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Poker books by Johnny Chan - reviews

Million Dollar Hold ‘em
Limit Cash Games

Johnny Chan is a player who truly needs no introduction. With ten World Series of Poker bracelets, including the 1987 and 1988 main event, Johnny is among the most decorated players in tournament history. Perhaps even more impressive is his ability to excel in cash games as well. Johnny has been a fixture at the highest limit poker games in the world for over 20 years. He is one of the few, elite players, who manages to hold his own in “The Big Game”, held daily at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Needless to say, when a player of this caliber writes a book on beating Limit Hold ‘em cash games I am excited to hear what he has to say.

Unfortunately, Johnny may be better suited with playing poker rather than writing about it. That is not to say that the book does not have a number of valuable insights, just that it was not, in my opinion, as good as some other books on Limit Hold ‘em.

The book is essentially a long stream of individual hands, that were supposedly taken from real world play. Although the book is broken down into sections, there is no real theme to the different chapters, and the specific aspects of play are not separated in any way. It reads essentially just one hand after another with seemingly little attention paid to the order or grouping of the hands.

Players who are new to the game of Limit Hold ‘em are likely to find this book to be a poor introductory lesson to the game. There is very little in the way of detailed analysis and explanation. Although some reasons for certain plays are given the hands are presented with little in the way of in depth discussion regarding why certain actions were taken.

While I would not feel comfortable recommending this book to a beginning player, more experienced players may very well get a lot of food for thought in the way Johnny Chan suggests playing hands. Players who are looking for this sort of information to chew on may be the ones who get the most out of this book. There are countless examples of how to play many different hands, and often different lines of play are suggested. Analyzing hands and comparing alternate ways of handling different situation is one of the surest ways to improve your poker game. While this is not a book that a beginner can simply take at face value and learn to play the game, it will provide you with insight into how a world champion handles certain situations, and give you a lot to think about in that regard.

The actual advice given in the book was generally sound. There were, however, a few pieces of advice that I disagree with, or at the least believe needed a fuller discussion. While I realize that it is arrogant to be critical of Johnny Chan’s advice on anything, involving any variety of poker, I couldn’t help but to take exception with some of his advice. Johnny is a big fan of slow playing big hands pre-flop and suggests doing so more often than I think is prudent. Johnny puts a very high premium on disguising his hand (which is no doubt very important), and earning extra bets later in the hand, but seems to underestimate the importance of the immediate equity that can be gained by playing some hands more straightforwardly. This may have arisen from his excellent No Limit play where he has excelled for so long. This sort of trapping style can lead to larger payoffs in No Limit play but often at the expense of immediate equity in Limit play. Johnny is a very smart and tricky player, however I think the majority of players will find a fairly straightforward approach to generally be better.

Another bone of contention I have with the advice regards Johnny’s suggestion to make some very loose calls of pre-flop raises. There are times when he suggests calling a solid, first position raiser with hands like mediocre unsuited Aces. He offers little in the way of justification and the impression is that he thinks this is generally a sound play (although I find that hard to believe). There is very little absolute in poker and there is no doubt that these sort of plays can occasionally be appropriate. Unfortunately, there was just not enough discussion as to why these deviations from standard play should be taken. This lack of explanation could leave some players with the impression that this is the standard way to play these hands, which I think could be dangerous. Aside from these few points, and a few other minor criticisms, the advice in the book is solid and should be very helpful to intermediate players who are looking to improve their Limit Hold ‘em game.

The first two chapters of the book are the only places that things other than how to play specific hands are discussed. This was by far my favorite part of the entire book. The first chapters delves into subjects such as game selection, preparation for play, family life, and bankroll management. These sections were very interesting and had me excited to read the rest of the book. Perhaps that is partially responsible for the let down I felt with the remainder of the text. When Johnny Chan writes a book on poker I am very interested in what makes him a world champion, and this section gave a little bit of a glimpse into what makes him tick. This book is part of a series and it is my hope that subsequent volumes will deal in more depth with this sort of material.

While this is not a bad book, it is also not a great book. Although I disagree with some of his suggestions, the advice should prove very helpful for intermediate players looking to improve. The book is not organized especially well and reads in large part like one random hand after another. There is very little theoretical discussion, and I would have been very interested in reading more of Johnny’s personal theories and opinions. That said, my high expectations could be in part responsible for my feelings about this book. Although I have been fairly critical of this text, it is in no way a bad book, and may prove very helpful for some players. The advice is generally solid, and the first two chapters are fantastic. Anytime a player of Johnny Chan’s caliber writes a book on poker I will be interested to read it, and I am hoping that his subsequent volumes will deal more with what makes him so great, and his views on how to play the game well. I would rate this book a 5 out of 10.