A large part of what I’ll be writing in this blog involves reviewing poker materials. Poker books are a large part of said materials and as such you’ll be seeing a lot of advice on what not to read and what to read. It is the former I’ll be talking about this week.

Phil Hellmuth is almost undoubtedly the best NLHE tournament player in the world. He ranks with the likes of Chan, Brunson and Gold. OK, I was kidding about the last one. However, he does not even fall into the same league as Hemingway, Joyce and Dickens nor Sklansky and Harrington. His Play Poker like the Pros and Phil Hellmuth’s Texas Hold ‘em are, sadly, abysmal.

“If you can absorb most of the information in this book,” he writes. “Then I may see you sitting across the poker table from me soon.” Despite what he would have you think, these books will not get you good enough to play $300/$600 in Vegas. A total beginner (that is, someone who has never even picked up a deck of cards before) will get a decent understanding of the game from this book, but sadly its teaching ends there.

Limited to a super-tight style, Hellmuth takes no account of the various situations that make QQ foldable pre-flop and his philosophy in the book can be summed up as: “Play only the best hands really aggressively but if the board is too dangerous fold.” Good advice for a hold ‘em newbie, but if you can already play the game then this book is certainly not for you. Literally no sort of advanced tactics are discussed in this book.

I hope Phil’s tournament success is built on better fundamentals than he teaches in this book, or I will be forced to conclude the WSOP is rigged.

Categories: Poker Books
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I play on FullTiltPoker quite often mostly $10/$20 and above limit poker games. I’ve played at the same table with Berry Johnston on $15/$30 tables couple time. The last time I was playing with him, I asked him for an interview opportunity. Well, I just interviewed Mr. Johnston. For those of you who don’t know who Berry Johnston is, maybe you shouldn’t be playing poker just yet. Berry Johnston has been a professional poker player for over 30 years. You can find more information on his official website as well.

PokerEagles: The first time I played with you , was at a Full Tilt Poker table. It was rather short but exciting game. Do you play limit holdem more often than other poker games?

B. Johnston: Online, I play a lot of limit games, but in live games I play mostly Pot Limit Omaha. Online, I find that limit games are better and I watch TV when I play.

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PokerEagles: Do you play live games more often than online? Where do you play live games the most?

B. Johnston: I would play live more often, but there are not that many live games around where I live. But when I go to Vegas I play live games.

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PokerEagles: You’ve cashed in more than 10 WSOP main events. More than anyone else. What is your main strength?

B. Johnston: Just play my normal game, I can’t really explain it.

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PokerEagles: What made you become a professional poker players? At what age did you choose this as a career?

B. Johnston: I started poker later than others. I was 35 years old when I started poker. I gambled before then too and made my living playing Golf. I saw people playing poker and decided it might be worth it.

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PokerEagles: What is your advice for young poker players who want to go pro?

B. Johnston: If you want to go professional you must be able to beat the side (cash) games. These tournaments can get very pricey if you don’t cash in often. So you must be able to beat the side games as a professional poker player.

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PokerEagles: Can you give one advice on general poker life to PokerEagles’ members?

B. Johnston: Yes, I have some advice! Money management is so much important. You gotta know money management before getting into poker. You can’t become a professional poker player and have bad habits like Blackjack, shooting craps, or such.

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I also found out that despite the records showing that Mr. Johnston has been in money 53 times in all WSOP events, he actually has cashed out in 54 events.

Categories: Interviews
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Firstly I’d like to welcome the people who will (hopefully) be my loyal readers throughout my time here at PokerEagles. If you’re reading this after a Google search or some such that led you straight to this page I strongly encourage you to sign up to the forums here and peruse the tons of other articles and information on this site.

This blog will run a minimum of once a week every Wednesday, with another post from my esteemed colleague on Saturdays. I’ll be discussing poker events, poker strategy and reviews of poker books, websites and everything else under this gambling sun.

This week’s post is about broadening your horizons (and I apologise for my extended solar metaphor) with regards to your poker playing. I’d say it’s a fairly safe guess to assume the majority of the people on this website play NLHE almost exclusively, however this is definitely a mistake. Even if you’re a NLHE God then to deny yourself the experience of other poker games is idiotic. Limit Hold ‘em might be boring for a no limit player but it will teach you the intricacies of post-flop play better than NL ever can. Omaha will teach you the value of pot control and playing the nuts, and Stud the ability to read your opponents hand and gaining free cards. Even Razz, a game considered a joke by a lot of players, is a valuable tool in a player’s arsenal – and it’s fun too. Stud, Draw, Chicago, Pineapple, Irish… there are so many forms of poker out there for you to play that you’re making a mistake to restrict yourself to one.

PokerEagles has forums for all kinds of poker, and while at the moment they’re not the busiest, soon they will be, what with all the work Nima is putting in to this site. So stick around, sign up for the RSS Feed, join the forums – and leave that hold ‘em table.

FYI - Jn5EE is five-card draw where Jacks and Fives are wild and there are rounds of betting after the draw where players show down their cards one at a time and bet on each one.

Categories: News
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