Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1

Fundamentals and How to Handle Varying Stack Sizes

By: Jonathan Little

Narrated by: Jonathan Little

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Tournament poker is a tough game to play, but the rewards for success can be huge. Even regular online tournaments offer substantial prizes running to hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you want to win big at the tables, then you must buy this book.

In Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker: Book 1 you will learn the fundamentals of play and how to handle varying stack sizes. You will learn:

• Why tournaments are the most profitable form of poker
• When to play small ball and when to play long ball
• How to understand effective stack size
• How to tailor your play to winning, not just cashing... plus much more!

Jonathan Little is a professional poker player from Pensacola, Florida who started playing poker when he turned 18 years old. He quickly became one of the biggest winners in online sit-n-go tournaments. He has won two WPT events and final tabled two others, earning him the Season 6 Player of the Year award. He has total earnings in excess of $5 million. In 2013, he cashed five times in the WSOP, including a 3rd place finish. He has cashed over 20 times at the WSOP. Jonathan is also a poker coach.

©2011 Jonathan Little (P)2014 Jonathan Little

Great overall - but the math is hard to “hear”

I loved this book. It has excellent strategy tips and concepts that I was able to implement immediately and chop the 8k pot in the very next tourney I played in.
My history: I’ve won multiple 2,000+ player tourneys online, and have had success in cash games against skilled and non-skilled players. My point: I did not attempt to digest this book without prior experience.

The math is hard to hear.
I taught math. My degree was a BS in Math. It was still very hard to understand the math behind some of Little’s calculations because there’s no real easy way to explain it without being able to see the numbers.
The strategy is on point.
I immediately implemented two major concepts that I believe helped me win the subsequent tourney. Pot control. Positional raises and timing. Without those two concepts, I guarantee I would have not cashed. I played hands differently and immediately saw the benefits...it also made decision making significantly easier.

Great book.

Being Fundamental

I have listen to several poker books and by far this is the next level.

I learned a ton!

Great book for those that want to take their poker skills to the next level. This book is not for beginners nor is it for professionals. It falls somewhere in the middle, which was perfect for me.
I think it's better to read a paper version of this book because it's easier to see the hands, numbers, calculations but for those that don't have time for that this book will do, just be prepared to rewind A LOT!

Best tournament book I have read

Where does Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Of the few poker books available on Audibel this is the only must read if you plan to play no limit tourneys

What other book might you compare Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker to and why?

No other books here offer the same deep yet clear analysis and strategy

What about Jonathan Little’s performance did you like?

narration is fine

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

Remember the concept of advertising early on at a table. Worked wonders for me on several occasions.

tournament books are where he shines

I've gone through almost everything he has written. by far his best books are when he writes about tournament play.

Little Goes A Long Way

Excellent material, prepared well by a passionate author. Frankly, the information in this volume is so relevant and revelatory, I wish no one else had access to this material. Oh well.

Okay book

I would say it's a good buy for less than 15$ and it would give you some info regarding poker tournaments.

Great tournament strategy book for poker

The biggest part of the book (playing with a stack of 125+ bbs) is not too useful for online play since the average stack is way less than that just a few blind levels from the start, but still this is gold for online or live players

A must read

Before reading this book, I was the guy Jonathan describes. A good solid player who would bubble or just make some money, but rarely win.

Since reading this book and applying the concepts I have won two and chopped three tournaments out of 15 entered.


This is a must read if you want to get better and win more money.

Thank you Jonathan

A must for ambitious players.

Perfect book to make you aware of just how much you don't know about today's poker.

Amazing!

I've listened to this book twice now and will continue to listen again and again. I've cashed in online MTT's in the past but since listening to this book I've actually made 2 final tables online with 1500+ runners which is something I've never done before (all within a month of purchase) And I've no way near managed to engrain all the concepts John talks about in this book. He narrates the book extremely well and I will definitely follow him more closely. A word of warning, the style of poker John teaches in this book isn't the old school Dan Harrington type TAG style. This book makes you a loose aggressive more dominant player. 10/10 all day!!

One of the best books on the subject

This is (one volume of) one of the best works yet written on the subject, by an author with an unquestionable subject knowledge and a superbly calm, well-balanced attitude. Importantly, whilst many poker books attempt to convey the author's understanding and technique, writing text books requires a particular skillset - it is not a simple task and it is often beyond even the most talented players to impart their knowledge to the reader in a well organised manner. That's not to say these books are perfect as one may never write a textbook to suit every student.
The author reads this volume well with good diction and I did not struggle at all with his accent (I'm British), whilst the speed setting is very useful to bring his somewhat quick delivery down to a speed where you can absorb it properly (I used x0.85).
Reviewers of the paper version note that you will need a reasonable understanding of the basic mechanics of NLHE before embarking on this learning journey and this is particularly true of the audio book. You will also require a strong memory and mental agility (which are requisites of succeeding in poker as it happens) as Jonathan cites multiple hand examples which could be difficult to hold in your head - this is certainly not a great driving companion for most us!
From an entirely personal perspective, I had to work with a notepad and pause button to make the most of listening to the book but have still now opted to order a hard copy of this volume (along with the second to move on to) as I feel I will gain a thorough grasp more quickly. However, I'm glad to have the audio book to refer back to as a refresher once I get towards mastering these concepts.
You should note that this is a three-volume series and whilst working through the set is required for a rounded understanding, just working on the first few chapters has improved my game. Yes, you're probably not going to win any major titles without taking your training several more levels, but if you can learn and apply this knowledge you will have a much better understanding of the game than the majority of amateurs at your next table and appreciate how and when to exploit that.
These titles are now dating a little and while poker books can go out of date quickly, "Secrets" works on principles that form a solid basis on which you can develop your game later rather than advocating a particular approach which can be learnt and countered by your opponents making it obsolete.
Good luck at the tables!

good book

great read. it has improved my poker play 100% I've read it 5 times now