poker logo

Harrington on Holdem Vol.2 Review

Rating: 10/10

Cost:  $23.48

The Nuts:  Extensive coverage of short handed and heads up play

The Muck:  No criticisms

Recommended for:  Intermediate players 

Dan Harrington’s first book, Harrington on Hold’em, Volume 1 showed that he’s not only a great player, but a terrific teacher as well.  His follow-up instructional, Harrington on Hold’em, Volume 2 takes on a subject that many players have difficulty mastering – tournament endgame strategy.

Harrington’s sequel displays the same high standards and thoughtfulness found in his previous book.  As before, Harrington keeps his focus tight - dealing exclusively with no limit hold’em tournament strategy rather than skimming a variety of poker games and formats. 

It’s more expensive to build your poker library by buying books that deal in very specific poker niches, but it’s my recommendation that you do so.  You just won’t get anything out of poker books that only provide vague overviews of their subject matter. 

Harrington starts his book with an in-depth discussion of different betting strategies.  He covers all the usual moves like bluffing and slow playing, but he also throws in a few topics that generally don’t get a lot of discussion in poker books such as squeeze plays, and post oak bluffs.  Oh, and let’s not forget the continuation bet.  If there’s one thing that Harrington loves, it’s continuation bets.   And he’s made a believer out of more than one reader. 

After discussing betting strategies, Harrington then moves into some hand analysis that demonstrates when to use and how to defend against different kinds of bets.  Using easy-to-read diagrams that show table position, chip stacks, and blinds, Harrington walks you through how he would approach different scenarios.  Any reader who wants to get the most out of this book should approach Harrington’s analysis as a learning exercise by thinking through the scenarios and attempting to come to your own conclusions before continuing to Harrington’s thoughts on how he would play them. 

he meat of the book covers late game tournament play.  Dan Harrington divides the final stages of a tournament into green, yellow, orange and red zones.  He determines which zone he’s in by the ratio of his chip stack the pot.  For instance, the yellow zone is defined by having a chip stack that’s 10-20 times the pot. 

arrington then alters his game play depending on which zone he’s in at the time.  He calls these shifts inflection points and argues that the ability to maneuver correctly through them are the most important skill a tournament player needs to succeed. 

As a tournament enters its last stages, strategy is dramatically altered.  Harrington discusses chip stack to blind ratios and their effect on late game and short table play, delving extensively into push/fold strategy, and then finishing with an awesome tutorial on heads up strategy that includes some intriguing real life scenarios as well as a helpful hand ranking chart.  Bottom line?  You’re probably not nearly as aggressive as you should be when you’re heads up. Harrington shows you why. 

Harrington on Hold’em Volume 2 is one of the best poker strategy books available, and I highly recommend it to both intermediate and advanced tournament players. Online sit ‘n go players should also pick up this volume, as most of what Harrington teaches translates perfectly into SnG play. 

Done Reading This Harrington on Holdem Review? Return to Poker Book Reviews