Collin Moshman and the new online sit and go strategy.
Ever since the 2007 release of Sit and Go Strategy, written by Collin Moshman and published by Two Plus Two, more and more sit and go players have adapted hard-core math and aggression online to a profitable end. That is of course if those players that put the concepts to work for them. Now I only say if, because of the fact that some of moshman's tactics may not have been widely accepted before he published them and pretty much proved mathematically that you could make good money playing the way he does.
Collin Moshman is another of the youthful generation of poker players that have added not just aggression but the application of deep math to contemporary poker. Collin Moshman graduated in 2003 with an honors degree in theoretical math from Caltech, but he is sit and go strategy was developed not just through playing in the low limits but also exploring series in the Two Plus Two poker forum, where feedback is immediate, varying, and usually harsh.
I was pretty enthused about this book when it first came out because it was the first author who called the hands such as Ace deuce or or 79 suited not only playable, but strong enough to take a lead in a hand in putting Norma's pressure on your opponent with. Of course this went against the fabric of most popular poker books at the time, and a specially had never been discussed in depth with regards to sit and go tournaments.
Two major concepts in the book cover ICM calculations which carry through to a lot of problem solving queries put to the reader, and also the high blind stages in sit and go tournaments, where too many players too often limp into the pot making it a size that would be very attractive to a small or medium stack near the money or in the money stages. Those high blind limpers are one of the most exploitable aspects of sit and go strategy that requires some mathematical aptitude, practice, and maybe just some gutsy intuition in order to steal and re-steal pots with marginal holdings.
The underlying success of this strategy is based on Moshman's axiom that "Most players are strongly averse to gambling for all their chips when any other player getting eliminated places them automatically in the money." This lends itself to an enormous density for blind raises to work successfully at this stage where getting involved in a plot is going to mean putting your tournament at risk. I think Collin Moshman brings this aspect to light in such a way that makes playing any other way nonsensical. I really think that's one of the reasons this book is so successful.
Book review: Sit and Go Strategy, but Colin Moshman
So many professional poker players have written poker books these last few years that “riding the wave” has become accepted as a must-do business venture to the extent that we now have a lot of so-called educational poker books out there, that are a shameful waste of trees.
These days when I review a poker book I am more apt to look for the not-so-well-known writer who has proved his worth in the venue where most of us book buyers are plying our trade – and that of course is online. There just simply seems to be a distinct divide between a lot of the so-called “professional” strategy in some popular works and that of which is actually profitable online.
Enter Collin Moshman who is a new writer to the 2+2 stable and joins the highly respected Dan Harrington and Ed Miller that now as a trio could very well be carrying the pioneers of that publishing business.
As a regular contributor to the poker forums at 2+2 Moshman learned his trade soon after achieving an honors degree in theoretical math from Caltech. His online expereince grew from $6 sit and go poker tournaments all the way to up $215 single table sit and go tournaments. Even though he could be labeled as a math geek, Moshman’s play is as aggressive as Phil Ivey’s and in explaining this strategy within these pages, Collin Moshman has definitely filled a market void. Yes, this whole manual introduces many new and exciting strategies.
In a style similar to Harrington, Sit’ n Go Strategy is jam packed with hand-to-hand combat scenarios that clearly illustrate the points of assertion Moshman recommends. Make no mistake, most of those assertions have to do with shear aggression that will make you think differently about your game, over and over again. You may find yourself thinking – “Does he really do this?”. Moshman refers to hands like A2s, 22 and 33 as “robust” so you can figure right now I am not kidding about the material being new or aggressive.
Strategically, the early part of a sit and go tournament should normally be played tight-aggressive avoiding big pots without very strong or nut hands and Moshman concurs on this. It’s when you advance to the high blind stage that this book really shines using a backbone of not-too-difficult mathematics combined with player profiling and sit and go structure theory. If you don’t play in the $215+ sit’ n go tournaments, there are still reasons to read this book as most situations are applicable to most levels. However, some of the more daring moves described in this well presented text may not be as successful in the lower limits, because a good deal of the time that Collin Moshman’s opponents would fold in a $215 table, you will get multiple callers in a $11 sit and go. In that sense, sometimes a fraction of your EV evaporates and you are left with the cards to help you.
Saving that adjustment, this ranks up there with Dan Harrington as one of those books where after studying and accepting it, can have an immediate and positive impact on your ROI.
