cowboyzfan
01-19-2005, 08:47 AM
ranking 8 +/- 2
This book is a 10 for total newbies IF they actually follow the advice in it. And when I say TOTAL NEWBIES that is exactly what I mean, ie. Pre WLLH. Why is the advice so great? Because it advises you to read books such as WLLH, HPFAP, and TOP. There is even a minor shout out to SSH in a footnote. The book also advises people to come to this site. In addition to 2+2 titles, Gordon recommends sound books such as WLLH, MLH, and Caro's Book of Tells.
Obviously Gordon is not trying to write the new treatise on poker strategy, but he is trying to send a group of people to the right information. Not that the book doesn't give a lot of information on its own, because it does.
Now, the advice is strong from what I can tell. His limit Hold'em pre flop charts are really good. Of course they are just Sklansky's charts published with permission /images/graemlins/smile.gif But, that shows this guy is not trying to BS people, he is giving good advice. He pretty much gives straightforward info on how to play, and focuses on the fact that aggression wins in the end.
The book is well written and it covers most of what a newbie would be interested in. It discusses poker history, the rise of televised games as well as the author's poker bio. The author sprinkles the text with fun stuff like lists of the best poker movies, and lines from Rounders.
One thing I really liked about the book was that Gordon tries to cover all the key subjects (in brief). There are sections on limit (both low limit and higher), no limit, home games, tournaments, online play, and even separate discussion of sit and go's and MTTs. There is also a pretty good intro to brick and mortar play.
This book is very well written. It is also written in a manner where you can read it for short periods. It is not a "hard read" at all. I guess you could call it "light reading", but it would not be fair to call it fluff.
I repeat, if you are trying to learn something new about poker, and have already read TOP, SSH, etc, this book is not for you. But if you know a newbie, who has never read a poker book, this is a great one to start with. Just have them understand that it will be the first of many.
* understad that this review is written by someone who may or may not know what they are talking about.
This book is a 10 for total newbies IF they actually follow the advice in it. And when I say TOTAL NEWBIES that is exactly what I mean, ie. Pre WLLH. Why is the advice so great? Because it advises you to read books such as WLLH, HPFAP, and TOP. There is even a minor shout out to SSH in a footnote. The book also advises people to come to this site. In addition to 2+2 titles, Gordon recommends sound books such as WLLH, MLH, and Caro's Book of Tells.
Obviously Gordon is not trying to write the new treatise on poker strategy, but he is trying to send a group of people to the right information. Not that the book doesn't give a lot of information on its own, because it does.
Now, the advice is strong from what I can tell. His limit Hold'em pre flop charts are really good. Of course they are just Sklansky's charts published with permission /images/graemlins/smile.gif But, that shows this guy is not trying to BS people, he is giving good advice. He pretty much gives straightforward info on how to play, and focuses on the fact that aggression wins in the end.
The book is well written and it covers most of what a newbie would be interested in. It discusses poker history, the rise of televised games as well as the author's poker bio. The author sprinkles the text with fun stuff like lists of the best poker movies, and lines from Rounders.
One thing I really liked about the book was that Gordon tries to cover all the key subjects (in brief). There are sections on limit (both low limit and higher), no limit, home games, tournaments, online play, and even separate discussion of sit and go's and MTTs. There is also a pretty good intro to brick and mortar play.
This book is very well written. It is also written in a manner where you can read it for short periods. It is not a "hard read" at all. I guess you could call it "light reading", but it would not be fair to call it fluff.
I repeat, if you are trying to learn something new about poker, and have already read TOP, SSH, etc, this book is not for you. But if you know a newbie, who has never read a poker book, this is a great one to start with. Just have them understand that it will be the first of many.
* understad that this review is written by someone who may or may not know what they are talking about.