Easy E
07-01-2003, 10:02 PM
Love him or hate him, Groan has a classic here. I grabbed this from one of his LV trip report posts on RGP:
"Next stop is the Gamblers Book Store (GBS) off of Charleston Blvd on
11th. Since Rook is in his Honeymoon Stage, the GBS is like visiting
an Adult Bookstore, with racks and racks of poker porn for him to
slobber over. While Rook searches for books to purchase, I spend most
of the time talking to the proprietor of the GBS, asking him what new
titles came in. Here are the books he showed me:
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People (Greg Dinkin):
Yeah it's a nifty title, but if Dinkin wanted the name of his book to
show the greatest difference between Amarillo Slim and the rest of the
world, shouldn't he have called it "Amarillo Slime in a World Full of
*Honest* People"? Amarillo Slim is just a cheat and consistent
angle-shooter, including the grandness of his tales. The prototype
for today's tournament 'superstar' - a shameless self promoter who
doesn't care about much except trying to build up his own fame, and
then hopefully living off of that fame for the rest of their lives
since they have little else to offer this world. His canned cutesy
phrases grows thinner with each re-use - I don't want to ever hear
about dogs trying to jump over pots again. Instead, why doesn't he
tell us all his cutesy phrases for making a player show his hand
prematurely, besides his now well known "Let's go!". That at least
has some value.
The GBS is a complete bookstore and has a "Subversive Arts" section
-how to cheat the casino, how the casino cheats you, how to mark cards
and load dice, how to become a card mechanic - you know the books Russ
GCA buys and then claims as his own 'secret insider knowledge'. I
told the proprietor of the GBS that Slim's book should be taken out of
the "Poker" Section and be put into that one and he got a laugh out of
him for that.
By the way, what card is Greg Dinkin in the Iraqi Deck of Most Wanted?
Play Poker Like the Pros (Phil Hellmuth Jr.):
They had plenty of this book in stock so I thumbed through it. Its
you basic John Patrick-style book, enough jargon and written in an
assured manner to fool the neophyte its aimed at. Probably ghost
written by someone else and branded with the Phil Hellmuth name.
Rehashed starting hand requirements for various forms of poker, how to
play certain hands, position, table images given stupid animal names
(Jackal, Elephant, Mouse, etc. - I'm almost positive Hellmuth does not
use in real life, more evidence of ghost writing) to hide the fact its
well trodden territory, and of course stories of his own greatness.
Stuff directly marketed at those that think meeting Hellmuth is an
honor. At least Caro openly CALLED his "Caro's Guide to Super System"
so as to give credit to the source material. Hellmuth just
plagiarizes without admitting it, to the public or to himself.
In fact this book is just like a slew of other recent releases-
basically just interpretations of info they read in other books (or
even RGP), not a whiff of original or inspired thinking. It will be
interesting to see how many fall for this trap and buy this book, a
good test to see how effective CardPlaya is in pure marketing and
blinding people to the truth of its authors. I have a good guess that
it's the same number of B&M, Rake Immune Low Limit holdem players
(a.k.a. the Sucker Slot Machine Player for the 21st Century) that
actually have a 'favorite player'.
This rant really applies beyond the flood of 'Basic' style books to
almost all the Card Player column writers, save maybe Kimberg and
Sklansky- and Sklansky is noticeably starting to recycle old material.
I can't count the number of times I've seen CP articles be nothing but
wholesale author reinterpretations of something they read on RGP
(domination, Morton's theorem, a hand discussion thread), or just a
slight rephrasing of advice given in HPFAP or Super System. Very few
of their writers have the brain power to do any original work. I'm
not sure they do this semi-plagiarizing intentionally, but
nevertheless we have a huge cast who are poor original thinkers.
Their great talent is some slight writing skill that they use to
harvest more disjointed ideas in the public domain and recast as their
own thinking.
Worse are those like Hellmuth and Danny Boy Negreanu who don't even
have writing skills, who are simply winners of Shulman's drive to
create false poker icons to build brand. If you are white, can write
at a 5th grade level, and have won a few poker tournaments, that is
enough validation to write for Shulman's rag- no academic background
needed, no previous proven writing skill required. Just a desire to
show your greatness and others' terrible plays over and over and over.
