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: 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!

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!)!

Slow Play is Good

I have noticed that my play is better when I play on a slower connection. I haven't fully figured out why or measured the difference completely. But I think there are a few interesting things going on.

First, because on a slower connection, I typically have less time to act when play comes around to me, I am thinking ahead. Do I really want to play these cards? What kind of bet will get my opponent to Call? to Bet? to Raise? to Fold? How can I get my opponents to act the way I want them to act? Slower connections cause me to focus more on the game.

Second, I think my slow connection masks my decision times. Most of the time when I act I am being counted down on the time to act clock. It confuses most opponents who are not paying attention. They tend to think I am slow, dumb, and a newbie fish. This gives them the wrong impression, and I work with that.

Third, my slow connection irritates my opponents. I am used to my slow connection, because I always deal with it. My concentration is good so I don't get bored. Most of my opponents are from the MTV generation of after and have shorter attention spans. They want action, Action, ACTION now, Now, NOW. I can see their irritation in the Chat Box. If they are cursing me for playing slow in the chat box, I know they are getting irritated and I concentrate on finding a way to work on that opponent.

Oh Jeez, was this actual poker content?

My advice? Slow down and Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!