Don't Listen to Phil Hellmuth: Correcting the 50 Worst Pieces of Poker Advice You've Ever Heard

370 Pages·2011·11.23 MB·English

by  Dusty Schmidt and Paul Christopher Hoppe

Don’t
Listen
To
Phil
Hellmuth*
Correcting The 50
Worst Pieces of
Poker Advice
You’ve Ever Heard
* Or a host of other ‘world champs’,
TV commentators and other
self-proclaimed experts
DUSTY SCHMIDT & PAUL CHRISTOPHER HOPPE
Imagine Media, LLC
http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield
2010 Imagine Media Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2010 by Dusty Schmidt and Paul Christopher Hoppe
All rights reserved
Published in the United States by Imagine Media, LLC
Imagine Media is a trademark of Imagine Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schmidt, Dusty & Hoppe, Paul Christopher
Don’t Listen To Phil Hellmuth,
Correcting the 50 Worst Pieces of Poker Advice You’ve Ever Heard
By Dusty Schmidt and Paul Christopher Hoppe
Printed in the United States of America
www.dustyschmidt.net
www.giantbuddhapoker.com
Edited by Scott Brown
Book design by Tracy Hopper
DEDICATION
D.S.
For Matt Amen, who persevered with me through my
early mistakes, and for all the new players starting out. May
your mistakes be few and short-lived.
P.C.H
For Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker, Mike Sexton,
David Sklansky, and all the other authors, announcers,
players and champions who've given advice ranging from
excellent to awful, relevant to outdated.
For our readers who have sifted through it all and not
known which advice to follow.
And to members of the next generation, watchful for the
time when any of our advice becomes antique.
CONTENTS
Dedication I
Acknowledgments V
Introduction VII
PART 1
CORRECTING THE 50 WORST PIECES OF
POKER ADVICE YOU’VE EVER HEARD
1. Avoid Tough Decisions 4
2. Preflop Play Doesn’t Matter That Much 8
3. Starting Hand Charts Are For Beginners 10
4. Pick A Style And Stick With It 15
5. The Key To Getting Paid Off Is Playing Loose
So No One Can Put You On A Hand 22
6. Supertight Is Better Than Tight 26
7. Make All Your Preflop Raises The Same Size 29
8. Punish The Limpers! 36
9. Punish The Nits! 40
10. 3-Betting A Lot Makes Me Tough 43
11. Do Not Touch My Blinds 49
12. The Small Blind Is Impossible To Play 53
13. Suited Connectors Win All The Big Pots In
No Limit Holdem 56
14. Bring Your Big Guns To A War! 61
15. Bigger 3-Bets Get More Folds 67
16. Make One Decision At A Time 72
17. “The key to No Limit Hold’em is to put a man to a
decision for all his chips.” 81
18. Calling Is Weak 91
19. You Can’t Make That Play Unless You Balance It 97
20. I Have To Bet This Flop Because I Don’t Want
To Give Up 103
21. Checking And Folding The Flop Is Weak 108
22. Never Leave Your Children Out There 111
23. Always C-bet The Same Amount 113
24. Save The Small Bets For The Kiddie Game 117
25. Call now. Re-evaluate The Turn. 122
26. Great Players Never Fold The Best Hand 125
27. If You Have The Best Hand, Raise! 128
28. Raise To Find Out Where You Stand 131
29. Lead Out To Find Out Where You Stand 135
30. Don’t Donk 142
31. Always Play Your Draws Aggressively 147
32. Don’t Get Blown Off Your Hand 151
33. Never Bet The Minimum 162
34. Real Men Make Real Raises 167
35. You Need A Monster To Get Involved Against
A Bet And A Raise 170
36. Don’t Bluff In Multiway Pots 174
37. Your Bluff Should Tell A Story 177
38. Sell Your Hand 179
39. Bet Big With Your Big Hands 182
40. Great Players Always Make Thin Value Bets 185
41. Call If You Can Beat Anything At All 189
42. When A Line Makes No Sense, Call Down 194
43. Don’t Call Without A Hand 196
44. The More You Bet, The More They Fold 204
45. Focus On The Tough Players 207
46. The Great Players Are Crazy 212
47. A Mistake Is A Mistake 215
48. Never Back Down 218
49. Win Rate Is A Constant 223
50. Poker Is Just A Game 228
PART 2
HAND ANALYSIS
25 Hands with Dusty Schmidt 233
PART 3
STUDY
Quiz 313
About Dusty Schmidt 340
About Paul Christopher Hoppe 342
Want More Instruction From Dusty Schmidt And Paul Hoppe? 344
Free Book Program 345
Treat Your Poker Like A Business by Dusty Schmidt 346
Way Of The Poker Warrior by Paul Christopher Hoppe 348
Raise By Dusty Schmidt 350
Continue To Follow Dusty Schmidt And Paul Hoppe 354
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dusty would like to thank Paul Hoppe, Nicole Schmidt,
Michelle Breazeale, Lennon Schmidt, Scott Brown, Neal
Rosenshine, Tracy Hopper, Sara Brown, Matt Amen, Alice
Pellegrino, Hunter Bick, Korey Gillis, Phil Nagy, Jared
Tendler, Rob Wise, Matt Bolt, Casey Martin, Johnny
Mac, Jim Pellegrino, Brian Henninger, Justin Marchand,
Steve Radulovich, Shawn Patrick Green, Ziad Kaady,
Sam Montez, Clint Demaris, Allen Knecht, Scott Walker,
Rickard Kling, Benjamin Wilson and Steve Day.
Additionally, Paul would like to thank Mateel Hoppe,
Ed Miller, Dusty Schmidt and Mary Yost.

INTRODUCTION
What if many of the fundamental “truths” you’ve heard
about poker turned out to be false?
Recognize any of these commonly held beliefs?
• Preflop play doesn’t matter that much.
• The key to getting paid off is playing loose
so no one can put you on a hand.
• Bigger 3-bets get more folds.
• Calling is weak.
• You have to bet this flop because
you don’t want to give up.
There is certainly an element of truth to some of these
statements, but by and large they are big misconceptions.
Perhaps this shouldn’t bother us because, as poker pros, we
profit off the mistakes of others. But when we see so many
high-level players making so many fundamental mistakes in
their games, and having those moves endorsed by television
announcers, it’s enough to make us scream, “Stop! That’s
not how it’s done!”
This book focuses on correcting the greatest fallacies in
poker. There are an astonishing number of them, providing
our common understanding of the game with an incredibly
shaky foundation. This did not come entirely as a surprise.
Like many new players, we struggled to sift through all
the competing voices. One author would say this, another
would say that. For Dusty, it took more than 3 million