Hell, if you happen to have a twin brother who plays poker, that's
proof enough to Barry that you should be writing for his magazine- I
mean they are TWINS after all, the genius as poker authors is a given!
People need to realize that writing for poker publications in these
times is not proof of high intelligence or even a great ability for
the game, and that the weight given to the words of most CP writers is
greatly out of proportion to its merit. This applies doubly from all
the dropouts from the Tournament world who write for CP.
Think about it - the cast of MTV's Jackass would make good Tournament
Poker Players, especially No Limit Hold'em Players. Bam, Steve O,
Party Boy , Knoxville - all fearless with a touch of stupidity, the
perfect mix to succeed in Tournament Poker. The same guys who drop
cueballs on their nuts and get pushed down ski slopes while sitting
naked in an outhouse would do just fine in Tourneys if taught just a
little about cards. And that's fine, nothing wrong with those guys
and how their brains work. I just wouldn't ever want to have them
teach me how to think, or trust their ability to translate penetrating
thought into written word, whether in articles or book form. Don't
get me wrong- it helps to be smart in poker and there are some sharp
people in it, but the real smart ones are in the ring games, and
definitely NOT strongly represented as CardPlaya writers.
When the GBS proprietor showed me Hellmuth's book as a new item, and
saw my disgusted look as I read a few passages, he said "Lots of
people have had that same reaction. What's with this guy? Some
people seem to really be offended when I show them this book.".
The Tao of Poker - 285 Rules to transform your game and your life.
(Larry "Wino" Phillips):
First thing a book should never do is insult you with its quality.
This book physically looks and feels incredibly cheap. I've seen
better production values in those "Tijuana Bibles" you can get in
Mexico - better paper, better spine. Just the one "Bloodshot-Red"
color allowed for the cover, after that all they wanted to spend was
on black ink. I really thought it was one of those free 'Guide to Las
Vegas' books that they give out for all over the city for free.
That's not true- those free guidebooks have better production values.
Second, here is some kind of legal disclaimer that is printed on the
first page that tells you a lot about this book and the confidence you
can have in the information it provides (yes it was so funny I had
Rook write it down):
"This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative
information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold
with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering
legal, accounting, or *other professional advice*. If legal advice or
*other expert assistance is required*, the services of a *competent
professional* should be sought."
Just drips with confidence from the Publisher for the quality of this
work, doesn't it? Good of them to stand behind the advice given,
rather than covering their asses from inevitable lawsuits such fluffy
poker advice is sure to generate. Who was in charge of marketing it
using this "don't blame us if you lose all your money" , c.y.a.
strategy? Eric "DaSpammer" Rosenberg and his ever-present,
joy-sapping lawyer?
Also on the first page:
"This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases."
Like if you want to use them in a fireplace to heat your house.
Inside, you find the most stale Fortune Cookie Advice, given from one
of the least at-Zen-or-Taoist people in all of RGP (for those of us
who don't easily forget Wino's 24 hour, obsessive-irrational spew
period on RGP, or his whole defense of UB/Aruba with 'shoot the
messenger Ladd, he is the real evil' (BTW, having seen the Aruba WPT
episode, who thinks the invitational was really for 250k? Nobody?)).
Wino offers Little snippets of "Ancient Chinese Wisdom", shoehorned to
fit into the sphere of poker. Reading from this book is like watching
John Edwards taking his benign, broad statements and trying to make it
fit a given scenario during a 'spiritual reading'. So to does Wino
find a way to seem spiritual and wise while saying nothing real, just
hokey, rub-Buddha's-belly-for-luck advice from an author who has
demonstrated no mastery of the subject. GROOOOOAN. Whats next,
should I say "A powerful winning force surrounds me" before playing
poker too?
Here are some rules from the book:
Rule 81 - Know Thyself.
Yes -nothing helps one know himself fully and completely than a
paragraph or two from this book. 'Tao' makes it so easy!
Rule 98 - Do grow your legend.
Heeded by Wino and his fellow CardPlaya sponsored writers so
religiously that they have this has become the golden rule of
Tournament Poker. Part of growing your legend is claiming you are a
frequent participant in the poker tour like Wino's back cover does,
when he hasn't left his mobile home in years, lest he be away from RGP
for a minute. But he does live in Monroe, Wisconsin, the known hotbed
of poker and poker theory.
