Poker Book Reviews by Teppo Salonen

04/10/2009

The Harrington on Hold 'em books are probably the most revolutionary books on poker I have ever read, if judged by what I knew about poker before reading the books and what I knew after reading them.
    The volumes I and II were also the first books I read that let the reader observe actual hands being played and see the proper decision making through the eyes of a world class player. These books provide invaluable learning material taking you all the way from the basics (e.g. pot odds and implied odds) to teaching many highly advanced plays (e.g. the squeeze play) that at least at the time were not well known even among the professionals.
    If I had to recommend only one book to a new aspiring poker player who had not read a single book yet, Harrington on Hold 'em Volume I would be my recommendation.

Chris Ferguson's and Andy Bloch's chapters make this one of the most valuable poker books in my library.
    Ferguson's theoretical analysis of bet sizes in no-limit hold'em (including a "proof" why open-raising is better than open-limping) is invaluable for anyone playing the game, tournaments or cash games. This theoretical approach to poker is taken even further by Andy Bloch in his preflop chapter, and although I don't fully agree with the conclusions of his preflop model, it does show how mathematics can be used to break poker down to smaller "subgames" and how solving those will help you play better poker in the real world.
    Most of the other chapters in the book are also of very high quality, although in my opinion they are all overshadowed by the depth and originality of Ferguson's and Bloch's analyses.

I was positively surprised by the the quality of this book as a whole (including the other authors' chapters), but at the end it is Daniel Negreanu's chapter on small ball that really makes this book extraordinary.
    For me this book was a real eye-opener in terms of post-flop play and how much complexity a true world class player sees in situations compared to amateurs (such as myself) who see situations much simpler than they are. For example, Daniel does a masterful job demonstrating a unique concept of counting your "bluffing outs" when making a decision to call on a draw.
    While I'm not qualified to criticize Negreanu's overall poker skills, I do suspect that without his exceptional people reading skills the relatively loose-passive approach described in this book might still not be the optimal style of play, especially if applied to online poker where reads are more limited.

The Theory of Poker is a classic, and one of the very first books on poker I had ever read. And I have to admit to a cardinal sin of not having reread it since (even though I know I should).
    This is a unique book that will give you a deep understanding and respect for poker as a game. It shows how simple rules can lead to an extraordinarily fascinating game with complex strategies that are extremely difficult to master. The main thing that separates The Theory of Poker from almost all other books is the depth it goes into to explain all the fundamental poker concepts (such as "odds", "free cards", "position", and "bluffing" to name a few). It is not a book that teaches how to play any specific form of poker.
    My only critisism that I have on this book is how shallow the "game theory" chapter is, which in my opinion is by far the most interesting aspect of theoretical analysis of poker.

Harrington's cash game books are the first I've seen that attempt to incorporate true game theoretic thinking along with the hand analysis. They recommend not only the best single action for each situation, but a distribution of actions as well (for example "raise 30% of the time, call 70%, fold 0%"). I would also praise these books for covering post-flop play in multi-way pots better than any other no-limit hold 'em book I've read so far.
    If I had to criticize something in these books, it would be that some of the advice seems slightly too passive to be truly optimal. (And since I have now said that both Dan Harrington as well as Daniel Negreanu in his Power Hold'em Strategy appear a little too passive, I may be completely wrong in both cases, or it may be that a players whose primary experience comes from live games have a tendency to develop more passive strategies than players starting online.)

The hand examples in this book teach cash game hand reading better and in more detail than any other book I've read. For that reason alone, Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Hold'em is a must read for anyone interested in deep stack no-limit hold'em cash games.
    From a theoretical perspective, the focus on hand reading is also a weakness in this book. Almost all decisions the author advocates are based on accurate reads on relatively bad opponents. For example, the author is often more likely to call big bets rather than small bets with the reasoning that against this particular opponent those bets appear to be bluffs more often than smaller bets in the same situation. This would of course be a poor default strategy against an unknown good opponent, but in a context of weak opposition and accurate hand reading it can be a highly profitable strategy.
    If you already know how to play decently balanced poker, this book is an extremely valuable tool for taking the next step and starting to maximally exploit the weaker opponents. (Notice how this is the order I recommend anyone to learn poker, first to learn as balanced basic strategy as possible, and then deviate from the balanced strategy in order to exploit opponents' mistakes.)

This is the best book I have ever read regarding the theory of poker tournaments. It does an excellent job explaining the different types of adjustments that are needed for tournament play in comparison to cash game strategies.
    Kill Everyone is not as practical as most other books, but mathematically it is more advanced than any other tournament book currently available.

Initially this is probably the least practical poker book you will ever read, but re-reading and re-re-reading will continue revealing new insights to the game as you get deeper understanding how the various "toy games" relate to real life poker.
    This book is not recommended for non-theorists, but is by far, the best book available regarding the game theoretic approach to poker.

If you are looking for a book that assists in developing your mental abilities as a poker player, start by reading The Poker Mindset.
    Although there are many other books out there on this topic and this is only the second book that I have read, I found exactly what I was looking for in this book and have no immediate need to continue studying the subject of poker psychology further.
    The Poker Mindset teaches you to recognize the way you react to bad beats and big losses, and helps you set new goals how you should try to handle the beats in order to avoid tilting or playing badly.

Every Hand Revealed offers an interesting and highly entertaining glimpse in to the mind of a player who has consistantly been beating major tournaments with his unique and sometimes criticized loose-aggressive style of play.
    Gus takes us through the thought process of every hand he played in the 2007 Aussie Millions where he won the 1st place and $1.2 million. The book is extremely practical, and by repetition it will make you understand what kinds of moves keep making money in live tournaments.
    Not surprisingly, the plays that make the most money in tournaments are based on much simpler concepts than the more complex strategies needed for (deep stack) cash games.