I’m excited to announce, to those who missed the news on Twitter and the podcast, that I’ve finally published a book! It’s based on my 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, and it’s actually the first in a series of e-books compiling updated and revised versions of my most … Read full post
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After last week’s interruption, Nate and Andrew are back with an all-strategy episode plus exciting news about how to get even more strategy from us! You’ll hear our thoughts on Ed Miller’s new book (more from Nate on his blog), folding … Read full post
I just published a review of the first volume of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Tournament Poker:
… Read full postSecrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume 1 is a dangerous book because it has the potential to lull inexperienced readers into a false sense of understanding. Only the simplest of concepts are explained in
I’ve finally finished reviewing John Beauprez’s PLO QuickPro Manual, though I feel I’ve only begun reading it. It’s an extremely dense and thorough book, which is what you deserve for shelling out $297 though not always what the authors of expensive poker books deliver. If you’re willing to invest … Read full post
Edit: I awarded John a bracelet in the wrong event.
John “KasinoKrime” Beauprez, winner of the 2013 $5000 pot-limit omaha $1500 no-limt hold ’em 6-max WSOP event, will be our guest on Episode 43 of the podcast. In addition to talking to him about his poker career and the excitement … Read full post
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No interview this week, but Gareth Chantler makes an extended appearance to share his on-the-ground experience with the civil unrest in Istanbul and his thoughts on The Mental Game of Poker 2. Plus Nate and Andrew discuss the ethics of mark-up and … Read full post
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Taylor Caby, playing as “Green Plastic”, was one of the first superstars of online poker. He’s also one of the only self-described entrepreneurs in the poker world who has actually founded several successful businesses. The first was Cardrunners, which launched the … Read full post
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Poker author Ed Miller, the brains behind March book club selection Playing the Player among other great titles, gives generously of his time for both a regular interview and a thorough discussion of his book. We talk about the unconventional beginning to … Read full post
I’ve just published a review of Jonathan Little’s Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker Volume 2. Here’s the synopsis:
… Read full postThe book is subtitled “Stages of the Tournament”, but fewer than half of the book’s 270 pages are dedicated to this topic. Ironically, much of the book addresses topics on which Little
I just published a review of one of the best and most advanced poker books I’ve encountered, the 3rd Edition of Andrew “BalugaWhale” Seidman’s Easy Game. It’s probably too advanced for your average recreational player, but if you want to be a serious competitor at no-limit hold ’em it’s … Read full post
I was inundated with requests for reviews over the holidays, so I asked a friend if he’d be interested in taking one of them. Thus, the review for Nathan Williams’ Crushing the Micro-Stakes can be found on Gareth Chantler’s blog. If you read the comments here on Thinking Poker, … Read full post
Just posted a review of No Limits: The Fundamentals of No-Limit Holdem by Chris “Fox” Wallace and Adam Stemple. Here’s the gist of it:
As a book for small stakes cash game players, it’s not bad, but not bad isn’t good enough when it’s covering ground already tread by great … Read full post
Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns ought to be required reading for all Americans, black or otherwise. It tells a story that most of us know tangentially but whose true scale and historical importance are appreciated by few. I should say that I haven’t quite finished it yet (it’s … Read full post
I’ve just finished reading and reviewing Harrington on Online Cash Games, certainly one of the most anticipated poker books of the year. Here’s the two-minute version:
… Read full postHOCG is the single best resource I’ve seen for anyone just starting out online or still learning to beat the microstakes games (i.e. stakes
My One Minute Recommendation- The Poker Blueprint gets an 8.5/10 for content but a 5/10 for presentation. It contains plenty of great material for players who need help beating smaller stakes online short-handed games, but I fear the often terse, jargon-laden explanations will be too confusing or overwhelming for many … Read full post
When I first heard that James McManus was working on a book about the history of poker, I was surprised that such a book had not yet been written and glad that McManus was the one writing it. His first poker book, Positively Fifth Street, is a personal favorite … Read full post
I can’t say that I expected great things from the memoirs of a man who divided his life between the ranch, the pool table, and the poker table, and while it can’t be called great, Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People is a surprisingly enjoyable diversion.
From … Read full post
Michael Craig’s The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of (at the time) the highest stakes poker game ever played. In search of a new challenge, banking prodigy Andy Beal challenges the best poker players in the world to play for stakes so … Read full post
Ever since reading Tommy Angelo’s excellent Elements of Poker, I’ve been working on keeping calm and focused while playing live poker. This is no mean feat: the pace is glacial and the company grating. There are a million reasons to zone out, wander around, or get annoyed with someone. … Read full post
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves responsibly last night (and last year, for that matter), and that you are striding confidently forward into a new year.
