, which is covered in detail in here. Don't get me wrong, the strategy is generic and depending on the players, your personal table strategy could change. But this book covers a lot of basic and advanced strategy for tournament play.

If you play tournament Holdem on a semi regular basis, this is a good book to read.

Best no limit tournament poker books ever.

No me lo he acabado en esta segunda lectura. La verdad es que está bastante anticuado en comparación a los métodos actuales para aprender a jugar bien al póker.

Harrington's strategy is a little too tight for my taste, but good advice to avoid trouble as a beginner.

Well yes, I'm part of the poker craze, and yes I read up on my addiction. If you think poker is another gambling wasteland, then read this book. You'll learn how academic the game really is. Calculating odds, weighing risk vs. reward, and earning as much as possible are some of the topics. Sounds more like a business class than a poker book. If you do play poker, read it! You'll play better in tourney's immediately.

Outdated for 2020. But good fundamentals are covered