uuDevil
09-18-2004, 03:21 AM
I was at my local Barnes and Noble today and saw that SSH finally made it in so I was going to put a couple of miles on one of their copies while I had a cup of coffee when I noticed another book on the shelf: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker, by Andrew Glazer. It's a measure of my general poker ignorance that I don't know much about Andy but I remembered that people had nothing but good to say about him after his unfortunate death last month, so I was curious about this new book.
Like other Idiot's/Dummies books, this book is written in a light, humorous style, sprinkled with anecdotes and observations. Despite being 400 pages long, it contains very little strategy advice. It is instead an overview of the poker universe. It only very briefly discusses the major games, with just 14 pages devoted specifically to hold'em. He also covers internet play, tournaments, poker on television, tells and bluffing, etc.
Part of the etc. is a section on internet resources. Of course he mentions RGP, but he says of 2+2 that it is "Probably the single most important poker forum of all...."
In an appendix of book reviews, he highly recommends all of the major 2+2 offerings. On the other hand, he also recommends (less highly, and a little half-heartedly, I thought) his friend Phil Hellmuth's book. He is highly complementary of the 2+2 authors, especially David Sklansky.
He seems to think somewhat less of some of Sklansky's followers, however. In his review of TPFAP, he refers to "Slansky-ites" and says "So far none of them have shaved their heads and started chanting, but it might just be a matter of time." [I actually have toyed with the idea of shaving my head, since I'm losing my hair anyway. But chanting is right out. And if I'm going to be called a name based on reading Sklansky, I prefer Vehn's "Sklanskymunchkin."]
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker probably won't make it on the reading list of most Sklanskymunchkins, but if you know any true poker newbies who are looking to start playing, you may want to consider coupling this very gentle introduction with a good elementary strategy book. For the moment, that second book might be WLLH, but the eminent Mr. Miller will probably remedy that soon.
Like other Idiot's/Dummies books, this book is written in a light, humorous style, sprinkled with anecdotes and observations. Despite being 400 pages long, it contains very little strategy advice. It is instead an overview of the poker universe. It only very briefly discusses the major games, with just 14 pages devoted specifically to hold'em. He also covers internet play, tournaments, poker on television, tells and bluffing, etc.
Part of the etc. is a section on internet resources. Of course he mentions RGP, but he says of 2+2 that it is "Probably the single most important poker forum of all...."
In an appendix of book reviews, he highly recommends all of the major 2+2 offerings. On the other hand, he also recommends (less highly, and a little half-heartedly, I thought) his friend Phil Hellmuth's book. He is highly complementary of the 2+2 authors, especially David Sklansky.
He seems to think somewhat less of some of Sklansky's followers, however. In his review of TPFAP, he refers to "Slansky-ites" and says "So far none of them have shaved their heads and started chanting, but it might just be a matter of time." [I actually have toyed with the idea of shaving my head, since I'm losing my hair anyway. But chanting is right out. And if I'm going to be called a name based on reading Sklansky, I prefer Vehn's "Sklanskymunchkin."]
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Poker probably won't make it on the reading list of most Sklanskymunchkins, but if you know any true poker newbies who are looking to start playing, you may want to consider coupling this very gentle introduction with a good elementary strategy book. For the moment, that second book might be WLLH, but the eminent Mr. Miller will probably remedy that soon.