Yesterday, I revisited my 2009 poker resolutions. Now, it’s time to make some new resolutions and set some new
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games
This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don’t do anything to improve,
I like old poker books. It’s fun to see how people played, and talked about, the game decades ago. In “The Old School”, I share the best and worst from these antiquated tomes. Sometimes the strategy is laughable, sometimes it is surprisingly astute, but it always provides a unique insight … Read full post
Robert Wright’s Nonzero is not a poker book. I picked it up because it claimed to apply game theory to human evolution, both biological and cultural, and to offer a sweeping and prophetic account of humanity’s history and future. Yes, that’s a pretty ambitious goal, and the author acknowledges as … Read full post
Small Stakes No-Limit Hold ’em
by Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn
Professional No Limit Hold ‘Em, Volume 1 (PNLHE) is one of my all-time favorite poker books and the one that I recommend to anyone looking to get started to the game. I eagerly awaited the … Read full post
I’ve recently received a few requests for old articles of mine that appeared in the 2+2 Magazine. First off, let me apologize that my archive is so out of date. The revamping of the website has proved far more complicated than anticipated, but it is nearly finished now. When it … Read full post
The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition
Edited by Michael Craig
This Full Tilt guide is a 19-Chapter anthology, so I’ve broken down my review chapter-by-chapter.
Chapters Reviews:
Chapter 6 – Play Before the Flop by Andy Bloch
Chapter 10-Online Tournament Strategy by Richard Brodie
My One Minute Recommendation: The Pot Limit Omaha Book: Transitioning from NLHE to PLO scores a 9/10. There are probably better books for all-around poker noobs, but experienced NLHE players looking to get better at “the other big bet game” would be hard-pressed to find a better resource.
The Good:… Read full post
I won and lost a lot of money in April. I finished the month with a decent though not spectacular bottom line, but given what I spent on tournament buy-ins (thank you very much, SCOOP), I’m impressed that I was up at all.
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games… Read full post
It’s been more than a year since the finale of The Wire, and I don’t know about you, but I’m missing the hell out of it. Consequently, I was very excited to see the Freakonomics Blog report that writer/creator David Simon is planning to shoot a pilot for HBO … Read full post
By most accounts, Steve Cyr revolutionized the ways in which casinos worldwide cater to the whims of “whales”, the highest rolling gamblers in the world. Flying in the face of received wisdom, his mass marketing and customer service approach to the business upset decades of tradition but ultimately set the … Read full post
Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games
This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don’t do anything to improve, just maintaining my current winrate and putting in hours will be very valuable to me. Of course I do want to get better, but my general focus … Read full post
Neal Gersony’s Poker Slam is a novel about an aspiring professional poker player trying to track down his legendary uncle, who won millions in the world’s biggest tournaments and then disappeared. Great fiction it isn’t, but once the book gathers steam, it’s a fast-paced and engaging mystery flavored by the … Read full post
For those who don’t know, Eric ‘Rizen’ Lynch, Jon ‘Pearljammer’ Turner, and Jon ‘Apestyles’ Van Fleet are working on a series of tournament books called “Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time.” The first volume is now available for pre-order from Amazon.
There really aren’t that many … Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Kill Everyone is one of the better tournament books on the market. It will be most useful for those interested in big live tournaments, but the excellent section of the math of late game situations is enough to make the book worth buying for any tournament … Read full post
I don’t know how he did it, but Bryan Clark (AKA Dynasty, the editor of 2+2 Magazine) managed to defuse Mason Malmuth’s temper. In both our public and private communications, he gave no ground whatsoever and continued to insist that I deliberately misrepresented the Harrington on Cash series in … Read full post
Mason Malmuth, the owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, was none too happy with the reviews of the Harrington on Cash Series that I posted on the 2+2 Forums. His responses were split roughly 50/50 between substantive rebuttals of particular critiques I made and personal attacks regarding my motivations. … Read full post
Been meaning to post this, it’s Bill’s response to my review of his e-book, How to Beat NLHE 6-Max Cash Games:
… Read full postThanks for reviewing the book.
I won’t comment on everything — you have some valid points although I do feel a beginner can use this book. It’s
My One Minute Recommendation: Smaller stakes players who want a big picture view of advanced concepts that they’ll need to understand to win at higher stakes will probably get their money’s worth. Beginners, however, should find another resource that’s written specifically for them and presented in a more tiered and … Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Harrington on Cash Games Volume II covers turn and river play as well as playing loose and aggressive, dealing with others who play that way, bankroll management, and other topics. Harrington explains complex poker theory well, but when it comes to putting it into practice, his … Read full post
My One Minute Recommendation: Harrington on Cash Games Volume One scores a 5/10. Players who are new to NLHE cash games will find it initially helpful, especially if they are interested in full ring play. Those who are already moderately successful at cash games will find little of use, especially … Read full post
Imagine that you are riding on the subway when a disheveled man wearing dirty clothes and a long, unkempt beard boards your car and begins to rant about how aliens got him and are coming for you too. He is crazy, you think to yourself, and probably you avoid … Read full post
I first read David Sklansky and Ed Miller’s No Limit Hold ‘Em: Theory and Practice over a year ago, when I was just starting to play cash games seriously. I recall thinking that it was good but not great and then reconciling it to my bookshelf as I spent the … Read full post
Sklansky on Poker has not aged well. This isn’t to say that any of its content has been proven wrong, only that more recent publications and the resurgent popularity of big bet games have rendered much of the material irrelevant.
