Phil Gordon's Little Green Book

[b33nz]

I was wondering what you guys think about this book. I found it in my local B&N store, but barely had time to look through it. Did anyone start/finish reading it? Is it good for NL cash games? Thanks in advance...

I ordered it Sept. 26 and received it Sept. 29 from Amazon ($18.27). I'm 51/286 pages into it and already I like it VERY much. His discussion of small blind and big blind play has been very helpful to me because play in the blinds is my greatest weakness.

It's useful for both cash games and tournaments. It doesn't offer sample hand analysis like Harrington's books or cover topics in chapter format. Instead, it's patterned after the Little Red Book by golf teacher Harvey Penick in that it covers a topic in four paragraphs or so.

He has starting hand charts in the back of the book for full and shorthanded tables.

Overall, I think it's excellent and well worth the price.

[npc]

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I was wondering what you guys think about this book.

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I think it's quite good. A full review of it by me will be forthcoming in some publication in the next few weeks.

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Is it good for NL cash games?

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It focuses on tournaments, but a majority of the advice can be applied toward cash games as well.

[benkahuna]

I got it today taking back a second copy of HoH that was hiding in my dining area.

I've read the first 58 pages or so and a few sections in the back.

I think it's excellent. There are some original insights about how to play opponents in particular situations (basically Phil telling how he does it) and overall it's very good.

The simplicity of the design and instruction in the book is striking. I'm quite impressed Phil was able to be so succinct.


There is advice relevant to cash games even though Phil's focus is tournaments (though tournaments are not a focus of the book at all as far as I've read).

[ QUOTE ]
I got it today taking back a second copy of HoH that was hiding in my dining area.

I've read the first 58 pages or so and a few sections in the back.

I think it's excellent. There are some original insights about how to play opponents in particular situations (basically Phil telling how he does it) and overall it's very good.

The simplicity of the design and instruction in the book is striking. I'm quite impressed Phil was able to be so succinct.


There is advice relevant to cash games even though Phil's focus is tournaments (though tournaments are not a focus of the book at all as far as I've read).

[/ QUOTE ]
Does Phil's book cover anything that wasn't covered in the Harrington on Hold'em series? Can you possibly give a list of topics he discusses that you thought were very insightful and why? I already purchased a copy of Phil's first book, Poker: The Real Deal, a while back and was very dissapointed, thus my hesitation to go out and purchase this book before reading some more reviews. Thank you benkahuna. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I got it today taking back a second copy of HoH that was hiding in my dining area.

I've read the first 58 pages or so and a few sections in the back.

I think it's excellent. There are some original insights about how to play opponents in particular situations (basically Phil telling how he does it) and overall it's very good.

The simplicity of the design and instruction in the book is striking. I'm quite impressed Phil was able to be so succinct.


There is advice relevant to cash games even though Phil's focus is tournaments (though tournaments are not a focus of the book at all as far as I've read).

[/ QUOTE ]
Does Phil's book cover anything that wasn't covered in the Harrington on Hold'em series? Can you possibly give a list of topics he discusses that you thought were very insightful and why? I already purchased a copy of Phil's first book, Poker: The Real Deal, a while back and was very dissapointed, thus my hesitation to go out and purchase this book before reading some more reviews. Thank you benkahuna. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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I'm about 75% through the new book (didn't read his first one) and it is pretty good. I may write a review when I am done. It is all about NLHE, mainly tournaments but some ring game stuff too. Basically he describes his system and thought process on NL, and it seems pretty solid.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I got it today taking back a second copy of HoH that was hiding in my dining area.

I've read the first 58 pages or so and a few sections in the back.

I think it's excellent. There are some original insights about how to play opponents in particular situations (basically Phil telling how he does it) and overall it's very good.

The simplicity of the design and instruction in the book is striking. I'm quite impressed Phil was able to be so succinct.


There is advice relevant to cash games even though Phil's focus is tournaments (though tournaments are not a focus of the book at all as far as I've read).

