T .J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy, championship Holdem,
Poker Plus, 2000
Championship Holdem tries to be a lot. It presents itself as a book aimed at all Holdem players: novices and professionals alike.
That’s a pretty big target. When writing a book, the big targets are much harder to hit than the small ones. It has a strong focus on domination and made-hand-versus-a-draw.
A wide range of players will find the book interesting, but it’s not a book for a rank beginner. The structure is unusual. In some ways it’s an editor’s book.
It has some chapters
written by T.J. Cloutier and written by Tom McEvoy, though most of the book consists of transcripts of conversations between Cloutier and McEvoy.
That’s not a typical book format, but it works well here.
The first chapter, by Cloutier, sets the tone with a list of eighteen “Key Concepts for Winning at Limit Holdem.”
The traditional list of this sort might contain items such as Hand Selection or Check Raising.
Not T.J.’s list. He has items in his list like Watch Your Opponents and Remember That Kickers Are Important.
He doesn’t give you a set of rigid rules, but gives you guidelines for thinking.
Although the book does go into technical details about hand selection, when to raise, and other topics, this first chapter sets the tone of the general approach-this book is about thinking during the game.
If I have any criticism of the book, it’s probably that I think the idea of avoiding trouble is overemphasized. If you’re going to make mistakes, that’s mistake that is often not a mistake.
The book has coverage of a lot of topics often avoided in poker books. Kill-pot games, jackpot games, and the difference between raked and time-collection games are discussed.
As you might expect from these writers, they have an extensive chapter on limit Holdem tournaments.
