100 Hands: 100 Detailed Solutions to 100 6-Max Cash Problems
Written as a companion to
“The Grinder’s Manual”,
“100 hands” is a book of hands in online NLHE cash games ($2NL to $100NL) played by Clarke or his students with each one followed by analysis and discussion. It differs from the traditional workbook format (e.g. Harrington on Holdem 3, Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker 3) in that rather than giving a multiple choice question at each decision point and a score for each decision, it gives you the whole hand (up to the final decision point in the case of Clarke’s own hands) and invites you to perform your own analysis first, which you can later compare to the author's analysis and explanation.
One of the strong points about the book is that the hand histories are not sorted by topic; just like with real play, you don’t get told in advance if the main things to consider are going to be reverse implied odds, blockers, 4 betting or anything else. The idea is to bridge the gap between a book like
“The Grinder’s Manual” and decision-making in real play, albeit with more time on the ball. In his podcasts, Clarke often talks about the gap between knowledge and execution and this is what the book is intended to bridge.
Another strength of
“100 hands” is the emphasis on applying game theory – particularly discussing against which opponents it is appropriate (or not) and how to arrive at ranges with approximately the right frequencies in game – mostly avoiding discussion of mixed strategies which are difficult for players to reproduce under real conditions.
As a stats geek, the one thing I would have like to have seen added, consistent with the “realistic play” would be more “red herring” stats. Rather than just giving us the VPIP/PFR and sample size for opponents against whom we have few hands, it would have been nice to see the other stats included too, with the expectation that the reader is supposed to identify which stats are reliable (or at least semi-usable) and which aren’t, as this itself is part of the thought process during play. This topic is covered very well in “The Grinder’s Manual” (individual stats are given a reliability level based on the number of hands they are from) so should also be practised here with every hand.
Overall I'd say this book is a definite buy. Hand history review is a great way to improve, and checking your analysis against that of one of the leading coaches of the day is even better.
The book is available on
https://carrotcorner.com/ (you get Kindle and PDF formats) or Amazon (Kindle only). There is an extract visible on
https://carrotcorner.com/100-hands/
Disclosure: I received a free copy to review with no conditions attached relating to review content.