REVIEW
It
is often said that the person who inventing
gambling was smart, but the person who
invented the gambling chip was a genius.
In the same manner, we might credit Benny
Binion's smarts for basically inventing
the poker tournament, but we might call
Eric Drache a genius for inventing the
tournament satellite. What is a satellite?
It's a poker tournament whose ultimate
prize is the entry into a larger tournament.
It is well chronicled that 2003 World
Series of Poker final event champion,
Chris Moneymaker, parlayed a $40 buy-in
into a $2.5 million payday through satellite
tournaments, writing for himself the ultimate
rags-to-riches poker story. Championship
Satellite Strategy is the first book
that focuses on satellite tournament strategy.
The
authors, Tom McEvoy and Brad Dougherty,
are no strangers to this topic. Each are
well respected poker tournament veterans.
They've both won the final event at the
WSOP, and have both played in and won
a multitude of tournament satellites.
In fact, McEvoy is the first satellite
winner to have won the final event at
the WSOP. In summary, these two are eminently
qualified to write on this topic.
There
are almost as many formats for poker tournament
satellites as there are for poker tournaments
themselves. Through the course of the
book, the authors discuss one-table satellites,
two-tier satellites, multi-table super
satellites, and online satellites. Even
though many different games are played
in the satellite format, by far the two
most popular are limit and no-limit Hold'em,
and only these games are discussed here.
With
the exception of final table play, a multi-table
satellite plays much like a regular tournament,
and two-tier satellites play basically
the same as two consecutive satellites.
Consequently, the authors focus on the
one-table tournaments and add some additional
commentary about other formats as appropriate.
Overall,
McEvoy and Dougherty provide some pretty
good advice about playing in these events.
At the same time, I found only a few really
significant insights that might not have
been thoroughly considered by an experienced
tournament or satellite player. I believe
their fundamental strategies are sound
but not profound. In short, Championship
Satellite Strategy is likely to be of
significant benefit to those who are not
experienced tournament or satellite players,
and less useful to those who are.
I like what the authors have to say about
what sorts of hands should be played under
certain circumstances. I also like some
of the criteria they discuss for deciding
when to take a rebuy in a super. For example,
if the player sitting to your left is
a tough player with a pile of chips, and
your table is not scheduled to be broken
for a while, that might be a good reason
to not rebuy in that particular tournament.
On
the other hand, the authors say some things
that I don't believe are well thought
out. Some of their criteria for deciding
how many satellites to play are arbitrary
and have no mathematical foundation. Bottom
line: If one has an edge in these tournaments,
actual results should not determine how
many of satellites one plays. A player
who has a significant edge should not
be results oriented and give up a good
thing even if they don't win one right
away. A great deal of luck goes into winning
short tournament formats, so these things
tend to be extremely streaky. Of course,
a short bankroll, being well rested for
the tournament itself, and beating oneself
up mentally are all good reasons to stop
playing satellites, but these should be
based on personal preferences and individual
circumstances, not hard-and-fast rules
of thumb.
While
most of the advice in Championship
Satellite Strategy is very good, there
are some things said in this book that
really don't make any sense. Dougherty
recalls a situation in a tournament where
he has AQ, raises half his stack, and
an AJ moves in on him, which he calls.
Unfortunately, the AJ wins the hand, and
Dougherty laments not moving all in and
forcing the AJ to fold. While one could
argue that moving in was the right play
with this hand, the reasons Dougherty
cites are not good ones. A player who
doesn't want to play an AQ against a AJ
for all their chips before the flop simply
misunderstands tournament poker. Sure,
sometimes the best hand loses, that's
poker, but all a poker player can ask
for is to have the AQ in this situation
a lot more often than they have the AJ,
and one can't be content to win a small
pot with a huge edge when one has the
opportunity to play for more with the
same edge.
As I said before, though, most of the
advice in this book is good, and although
there aren't very many exciting revelations
here, those new to satellite poker are
likely to learn something from this book.
More experienced players will find less
of interest here. In any case, this is
a respectable effort that fills a niche
in the poker book market.
Capsule:
Championship
Satellite Strategy is a respectable
effort focusing on satellite poker tournaments.
On balance, McEvoy and Dougherty provide
information that someone who hasn't given
these sorts of events and structures a
great deal of thought will find useful.
On the other hand, the authors do make
some statements that I think are erroneous,
and there isn't a lot of deep insight
of the sort that would make this book
appealing for experienced tournament and
satellite players. Overall, I'll give
it a qualified recommendation for a less
experienced audience.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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