Rule 101 - Deny your opponent access to his unconscious.
Which then goes on to explain how voodoo dolls works better in doing
this seemingly impossible task than chanting or magical potions or
mind-melds (Weideman's preferred method).
Rule 159 - Buy a Mirror.
This rule was simply written after Wino met Razzo and his grotesque
hygiene for the first time. Take the advice Razzo.
I will tell you something though. I do quote from Wino's first book
quite a bit, simply because his Zen wisdom in it lead to one of the
greatest reoccurring jokes I share with my poker friends - recalling
actual passages from Wino's Zen book in a "Mr Miyagi from Karate Kid"
voice. I laid into Rook with my Wino wisdom:
GROAN (To Rook as Mr. Miyagi): "ooooohhh Daniel San. If you awanna
success in the pokah, you amusta "pick your times of confrontation"
lika you pick youah nose-ah, yes Daniel San. That is Miyagi's key.
Now goah sanda the flooah."
"Ohhhh, Daniel San. Fortune Cookie Say: "Operate out of fullnessah",
yes, yes, you must operatah outah fullnessah. Now go paint Miyagi's
fence, boy."
This never got old, as I laid out my Miyagi on Rook. Even the Rook
got into it, but his Larusso is no where near as good as my Miyagi.
Killer Poker (John Vorhaus)
Rook (pointing at "Killer Poker" on the bookshelf): "Interesting name
for a book. What's that about?"
GROAN: "Killer Poker" is a non-fiction piece about a failed writer
who developed a strategy for poker so flawed and ruinous to himself
and his finances that it eventually led to his enraged shooting spree
and ended in his violent suicide. Thus the name "Killer Poker".
Rook (naively): No..., come on, really?
GROAN (thinking): Actually...yes.
Here are the tenets of the whole book and the philosophy that drives
it, condensed into one word: Raise. Wow, who new poker was such an
easy thing to master?
Here is some actual fool's advice from John "Target" Vorhaus' book:
"During your next session, commit to making an opening raise five or
more hands in a row. Don't worry about the outcome, but do note the
effects of your aggressive play on your opponents." In all but the
most green of games, and certainly any mid limit live game or ANY
online game, I can tell you what that opponent reaction will be -
salivating glee:
"A 'Vorhaus' Player! And sitting to my right! I can't believe this!
GOD IN HEAVEN I TRULY LOVE YOU! ".
Sure you might be thinking, "I might do this five raise thing, and
then when I put on the breaks and just raise with good hands, I'll
trap them!". Problem is, once you tighten up to a 'correct' level of
raising preflop, you will not be playing many hands and its very
noticeable right away. Your opponents should easily detect this
slowing down period and adjust quickly, knowing you are no longer
playing that fool Vorhaus' suicidal experiment. That book must have
been written for the $1-2 B&M games where such simple tricks might
take hold.
Championship Tournament Practice Hands (Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier)
I just thumbed through it, as I really had little interest in a
Tournament Hands book. I thought they already gave this type of
format (individual play of hands) in one of their Hold'em books - I'm
not sure what this adds. Also, its sort of like the 'quiz' section in
Sklansky's "Tournament Poker" book, but spun off as a separate book to
soak you for another $30. There are a lot of better books with more
substance in the $30 price range.
The one interesting thing they have is hands from various WSOP
championship events. These are interesting to me mostly for their
historical context, and the surrounding 'story' these hands tell more
than the strategic underpinnings. Wouldn't pay $30 for it though, and
many of the hands are already well known.
But come on- where is the TJ Cloutier book all Tourny Players REALLY
want him to write:
Championship Hustling - (TJ Cloutier with Tom McEvoy)
Quote from TJ on the inside cover: "All the important stuff is here.
I'll teach you how to borrow money without paying back, how to sell
150 % of yourself, how to walk into a room full of IOU's and not blink
and eye or feel shame, how to keep backers from talking to previous
backers, the 'Railbird' (TM) Craps system I use - all those things
that has allowed me to be the #1 barnacle in poker! Foreword written
of course by Eskimo Clark, whom I mentored in the ways of the Sucker
Arts."
