Angel Largay - No-Limit Texas Holdem: A Complete Course

NO-LIMIT Texas Holdem

A COMPLETE COURSE

ANGEL LARGAY

Copyright Angel Largay, 2006

Published by ECW PRESS

2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW PRESS.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Largay, Angel

No-limit Texas holdem : a complete course / Angel Largay.

Includes index.

ISBN1-55022-742-4

1. Poker. i. Title.

GV1251.l37 2006 795.412 C2006-903596-2

Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan

Production: Mary Bowness

Printing: Webcom

This book is set in Garamond and Franklin Gothic

5432

DISTRIBUTION

CANADA: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Ave., Georgetown, ON l7g 5s4 UNITED STATES: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL60610

PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

Dedicated to my greatest teachers:

My father for teaching me what it is to be loved, and NaLeNa for teaching me what it is to love.

When I started this project I had no idea how much went into writing a book, nor how many people would ultimately be involved in it reaching fruition. Thanks to all of you, specifically:

Thanks to my friend Jim Sherwood, without whose nagging it may never have reached completion. That, of course, is in jest. In truth, this book may have never gotten past the some day stages without his help. Between editing, allowing me to use him as a guinea pig for explanations, encouragement, general sounding board, buying lunch that one day after he found out I just ate, accepting my teasing as well as simply being a friend, he has been invaluable.

To all my students who have come through my classes in the past year, your questions and support have taught me more than I would have thought possible when I began. To my teachers at the table over the past 20 years who pummeled me and my bankroll until I got it, there have been many more than I could ever begin to name but amongst those who stand out from my early poker days in Alaska:

Charlie cj Jerling, who taught me tenacity.

Black Dave, who taught me aggression.

Dave Templeton, who taught me position.

Jimmy Mickey Knix, who taught me that its all a P thing.

Perry Green, who taught me that kindness does not mean weakness at the table or away.

And Stan Goldstein from California, for the one line that changed my game forever.

To the authors and poker educators who came before me and helped me on my way:

Doyle Brunson: SuperSystem changed the face of poker books and began the trend of producing poker educational materials that actually taught. David Sklansky: There isnt a professional poker player alive who doesnt owe David Sklansky for improving the quality of their game. Even those who have not actively learned from him through his books have learned passively from him through playing against others at the table who have. Mike Caro: For his many years of effort maintaining and improving the integrity of the game as well as his groundbreaking work on the people aspect of the game. To Alan Dr. Al Schoonmaker for his encouragement and to John Vorhaus for his instant responses to my e-mail questions on the whole process.

To Suzanne Searby for her superhuman effort to edit the entire manuscript in record time so I could hear from the publisher what an incredibly clean copy it was. To my publisher, Jack David, for being so supportive, helpful and for having a great sense of humor.

To Larry Stephens and Chris Salum for the many poker discussions which helped me clarify my thoughts on a wide variety of topics covered in this book. To Renee Wexler who gave the manuscript its first reading and feedback. To Dennis Batman Fleig for getting it before he ever read it and just because I promised. Thanks to Rick Gadziola, Rob Kelepouris and Brian Petersen for previewing the manuscript and all their suggestions and fixes.

Finally, to Shirley Morrill, whose cherished memory kept me company for many evenings as I completed this book.

I want to share an article with you I wrote a while back:

About a year ago, I was the subject of an interview that has never been published; I can only imagine that my answers were not quite what the interviewer had in mind, and so it was scrapped. Im fairly confident that I know the fatal answer. I was asked, To what do you attribute your poker talent? My response? I laughed. Then I chuckled. I think there was a guffaw thrown in there somewhere too, but I cant really be sure as Im a little fuzzy on the difference between a guffaw and a chortle. They frowned. This was not the response they were hoping for. Finally I collected myself and informed them that, as far as I knew, I had no extraordinary poker talent whatsoever.

Arent you glad youre reading this article now? I mean, heres a guy with no poker talent whatsoever whos going to be bringing his ideas about poker to you. What makes me think I can deliver anything worth reading? Good question, and for the answer lets pick up where we left off in the interview process....

Angel, youve made a living playing cash games for over 10 years; how can you say you have no talent?

You want talent, I told them, there are some incredibly talented players in the pit right now blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars of poker winnings on craps and roulette. Some are at the bar. Quite a few are in the sports book making ridiculously large wagers trying to somehow, miraculously, fade the juice. Go talk to them if you want talent.

They frowned again. So what do you attribute your success to over the past 10 or 15 years?

I told them it was a secret. They were not amused. I was amused though, and thats what really counts, so I got busy chuckling and then filled them in on the secret that they found unfit to print and now Ill fill you in, assuming that my publisher decides to print this.

I wanted it bad. I wanted it really bad. Wanting it really bad wasnt enough in and of itself; I was also willing to do what it took to get there. So I worked hard. I worked really hard. My first year as a pro if thats what you want to call it I earned $900 for the year. Seems almost criminal to call that pro, doesnt it? I rented a trailer for $35 a month on a farm a few miles away from the card room and drove a beat-up Escort back and forth every day. I had no electricity, no running water though there was a cinder block enclosure with a garden hose hanging over the top and connected with the remnants of a clothes hanger where I used to take my showers: outside, regardless of the weather, 365 days a year. Id take my car battery out every day and bring it in to the trailer so that I could run a 60-watt light off it, then break out the cards and shuffle and deal over and over again recording the results in notebook after notebook till I passed out in mid-shuffle hours later. I ate nothing but comped casino food for a year trying to make it at $3/$6. After expenses that first year, my $1,000 bankroll had climbed to a paltry $1,060, but I had made it. It was a beginning.

There are thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of players out there who have more than enough talent to play poker professionally, but they dont want it bad enough. Poker rooms are filled with people these days who have flocked to the tables, their preparation consisting of nothing more than having watched three episodes of the