Book Review: Power Hold'em Strategy

"Power Hold'em Strategy" by poker pro Daniel Negreanu was and interesting read.  It had a lot of really good information, but it had a lot of "extraneous" material as well.

The best chapters were those written by Evelyn Ng and Daniel himself.  There were a few nuggets in the rest of the book, but they were for the most part for micro-specific situations.

I don't know yet if this book and the small ball concepts it outlines will help my game.  Of course, just about any advise would help my game as poorly as I play.

If you want to buy the book, go to this link.  If not, do what I did and check your local library.  For someone without a job like me, it is much cheaper.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Book: Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book

Phil Gordon, poker pro, man about town, and friend to poker bloggers wrote a series of books.  So far I have read two of them.  This is what I had to say about the first one I read.

I liked Little Blue Book because he went through hands and explained what he did and why.  Although it is a bit much to read straight through.  I know I will go back to this book and study up when I have questions. 

I don't know how this book will affect the way I play poker, but considering my level of play this book certainly can't hurt it.

Go here to buy the book.  But if you are a cash poor unemployed poker player like me, check your local library.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Book: Aces and Kings

This is a mini review of "Aces and Kings" by Michael Kaplan and Brad Reagan.  This book is a series of short biographies of many poker legends.  From Puggy Pearson to the rising stars of  "today" (the book was published in 2005), the authors tell various stories about the poker players.

The book is easy to read and enjoyable.  While there is very little on the specifics of the "Million-Dollar Strategies" from the players, they do clue us in to the general strategies of the players.

Remember those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.  This is a good book that gives a broad sweep of the history of poker from the 1940's up through the 2000's.

This book can be purchased here, or you can do what I did and visit your local library.

Book: All In

I finished All In by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback a couple of days ago.  This book's subtitle is "The (Almost) True Story of The World Series of Poker".  Overall a good read.  Well written and plenty of interviews with interesting people.

It is interesting to note that there were no records of the finishes for the WSOP before the 1980's.  I guess the Binions and their Texas poker playing friends liked it that way.

The book flowed well (unlike most of my posts).  There was not much strategy discussed although it was interesting that they broke up the book chronologically  by playing styles - Texas Road Players, Mayfair Players, Computer Whizzes, and Online Amateurs.

If you are at all fascinated with poker, this is a good book to read.  Go, buy it here.  Christmas is almost around the corner.  Or you can do as I did and see if your local library has the book.  (I am sure poker authors around the world will be happy when I get a job and can pay for their books.  Maybe they will find me a job.)

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness.

Book: Tournament Poker

Today. I am writing up a little review of "Championship Tournament Poker (Championship Series)" by Tom McEvoy.  I finished reading most of this book last week and have been trying to make sense of some of the ideas in it.  I read the Hold'em chapters, along with the Razz, Omaha, and 7-Stud.  These are the games that I am somewhat familiar with.

There was really nothing I found in the Hold'em chapters that I did not know already, the standard  "Play tight early, take advantage of tight players on the bubble, open up your card selection a bit as the blinds and antes go up."

That seemed to me to be the message regardless of what game was being discussed.  The chapters at the end of the book, at least to me, were the most informative and/or entertaining.  The chapter on "The Business of Big League Tournament Poker" I think I will find the most helpful.

All in all a good read.  If you want to pick up a copy follow this link, or better yet do what I did and see if your local library has a copy.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Gone Fishin'

I finished reading Jay Greenspan's book, "Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players" published in 2006 by St. Martin's Press.  I remember the buzz in the poker blogging community at the time.  Just about everyone thought it was a +ev idea.  I also remember the ribbing going on between the Author and the fine folks at Pokerati.

I would have picked up the book earlier, but at the time I was unemployed (I have since been employed and am now unemployed again.  Hire me.) and could not scrape up enough money for such luxuries. When I had my job, I needed my paychecks to cover necessities.

I broke down and went to the Library.  Sorry Jay, no royalty from me.  I owe you.  The book, while vaguely informative, was thoroughly entertaining.  And in some places it is scary how much alike a guy from New York and a guy from West Virginia think alike.  Heh.  Take that however you wish.

So give Jay some love, go buy his book.  I know I will once I get a job and my finances have stabilized.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Secrets of Sit'n'gos

I just finished reading "Secrets of Sit 'n' Gos" by Phil Shaw.  So far I think it has been a helpful book for me.  Some of it I had picked up intuitively just by playing a lot of play money SnG's and it was nice to know there was some math behind it.  There were a lot of things I did not know and judging from the small sample of SnG's I have played since reading the book, they are important concepts.

I haven't committed the tables to memory yet, maybe the next time I read it.  I want to let these ideas sink in a bit before going back.  Who knows, maybe I will start playing these things for real money at some point.

If you haven't read it and you like playing SnG's, you should go and buy it.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Ahhhhh! I Needed Those Brain Cells

If you are serious about learning to play poker, crushing your opponents, and frying up the fish, do NOT read this book:  Teach Yourself How to Win at Poker.

It is written in a way that is easy to understand, with nice illustrations, but it has, in my view very little substance.  It only talks about poker in vague terms.  One of it's pieces of advice was to deal yourself lots of hands and figure out for yourself what starting hands are worth playing.  Pre-Internet poker, this might be reasonable, but with so many sites, you would do just as well playing every starting hand until you figured it out.  Play chips are cheap.

I want my brain cells back, please?

Someone actually wrote a much better review of this book on Amazon.  If you want to read it, click the above link.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness (you just won't find it in this book!)!

Book Learnin'

I am doing what any sane poker player does when they find out they are not playing well.  I looked for a book.  As I am currently unemployed (hire me), I loaded the Little _ones in the car and headed to the library.  Not many poker books there and about a third of the ones they do have were checked out.

I settled on Phil Gordon's Little Black Book by Phil Gordon and Jonathan Grotenstein.  So far it seems like a good read.  I haven't had and "AHA" moments yet. But there is still hope.  I think I have a pretty good idea what my problem is, but I am not going to broadcast it here.  I don't want the 2 or 3 people reading this to get any ideas of separating me from my microlimit bankroll.

I will probably be re-reading Skalansky's The Theory of Poker next.  The answer to my problem is probably there.  Oh, well...

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!