Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem

[Jedi Poker]

There is a thread on RGP about a book called "Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker". I found the website to be interesting and so I bought the e-book. So far, I've only read the first few chapters and I like it.

The main emphasis (in the early chapters) is that the relationship between the stack size relative to the blinds is very important. According to the book, you should play differently if the average stack at the table is very deep relative to the blinds versus if the average stack sizes at the table are very shallow relative to the blinds. Old commonsense knowledge except that the book has some very cool names (IMO) to describe these different "strategic and tactical terrains".

When the stacks are deep relative to the blinds, it's called a "Guerilla terrain". You can play a lot of hands if you can come in cheap because the implied odds are very good.

When the stacks are shallow relative to the blinds, it's called "kamikaze terrain". You basically move in or fold because a raise can get you pot committed.

Everything in between is called "siege terrain".

I haven't read the rest of the book yet but I'll give you guys a review once I get to them. Stuff to do with "strategems", "tells", "enemy stereotypes".

From what I've read so far, I recommend the book. But I've got to read the rest of it first before I can give it a rating. I was very intrigued that the author, Kaizen Nguyen, claims to be a neurolinguistics expert. This is a science that is known for making people better readers of body language.

In summary. I recommend "kick Ass No-limit Holdem Poker".....so far.

[Jedi Poker]

To those of you who have sent me some private messages requesting where to find this book. Simply follow the link below.

www.kickassnolimitholdempoker.com

If the link does not work, just type it in. Its pretty straightforward.

[me454555]

After reading some of the excerps it seems like an interesting read. I would be curious to know how you rate the book, especially compared to some of the other nl books currently out there.

[Jedi Poker]

If a perfect no-limit holdem book were a 10 and an absolutely worthless no-limit holdem book were a 0, I would rank Super/System a 9, Ciaffone's and Reuben's book a 9.5 and T.J. Cloutier's book a 2.

I would rank Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker a 9. It is superior to TJ Cloutier's book, just as good as Super/System, and literally as good as the one written by Ciaffone and Reuben.

Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker is really the only pure no-limit holdem book though. The others are at best 30% about no-limit holdem. Ciaffone, for instance, has chapters on London lowball, 7-card stud, regular low-ball. No limit holdem gets very little treatment. And Super/System is really a general poker book, not a no-limit holdem book. Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker is really the only no-limit holdem book out there.

I am very excited about Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker. The last time I was this excited about a poker book was when I first read Theory of Poker by David Sklansky years ago.

[RowdyZ]

It might be a great book, but 30 bucks for a 40 page book? sounds kinda steep.

[William Wilson]

I agree it's way too much to charge for a book, especially since I'll have to read it on a computer screen. But this line absolutely kills me:

[ QUOTE ]
"Don't be an over-analytical academic dick head who spends more time back there analyzing things inside his head instead of having his attention out there outside his head observing his opponents' behaviors and actions."

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a feeling this will go over like a grenade around these parts, but I think his point has merit.

[Jedi Poker]

[ QUOTE ]
It might be a great book, but 30 bucks for a 40 page book? sounds kinda steep.


[/ QUOTE ]

In my opinion, it's a $400 book with a $29 sticker price (remember, the average entry fee for a typical 300 to 1000 buy-in no-limit holdem tournament is worth approximately this much - sometimes more). There's so much advanced stuff in Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker I had to pause to think long and deep after every chapter. I couldn't read two chapters successively without pausing because there is so much to think about in each chapter. In fact, on some occassions I had to pause for as much as 25 minutes while trying to analyze what I had just read from a single paragraph! It took me close to 12 hours to read this 40 page book even though I'm a speed reader (I can normally finish an entire 200 page book in one and a half hours while hanging out at Borders or Barnes and Noble). I spent a lot of time pausing and thinking while reading this possibly seminal book. And laughing too! It's extremely politically incorrect and funny.

The "Guerilla Terrain" chapter alone is worth a hundred bucks in that it provides a very deep explanation why the ultra-aggressive styles used by guys like Gus Hansen, Devilfish Ulliot, Phil Ivey and the late Stu Ungar can work with great effectiveness. Think "implied odds". No, it doesn't mention these players. But it provides the rational that justifies their maniacal styles.

In the chapter that lists 25 very advanced "moves", there is a section that deals with something called "tactical underbetting". It's a very scary technique to be up against. It makes you virtually impossible to read.

Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker is worth much more than its sticker price. A lot more.

[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]
I was very intrigued that the author, Kaizen Nguyen, claims to be a neurolinguistics expert. This is a science that is known for making people better readers of body language

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP for short, is much more than a science about body language. It's mostly about influencing people to do what you want. The ad is dripping with NLP techniques ("can you visualize buying this book and how great it will be etc."). Which doesn't mean the book is necessarily worthless, but it makes me highly suspicious.

[William]

Maybe Mason will read it and let us know if it is worth buying.
With the shortage of NL books, it would be great to have something to read, but all the pushy comments and the high price makes me suspicious as well, so I'll wait until I hear some more about this "great" new book.

[Jedi Poker]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP for short, is much more than a science about body language. It's mostly about influencing people to do what you want. The ad is dripping with NLP techniques ("can you visualize buying this book and how great it will be etc."). Which doesn't mean the book is necessarily worthless, but it makes me highly suspicious.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tim:

I have studied NLP and I noticed some NLP in the book. The notion that (paraphrase) "All nolimit holdem decisions exist inside mental states. There is no such thing as a no-limit decision that does not exist inside mental states. mental states encompass all no-limit decisions " comes straight out of nlp. So does "In no-limit, your opponents cannot not communicate". The "tilt induction" technique that the author credits Pavlov with is called "anchoring" in nlp. The eye movement tells and the voice tonality tells are also nlp. But the strategy sections do not have any nlp. The nlp stuff are found mostly in the sections about tells and enemy stereotypes, and also in the tilt section. In the last part of the book I noticed some use of hypnotic language but since I'm not advanced in that area I cannot really scrutinize it that much.

About a month ago, I made a post in the Psychology Forum that provided some links to sites that explain nlp. If you do a search, perhaps you can find it. I linked at least 4 nlp sites in that post.