Review of Books by TV commentators? (Phil Gordon and Mike Sexton)

[AA suited]

Hi

I've been watching Celebrity Poker (Phil Gordon), and WPT (Mike Sexton).

Phil wrote "Poker : The Real Deal"

Mike wrote "World Poker Tour(TM): Shuffle Up and Deal "

I tried doing a title search under "Shuffle" and "Real deal" in this (books) forum, but didnt come up with anything.

Are these books any good? And have they written any other books? (and what do you think of them?)

THX!

[cwsiggy]

Phil's is decent. It's kind of an overall look at the poker life with some poker situation quizzes at the end of each chapter. Not a bad read, not vital though. He is coming out with another book called "Little Green book of no limit" or something like that which is supposed to be good. His video Final Table poker is supposed to be the greatest instructional vid ever made. I haven't read Sexton's book.

[MicroBob]

They gave away copies of the Mike Sexton book in the little welcome package on the Party Poker cruise (otherwise I NEVER would have bought it).

I've skimmed around in it and it's actually better than I would have thought.
Somewhat entertaining with Sexton's comments on various interesting WPT hands (and a few older WSOP hands too).

I don't really think it's worth buying though. It certainly won't help your game. But if you are truly obsessed with the WPT then you might enjoy it.

what's kind of funny is that he writes with some of his old-country type phrases in there that are the same as in his announcing.
So it's virtually impossible to read the book without hearing sexton's voice in your head.

Also - it comes with a DVD...it includes Mike Sexton giving you a tour of his Las Vegas home....included in that is him showing you his own personl massage room!!!

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]
Phil's is decent. It's kind of an overall look at the poker life with some poker situation quizzes at the end of each chapter. Not a bad read, not vital though. He is coming out with another book called "Little Green book of no limit" or something like that which is supposed to be good. His video Final Table poker is supposed to be the greatest instructional vid ever made. I haven't read Sexton's book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded. I thought Phil Gordon's first book was an excellent beginner's book, and even had some interesting information about "the life" for someone reading it who already knows what a flop is and about the importance of playing tight.

I haven't seen every poker instructional DVD that's come down the pike (I've seen a few of the Hellmuth ones, 'Poker Secrets from Poker Champs, one of Mike Caro's new ones, The Phil Gordon one, and Howard Lederer's two DVDs), and Phil Gordon's dvd is the best (Lederer's "more secrets" DVD would be a reasonably close second). He goes all the way through the progression of a final table with his internal monologue playing while he's making decisions, and he stops to explain key concepts as well. Not to mention the fact that he has a sense of humor and an aesthetic sense in how the match plays out.

The only thing that bugged me about the DVD was the inclusion of one of those black-and-white Full Tilt commercials in the middle of the thing for no apparent reason - I thought that was completely unecessary and rather disappointing, but the rest of the content more than makes up for it.

No idea how good the "green book" is, as I haven't seen it yet (if you search for that though I think there was one 2+2'er who got an advance copy of it and gave it a thumbs-up, if i recall correctly), but the "Tales from the Tiltboys" book isn't that great - it's pretty much a book full of "this one time, at band camp,..." type stories.

Hope that helps.

[AA suited]

hm.. i need to watch Lederer's "More secrets" again. i completely forgot what it said.

"Final table" isnt that popular? only 2 sellers on ebay? ($29 shipped)

[Beavis68]

Gordon's Video is a great, and he has a more advanced book coming out "the little green book of poker" or something like that.

The Real Deal isn't really for players. Well written and interested, if you post here it wont improve your game.

[npc]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi

I've been watching Celebrity Poker (Phil Gordon), and WPT (Mike Sexton).

Are these books any good?

[/ QUOTE ]

They're both okay for what they are. Of the two, I think I liked Gordon's book a little better. Full reviews:

http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/reviews/..._and_deal.html

http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/reviews/...real_deal.html

[ QUOTE ]
And have they written any other books? (and what do you think of them?)

[/ QUOTE ]

As others have said, Gordon has another book coming out in October called "Phil Gordon's Little Green Book". I am the poster that has now finished reading a galley copy of the book, and I thought it was quite strong overall. It's a strategy book whereas I'd classify the other two as half strategy half fun books.

I believe "Final Table" is only sold through the company and secondly by resellers.

Is eBay the best way to get Phil's DVD?

Someone posted a discount code earlier. You need to go to expertinsight.com to use it.