Could easily be a best seller, the first book that addresses how to
REALLY succeed in Tournament Poker.
Sklansky Talks Blackjack (David Sklansky)
OK, this isn't exactly a new book, but it's the first time I've taken
notice of it and took the chance to look through it. Its like many
other Blackjack books that are flooding the market, another rehash of
a level 1 simple Hi-Lo counting system and Basic Strategy with play
modifications, except with a much looser definition of the True Count
( strategy adjustments for "slightly positive" "moderately positive"
or "highly positive/negative" decks, without giving an exact index
number) and tackling the play of hands by analyzing each player total
(how to play 20, how to play 19, etc). Sort of like "Blackjack for
Dummies", but told of course in Sklansky's distinctive "Booming God
Voice" style.
The real reason I bring this book up here is because of the potential
it COULD have had as a must buy book if they would have added just one
punctuation mark to the book's title, and then *go over the top* with
it:
Sklansky Talks BLACK, Jack (David "And 1" Sklansky)
(Excerpt on how to play a Total of 16)
Yo yo yo, chek it -As far as hitting an' standing strategies iz
concerned, only yo damn fool nappy assed momma would hit a 16 against
uh small card, like she hits her crack pipe. It can be right against
uh deuce or uh trey, buh nigga please - dis here iz such uh rare
happenance dat ya shouldn't even trip about it. On da other hand, it
iz quite likely dat ya will change yo' basic strat when da dealer
shows uh high card, especially uh 10, muh beeotch
See? I would buy THIS version of the book. Better yet make it one of
those CD/audiocassette books and have Sklansky read it live, in full
Ebonics mode. Instant classic.
Positively Fifth Street (Jim McManus)
The only book of real interest to me was this one, which I purchased.
Its highly recommended, and I'm sure plenty of people have read it
already. I'm not sure if it will reach 'Classic poker book' status
because of the separated-ness and expiration date on the interest of
the Ted Binion Murder trial, which is a large part of the book. In 5
years the murder story might seem less relevant. But the rest of the
book will stand the test of time for poker players. "
"Next stop is the Gamblers Book Store (GBS) off of Charleston Blvd on
11th. Since Rook is in his Honeymoon Stage, the GBS is like visiting
an Adult Bookstore, with racks and racks of poker porn for him to
slobber over. While Rook searches for books to purchase, I spend most
of the time talking to the proprietor of the GBS, asking him what new
titles came in. Here are the books he showed me:
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People (Greg Dinkin):
Yeah it's a nifty title, but if Dinkin wanted the name of his book to
show the greatest difference between Amarillo Slim and the rest of the
world, shouldn't he have called it "Amarillo Slime in a World Full of
*Honest* People"? Amarillo Slim is just a cheat and consistent
angle-shooter, including the grandness of his tales. The prototype
for today's tournament 'superstar' - a shameless self promoter who
doesn't care about much except trying to build up his own fame, and
then hopefully living off of that fame for the rest of their lives
since they have little else to offer this world. His canned cutesy
phrases grows thinner with each re-use - I don't want to ever hear
about dogs trying to jump over pots again. Instead, why doesn't he
tell us all his cutesy phrases for making a player show his hand
prematurely, besides his now well known "Let's go!". That at least
has some value.
The GBS is a complete bookstore and has a "Subversive Arts" section
-how to cheat the casino, how the casino cheats you, how to mark cards
and load dice, how to become a card mechanic - you know the books Russ
GCA buys and then claims as his own 'secret insider knowledge'. I
told the proprietor of the GBS that Slim's book should be taken out of
the "Poker" Section and be put into that one and he got a laugh out of
him for that.
By the way, what card is Greg Dinkin in the Iraqi Deck of Most Wanted?
Play Poker Like the Pros (Phil Hellmuth Jr.):
They had plenty of this book in stock so I thumbed through it. Its
you basic John Patrick-style book, enough jargon and written in an
assured manner to fool the neophyte its aimed at. Probably ghost
written by someone else and branded with the Phil Hellmuth name.
