Jonathan Little - Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em: Leading poker experts discuss how to study, play and master NLHE

First published in 2015 by D&B Publishing

Copyright 2015 Jonathan Little

The right of Jonathan Little to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 909457 44 7

Cover and book design by Horacio Monteverde.
Images courtesy of Christian Zetzsche.
Printed and bound by Versa Press in the US.

All sales enquiries should be directed to D&B Publishing:

www.dandbpoker.com

EXAMINING THE POST-BOOM EVOLUTION IN POKER
Chad Holloway

Evan Jarvis

Chris Moneymaker

Ed Miller

Scott Clements

Matt Affleck

Bernard Lee

Zachary Elwood

Alex Fitzgerald

Phil Hellmuth and Liv Boeree

Jonathan Little

Jonathan Little

Olivier Busquet

Will Tipton

Patricia Cardner

Jared Tendler

Elliot Roe

GREAT PLAYS FROM THE GREAT PLAYERS
Mike Sexton

First and foremost, I would like thank all of the authors involved with this project. They all produced amazing content; each was a pleasure to work with and I hope I have the opportunity to work with each of them again in the future.

Thanks goes to Byron Jacobs and Dan Addelman at D&B publishing for having faith in me to get this challenging project together. They have worked hard to make the book as attractive and accessible as possible. I would also like to thank Ken Adams, who diligently helped edit all of the chapters. Any time something was unclear, he was sure to point it out. This book is more comprehensible because of him. Thanks are also due to Christian Zetzsche for letting us use his images on the cover, throughout the book and on HoldemBook.com.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my marketing director, Dan Stanley. If I did not randomly meet him six years ago, it is quite likely that none of my poker training content would have ever been produced. I would like to thank my fiance, Amie Broder, for always loving and supporting me in all aspects of life. She inspires me to be the best I can be. I would also like to thank my parents, Larry and Rita Little, for giving me the freedom to explore the possibility of being a professional poker player when I was 19 years old. If they did not believe in letting their children follow their dreams, I would not be in the poker community today.

Finally, I would like to thank you, my poker students. If you did not constantly motivate me to provide the best possible poker training content, this book would not exist. Thank you for helping make it happen.

Jonathan Little, May 2015

I am fortunate in that I get to travel the world to high stakes poker tournaments on a regular basis. Through my travels, I have become friends with many of the best players in the game. One day while I was discussing poker strategy with my friends (which we do constantly), I came to the realization that one of the reasons I have thrived in this game is because I get to have in-depth discussions with the best poker players in the world on a regular basis. For most amateur players, this will never happen. In this book, I am giving you that invaluable opportunity.

I hand-picked poker players and authors who have a wealth of knowledge to offer. I only asked people to contribute to this book with whom I have talked strategy or who have impressed me at or away from the table. I asked each author to write about a topic on which they are passionate. I know that when I am passionate, I produce excellent content. Fortunately, all of the authors did the same.

This book is a collection of chapters that will discuss numerous aspects of the game. Some chapters are aimed to help beginning players transform into strong amateurs and other chapters are aimed to help strong amateurs become world-class. I am confident that players of all skill levels will learn a huge amount from this book simply because the authors are some of the best players in the world and they are discussing the aspects of poker at which they excel.

Starting in late 2015, once a month, each author and I will host a live webinar (like a seminar, but online) where we delve deep into a specific topic where the author is a master. I have been hosting webinars for the past few years and my students love them because they get to interact with and ask me questions in real time. If you want to further your poker knowledge by being part of these exclusive webinars, please visit HoldemBook.com.

Chad Holloway

Chad Holloway is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and Managing Editor for PokerNews.com. In 2013, he won WSOP Event #1: $500 Casino Employees for $84,915. He also serves as Wisconsin Ambassador for Ante Up Magazine, contributes articles to Midwest Gaming & Travel, and writes a nationally-syndicated poker column.

Its amazing how much poker has changed in the last decade. When Chris Moneymaker changed the course of poker history back in 2003, the game was as simple as bets and raises, with Big Slick reigning supreme. Nowadays the game is permeated with terms and concepts that can make your head spin.

If youre a recreational player, concepts such as small ball, range, and exploitative versus game theory optimal strategies can be intimidating. Truth is you can still play the game and have fun without delving so deep into the game; in fact, Id wager the majority of players are amateurs with an elementary understating of the game who are playing to have fun and maybe win a little cash. Theres nothing wrong with that, but if you hope to compete against the best and one day win a big poker tournament, you need to know your stuff.

As a Senior News Editor for PokerNews.com, I quite literally get paid to watch poker. I travel to the biggest tournaments on the circuit to report the action from the floor, and since 2010, Ive witnessed some of pokers greatest moments. I was there when Phil Hellmuth won both his record 12th and 13th World Series of Poker bracelets; I sat tableside when the great Phil Ivey won the Aussie Millions AU$250,000 Challenge in two out of three years; and I watched Mark Newhouse conquer inconceivable odds to make back-to-back November Nines in 2013 and 2014, ultimately finishing in ninth place both years.

In 2013, I even got the chance to become part of poker history when I won a WSOP gold bracelet and $84,915 in Event #1 ($500 Casino Employees). Ive tasted glory, watched river cards decimate dreams, and there isnt a bad beat you could tell me that I havent seen first hand. Through it all Ive learned the game is continually evolving, and those who thrive are those who adapt.

In this chapter, I will take a look back at the evolution of poker since the poker boom. To do this, I have selected several transformations that have occurred over the years, and describe hands I feel are demonstrative of those concepts. Some of these hands Ive watched play out live and on TV, while others I personally experienced during my bracelet run.