Book Review: Winning Poker Tournaments: One Hand at a Time

I just finished reading Winning Poker Tournaments: One Hand at a Time by online poker pros Jon "PearlJammer" Turner, Eric "Rizen" Lynch , and Jon "Apestyles" Van Fleet. As a whole I found the book to be very interesting and would definitely recommend it.

The book does not feature a lot of flowery prose and general poker theory. Instead its a collection of online hand histories from each of the 3 authors. The authors then explain their plays from a variety of online tournaments, anywhere from $10 rebuys to $2500 freezeouts. I personally loved the format and I think learning from specific hand histories is the best way to learn. I dont find it very helpful to just hear someone say "you should raise small suited connectors in early position to balance your range", because such advice doesnt help you play the hands postflop when you inevitably get into tricky situations with middle pair or a draw. This book takes you through every step of a hand and explains the thought process behind every play on every street. Each author has his own section.

PearlJammer: to say he plays a tight style is putting it mildly. At first I wondered how he could ever make money at high stakes MTTs given that he never seems to put a chip in without the nuts. But as the hands progress, it was clear he loosens up his game later in tournaments and uses his nitty image to his advantage. He also explained one very interesting play called the limp and go, which I plan on incorporating into my game.

Rizen: he definitely plays a more aggressive style than PearlJammer. His postflop analysis was particularly useful for me, as he makes some interesting bluffs and light calldowns and explains his thought process very well.

Apestyles: he plays an aggressive style as well. In one hand he does a great job explaining his reasoning for a resteal he makes, and backs up his argument with some quick math that was easy to follow. He also presents a series of 25 consecutive hands from the bubble of a $1k event, where he plays a big stack very aggressively and takes advantage of other players' fear of bubbling.

The final section is 20 more hand histories that weren't played by the pros. Instead, all 3 are asked what they would do in a given situation. This section is very interesting as it contrasts the differences in style and thought process between the 3 authors.

My one big criticism of the book is there is no discussion of playing at a final table. I really would have liked to see how these guys play at final tables when the big money is on the line. But this is only volume 1, hopefully final table hands are coming in the next volume.

My overall review of this book is positive and I would advise any tournament poker players out there to check it out.

Thanks for reading,

George