Archive for the ‘Poker Book Reviews’ Category:
Book Review: Kill Everyone
Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-limit Hold ‘em Poker Tournaments and Sit-n-go’s
by Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib, and Kim Lee
According to the introduction of the book, the authors of ‘Kill Everyone’ are set to find the co-relation between poker maths and real time experiences. While playing poker tournaments, you are bound to encounter some recurring situations while accumulating chips and approaching the money. The book contains a fine mix of maths and tactics, which could be employed in the poker tournaments. Tysen Streib focuses on the early sections of the book with his ‘Endgame Strategies’, while Lee Nelson writes in the later section of the book.
The first part of the book is extremely informative and could be one of the best pieces of poker writing, whereas the version written by Nelson is more of a hit or miss. There are a lot of concepts explained by him, though most of which would already known by the expert players. Conclusively, Kill Bill is one of the important books about poker tournaments and even the short section focussing on the ‘bonus’ short-handed cash games is strongly written by Mark Vos.
The reason why Streib’s version has turned out very well is because it focuses on the later parts of the game, including the final table play, where the stakes are pretty high. Some of the concepts such as cost-per-round or the sum of antes and blinds are highly analytical and discuss the technical aspects of the game. His detailed explanation of the quantification and non-linearity influencing the decision making process is commendable. The part is very convincing and helpful, giving you a fresh insight into the game.
The book is full of a range of charts and graphics, so as to elaborate on these concepts and help the readers to put them into practice. For the reason that late game tournaments would see shorter stacks moving in pre-flop, Streib has also shown some optimal strategies for checking, folding and calling. He has introduced a concept such as the Independent Chip Modelling (ICM), which is essentially important for the tournament players.
Naturally, Sit n Go players would find this book of utmost importance. Streib has also included a hand-by-hand analysis of the tournaments played by players such as Ferguson, Juanda, Ulliot, and Ivey. None of these players happen to be Sit n Go experts, but the author has highlighted their mistakes to display the correct plays, so as to detail out the essential concepts.
Subscribe to the comments for this postBook Review: Elements of Poker
‘Elements of Poker’ by Tommy Angelo is a light, delightful read for poker. There are quite a lot of things elaborated in this book, which were never considered before. The book isn’t merely about percentages or pot odds or bluffing and hand ranges. There are loads of books in the market which show you how to play, however this book literally focuses on how you should be while playing the game.
In fact, the book is all about how and where should you sit, the thoughts in your mind, the actions you need to display, when and how should you speak, including the way to breathe. Angelo starts off by describing three different games of poker. according to him, game A is where you play the best and feel the best, game C is when you play poorly and feel the same, whereas game B is anywhere between the first two games. It is impossible for players to play the game A all the time since poker is known to be a psychologically and a physically stressful game. The book strives to help you improve your game C. he explains that improving your game A would increase your win rate by 0.5% per hour, whereas improving game C could be worth more. It’s often the difference between winning and losing.
Angelo explains the basic philosophy behind profits. It actually comes from all those things that you can do better than your opponents. However, it’s not all about the poker hands. Every decision made by you could be an opportunity to decide better than your opponents. Therefore Angelo stresses more on quitting. Players who are prone to tilting in poker would find his advice pretty invaluable.
The underlying theme of the book is self-control. The reader would be able to recognise that this book happens to be a by-product of a long struggle between the author and his problem with the tilt. Angelo has been a professional poker player for a long time and he actually shows the paths he had taken to achieve control over his thoughts and bring in some discipline into his actions. It’s not necessary that all that worked for him could work for his readers too, but the instructive examples can help a lot.
On the other hand, he also discusses some of the common concepts of the game in a plain and easy-to-understand language. The tournament chapters are dedicated towards the survival in the game. There are some ethical issues discussed in the book too, which seem to be a little off-track. But on the whole, the book is fun to read and would prove beneficial for all those players seeming to tilt or the beginners.
Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I
Rizen and Pearljammer make a good contrasting arrangement. This is because, Rizen is a looser player, whereas Pearljammer is absolutely stunning, when it comes to laydowns. The most amazing aspect of the book is that it moves through the thought processing that true pros tend to go through at the time of a hand. It can really help you out if you are assessing through a hand in a game.
I enjoyed various aspects of the book, such as the organization of breakdown of thought processes. It projects as to what they were thinking about, during the setup, flop, pre-flop, turn, as well as river individually. It is also helpful in updating the pot size in the same manner. This is an aspect, which had been absent in most of the books, which I have read.
