[Randy Burgess]

uuDevil, thanks for taking the time to look at the book and post your thoughts.

I haven't even seen a copy yet myself - Carl got the promotional copies from the publisher and is going to be sending me one shortly. Even so, I'd like to clarify the points you've raised. My comments are based on the copyedited manuscript, not the published version, but there should be very little difference.

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[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] The dreaded "fitting the flop" phrase. I didn't read this section in detail, so it may just be an unfortunate choice of words from a 2+2 point of view.

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Yes, "Fitting the flop" is indeed one of the subheads on the first page of the flop chapter. But within a page or so, we go on to say that in addition to evaluating how your hole cards have gone up or down in value in relation to the flop, "you also have to factor in the betting, your position at the table, the size of the pot, and the odds your hand will improve by catching a helping card on the turn."

We go on to amplify this with plenty of specific examples, plus we introduce concepts such as pot equity, tainted odds and redraws. Given that this is a beginner book, I'd say that's a fair amount of sophistication - hardly a "fit or fold" mentality.

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[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] In the chapter on tournaments, one subsection mentions the importance of knocking people out. Though I'm no tourney expert, this struck me as an odd point to emphasize.

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We talk about it in the context of the late stages of the tournament. Here's some of what we say:

"Once you survive the opening stages of a tournament, the value of knocking out other players rises. Imagine you started out in a 25-dollar buy-in tournament with 100 players, and it's now down to just 30. Only the top 10 will finish in the money, so each player you can bust out puts you a step closer. It's even more important at the final table: if tenth place pays 40 dollars and ninth place pays 80 dollars, knocking out even a single player at least doubles your earnings!"

This compares pretty closely with what Bob Ciaffone says in the tournament chapter of "Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker":

"Those of you who compete regularly at tournament poker are aware of how important it is to knock opponents out of the event when you have reached the final table ... This applies to any event that pays more than one place."

To me, the main problem with our tournament chapter is that it's just one chapter, and so of necessity is quite brief. There's a lot we don't cover - we're mainly introducing the idea of tournaments, rather than giving the reader enough advice to truly have a shot at winning.

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[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] In the resources section it mentions Roy Cooke's "Real Poker: The Cooke Collection" but this book is hard to find. Perhaps they intended to recommend "Real Poker II: The Play of Hands."

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No, the recommendation was deliberate as it stands. Amazon says you can order "The Cooke Collection" and get it shipped within two days, so there shouldn't be any problem with availability. And it's a much better value than "The Play of Hands," since it includes a wider range of material.

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I doubt that any player could become a winner solely on the basis of the information in this book

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Well, I have to say I don't doubt this at all. The beginner will need to study the book, not flip through it casually, but he will get a very solid grounding of playing winning poker - more than enough to win at micro and low-limits.

I may be stealing Carl's thunder here, but I don't think he's yet posted one of his latest $4/$8 hands at his favorite club in New York City. Normally there are some good players at the table such as bdk3clash and sfer, but on this occasion there was nobody there who was any good at all - and there were some real maniacs. In this multiway hand he flopped a set. The turn gave him a full house while putting a flush on board, and he nicely cold-called two bets to keep in the guy behind him - who had made the nut flush and raised, thereby giving Carl the chance to reraise. His hand was of course good on the river and he raked in an obscenely large pot. As a joke he then pulled out a copy of our book and pointedly began reading it. This got a lot of reaction, of course - however it soon developed that none of these terrible players felt they needed to read any books at all! They were happy with the way they played!

So yeah, reading our book should make you a winning player, given that most micro and low-limit players either a) don't read books at all, or b) do read books, but don't understand a word.

What this book won't do for the beginner is move him into advanced territory. In my opinion, an intelligent novice who studies hard and plays a ton of hours should be able to outgrow this book within the span of just a few months. That's why we list additional books and resources in Appendix C.