The poker explosion and a congratulations to Mason and Two Plus Two

[Mike Gallo]

Hi everyone,

During my lunch hour today I visited the local Borders bookstore. The Borders had almost every Two Plus Two plus book written. Borders had the obscure Gambling for a Living along with all of the newer titles. They carried all of the Advanced series along with the Poker Essays I and III.

The Borders used to have the poker books in the same section as the chess books and the backgammon books. Then they placed the poker books with the gambling books. Now the store has an entire section devoted to poker. At one of the main marketing tables they had Hold Em for Advanced Players 21st century edition. The amount of poker books that Borders now carries amazed me.

I wonder if this explosion of poker information will serve as a double edged sword. Yes more people will play and poker will come to the mainstream, however more people will have a working knowledge of poker and gambling theory.

I would like other peoples opinions.

If everyone bought John Patricks and Phil Hellmuths books, I would not worry /images/graemlins/grin.gif Sorry guys I could not resist.

Michael

[Homer]

Yes more people will play and poker will come to the mainstream, however more people will have a working knowledge of poker and gambling theory.

I think that for every person who becomes a solid player from reading these books, 5-10 others will gloss over them once and have just enough knowledge to become a steady loser (but will think they are ready to win).

-- Homer

[hutz]

I think you nailed it, Homer.

[JTG51]

While the Borders in my area continutes to add more and more titles, Barns and Noble appears to have completely dropped all poker books from their stock.

[CrackerZack]

Its not even glossing over. There are so many people who study these and study these but just can't really get it. they'll be soft games, but not cream them, and over their lifetime will probably be small losers because of the rake. Oddly, one thing I think that holds a lot of people back is the hand groupings. One of my friends who plays a lot once told me, forget about those damn groupings, figure what a hand is worth in each situation. Once I started thinking about why a hand is good and in what situations, I felt like I gained so much more, not only PF knowledge, but this knowledge helped post-flop play also. The funny thing is, I feel like I've come so far, and I think if I sat down on the 10-20 Mirage game Dynasty and Clark play quite a bit, I'd get eaten up. It helps to remind me how much further there is to go still.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi JTG51:

I don't think that's true. What's happened is that we ran out of books for five different titles at the beginning of the month even though we thought a month earlier that we had ample supply. Of course, we are printing away and now have two of the five back on line, and a third one will be back on line at the beginning of next week. But it has meant that many orders for our books have been held up and thus some book stores are empty of our titles. However, a new B&N just opened in Las Vegas and I've been told that they are well stocked with books from Two Plus Two, but the B&N close to where I live is wiped out. Hopefully, in a few weeks they will all be well stocked.

Best wishes,
Mason

[JTG51]

I hope you are right Mason, but it's not just 2+2 books that are gone from the Barnes and Noble in my area, it's all poker books. Hopefully they just rearranged the place and I'm missing them.

[David Steele]

Borders has always been much better for poker books then
B&N in my experience.

[Mason Malmuth]

I hope I'm right too. It's very important for us that all of these stores do a good job in carrying our books. In a recent conversation with our book buyer at Borders, she used the term "phenomenal" to describe the sale of our books and some other poker titles. Surely, B&N is having the same experience, and you are probably looking at a store where virtually all poker titles are sold out. If that's the case, they will get more in the future.

Also, look for some of our titles to be appearing in Waldenbooks in the near future. We just shipped their first order to them yesterday.

Best wishes,
Mason

[TJSWAN]

[ QUOTE ]
Hopefully they just rearranged the place..

[/ QUOTE ]

This happened at my local B & N. I think poker was moved from sports section to games section. And yes Borders has a much better selection of titles from 2+2 and others.

Tim

[JTG51]

I think poker was moved from sports section to games section.

I thought that might have been the case so I looked for the games section. I couldn't find it. The store isn't that big, so unless they are hiding that section in the back room I'm afraid they might not have one.

Next time I go in, I'll just ask.

[Ragnar]

It is also true that Borders has a much better poker selection than Barnes & Noble in both the Phoenix and the Tucson areas. That is especially true of Two Plus Two books.

Ragnar

[Ray Zee]

i am tired of looking at the picture of me when my hair wasnt so grey. so i have been buying out all the books in the stores so i wouldnt feel so badly. at the same time i resell them on ebay for up to $100 a book and that makes me feel real good.

[Porcupine]

Thanks for the tip. I can confirm that Borders in NC has an excellent selection of 2+2 books. Nice to be able to pick up TOP locally - last time in Vegas I went to Gamblers Book Store and in a haze (from a week of poker, NCAA basketball, drinks and little sleep) picked up Hold'em Poker (plus others) when I meant to grab TOP.

Do any stores carry Pot-limit and No-Limit hold'em, by Stewart Reuben and Bob Ciaffone?

[Lee Jones]

I am tired of looking at the picture of me when my hair wasnt so grey.

There's a reason my picture isn't on my book cover.

Regards, Lee

Why not use your the picture when you were younger and had the Elvis pompadour as somebody told me? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Ray Zee]

i had long straggly hair when i was a hippie type in the 60's and 70's other times it was more like a beatle haircut.
rare to ever see all my ears.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
rare to ever see all my ears.

[/ QUOTE ]

How many ears do you have?

[cferejohn]

I saw it somewhere (already own it so I didn't buy it). Some kind of big chain (Barnes and Noble or Borders, or maybe Tower Books). So yes, some stores carry it...

[Mark Heide]

Ray,

Have Mason take that picture of you on your High-Low book, scan it to his PC, and colorize it with MS Paintbrush. Or put on a baseball cap or cowboy hat and have a new one made. Almost forgot, Mason is going to start to send me your checks until you get that next book out called Pot-Limit/No-Limit Poker for Advanced Players.

Good Luck

Mark

[clovenhoof]

[ QUOTE ]
I am tired of looking at the picture of me when my hair wasnt so grey.

There's a reason my picture isn't on my book cover.


[/ QUOTE ]

That's one of the two reasons why I haven't written a book yet.

(The other is that I'm kinda stupid and have nothing to say.)

'hoof

[budman]

Don't sell yourself short. I played in a 30-60 game in Las Vegas with Mason at the table (I usually played 10-20 at the Mohegan Sun). I killed the table. Mason was there for two hours and I only saw him win the blinds a couple of times.

I played that game three days in a row and won two of the three sessions. I know that is not statistically significant, but I had a lot of fun and in some ways it was an easier game than the wild 10-20 games where people get out of line all the time.

I wish I had said hello to Mason, but he was busy watching television most of the time he was at the table.

[Uppercut]

I had no idea that people still bought poker books at B&M stores. I have at least ten of them, and I purchased every one of them online. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Uppercut:

You're actually asking a question that I don't know the answer to since a large percentage of our business goes through wholesalers who sell to both stores and Internet sites. However, Borders/Waldenbooks buys directly from us and the orders are substantial.

Best wishes,
Mason