Ken Buntjer - The Secret to Winning Big in Tournament Poker

[Byrn]

Any opinions/reviews on this book? Anyone own it?

I've seen Daniel Negreanu mention it a few times in interviews, and I found one review online. Beyond that I haven't heard much about it. I have the Slanksky, Mcevoy and Suzuki books on tournament poker, and thought I might add to the collection with Buntjer.

[Al Mirpuri]

Mason Malmuth reviewed this in Gambling Theory & Other Topics. He did not rate it highly.

[Byrn]

Upon review of my copy of GT&OT I see that Mason was not a big fan, giving it just about the worst review possible. He does, however, stop short of calling it the most useless poker book ever written.

Anyone else read the book?

[mchilger]

It has been a while since I have ready it. Unfortunately, the book is in a moving box so I can't go back to see my notes.

What I remember most is the hefty price tag for the book. Like any poker book, if I can get one good idea out of a book, it usually pays for itself. However, I do remember that this book is probably not worth the price.

What I remember most about his book is his discussion on labeling opponents. A lot has been written about tight-aggressive, weak-tight, etc in ring games, but what about stereotypical players in a tournament to use in the first 15-30 minutes or so when you sit at a table with some new players. He gives 4 or 5 different labels to use to describe players that was quite interesting.

Regarding tournament strategies, I believe his main focus was very tight strategy in the early rounds, gradually playing more hands as the blinds go up and the players start to fall off.

Not the best review, but I hope it helps. Matthew

[tiltboy]

Who the heck is Ken Buntjer?

[Al Mirpuri]

Apparently, Ken Buntjer won three major tournaments back to back some time ago. He wrote a poor book about how to do so. In all likelihood he just got lucky. However, if you can't be good then you should be lucky.