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 one of the central premises of TPFAP: the claim that it is sometimes correct to pass up slightly profitable moves when a large portion of your chips are at stake. Surprisingly, though this premise has often been criticized, Sklansky restates it in stronger terms than ever in the Expanded Edition. Whereas he initially claimed that, “if you are one of the best players in the tournament, you should usually not risk significant money on very close decisions,” he now states that you should not take such risks unless “you are not that great a player.” The issue of whether and when to pass up edges in a tournament is far from a settled matter, and before broadening the class of players to whom this advice applies, Sklansky really ought to consider the objections raised by very strong players, often on Two Plus Two’s own tournament forum.”
Sklansky says,
“I didn’t mean to state it in stronger terms. Phrasing it differently was unintentional. And the new edition makes it VERY clear the the concept breaks down in no limit games when your stack is even moderately short, unless you are near, or in, the money.
On the other hand if hourly rate isn’t important to you, your stack is large compared to the blinds, and you are one of the best players in the tournament, anybody who would recommend that you make very small plus EV calls for a big proportion of your stack is obviously an imbecile.”
And in response to this section,
“The book alternately bills itself as containing either “Almost 100 all-new pages” (according to the front cover) or “over 100 new pages” (according to the back cover). In a sense, both of these statement are true. There are technically over 100 new pages, but nearly 30% falls under Hand Quizzes and Question &”
Malmuth says,
“While I’m sure it’s not intentional, this is a little misleading. Here are some specifics since I have access to information that no one else does.
The previous Tournament Poker for Advanced Players was 245 pages. The current Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: Expanded Edition is 346 pages.
However, word count is more accurate as to how much new material there really is. The comparison is now 53,505 words versus 80,759. That’s an increase of 27,254 words or just over 50 percent.
This includes a brand new chapter of 3,006 words titled “Additional No-Limit Hand Quizzes.” We feel this is an essential part of the text and not repetitive as the op indicates.
The “Question and Answer Section,” which is repetitive to the text, was expanded from 5,274 words to 8,047, or an increase of 2,773 words which is approximately 10 percent.
So the book has been expanded by an amount in which the “100 new pages” underestimates, and the amount of new but repetive material is more like 10 percent, not 30 percent. Also, for those who have not yet seen Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: Expanded Edition, much of the expansion occurs in the original chapters. So all the new material is not in the new chapters.”
I was flattered that both took the time to read and respond.