[/ QUOTE ]
Does Phil's book cover anything that wasn't covered in the Harrington on Hold'em series? Can you possibly give a list of topics he discusses that you thought were very insightful and why? I already purchased a copy of Phil's first book, Poker: The Real Deal, a while back and was very dissapointed, thus my hesitation to go out and purchase this book before reading some more reviews. Thank you benkahuna. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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I think P:TRD was written more from a push by Bravo than Phil himself. It's obviously more of an all-around poker primer, I assume the intended audience was the Celebrity Poker Showdown viewers.

[cwsiggy]

Just got it and was flipping throught the player profiles. Interesting he says Prahlad plays essentially a perfect unbeatable no limit cash game employing game theory. Only downside is the high variance. He names him "Biggest Online Winner" but a few sentences later say he saps the very spirit of the rocks in the game.

[MCS]

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he saps the very spirit of the rocks in the game.

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I saw that as well, and felt very proud that I was cool enough to understand the secret clue.

[benkahuna]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I got it today taking back a second copy of HoH that was hiding in my dining area.

I've read the first 58 pages or so and a few sections in the back.

I think it's excellent. There are some original insights about how to play opponents in particular situations (basically Phil telling how he does it) and overall it's very good.

The simplicity of the design and instruction in the book is striking. I'm quite impressed Phil was able to be so succinct.


There is advice relevant to cash games even though Phil's focus is tournaments (though tournaments are not a focus of the book at all as far as I've read).

[/ QUOTE ]
Does Phil's book cover anything that wasn't covered in the Harrington on Hold'em series? Can you possibly give a list of topics he discusses that you thought were very insightful and why? I already purchased a copy of Phil's first book, Poker: The Real Deal, a while back and was very dissapointed, thus my hesitation to go out and purchase this book before reading some more reviews. Thank you benkahuna. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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OK, finished the book a few days ago.

I wouldn't say Phil covered any concepts not seen in the HoH series. However, I think he covered a few concepts with greater depth. His discussion about bet sizing post flop was very good IMO. Some posters talk about it being exclusively related to his own hand's current value/drawing potential. Not so. It also incorporates his take on the other person's hand. His discussion on playing the blinds was also very useful and more extensive than HoH. Someone mentioned his obvious reference to Prahlad (I also felt kind of cool for getting that one--not cool, dorky poker obsession) and it was interesting, but unlikely to be useful for most people. There are more examples of this sort, but I'm going to say it's not only tedious to really analyze the two books, it's more than I'm willing to do to do in response to a post.

I'm not trying to sell you the book. However, I did find the book to be very solid in most respects and much better than The Real Deal (which I liked, but found a bit fluffy and more useful as a general presentation about poker). I believe it lives up to its claims on the jacket of the book. Phil presents NL in a very straightforward, yet accurate manner here. There's nothing revolutionary in his advice, but his advice is easy to follow, has internal consistency, and just makes a lot of sense.

It sounds like you're looking for something to give you groundbreaking new material and theory to help you in a cash NL game. I don't think you'll find that in this book. However, I do think you'll find new presentation about many concepts and greater depth in discussion about familiar concepts that will, if you're a discerning, critical reader improve your NL cash game despite the book starting out more generally about NL and then focusing more specifically on tournament NL holdem. If you've read a lot of poker theory and HoH (and thought about the theory, played and lot and understood what was in the books well--including TOP), then you might not need this book. But, I think there are a few topics that are not covered elsewhere that are gems or easter eggs that make book worth getting.

I should warn you though, I tend to find value in most things and am not quickly dismissive of books on poker that can give me something original.

If you're still in doubt how to deal with the publication of this work after reading my post, I strongly recommend just checking out the book in a book store if possible. If you can't and can afford the book, it's probably worth getting. If it's tough to afford the book based on your poker play, you'll probably get enough from the book that it will pay for itself.