2nd Roy Cooke book

I am interested in finding a review of Roy Cooke's second Real Poker book, the play of the hands. I heard that his first book is very good and have not gotten it. However I have not heard a review of the second one. I have heard someone say that his best work was in 1999 (Nick Christensen said this in his review of the first one which was before that), so I'm assuming the second one includes some good essays.

If they are both good I want to get them both at the same time. But I order from Conjelco, and I noticed that while their catalog contains every book under the sun, including Real Poker II, it curiously does not list the first Roy Cooke book, Real Poker. This seems strange. Anyway, thanks for the comments.


Tim

The first book is good. Take David Sklanskys word for it. Unfortunately it has sold out, I think. Maybe someone has a copy left to sell somewhere. Probably it will be reprinted sooner or later.


Some people don't like the fact that it is a collection of magazine columns, with lots of repetition, though. Well, just take it for what it is and don't read it from cover to cover.


The second book contains only columns dealing with the play of hands, since Roy says that they are the most popular of his columns. The first book contained ALL his columns from his first five years. The second book contains almost all "Play of Hands" columns from his first ten years, so (almost?) all the "Play of Hands" columns in the first book is also in the second book. This has upset some owners of the first book. A third book with the sub-title "Cooke's Edge Concepts" is coming out later this year.


I haven't read the new book yet, even though I own it. I'm sure it's good, though. I always read Cooke's column first when a new issue of Card Player comes out, and I like having his columns collected in a book. Too bad the new book doesn't contain all, like in the first book. I'm a fairly new player, so I haven't read Card Player that long, so most of these columns are new to me. But I would buy his books even if I had all the magazines, I think.

Clueless,

Thanks very much for the info. I definitely will buy his books after reading your comments.


Tim