Full Tilt Tournament Strategy Guide, a review

Full Tilt Poker's Tournament Strategy Guide reeks of a gimmicked attempt by the popular online poker site to capitalize on the poker book boom.  But Michael Craig's compilation of poker essays from the site's top pros carries a lot of useful, in some cases groundbreaking material.  Albeit, some of the material also leaves a lot to be desired, remaining too general in scope and adding little more than general ideas and basic tips.

Full Tilt founder Chris Ferguson writes several of the books chapters, and while he throws out a variety of useful ideas, figuring out how to situationally apply his advice is left entirely up to the reader.

In fact, this is a universal theme of the book, just like many other poker books.  A lot of principles and ideas are not too fleshed out, and calling the book a Strategy Guide may be abit misleading, as few of the chapters do much to guide the reader.  It's a lot like telling a lost tourist, "Well, you'll want to follow the signs, and pay attention to landmarks."

As the chapters were written by different perspectives, many of the chapters disagree with material and ideas in previous chapters, and some are written better than others.

• Howard Lederer's chapter on leverage brings forth a neat concept but Lederer never elaborates on concrete principle application of the subject.
• Gavin Smith's ideas on big stack play are so basic that they should be common sense.
• Mike Matusow has a couple of neat ideas in his Omaha Hi-Lo chapter, but the chapter has little more use than a random magazine article.
• Richard Brodie's ideas on sit & go play are covered in far greater depth by other materials (like Colin Moshman's Sit N' Go Strategy).
• The gimmicky textual conversation on Razz between Huck Seed and Ted Forrest doesn't give the reader much of use.
• And Ted Forrest doesn't seem sure himself of what exactly he's discussing in his chapter "(Don't) Pay Like Ted Forrest."

But as weak as some chapters, some of the material has very strong, concrete strategic advice.

Andy Bloch strikes the motherload in his chapter "Play Before The Flop," which goes into great detail on hand selection in No Limit Hold'Em tournaments.  Bloch provides multiple charts that focus on win percentages against particular ranges of hands, plus a chart that provides a framework for the reader to create his own selection of starting hands.  Bloch does provide a sample chart of starting hands, but it's almost an afterthought once he provides the methodology for the reader to create their own.  This chapter alone might be worth the purchase of the book for an aspiring No Limit Hold'Em tournament player, even granted the filler that precedes it.

Other chapters prove useful as well.

• Chris Ferguson puts better work into his No Limit Hold'Em chapter "Play After The Flop" as his examples infer more concrete ideas the reader can cross-apply.
• Phil Gordon's chapter on "Short Stack Play" has some useful, unique ideas.
• Howard Lederer provides great detail on situational strategy in his Limit Hold'Em chapter, though he provides a tight, limited hand selection chart without Bloch's advice on how the reader may frame his own.
• Keith Sexton gives useful, applicable advice on Stud Hi-Lo.

The Full Tilt Tournament Strategy Guide has some useful concepts, but you have to sift through a lot of jumbled, sometimes hollow material to get to the good stuff.  Certain sections may hold enough value to warrant the purchase themselves, but purchasing this book is akin to purchasing an album with a few good songs surrounded by filler tracks.  If the songs are that good, the album's worth getting, but you may pass if you're in it for the collective product.

Bloch's chapter is groundbreaking, and experienced players looking for random ideas to cross-apply to their tournament game may find the book worth their while.  However, if you're looking to play tournament Stud, Omaha, or H.O.R.S.E., you may still be better served learning the hard way: through trial and error at minimal expense.

The cost of this book may not significantly improve your overall game, as once you've read it... true to the context of the book, you're still completely on your own.