Poker Book Reviews

03/22/2009

The book is written for beginners (and I actually skipped most of the chapters), but it contains a very interesting primer for playing short stack in no-limit hold'em cash games.

This book deals primarily with problems that are interesting on paper, but not in the real world. Explanation of "the system", however, is a very interesting take on no-limit hold'em tournaments and for that alone, the book is worth reading.

Collection of Negreanu's articles he has written over the years, which all offer good advice but are mostly geared towards players that are beginners rather than experts.

I didn't think this book was as bad as many people said. Some of the advice may be a little weak and questionable, but it does show beginners the right direction to play tight and minimize losses while gaining more experience in hand reading and other more difficult skills.

The better of the two "Hand by Hand" books I have read from this author. No-Limit Hold'em Hand by Hand teaches beginners how a tight approach to the game will allow you to make profit from other players' more reckless plays.

I found the information on No-Limit Hold'em in Super System 2 to be very out dated, despite having been written by one of the greatest players of all time. It seems as though Doyle's strategy could only work in games that are filled with weak-tight players or "rocks". Which is quite different from the wide variety of skilled loose-aggressive players that we see in this day and age.
    In Doyle's defense, there is no doubt that this strategy has been very profitable in the 1970's when the original Super System was written. Also, the no-limit hold'em advice actually makes only a small part of the book, so there is a lot of quality advice for other forms of poker.

This book offers basic but relatively solid advice for No-Limit Hold'em. It covers many common situations, which makes it a worthwhile read for beginners.

Both of these books are entertaining to read, but very limited in actual poker advice.

This book has a good structure and although the analysis is not very deep, it should be helpful in improving a beginning player's game.

I found this book to be similar to Negreanu's "Wisdom for All Players" in structure, but the level of analysis is more superficial.

How Good is Your Pot Limit Hold'em? is a hand quiz book that puts the reader in variety of different situations that might occur in a poker game. The book scores all the answers and at the end sums it all up for an overall rating of your poker skills.
    The idea is similar to Harrington on Hold 'em Volume III: The Workbook, but I feel as though it could have been written a lot better. I found the book frustrating to read due to it's lack of in depth explanation when trying to understand a hand that I disagreed with.
    Based on the quality of the other books I've read from Mr. Reuben, I think this book deserves a re-read and maybe I will get more out of it the second time around.