John Vorhaus' Killer Poker Series

[SattP]

I've read a few reviews on these books and they all say it's just a long (but interesting/entertaining) lecture on why aggressive play pays off and helps the reader get into that mindset. I'm aggressive but I feel that sometimes I'm afraid to fire the second barrel or I make a few timid raises and was wondering if anyone had read these books.

I was thinking of picking up Killer Poker and Killer Poker Hold 'Em Handbook since they are not that expensive and I've already bought/read every 2+2 book concievable. Does anyone have any comments on this series of books?

As a bonus, double-whammy question I'd like to know if Phil Gordon's book is anything more than a bunch of stories with some advice thrown in, I'm having a hard time getting a straight answer on "The Real Deal," it seems.

[slim]

I have all 3 books. They are different than any of the other poker books I've read. They don't really talk at all about stategy. The main thing I got from reading these books is about mindset and self honestly about your poker game. It stresses self discipline and hard work and diligence and all that kind of stuff. To me, it was really helpful. I find virtually all poker players love talking about how they got bad beat by this fish and whine about how the bad players are beating them and how cold their cards are etc.....they like to tell people how much they won last night but when they lose, they say stuff like "I broke even" ......
I think once your poker basics are solid and you a good winning player, these books can make you into a great player. But if u're just starting out, these books won't help you.

[KingMarc]

All I read was Killer Poker Online, and it must be the worst book ever written on poker. It barely has anything to do with poker. It focuses on online aspects, all of which are pretty much irrelevant.

[slim]

like I said, it doesn't teach u poker concepts.....they teach or at least re-inforce proper attitude and mindset to be a great poker player. It's like being an athlete....you can have the best skill and physical attributes for a certain sport, but be a huge flop when u make it to the majors. That's why so many top draft picks in sports are busts.....they can't handle the spotlight or their huge egos get in the way of them continuously learning, which is one of the main points in the Killer series (continuously learning).

And BTW, as far as being well written, they are the best poker books I've read.

[SattP]

I'd consider myself an intermediate poker player and I don't feel like I need another "how to" book since S/S2 and Harrington's NL book are coming out shortly to fill that void. You considered this helpful? I was thinking of skipping the online one and going for the other two, does this seem like a good idea?

[Al Mirpuri]

Killer Poker is beutifully written. It will help fix leaks in your game by stressing non-cardplaying aspects of poker. It is not a technical text. It is worthwhile if you have no other books of this type but there are probably better books of this type out there:

Zen And The Art Of Poker
The Tao Of Poker
Inside The Poker Mind

[jakethebake]

I'm sure they've been discussed before, but anyone have comments on these three books? I've glanced at them at the bookstore, but haven't read them.
[ QUOTE ]
Zen And The Art Of Poker
The Tao Of Poker
Inside The Poker Mind

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[Al Mirpuri]

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I'm sure they've been discussed before, but anyone have comments on these three books? I've glanced at them at the bookstore, but haven't read them.
[ QUOTE ]
Zen And The Art Of Poker
The Tao Of Poker
Inside The Poker Mind

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

Zen And The Art Of Poker
This teaches the detachment that one needs to play poker well. However, gets flamed because he believes in rushes. MM does not like this book. I think it 8/10.

The Tao Of Poker
This was the follow up to Zen..and it gets to the nuts and bolts of playing day in and day out. A few fallacious ideas but I think it is 7/10.

Inside The Poker Mind
It deals with Hold'em mainly and general poker concepts. However, it possesses an overlooked treasure in its understanding of emotion in poker. This is by the Two Plus Two boys. I rank it 9/10.

[KowCiller]

I cannot comment on any of his books except for "Killer Poker". A friend let me borrow this book, and I literally laughed out loud at many of the passages in the book. I felt the book was border line useless in terms of improving any aspect of my game (whether technical or psychological). It seems like the author spends most of the effort on writing elegant word combinations instead of actual content. I would not recommend buying this book.

I would recommend getting "Inside the Poker Mind". I believe it was written by a guy named Freeney (sp?). I felt like I came away with a lot from that book.

Hope this helps,
KoW

[WC64]

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All I read was Killer Poker Online, and it must be the worst book ever written on poker. It barely has anything to do with poker. It focuses on online aspects, all of which are pretty much irrelevant.

[/ QUOTE ]

I read it and enjoyed it