“One hand at a Time” definitely proved to be a great reading. It was quite informative, and has actually improved upon my tournament plays already. Hence I would definitely recommend anyone to read this book.
The Poker Tournament Formula
One of the most attractive features of this book is that it does not go in details in regard to starting hand requirements that a player should play. An advanced concept book, this book is not for players who have just started playing hold’em.
Another interesting feature of the book is the 10 functions that you have with the chip stack.
This book provides detailed tips in regard to using chip stacks for making information bets, value bets, as well as dominates small stacks.
The book mainly focuses on the utilization of your resources, for getting a huge chip stack. His thoughts on the selection of games as well as bankroll management are however, less useful.
Still, overall, this book is quite good, as it covers stuffs, which you are not likely to find, any where else.
Sit 'n Go Strategy
This books draws mixed responses. This is because, in case every poker player reads it, then online Sit `n Go games would get a lot difficult to beat. This book is most suitable for SNGs with the entry fee of $10 by way of medium stakes, though several advanced, higher stakes players may get benefited from this book. Several of the topics which are discussed are much advanced, as far as the beginning players are concerned, who must first of all get some experience, apart from an understanding of the basic concepts, before they purchase this book.
Sit `N Go Strategy is by far one of the best books on poker, which have ever been published, and is a major contribution to the game of poker, since enough literature on poker is not available as far as SNG tournament strategies are concerned. A properly written, reasonably comprehensive guide for playing low as well as medium buy in, apart from one table tournaments, this book is a fair buy. The text of Sit ‘n Go Strategy is logically distributed into various sections dealing with Medium Blind Play, Low Blind Play, as well as High Blind Play, apart from a chapter, with the title of Sit `N Go Career Play that addresses covers a few additional concepts.
As far as low blind play is concerned, the author tutors a very tight and aggressive style of games, although he admits, that the other playing styles may also be successful, in case the players are skilful at post flop play. When it comes to medium blind section, the author also supports a tight and aggressive game. However, he displays how a tremendously aggressive play may be the optimal strategy as the blinds enhance, and the table conditions are right.
High Blind Play is another amazing section, and is one of the major highlights of the book. A methodical analysis of the table conditions, the individual styles, blind sizes, stack sizes, payouts, as well as chip values, and how they affect optimum strategies is also provided. A lot of valuable information is offered for the intermediate players, as well as advanced players are likely to get benefited from this section. Various concepts like steals, resteals and stop `n go, are properly explained as well.
This should not be considered to be just another poker book. It is quite an interesting as well as informative reading for online players who wish to improve their game at one table Sit `N Go contests.
Read ‘Em and Reap
Phil Hellmuth Presents Read ‘Em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent’s Guide to Decoding Poker Tells
by Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins, Phil Hellmuth
Joe Navarro, one of the co-authors of the book was serving as a special agent in FBI. He mastered the art of behavioural attitude with his job in FBI and utilised the same skills for poker tells. Along with Joe Navarro, Phil Hellmuth is one of the main authors of the book.
A majority of the successful online poker players already know the basic poker skills and possess the expertise which is beyond the scope of the beginners. There are tons of books in the market which speak of poker strategies and the mathematical elements attached to the game. However, most players lack the psychological elements of the game and fail to read people appropriately. Therefore knowing more about poker tells is one of the best things to do as an average poker player, so as to improve the chances in the live settings.
Previously, Mike Caro has made an attempt in explaining the poker tells through his ‘Book of Poker Tells’. However this book takes a completely different approach, while explaining the categories of poker tells and the ways to deal with them. The book also includes tells related to the hand, the feet, the mouth and the overall eye movement.
There is a unique distinction between tells portrayed by the actors and the signs given out by the non-actors. The book elaborates more on the latter kind of players. Navarro begins by explaining the limbic brain, which is the psychological foundation of the unconscious, tells. According to him, the limbic brain reacts to all those things which are heard, sensed, seen or felt. The reactions given out by the brain are so spontaneous in real time and therefore give out an honest response to all the information from the surrounding environment.
As soon as stressful situations are created, just like the ones in the high stakes poker game, the limbic brain would prepare the body to fight, freeze or flee. In the later parts of the book, the authors give out details on how these responses manifest themselves into different body movements. There are various photographs to support the theory, along with description of tells.
