Posts Tagged ‘poker book review’

My Two Minute Review: Given the choice between Travis Steffen’s Peak Performance Poker and Eric Beck’s Poker Mindfulness, Steffen’s is the better book by far. Whereas the latter consists mostly of uncontroversial platitudes and little practical advice, the former is a helpful book packed with practical, actionable advice for how and why to integrate health and fitness with a poker lifestyle.

I still remember my mandatory 7th grade Wellness class. I remember a perky female teacher who wore frumpy sweaters with oversized ceramic lapel pins. I remember videos of energetic, multi-ethnic teens proudly proclaiming by song the “Smoke Free Class of 2000″ (“two zero zero zero, everyone’s a hero!”, though of course by 7th grade quite a few of my peers were no longer heroes in this regard). I remember grades determined by attendance and fill-in-the-blank worksheets. What I don’t remember is learning anything remotely useful or interesting.

This was my concern about the recent batch of what might be called poker lifestyle books. Their authors, who tend to have graduate degrees in fields like wellness, nutrition, and physical fitness, promise to increase your profits at the table by sharing insights from these disciplines that are applicable to poker. Consequently I had no intention of spending money on these books, but two of these authors offered me free review copies, so I agreed to have a look.  Read the complete post...

The Harrington on Hold ‘Em series introduced important but largely unknown concepts to a wide audience and fundamentally changed the way tournament poker was played. The Harrington on Cash Games series may have helped some people get started in no-limit hold ‘em (NLHE) cash games, but it fell far short of the bar set by its predecessor. In particular, many online cash game players felt that the book didn’t speak to the aggressive, short-handed games in which they play.

When 2+2 Publishing announced Harrington on Online Cash Games (HOCG), a book meant to address specifically 6-handed online NLHE games, there was understandable skepticism. Harrington’s refusal to disclose the screenames under which he plays, and thus his results in online cash games, led some to question whether he was even qualified to write such a book.

Personally, I can understand the desire to see his results, but I believe that a good book is a good book. If his arguments, reasoning, and math are sound, then his results are not terribly important.

That said, it would be hard to come away from HOCG convinced that authors Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie are inexperienced at online play. Their book is an excellent introduction to the games, covering not only strategy but also important aspects of the online game such as site selection, rakeback, and using Heads-Up Display (HUD).  Read the complete 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 of mine, in no small part because he so compellingly presents the culture and lore of the World Series of Poker alongside the excitement of actually playing in the event. I expected that he would bring the game’s history to life in the same way while making insightful observations about its continued influence on American culture and politics.

While the grist for Cowboys Full is plenty interesting and contains more than a few entertaining stories. McManus’ specific treatment thereof is hit-or-miss. The historical chapters are mostly well-researched and -written, but the more contemporary ones feel rushed (on the author’s part) and laborious (for the reader). The former sections I enjoyed as a sort of anthology of obscure poker lore, particularly those focusing on the presidents and military leaders who loved the game. I found McManus’ treatment of present-day subjects such as the UIGEA, the WSOP, and the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal, however, to be long on trivialities and short on research and nuance.  Read the complete post...