Bizzare TPFAP comment

I've critically read many books published by

2+2. I was excited when Sklansky put out

"Tournament Poker FAP." I read it, and it seems

useful for good live-action players looking

to get a little more return from tournament

investments.


But... on pg. 124 I ran across this comment:


"If you don't know how I got that, stop

reading this book right now. You are not

ready for it. You don't know enough about

poker. And, you deserve to lose."


This was in regards to what was, I admit, some

very basic pre-flop hand analysis. Yet, what

would prompt DS to write such a hostile comment

to someone who paid $30 for his book?


Does anyone else find this a little odd?


joshzero

The one thing I don't like about S & M books.


I don't get it either. David should post his calculations on this.

Its a little hyperbole accentuating my impatience with those who won't learn the basics.

states right in the book (not the mention the title, for advanced players) that you need to know how to play poker well before reading (this book) about how to play tournaments well.


theres a lot of info in the book and i think its a really good idea to just stop and say, hey, by the way, this book wont teach you how to play poker so you better not think it does!


brad

I thought just the same. Ok to tell people to learn some more before using the book.

NOT Ok to taunt people in such an arrogant way.

Dont know why he is so pissed that he have to print such BS in his own book???????

But I think you went too far with the last line, David. That was a gratuitous comment that served no purpose except to rub it in (whether it was, in fact, correct that they "deserve to lose" is not what I'm arguing here)


It doesn't add to your writing or your rep. I wouldn't even find it acceptable on an RGP rant (though not surprising), and CERTAINLY not in a book purporting to teach those who have come to learn.


I assume that you're better than that.

He actually makes the comment about not being ready for the book twice as I recall, once with regard to knowing the meaning of "all-in" and once with regard to some kind of odds calculation. I also found the remarks pompous and gratuitously nasty and would assume that any reader who discovered halfway through the book that he/she was not ready for it would certainly be entitled to a refund.

It is a little known fact that David Sklansky has Tourette's Syndrome, and his tics occasionally make their way into his writing. His editor, Mason, occasionally slips up and lets some of the more nasty comments through, though they are usually fixed in the later editions. For example, on page 140 of my first edition of HPEFAP when Sklansky states "If you don't know how many outs you have at this point, with two cards to come, you can eat my piss." Or on page 74 of the first edition of Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players, where Sklansky comments, "The importance of the cards that are dead is widely overlooked, even by professional players. Mother@#$@%#, @#@%$@, @##$%#@." The posting rules here forbid me from quoting it exactly, but needless to say it was very jarring to come across these sentences in a casual first reading. Also, these editions are now collector's items, much like the old Coca-Cola can I have on my shelf which appears to show Santa Claus engaging in anal sex with a reindeer.

So obviously one should take these hostile comments with the knowledge that this is a recognized physical condition. Some people have radically different brain chemistry, and it is not necessarily a disease. In fact, the same condition that leads to the unwanted outbursts may also enable David to play poker in the preternatural way he does. For a good portrait of someone with Tourette's, you should take a look at the movie "The Tic Code". I saw it the other night on cable and it was very good and realistic.

JenBuckshot,


Thanks for the explanation. It made my day! LOL

david and mason do have big egos,no