My book: "Professional Poker"

[Mark Blade]

Hello everybody,

A new poker book that I wrote has just been released. It is titled, “PROFESSIONAL POKER: The Essential Guide To Playing For A Living” by Mark Blade. You may recognize my name from an article I wrote for the Two Plus Two internet magazine a couple months back on “money management.” A follow-up piece to that article has been scheduled by Mason Malmuth to appear in next month’s internet magazine. (FYI – I’m making this announcement here because of King Yao’s previous mention that Mat Sklansky deemed it as acceptable.)

PROFESSIONAL POKER is intended for players who are currently trying to make a living playing poker (either as a full-time or part-time job), plus those players who just want to plan for a possible future poker career. If you are solely a recreational player, you could still get some value out of the book. For example, there are some universally useful topics such as advice on how to mentally cope with bad beats or prolonged losing streaks. Other portions of the book, however, include topics such as the intricacies of bankroll formulas, staking arrangements, or how much money professionals can actually expect to earn. Info on these topics isn’t really necessary for you. Though, it could make for interesting reading material.

I have made my living entirely from poker for over 10 years, primarily in the Los Angeles area. If you are a loyal fan of Two Plus Two’s many landmark books, you will notice throughout my book the many glowing raves I share regarding these titles. In fact, if you come across a professional poker player who claims to have never read books such as The Theory of Poker, Hold ‘em Poker For Advanced Players, etc., there is a high probability that they are either not as successful as they purport to be or simply lying.

I won’t tout the strength of my own book as my judgment is obviously biased, but if you are interested, you can read some early reactions on my homepage, MarkBlade.com. Also, I can definitely assure you that this is a first-class produced book. I can’t guarantee what all your reactions will be, but I know there won’t be any criticisms about ridiculously oversized fonts, a bunch of blank pages, or some other underhanded production trick.

I hope you like the book, but I welcome reading your reactions to it whether positive or negative. (By the way, Amazon currently lists my book as available to ship in a couple weeks, but this must just be an initial listing error as there are plenty of books in the distribution pipeline to fill Amazon’s warehouses as orders begin coming in.)

Good luck in all your poker endeavors!

Mark Blade
www.MarkBlade.com

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Mark:

It's our policy to allow one post like this providing that you ask for permission in advance. The reason for that requirement is that there are a few authors whose books we deem so bad that we would not allow them even the one post. So you are free to answer any questions concerning your book but don't initiate any more ads.

Also, I notice on your site that your book is endorsed by Lou Krieger, Bob Ciaffone, Ken Warren, Michael Konik, and Greg Dinkin. I don't believe that any of these people endorse any of our books.

Best wishes,
Mason

[djj6835]

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Also, I notice on your site that your book is endorsed by Lou Krieger, Bob Ciaffone, Ken Warren , Michael Konik, and Greg Dinkin

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] This worries me......

Is this guy actually still playing poker? Maybe his books actually made players bad enough so that even he could win.

[RowdyZ]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Also, I notice on your site that your book is endorsed by Lou Krieger, Bob Ciaffone, Ken Warren , Michael Konik, and Greg Dinkin

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] This worries me......

Is this guy actually still playing poker? Maybe his books actually made players bad enough so that even he could win.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well Warren gives some bad advice but he still hasn't fallen to the level of John Patrick, his poker book has to be without a doubt the worst ever written, but on the plus side he has only written 1 and Warren is up to a half dozen now.

RZ

[benfranklin]

[ QUOTE ]

Well Warren gives some bad advice but he still hasn't fallen to the level of John Patrick, his poker book has to be without a doubt the worst ever written, but on the plus side he has only written 1 and Warren is up to a half dozen now.

RZ

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortuneately for the gullible gambling public, Patrick has written a ton of books. Like this little gem.

[Femto]

I look forward to picking this one up. When will it be available?

[-Skeme-]

Sounds like another version of Improve Your Poker.

[Rudbaeck]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like another version of Improve Your Poker.

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Well, as I completely agree with Mason's 9 for IYP that would be awesome. I dobut it though. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Mark Blade]

Hi everyone,

Here are a some quick responses to the previous posts:

-Hi Mason, thanks for the clarification of your posting policy. Will do.

-Femto, thank you for your interest. It's available right now from certain places like Amazon (where I believe shipping will be much, much sooner than stated) and BN.com, along with other internet sellers including gamblersbook.com (which has a Vegas walk-in store). If your question was when will it be available in the popular brick & mortar stores, then it may or may not be fairly soon. It depends on where you live. I hear that Barnes & Noble and Borders have recently put in orders, but they will probably just be at their biggest stores where their poker books sell best. Obviously, my book has an extremely low profile right now. Only if it starts selling well will they expand their shelving to more stores. So online may be your best bet if interested.

-Skeme, I wouldn't really compare it to Improve Your Poker, although it does have some advanced playing tips that I hope will improve your game. My book is more broadly reaching topic-wise, covering many additional topics that are important to making money at poker besides just the specific mechanics of the game.

-johnnybeef, I cracked up when I read your post. Very funny and true. But think of it this way. If you and I face each other at a heads-up table, one of us has to lose. But if you read my book and find it to have value, then we both win! I like that kind of equation in the poker world. (I also got a kick out of your steak pic, by the way.)

-Rudbaeck - I can appreciate your skepticism. I admit that I have it myself when I see a new title by an unknown author (or even a known player/author if they don't have a previous book that I've liked). I hope that I can pleasantly surprise you. And yes, if you end up judging my book on par with Improve Your Poker, I'd be very happy and flattered.

Thanks for the all the feedback!

Regards,

Mark Blade

[stud7champ]

Are sales so bad already that you have to resort to the topic of touting your own book?
I hope its not a 2 plus 2 book because they are normally great reading.
That being said there is a definite need for a book as you describe it. Hope your's fit's the bill. Right now my next two books will be the Greenstein book and Harrington's volume 2.

If you want to see some of my poker book reviews on Amazon.com they are listed under reviwerparexc
My review of O8 by Zee was voted 12/15 highest rating of any reviewer since 1998
My review of winning O8 by Tenner is the definitive review 27/27 (Just establishing my review credentials!)