The reports on physiological motivations for a tell are pretty interesting and ‘Gravity Defying Tells’ is one of the best chapters in the book. This chapter gives out examples of tells such as raised eyebrows, nostrils, hands or feet. It happens to be a 213 page book, with most information on tells. However, there are a few chapters in the book which are completely irrelevant as compared to the subject of the book. On the whole, the book is fairly informative and would be of great help to the beginners. On the other hand, it would be interesting and captivating to find the interrelation between court judgements, jury discussions and poker tells, all coming from an authentic record of Joe Navarro.
My 50 Most Memorable Hands
An absolutely well laid-out book, narrated in a totally effortless fashion, this book is definitely a good buy. Doyle does not starts out explaining every detail, hence when you get this book, be sure that you know the basics of the game of Texas Hold ‘em. As it is, there are around, 10 hands of 50 that are not about hold ‘em hands. Be aware of them.
As Doyle elaborates the several hands, you are available with nicely detailed photographs of the cards. This way, you can get a feel of what has been shown on the table, with the story being told. This is the most amazing aspect of the book, i.e. the ability to see the cards and taking it all in. The flop, turn, and river are displayed almost all of the forty or so of the hold em hands; there are some times where he goes about telling the story sans the pictures of cards. A trivial inconvenience.
Doyle is definitely a poker legend, and it is great to now about his memories pertaining to these hands. A brilliant book, and I know that he may come up with fifty more someday!
Cash Games (How to Win at No-Limit Hold'em Money Games) Vol. 1
As you fall short of the tournament series that would always happen as the cash games are far more complex, these books are definitely best for people wishing to set the transition from tournaments to cash games.
One of the most prominent advantages of the book, is that it shows as to WHY the two kinds are different, and the alteration in insight, which needs to be made.
In case you happen to be a tournament player this would certainly introduce a few ideas that you would not be at ease with and hands which you have been a bit happy to get all with in a contest are now hands which are often beat by the turn as well as beyond. However, in case you are open to new ideas and try out the concepts introduced in the book, you will definitely see an upgrading in your results. As far as the previous books are concerned, the hand problems are definitely fascinating and offer some major insight…
They will probably not be of much use for the experienced or successful cash game players, but everybody else would learn a lot. Along with these Professional No Limit Poker Vol 1 would also be a good reading.
Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. II: Endgame
Another great work by Harrington and Robertie! In fact, this book is even more powerful than the earlier volume. The book presents the authoritative text on how to think about as well as play a final table of a no limit hold em tournament. In this process, they have further redefined the game.
These two gentlemen introduce an entirely new lexicon about no limit poker: red zones, inflection points, green zones, dead zones, probe bets, as well as continuation bets.
The book has several terms and phrases, which help in clarifying the various intuitive concepts related to no limit tournament play, which are explained in a very simple manner. As a matter of fact, you may never have read a simpler or clearer book, with more powerful explanations for them. As it is, players enter the various stages, with the stack size growing and lowering the final table of a tournament. Quit like this, with other critical conceptions in no limit plays like final table play, continuation and probe bets. The authors take the ideas that exceptional players have instinctively recognized but till now have never totally expressed as well as compiled them in clear, simple language, which any player with moderate experience may readily grasp and inculcate. The hand examples that the authors think us through add to a better understanding of the game.
Even saying that this is a must-read book for each serious hold em player would be an understatement in itself. As a matter of fact, this book is cheduled to change the way, the entire game would be played in future. As a matter of fact, this book has the potential to direct further texts on the subject, to come up in the times to come.
Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker
This is considered by pros to be the BEST POKER BOOK EVER WRITTEN. A classic book on each major no-limit game, which is played today and deals extensively with poker games, this book offers a number of advanced strategies, tactics, theories, as well as money-minting techniques. So, if you are serious about poker, then you should have this book. Available in paperback edition for the first time, Super System covers 608 pages of amazing information and includes fifty pages on the most accurate poker statistics that has ever been published. It also features chapters, which have been written by the superstars of the game, the best theorists as well as the best poker players of the world, like Mike Caro, Dave Sklansky, Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson and Bobby Baldwin.
It covers three world champions and is addressed by two master theorists, providing valuable winning advice on minting money on the tables. These poker superstars address the important games in depth. So, you get draw poker, 7-card stud, 7-card low stud, lowball, high-low declare, high-low split and of course hold’em. The crucial winning concepts as well as strategies have been clearly outlined as well as explained, which enables you, to be a big winner. Serious poker players should always have this book. It is more of a mandatory reading for the aspiring tournament players, or poker pros, and is simply great for players who are moving over to higher stake games. This is definitely one of the best books every written on poker- Absolutely indispensable for any poker player.