Review of Rolf Slotboom’s Book Secrets of Professional Pot Limit Omaha
Mixed Feelings. That’s my summary. I have been reading his Card Player column for years and always loved his stuff. So I was really looking forward to this book, which apparently changed titles a few times while in production. It also seemed that the book fell short on material, as half of it is reprinted Card Player articles. So it is divided into two sections, with the original material in the front.
First Section
This is the new stuff. I hated it, although it was enlightening as to what is happening around me in some of the PLO games I play on Poker Stars. It’s mostly about his short-buy system for playing at full ring games, both online and off. Now, it is mathematically sound and probably a solid approach to one type of game, but I have no interest in it. I play mostly 6-max online cash games and I like to play big stacks and do a lot of flop-betting.
He did mention a big-stack strategy but it really is just about finding somebody to pick on. In my games the player turnover is high and the action fast, so that really isn’t doable. He also dedicated a section to online play, but it amounted to a reiteration of his offline strategies with a few more examples.
Second Section
The section section of the book, as already mentioned, is a reprinted collection of his prior Card Player articles, many of which I have already read. However, they are excellent and I was happy with my purchase of the book when I got into these. Lots of important concepts are brought into the light, and studying them really helps your game. They are arranged in a manner that flows well, culminating in a must-study chapter on critical hand matchups.
Application
I read Lyle Berman’s section of Supersytem 2 before I started seriously playing Pot Limit Omaha. This book formulated my approach to the game and I did well right out the gate. While I was reading Rolf Slotboom’s book however, my game started slipping. I started making pot-size raises with hands I would have folded before and my results suffered from it.
That is, until I got to the second section of the book where my results started improving again. After finishing the book I am playing better than ever, largely as a result of the hands matchup chapter. Also I can now recognize when somebody in my game is playing Rolf’s short-buy strategy and sometimes avoid a confrontation with them because of it. After all, I am after the other big stacks.
Conclusion
All in all, a must-read for PLO cash game players. But you might want to take a break from playing while reading the first section if you are an active big-stack player.
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