Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Hold’em: Winning Strategies for Short-Handed and Heads Up Play

Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Holdem: Winning Strategies for Short-Handed and Heads Up PlayShort–handed and heads-up poker is an area where every complete poker player needs to be proficient. Unless you only ever play full-table ring games, at some stage (hopefully often) you will be in a situation where you are reaching the end of a SnG or tournament, and the dynamics of your game, and the play of your opponents, will change.

In this excellent book, Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Hold’em: Winning Strategies for Short-Handed and Heads Up Play, Danny Ashman reveals successful strategies that supported him through many high stakes heads-up matches and short-handed ring games. Within his book he teaches how to read hands, explains his reason behind some new concepts and demonstrates them using many actual hands from real life no limit hold´em cash games as examples.

This is not a book for a poker novice. It explores psychology and thought processes based on the authors personal experiences. His definitions of hand reading and disassembly of previously accepted concepts, such as continuation betting, are a real eye-opener. To understand this book and its ideas fully, you should already be familiar with some elementary poker strategies and fairly experienced in applying them. The book covers areas such as multiple-level thinking in considerable depth and explains “getting into your opponents head” to a scale never before attempted, as much as this is acknowledged as a basic tool in successful heads-up poker strategy.

If there is an area where this book is out of balance, it is the bias towards heads-up play, where many would have preferred to see more of the book devoted to end game strategies. The transition from full-table to short-handed to heads-up is an important part of tournament play, and a discipline of the game where many players could improve. Ashman possibly misses an opportunity here, although it could be argued that this interchange would happen more smoothly if the principles of his book were applied at the right moment.

Assuming that you are already an experienced poker player, and willing to study to improve your game, you will find this book invaluable. It is not just for high stakes players – the lesson taught in the book can be applied at any level – but by learning how to read hands successfully, those are the players that you may find yourself up against in the near future.

Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Hold’em: Winning Strategies for Short-Handed and Heads Up Play is available from Amazon.com from $13.76. Apparently there were a number of typographic errors in the first edition which made the book harder to understand. It is advisable to ensure that you are purchasing a second edition.

Author: Danny Ashman Published by DandB Publishing
ISBN 1904468411, 206 Pages

You can buy this book on Amazon.

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