Rehashed starting hand requirements for various forms of poker, how to
play certain hands, position, table images given stupid animal names
(Jackal, Elephant, Mouse, etc. - I'm almost positive Hellmuth does not
use in real life, more evidence of ghost writing) to hide the fact its
well trodden territory, and of course stories of his own greatness.
Stuff directly marketed at those that think meeting Hellmuth is an
honor. At least Caro openly CALLED his "Caro's Guide to Super System"
so as to give credit to the source material. Hellmuth just
plagiarizes without admitting it, to the public or to himself.
In fact this book is just like a slew of other recent releases-
basically just interpretations of info they read in other books (or
even RGP), not a whiff of original or inspired thinking. It will be
interesting to see how many fall for this trap and buy this book, a
good test to see how effective CardPlaya is in pure marketing and
blinding people to the truth of its authors. I have a good guess that
it's the same number of B&M, Rake Immune Low Limit holdem players
(a.k.a. the Sucker Slot Machine Player for the 21st Century) that
actually have a 'favorite player'.
This rant really applies beyond the flood of 'Basic' style books to
almost all the Card Player column writers, save maybe Kimberg and
Sklansky- and Sklansky is noticeably starting to recycle old material.
I can't count the number of times I've seen CP articles be nothing but
wholesale author reinterpretations of something they read on RGP
(domination, Morton's theorem, a hand discussion thread), or just a
slight rephrasing of advice given in HPFAP or Super System. Very few
of their writers have the brain power to do any original work. I'm
not sure they do this semi-plagiarizing intentionally, but
nevertheless we have a huge cast who are poor original thinkers.
Their great talent is some slight writing skill that they use to
harvest more disjointed ideas in the public domain and recast as their
own thinking.
Worse are those like Hellmuth and Danny Boy Negreanu who don't even
have writing skills, who are simply winners of Shulman's drive to
create false poker icons to build brand. If you are white, can write
at a 5th grade level, and have won a few poker tournaments, that is
enough validation to write for Shulman's rag- no academic background
needed, no previous proven writing skill required. Just a desire to
show your greatness and others' terrible plays over and over and over.
Hell, if you happen to have a twin brother who plays poker, that's
proof enough to Barry that you should be writing for his magazine- I
mean they are TWINS after all, the genius as poker authors is a given!
People need to realize that writing for poker publications in these
times is not proof of high intelligence or even a great ability for
the game, and that the weight given to the words of most CP writers is
greatly out of proportion to its merit. This applies doubly from all
the dropouts from the Tournament world who write for CP.
Think about it - the cast of MTV's Jackass would make good Tournament
Poker Players, especially No Limit Hold'em Players. Bam, Steve O,
Party Boy , Knoxville - all fearless with a touch of stupidity, the
perfect mix to succeed in Tournament Poker. The same guys who drop
cueballs on their nuts and get pushed down ski slopes while sitting
naked in an outhouse would do just fine in Tourneys if taught just a
little about cards. And that's fine, nothing wrong with those guys
and how their brains work. I just wouldn't ever want to have them
teach me how to think, or trust their ability to translate penetrating
thought into written word, whether in articles or book form. Don't
get me wrong- it helps to be smart in poker and there are some sharp
people in it, but the real smart ones are in the ring games, and
definitely NOT strongly represented as CardPlaya writers.
When the GBS proprietor showed me Hellmuth's book as a new item, and
saw my disgusted look as I read a few passages, he said "Lots of
people have had that same reaction. What's with this guy? Some
people seem to really be offended when I show them this book.".
The Tao of Poker - 285 Rules to transform your game and your life.
(Larry "Wino" Phillips):
First thing a book should never do is insult you with its quality.
This book physically looks and feels incredibly cheap. I've seen
better production values in those "Tijuana Bibles" you can get in
Mexico - better paper, better spine. Just the one "Bloodshot-Red"
color allowed for the cover, after that all they wanted to spend was
on black ink. I really thought it was one of those free 'Guide to Las
Vegas' books that they give out for all over the city for free.
That's not true- those free guidebooks have better production values.
Second, here is some kind of legal disclaimer that is printed on the
first page that tells you a lot about this book and the confidence you
can have in the information it provides (yes it was so funny I had
Rook write it down):
"This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative
information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold
with the understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering
legal, accounting, or *other professional advice*. If legal advice or
*other expert assistance is required*, the services of a *competent
professional* should be sought."