The section “Sklansky on Razz” is certainly the best material … Read full post
Ray Zee, the author of High-Low Split Poker for Advanced Players, posted a brief response to my review of his book on the Two Plus Two forums:
… Read full post“tnx for the review.
i do believe all players would greatly benefit from the book. advanced or intermediate the most of course.
Ray Zee’s book is rightly called, “For Advanced Players.” Players new to Stud/8 or O/8 will need to find another resource, as Zee largely glosses over basic material in favor of advanced thinking and plays. Though occasionally scattershot and disorganized, his book contains a wealth of information for those who … Read full post
As the title suggests, Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman’s The Mathematics of Poker is by far the most mathematically rigorous poker book on the market. The mathematics to which the title refers is not the simple stuff, like calculating pot odds and counting outs; it’s the complex game theory that … Read full post
In his Closing Thoughts, Jeff Hwang comments on what motivated him to write Pot Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy:
… Read full post“…nowhere in poker literature was truly useful instructions on where to start. Everybody says the same thing: Play four cards that work together, A-A-J-T and A-A-K-K are the
There are probably better poker books out there, but I have never enjoyed reading one as much as I enjoyed Tommy Angelo’s Elements of Poker. It’s a delightful read, alternately light and weighty, funny and stern, but a lot of my enjoyment came from the realization that I was … Read full post
Writing a book about poker strategy that will be both correct and useful to inexperienced players is a big challenge. Beginners need straight-forward, practical, concrete advice that they can apply at the table. But poker, and especially no limit hold ’em, is a game of “sometimes”, “unless”, and “it depends”. … Read full post
One thing I admire about Kozol is that he is much more upfront about his agenda and the sacrifices required than are many other advocates of reform. He admits that, “Attorneys in school-equalization suits have done their best to understate the notion of ‘redistribution’ of resources. … Read full post
The argument can be made, sometimes convincingly, that many forms of inequality in the US result at least in part from poor choices on the part of those who hold the short end of the stick. That argument absolutely disintegrates in the context of education. Not only is it patently … Read full post
I posted my recent review of Two Plus Two’s new book Tournament Poker for Advanced Players Expanded Edition on the 2+2 Books and Publications Forum. Both author David Sklansky and publisher Mason Malmuth have responded to portions of my review.
In response this section,
“The expanded edition does revisit … Read full post
I’m a voracious reader, and it’s not my intention to write a review of every book I read. Having just completed Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, however, I am moved to record some thoughts here. It turns out I have a lot of thoughts, so I’m … Read full post
Though many books have been published on the subject since, David Sklansky’s Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (TPFAP) has been the definitive text on tournament poker theory since its publication. Two Plus Two Publishing seems to have had two goals in mind for the new material included in the just-released … Read full post
From the outset, Andy Bloch’s chapter on pre-flop play for the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition suffers from a mistaken objective. Bloch proposes to study pre-flop strategy like chess openings, which I take to mean that he is going to develop a coherent set of balanced raising, re-raising, … Read full post
The Razz chapter of the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition is presented in a unique way, with Michael Craig summarizing, narrating, and quoting a conversation between Ted Forrest and Huck Seed. Given my extensive involvement with competitive debate, it’s probably no surprise that I find this a very … Read full post
Stud/8 is one of my favorite poker games, and Ted Forrest’s Stud Eight-or-Better chapter in the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition highlights many of the game’s most interesting, and potentially profitable, facets. Stud/8 is a complex game, with a huge variety of situations that can arise, which makes … Read full post
To his credit, David Gray’s Seven Card Stud chapter in the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition is actually about tournament strategy. Even when introducing basic concepts such as starting hand selection, which he is wise to do given that most of his audience will likely come from a … Read full post
Chris Ferguson’s introduction to the game of Pot Limit Omaha is strongly grounded in mathematics and game theory, just what you’d expect from the computer science PhD. It’s a little light on tournament theory for a chapter in a tournament strategy guide, but it does a very good job of … Read full post
Unlike most of the other chapters that the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition dedicates to games other than No Limit Hold ‘Em, Mike Matusow’s “Omaha Eight or Better” really is dedicated to tournament strategy rather than to the fundamentals of the game. Unfortunately, I ultimately found his few … Read full post
I might as well disclose up front that I am not very good at or knowledgeable about fixed limit hold ’em. In some ways, that makes me unqualified to review a text on the subject, but it also plants me squarely within the target audience of Howard Lederer’s contribution to … Read full post
Although retired FBI Special Agent Joe Navarro is the primary author of this book, the largest name on the cover is that of Phil Hellmuth. This establishes the tone of the entire book, whose very valuable core content is surrounded by an equal amount of fluff, hero worship, and self-promotion.… Read full post
Andy Bloch and Rafe Furst co-authored this chapter of the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition. It’s a solid if elementary introduction to pot limit for players of no limit hold ’em and outlines the basic differences between the games, though not in great detail.
They correctly identify … Read full post
Richard Brodie’s contribution to the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition is a solid introduction to playing online poker tournaments. As is appropriate for the format of a relatively short chapter on the subject, he focuses on broad strategic concepts such as when implied odds, blind stealing, continuation betting, … Read full post
