Can't read enough of Mr Lynch's work. His one of the most ensightful poker writers of his generation. Keep up the good work Sir.

Great article once again by Rizen.

I've been struggling so far in 2007 and maybe a change of approach is something I need to do. I do feel pretty good about one thing...I have been doing the "induced squeeze" for a couple of months now. when I'm 2,3, or 4th to act and there is an early raise I've been smooth calling w/ AA. Of the last 4 times I've done it I have gotten re-raised 3X (doubled twice & tripled up once). The other time saw a 3 way flop and won a smallish pot.

Keep th einfo coming Rizen,

ab1212

GG Sir.

I agree with stu. yawn.

agreed eddie24b

Stop writing plz. thx. ;-)

Thanks for the great article Rizen

**********IMPORTANT**********

do you guys ever feel that all this easily accessed literature just makes it that much harder for all of us to win, or atleast win at the rates we have grown accustomed to?

say you're at a table full of fish, I'm sure we all have acted like we were winnings because we got lucky. comments like "lucky flop" or "your luck will come around" are some examples. I think it's better off for all of us to allow people to figure out all these "plays/strategies" on their own. and in the meantime reap the benefits. there is no logical reason (from a player standpoint) to actually help other players because that help actually hurts you.

Poker is a funny thing, it's a game that rewards fish just enough to keep them coming back.

i think the paragraph i will quote below is actually an example of USING harrington's technique, and not exploiting it in others:

"One of the other things I’ve noticed is the changes in short stack play. When the book first came out, when you got into the ‘red zone’ you could often push-bot your way alive for a long time. Today’s internet player is very hip to this now though, and their calling ranges against red zone players is often much wider than it was a few years ago. Because of this, when my stack reaches the red zone, I will often open push some of my bigger hands, knowing that today’s player will believe that to be much less strong than a standard raise from a short stack."

of course you should open push your bigger hands in the red zone--you should open push nearly all of them. i think this is part and parcel with harrington's recommended strategy. your opponents' wider calling ranges are certainly influenced by harrington, but they are more strongly influenced by how many times YOU have pushed at a particular table. harrington's recommendation to jam with a wide range of hands either a.) has you stealing enough blinds and antes to get to a place where you can play a couple of hands, b.) doubling up with a subpar hand, or c.) hopefully frustrating your opponents into calling by the time you get a monster.

i just don't see how open jamming with big hands is exploiting your opponents' dependence on harrington.

also, i appreciate that you point out what i believe to be the biggest flaw in harrington's strategy: he has you pushing with hands that, when called, are likely to be dominated. i would rather push 79s than a5o, to be sure, but i also need that perception of "jamming with any ace" to discourage my opponents from calling with KT etc.

great article...

god i hate the information age

First off, thanks for all the positive feedback.

Second off, for me the point of the article wasn't necessarily the examples. In fact, I think the most basic examples I give are pretty well understood by most of the better online players. The point of the article is that the game is always evolving, and instead of always thinking about the 'best standard practice' you should always be doing a 'flip it' and turnign current ideas on their head and seeing if they can be exploited or not.

One P5er even points out that my idea of pushing big hands is even a part of Harrington's strategy, and this is true. I tried to use examples to explain my point, but my hope is that the article is more thought provoking in the nature of trying to figure out different ways to look at the game beyond what everyone things is the current flavor of the month strategy, and can come up with their own ideas on how to exploit it.

-Rizen

NSXT2 Sighting in this thread!

i absolutely understand, and the point you're making is well-taken. keeping abreast of the trends in poker, and confounding them, is something for which great players like yourself must constantly strive. i just wanted to acknowledge that in many cases, working within the "box" of those trends is just as correct. the important part is to always consider the alternatives.

RANK RIZEN
err wait
ooops never mind

Great article Rizen.

Personally, the biggest change I have noticed since Harrington came out is that continuation bets are getting called a lot more. It used to be a very profitable play to stick in a raise in an unopened pot, and if you only got one caller, stick in a post flop bet of about 40%. Now, I'm seeing a lot of calls on that bet even when the flop completely misses my opponent. Thanks Harrington.

In my opinion, the way to move beyond Harrington is to first completely understand the concepts that he is talking about in the book. There are a lot of players out there who look at Harrington's books as "cookbooks" for playing poker. In other words, they are using the book as a reference for what to do in a given situation, without really understanding why the proper play works. It's the difference between being a mechanic and an engineer.

Once you begin to do the hard analysis on all of those plays and understanding the whys and hows instead of the whats and whens, you will find yourself imagining new plays and strategies in given situations.

Frankly, I have no interest in sharing any of those new plays or strategies, but then again, I'm not exactly the guy you'd want to learn from anyway. :)