Book Review: Let There Be Range

Poker ebooks have gained quite a bit of popularity in the last few months; several authors and well-known players from the poker community have announced or have already published their work. It turns out that the format has enabled skilled players to share a part of their knowledge while cutting down on the time and efforts required to bring out a traditional publication, and what used to be seen as a laborious and not-so profitable task now appears to be a good way to offer advanced material to the intended public.

If ebooks have been around for some time now, with a few notable ones, Let There Be Range has certainly been instrumental in the sudden burst of interest.

First, you probably know one of its coauthors, Cole “CTS” South — a young and highly successful high-stakes player, who made several great videos for the CardRunners training site. His aggressive style has earned him a solid reputation, and it is safe to say that almost everyone who knows the guy would be extremely eager to read a poker book with its name on the cover. SlowHabit, his coauthor, is also a successful player and an experienced coach.

When these two decided to write a book, it was clear something special would come out of it — something way more advanced than the average level of the current literature. It was hoped that they would truly share their insight, and if they did so it was pretty obvious that their work would be fairly exclusive.

The book came out in late 2008, and it cost a whopping $1,850 back then (it sells for $974 as of this writing). This came as a shock to most small stakes players, who often don’t have that much as a bankroll, and even higher stakes players were intrigued. It brought on some stir and controversy in many forums, as some people argued about how they find it too expensive while some other replied that it all depends on what’s in the book. Fair enough.

Part One: your poker checkup

Let There Be Range is 81 pages, divided into two parts of 10 chapters each. Part One starts with “fundamentals” (which differs from ABC, let it be clear), and Part Two delves into important concepts that will “toughen” your game.

The first three chapters explain the proper way to analyze a poker hand, working with hand ranges, combinatorics and equity. This is the hallmark of modern poker: as the average level of the serious students of the game improved, players paid more and more attention to the range of their opponent and how it fares on various flop textures, allowing moves that would look foolhardy to the unwary, but that actually have strong mathematical foundations. These chapters do a good job in showing these ideas at work with several telling examples.

If you had a coaching session with them,
they could probably make a remark
that is already present in this book

Chapter Four is a collection of common leaks and misconceptions from low/mid-stakes players, as useful for fixing your game as for exploiting your opponents. Each leak description is about three or four paragraphs long, and they cover a broad range of situations, from misguided pot-control or weak river play (as we touched on in this blog) to flaws in showdown value management, leveling or equity realization. The chapter looks like a summary of all the leaks the authors have compiled throughout their coaching of students and their crushing mid-stakes games. If you had a coaching session with them, they could probably make a remark about your game that is already present in this part of the book.

Chapter Five is a short discussion on exploitability, and to what extent it should impact your game, depending on your opposition. It goes along the same line as [vital]Myth’s Exploitation vs Exploitability videos on CardRunners, if you watched them. This is definitely something that you should be aware of.

The next chapter deals with preflop play. It follows the general approach used in the rest of the book, in that it favors pragmatism over strict organization or completeness; you won’t find a complete study of the preflop strategy or a system that you can use out of the box, but it provides you with a selection of quite useful observations, advice and words of caution that will directly address the flaws of readers, and put them on the right tracks in several areas.

The emphasis in this chapter is essentially on the 3bet pots, both from the 3bettor and the defender standpoint. Several options are provided to defend effectively against the loose 3bettors, both from early or mid position and the blinds. Again, the book does not tell you to this or that in a prescriptive way, but it gives you elements to build your own strategy.

Chapter Seven is especially devoted to playing AK and QQ out of position with various stack sizes. This is more tricky spot than some would expect, and the correct play strongly depends on your opponent’s tendencies.

If your game is on the passive side,
it will do you a power of good

The study goes on with flop play, addressed in the following chapter. It could be dubbed “Beyond Continuation Bets”, since it explains how to devise a whole plan, instead of mechanically throwing a cbet and see what happens. Of course, estimating one’s opponents’ hand range and figuring one’s equity is a central part of the task; sometimes, it appears clearly that your opponent has good chances to be in a rather tough spot, and you should make it your job to make his life as hard as possible if it translates into extra profits. As you’ll see, this is partly the thrust of the book, and if your game is sometimes a bit on the passive side, this will do you a power of good.

Chapter Nine focuses on the cases when your opponent seems to give up by checking after betting the previous streets. As we saw, a strong play is often in order, even though it could involve a big bluff or somewhat turning one’s hand into a bluff, as people are wont to say. No cheap showdown when you’re in the hand!