Just drips with confidence from the Publisher for the quality of this
work, doesn't it? Good of them to stand behind the advice given,
rather than covering their asses from inevitable lawsuits such fluffy
poker advice is sure to generate. Who was in charge of marketing it
using this "don't blame us if you lose all your money" , c.y.a.
strategy? Eric "DaSpammer" Rosenberg and his ever-present,
joy-sapping lawyer?
Also on the first page:
"This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases."
Like if you want to use them in a fireplace to heat your house.
Inside, you find the most stale Fortune Cookie Advice, given from one
of the least at-Zen-or-Taoist people in all of RGP (for those of us
who don't easily forget Wino's 24 hour, obsessive-irrational spew
period on RGP, or his whole defense of UB/Aruba with 'shoot the
messenger Ladd, he is the real evil' (BTW, having seen the Aruba WPT
episode, who thinks the invitational was really for 250k? Nobody?)).
Wino offers Little snippets of "Ancient Chinese Wisdom", shoehorned to
fit into the sphere of poker. Reading from this book is like watching
John Edwards taking his benign, broad statements and trying to make it
fit a given scenario during a 'spiritual reading'. So to does Wino
find a way to seem spiritual and wise while saying nothing real, just
hokey, rub-Buddha's-belly-for-luck advice from an author who has
demonstrated no mastery of the subject. GROOOOOAN. Whats next,
should I say "A powerful winning force surrounds me" before playing
poker too?
Here are some rules from the book:
Rule 81 - Know Thyself.
Yes -nothing helps one know himself fully and completely than a
paragraph or two from this book. 'Tao' makes it so easy!
Rule 98 - Do grow your legend.
Heeded by Wino and his fellow CardPlaya sponsored writers so
religiously that they have this has become the golden rule of
Tournament Poker. Part of growing your legend is claiming you are a
frequent participant in the poker tour like Wino's back cover does,
when he hasn't left his mobile home in years, lest he be away from RGP
for a minute. But he does live in Monroe, Wisconsin, the known hotbed
of poker and poker theory.
Rule 101 - Deny your opponent access to his unconscious.
Which then goes on to explain how voodoo dolls works better in doing
this seemingly impossible task than chanting or magical potions or
mind-melds (Weideman's preferred method).
Rule 159 - Buy a Mirror.
This rule was simply written after Wino met Razzo and his grotesque
hygiene for the first time. Take the advice Razzo.
I will tell you something though. I do quote from Wino's first book
quite a bit, simply because his Zen wisdom in it lead to one of the
greatest reoccurring jokes I share with my poker friends - recalling
actual passages from Wino's Zen book in a "Mr Miyagi from Karate Kid"
voice. I laid into Rook with my Wino wisdom:
GROAN (To Rook as Mr. Miyagi): "ooooohhh Daniel San. If you awanna
success in the pokah, you amusta "pick your times of confrontation"
lika you pick youah nose-ah, yes Daniel San. That is Miyagi's key.
Now goah sanda the flooah."
"Ohhhh, Daniel San. Fortune Cookie Say: "Operate out of fullnessah",
yes, yes, you must operatah outah fullnessah. Now go paint Miyagi's
fence, boy."
This never got old, as I laid out my Miyagi on Rook. Even the Rook
got into it, but his Larusso is no where near as good as my Miyagi.
Killer Poker (John Vorhaus)
Rook (pointing at "Killer Poker" on the bookshelf): "Interesting name
for a book. What's that about?"
GROAN: "Killer Poker" is a non-fiction piece about a failed writer
who developed a strategy for poker so flawed and ruinous to himself
and his finances that it eventually led to his enraged shooting spree
and ended in his violent suicide. Thus the name "Killer Poker".
Rook (naively): No..., come on, really?
GROAN (thinking): Actually...yes.
Here are the tenets of the whole book and the philosophy that drives
it, condensed into one word: Raise. Wow, who new poker was such an
easy thing to master?
