More Secrets of No Limit Hold 'Em

A review of Volume II of Howard Lederer's instructional series.

 
Earlier in the year I wrote a review of the first instructional video in Howard Lederer's, Secrets of No Limit Hold 'Em series. My review of this video included what to expect out of the video. I also paid out of pocket to buy in to different tournaments online to put Howard's strategy to the test, and reported the results. 

In addition to my own tests, another member of the forum I posted this information at originally, also paid out of pocket to put Howard's strategy to work with similar results and observations, and a positive outlook for improving his game. 

I received an email from Howard in April regarding my review of the first video in his series. He mentioned to me that he was pleased that I enjoyed his video, and that more advanced information was to come in the upcoming videos.

More Secrets of No Limit Hold 'Em, was released on June 1st, 2004. (Volume II of the series)
When I received Volume II and put it into the DVD player, I was not disappointed.

The DVD version comes with another copy of his starting hands chart. The quality of the chart and it's placement in the DVD as an insert made for much better keeping. A four-sided booklet was also included, and fit into the DVD case as an insert as well.

One of the pages of this booklet is titled, "Race Odds". The "Race Odds" chart is used specifically for intermediate players to understand how dominant their hand may or may not be percentage-wise against various types of other opening hands. This chart, as well as the original opening hand selection chart, is truly invaluable. By knowing the stats included on the race odds chart, it lends far more information to understanding where the hand you are playing with stands, when another player has called to see a flop.

A third chart in the booklet, titled, "Odds Chart", outlines the amount of outs hands have for specific types of draws, and their percentage-to-win on the flop and on the turn. With this chart you get an excellent feel for which types of hands you want to be involved in, especially in a no-limit ring game, and of course, also for no limit hold 'em tournaments. The fourth side of the booklet is a poker glossary, which was unexpected and also a very nice touch.

My thoughts on the video:

Unlike the first video, Volume II included options to be able to browse to specific sections without having to fast-forward. Howard stresses that before viewing this video, you must know the fundamentals he outlined in Volume I, to which I must agree. To see this video without seeing the first volume, would not be effective to understanding the concepts he is expanding on.

How far to loosen up on opening and playable hands when becoming short handed or short stacked, which was missing from the first video is now much more complete, as far as answers go.

He opens his lesson with discussion about factoring and adjusting fundamental strategies for late position play, and goes into playable late position hands that deviate from his chart. He also discusses the possibility of re-raising with these deviated hands in late position.

He later goes into bet strategy and limping, and the weight and power of suited connectors. Some very important information is brought to light in this section about playing AK and AA that should not be overlooked. In fact, I would recommend that a player take some very good notes from this section especially, including noting his thoughts about how to bet with AK and AA. This will potentially save a lot of grief for players who do not take down big pots with these hands on a regular basis.

Another very valuable section of information included in this video is what Howard refers to as, "flop texture".  This section is helpful at determining when to slow play a hand, when to aggressively protect a hand, and even possibly lay down a hand although it may be the best hand between yourself and an opponent. This section leads into bluff betting scare cards.

Later in the video there is more on betting and the size of bets that one should make considering conditions within a tournament game, specific and necessary tournament skills for winning play,  chip-stack management during a tournament, handling multi-way hands when one player is all-in, and more sophisticated player tells that go on at a live tournament table.

For any player that is experienced with tournaments: once again, Howard has produced an excellent video for advancement. I feel that the information in Volume II is suitable for use at NLHE ring table games and will prove to be successful.

For any player that is new to the game: I have yet to see an instructional poker video that will create success at no limit holdem at a faster pace than Howard is providing with his instruction.

If anyone else has seen this video, I would love for you to comment and share your observations.