Hello dear readers. I've been asked to review a recently released book by Nathan "Black Rain" Williams called "Crushing the Microstakes." I just want to be clear that the opinions below are solely my own, not tied in any way to those of CardRunners, and that I am in no way being compensated for my effort. Williams is an instructor at Drag the Bar, a site I don't frequent or necessarily recommend, and keeps a blog at his website www.blackrain79.com.

Know Thy Audience

The subtitle of Nathan Williams' "Crushing the Microstakes" is impressive: "The definitive guide from the #1 winner of all time." The last phrase is evidenced on the first available page with a 5.4 million hand screenshot from HEM, showing 44k in pre-rakeback profits including an astonishing 26k in profits from a combined 4 million hands at 2nl and 5nl. The book concerns those two stakes. In the interest of full disclosure I cannot say I am entirely qualified to offer a review, though I am a big winner at 50nl and was one at 25nl before that, I have never grinded anything lower. Then again, the list of people who have played a million hands of profitable 2nl is probably quite short.

This provides one raison d'etre for Williams' undertaking, which I found plausible, that "there is a real lack of quality information out there for people trying to get better at these games," since few training site instructors are actually playing 10nl, much less 5nl or 2nl. The other of course being that Williams sees a market; his blog is inundated by the many enthusiasts of the game struggling to profit at these stakes. It is for these players that Crushing is written and it seems to me, it should be evaluated in that light.

Williams shows an understanding of his audience from the start in that he finds it necessary to discuss and to dispel, for example, the merits of limp re-raising kings and aces from early position. Some of those things that may seem trite to online poker veterans such as advising the reader to use the auto-top up feature, or explaining the difference between a set and trips, are necessary evils to include in a work like this. Quashing canards like the need to play "real poker" (the where they respect my raises illogic), Williams warns "I have seen far too many people get frustrated at the micros, move up too fast and get crushed."

There is a section recommending a simple HUD, explaining what the stats mean and at what sample size each should become useful. The idea that certain stats converge quicker than others is explained and for neophytes, the advice is practical. Williams links to further resources of his in the form of blog or forum posts, providing for further learning opportunities should the reader desire.

Crushing offers both rational and empirical arguments for why one should be more inclined to raise pre-flop in order to continuation bet. The homespun version of the rational argument being that you can win two ways, when they call and when they fold, reasoning novice players typically distrust. The empirical evidence consists of HEM screenshots of hands filtered for when Williams raises pre-flop, versus those he plays but does not raise, and the corresponding win rates. While either could stand a bit more fleshing out, I was glad to see both arguments included. On the one hand the empirical is just indisputable proof that a novice player is going to have to deal with, while the inclusion of the rational means Williams isn't giving a simple "copy my style" sermon, but rather teaching people to fish, as it were.

Technical Instruction

A large portion of the book is spent extolling the virtues of very large bet sizes. In value betting, in shoving rivers, in isolating, in 3 betting pre-flop, the formula may change but the message is the same, bet big. This theme is returned to again and again (always alongside a censure of bluffing) and this is as it should be. These stakes are all about getting value and the emphasis is well placed.

As far as specific starting hand considerations William suggests 22+ AQo being playing from UTG and UTG+1 in full ring. A lot of theory nowadays suggests pitching the small pocket pairs from these early spots, even if it is just deuces through fives. I have to believe Williams gets it right in suggesting that deuces through sixes should be open limped while the rest get raised up. He offers the compelling point that players can buy in for 250bb at any 2nl or 5nl table and hence stacks are often deeper, in addition to the obvious tenet of these stakes, villains don't fold. This is just further evidence that Williams has in fact played millions of hands at these, the lowest of limits, and understands the nuances that the stakes provide as opposed to employing some rote tight-aggressive play. I was impressed to see him finish the discussion by noting that at the point of 10nl standard theory should be picked up and {66-} can in fact just be tossed in early position.

The author is extremely conservative in his recommended cold calling ranges. I would imagine a micro crusher would have wider cold calling ranges, especially when stacks are often deeper. That being said his conservative recommendations should suit readers quite well as erring on the side of folding pre-flop versus calling is likely a profitable reversal of their natural inclinations.