Here is some actual fool's advice from John "Target" Vorhaus' book:
"During your next session, commit to making an opening raise five or
more hands in a row. Don't worry about the outcome, but do note the
effects of your aggressive play on your opponents." In all but the
most green of games, and certainly any mid limit live game or ANY
online game, I can tell you what that opponent reaction will be -
salivating glee:
"A 'Vorhaus' Player! And sitting to my right! I can't believe this!
GOD IN HEAVEN I TRULY LOVE YOU! ".
Sure you might be thinking, "I might do this five raise thing, and
then when I put on the breaks and just raise with good hands, I'll
trap them!". Problem is, once you tighten up to a 'correct' level of
raising preflop, you will not be playing many hands and its very
noticeable right away. Your opponents should easily detect this
slowing down period and adjust quickly, knowing you are no longer
playing that fool Vorhaus' suicidal experiment. That book must have
been written for the $1-2 B&M games where such simple tricks might
take hold.
Championship Tournament Practice Hands (Tom McEvoy and TJ Cloutier)
I just thumbed through it, as I really had little interest in a
Tournament Hands book. I thought they already gave this type of
format (individual play of hands) in one of their Hold'em books - I'm
not sure what this adds. Also, its sort of like the 'quiz' section in
Sklansky's "Tournament Poker" book, but spun off as a separate book to
soak you for another $30. There are a lot of better books with more
substance in the $30 price range.
The one interesting thing they have is hands from various WSOP
championship events. These are interesting to me mostly for their
historical context, and the surrounding 'story' these hands tell more
than the strategic underpinnings. Wouldn't pay $30 for it though, and
many of the hands are already well known.
But come on- where is the TJ Cloutier book all Tourny Players REALLY
want him to write:
Championship Hustling - (TJ Cloutier with Tom McEvoy)
Quote from TJ on the inside cover: "All the important stuff is here.
I'll teach you how to borrow money without paying back, how to sell
150 % of yourself, how to walk into a room full of IOU's and not blink
and eye or feel shame, how to keep backers from talking to previous
backers, the 'Railbird' (TM) Craps system I use - all those things
that has allowed me to be the #1 barnacle in poker! Foreword written
of course by Eskimo Clark, whom I mentored in the ways of the Sucker
Arts."
Could easily be a best seller, the first book that addresses how to
REALLY succeed in Tournament Poker.
Sklansky Talks Blackjack (David Sklansky)
OK, this isn't exactly a new book, but it's the first time I've taken
notice of it and took the chance to look through it. Its like many
other Blackjack books that are flooding the market, another rehash of
a level 1 simple Hi-Lo counting system and Basic Strategy with play
modifications, except with a much looser definition of the True Count
( strategy adjustments for "slightly positive" "moderately positive"
or "highly positive/negative" decks, without giving an exact index
number) and tackling the play of hands by analyzing each player total
(how to play 20, how to play 19, etc). Sort of like "Blackjack for
Dummies", but told of course in Sklansky's distinctive "Booming God
Voice" style.
The real reason I bring this book up here is because of the potential
it COULD have had as a must buy book if they would have added just one
punctuation mark to the book's title, and then *go over the top* with
it:
Sklansky Talks BLACK, Jack (David "And 1" Sklansky)
(Excerpt on how to play a Total of 16)
Yo yo yo, chek it -As far as hitting an' standing strategies iz
concerned, only yo damn fool nappy assed momma would hit a 16 against
uh small card, like she hits her crack pipe. It can be right against
uh deuce or uh trey, buh nigga please - dis here iz such uh rare
happenance dat ya shouldn't even trip about it. On da other hand, it
iz quite likely dat ya will change yo' basic strat when da dealer
shows uh high card, especially uh 10, muh beeotch
See? I would buy THIS version of the book. Better yet make it one of
those CD/audiocassette books and have Sklansky read it live, in full
Ebonics mode. Instant classic.
Positively Fifth Street (Jim McManus)
The only book of real interest to me was this one, which I purchased.
Its highly recommended, and I'm sure plenty of people have read it
already. I'm not sure if it will reach 'Classic poker book' status
because of the separated-ness and expiration date on the interest of
the Ted Binion Murder trial, which is a large part of the book. In 5
years the murder story might seem less relevant. But the rest of the
book will stand the test of time for poker players. "