This is the end of Part One, and we’re halfway through the book (on page 40). The fundamentals have been covered, and the frequent leaks that may weaken your game have probably been pointed out. It is very unlikely you haven’t picked some food for thought in this first part, if you’re in the intended audience (mid-stakes players). Now that your guard is solid and you got some deft footwork, it is the time to practice your power-punches and let your opponent meet your uppercut if he wants to clinch!

Part Two: on being unplayable

Chapter Ten is dubbed “The Magic Ace”, which incidentally sounds like Manila Ice to me. Indeed, the ace is most often a very scary card, and since it will often hit a reasonable part of your range, your opponent can’t call you off lightly on regular basis — and if he does, it is a very easy adjustment to exploit him. Strong play is advocated, with some suggestions to give more punch to your bluffs. The advice in this part will instantly increase your aggressiveness.

The advice in this part will instantly
increase your aggressiveness

Chapter Eleven focuses on several line variations that will make you a more dangerous opponent — with a bigger bankroll. All the lines are pretty advanced plays, but they are well explained and the examples are fine; you should have no problem adding some of these to your strategy while picking the right time to trigger the move. Very solid content in there.

The next chapter literally follows through with aggression, since it is about barreling. It analyzes what board textures are good for barreling, and what kind of opponents you should target. Barreling is an integral part of an aggressive style, and this chapter makes it quite clear.

Relentless aggression entails taking a great deal of risks, consequently you should always be concerned about your odds and your risk/reward ratio. Chapter Thirteen precisely deals with bet sizing, and how you should use it to maximize your chances while getting the best price. Sometimes, the small bet is undoubtedly the best option, and it is important to know when. The two last examples are particularly interesting — food for thought again.

Chapter Fourteen analyzes some 3bet pots action, and how the bigger pot affect bluffing opportunities. It is rather short, but it will give you the tools to explore other situations by yourself.

Chapter Fifteen is entitled “Planet of the Apes”: when you face aggressive opponents and you must fight back, this often makes for some brutal action. The discussion provides several examples to avoid getting run over; these counter-measures should certainly be added into your arsenal. Nonetheless, the authors do not advocate mindless aggression and unnecessary risks, so you’ll definitely have to use your best judgment when you’ll consider showing your opponent what you’re made of.

This book will give you a lot
of advice to toughen your game

Chapter Sixteen deals with naked ranges, that is, ranges that happen to be more or less face-up considering the preceding action. These situations come up more frequently that some could think, and exploiting them properly will allow you to win some nice pots. You’ll have to keep your eyes open!

The next chapter contains two examples of polarization, from CTS’ high-stakes games. Lots of raises and reraises, but the authors see clearly through all the wild action, sharing their thought process to show us when their opponent’s range has become very polarized, i.e. naked.

Chapter Eighteen discusses river play, and it won’t come as a surprise to you that controlled aggression is the name of the game. As we said in our article linked above, the river is the street the most played on autopilot, and this book will give you a lot of advice to toughen your game in that area.

Chapter Nineteen deals with putting in the last bet when you need to maximize your fold equity, and the last chapter talks about momentum, as a conclusion.

Conclusion

This is a book that will definitely change your game and the way you handle many situations. With a $947 price tag as of this writing, it is not cheap though, and this means the target audience is primarily mid-stakes players who already built a bankroll. If you’re a small stakes player, don’t spend an inordinate percentage of your bankroll to buy the book; it contains no magic formula, and there is much cheaper material that could already help you for your current stakes.

However, if you’re an experienced player with an appropriate bankroll, and if you feel that you have somewhat plateaued lately, look no further: Let There Be Range will give you a ton of pointers and new ideas to strengthen your game, exploit thinner edges and make you a more dangerous opponent.

It will also give you some homework, since it is likely that you’ll stumble a bit at first when you use new moves. Again, the book shows you the way and put you on tracks, but you’ll still have to study all the situations where you want to try the plays, working out ranges, running sims and doing the maths to make sure it is profitable. Don’t forget that you’ll exploit thinner edges and you’ll make risky plays that depends on subtle factors, so you must ascertain that everything is well under control. But it is well worth it.

Finally, note that shortcomings that have been sometimes mentioned in older reviews of this book, like typos or the fact that the reader could not know which coauthor wrote what part, have now been fixed. Furthermore, buying the book gives access to a private forum, where the authors can answer questions about the book and the readers can share their experience and analyses. Like I said in another review, it can be a nice addition to the book itself.

Note: I received a review a copy of this ebook, and since I purchased another $750 ebook a few months before writing this review, I might not have bought it, due to bankroll requirements. It is a good book nonetheless and I stand by my positive review.