Very good advice about planning ahead can be found in this book, which makes a great case at one point for bet/folding AQ on a QT9 two tone flop, a seemingly strong hand, but out of position. Crushing integrates the earlier discussion of HUD stats well into these examples. The section on good and bad boards to c-bet however, is rather limited, despite a good explanation of the importance of perceived (as opposed to real) ranges. It isn't that Williams is giving clearly bad advice here, but some points, such as a cold callers' propensity to continue on a jack high flop, are oversimplified past the point of usefulness in my estimation. In general the discussion of c-betting includes all the pertinent factors but is just a little off in spots and for the 25nl player would certainly lack depth.

One can find places to gripe with the text's technical strategies. When facing an "open shove maniac" who is literally shoving every hand the reader is proffered a calling range of 66+ A9o+. This seems wildly tight irrespective of those left to act.

A screenshot of a Pokerstars table serves as a starting hand chart, surely of use to novice players who benefit from visual cues. Tiny errors that almost aren't worth mentioning, unless you were say, penning a review, are frequent in the text, like how said chart doesn't include how many suited kings you should open from the cutoff. It lists K8o+, all broadways (so KTs+), and all suited one and two gappers down to 56s and 75s, but this neglects K6s-K9s, certainly in the realm of possibility if K8o is being opened, but perhaps K2s+ is optimal in the author's mind, we cannot be sure. Nitpicking probably serves more use to the reviewer than anyone in convincing himself his due diligence has been done and once again the author makes explicit that the hand chart is not to be memorized verbatim but rather that "the most important thing to take away from this ... is the positional bias in starting hand selection."

There is a confusing juxtaposition at the beginning of the post-flop section, characterizing AcKc on 543cc as a "no pair hand." Despite mentioning that it is "actually a sizeable favourite against a lot of made hands" such as 99 and Q5, Williams goes on to write "But the facts remain the same. You aren't going to win in the long run with these types of hands. So for the most part you should just give up or check it down. There are some exceptions [presumably, but not explicitly, the example the author uses]... but in general these are garbage hands." This is more likely an organizational error than a conceptual one, but the example really hurts the overall cogency of the passage.

I found the book really neglects the question of how to play draws. Maybe this is a function of the author's limited cold calling ranges or of the book's focus on how to play top pair or better for big value. Crushing contains no complicated examples (a strength) especially when it comes to betting and to bet/folding. Getting value often means folding strong hands that are easily over valued by inexperienced players when they face aggression and this point is hammered on to great effect.

Overall Impressions

The book does not suggest much in terms of bankroll requirements or the resolution of tilt issues. I have a feeling that many of the players who struggle at the micros have terrible monetary and emotional management habits holding them back. In fairness the author makes no claims to expertise in either area, something he gets away with in part because of the personable nature he conveys.

The eight pages or so of introduction and conclusion could have used a professional editor. But it is my working assumption that criticizing a poker player for his writing is neither here nor there, even when it comes to writing a book. What matters is whether the readership can expect a profitable investment, not whether grammatical imprecisions or clunky phrases are the vehicle getting them there. The trick in writing anything of instructional value is having the writing disappear so that it can be passed over seamlessly, thereby elevating the concepts the author is trying to impart. At the core of the work Williams achieves this, only at the fringes do the prose fray. The organization of the book in terms of the linearity of the topics isn't perfect. But the clarity of the graphics and arrangement of the text itself is clean and clear.

The eBook is 251 pages in PDF format. It seems to me that crushing no limit hold'em, even at the microstakes, would require a longer "definitive guide," especially given the space consumed by the author's effective use of Pokerstove screenshots and hand examples. While it is true that the book is of comparable word count to other poker eBooks and that this was by design (from my bit of research), I don't see how this is particularly relevant to the idea that the work is a complete playbook or a definitive guide. Those would be as long as was necessary.

I have to believe though, that at a 30$ retail price Crushing the Microstakes could easily pay for itself for the novice player just getting into online, and for the player still struggling to do better than breakeven at 2nl, 5nl, or 10nl. So while by not any means a panacea, it should make for profitable reading.