What do you guys think of Zen and the Art of Poker?

[MicroBob]

There is no shortage of incorrect information in Zen of Poker.

As previous poster alluded to....there is plenty of talk about 'playing the rushes' and 'learning to leave the table BEFORE you go really cold' and other such nonsense where the player is somehow supposed to know whether they are going to be HOT or COLD.
If I psychically knew that I was going to get bad-beated on the river on every hand then I certainly wouldn't play to begin with. But there's no way of knowing this and his implications of learning where your poker-karma is on that night (or whatever the hell he wants to call it) are just ridiculous.


That said....many many people on here say they have gotten value out of it. The general ideas of staying within oneself and developing some sense of peace and staying
patient, etc etc....are, in fact, somewhat interesting.

Just filter out the stuff about playing the rushes and so forth that he frequently interjects when you read through the good stuff.


I believe Mason rated this book a 3 (on 1-10 scale)...mostly for his insistence that you can somehow know ahead of time that you are going to get good or bad cards.
I can hardly blame him because of all the inaccurate ideas.But again, I think there is some worthwhile stuff in there if you are smart enough to ignore the stupid stuff.

[helpmeout]

I only just received it but so far it looks decent.

These kinds of books are good for people who already have a large collection of stategy books and already know the game pretty well.

[kagame]

this is idiotic

Zen... never says you will be able to tell the future, it simply advocates playing in the proper mindset, if you have a feeling that youre going to lose, you probably will.

there is a huge psychological factor in "rushes", to discount it as mystical nonsense is unfair to this worthwhile text and also misleading.

this is the best poker book ive ever read on the subject of focusing your mind and not going on tilt. i tell all my poker friends to read it, the mindset recommended is CRUCIAL to any poker player.

[Mike J]

I'd agree with the majority opinion. Good for advice on staying calm, being patient, etc. But that is about it.

[excession]

I have his Tao of Poker and often keep it in the loo - it's a good book to dip into (no it's not used for emergencies!)

As lack of discipline/going on tilt is by far the biggest leak most players who have just started (and a lot of players who have played for long enough to know better) have, then any book that helps you with that is worth a read.

As the others say it doesn't really teach you anything about the technical side of poker or even reading your opponents (Schoonmaker is OK but PokerTracker is far better for that) but it does help you 'centre' yourself and the ability to face bad beats with equanimity is a very important tool for increasing your skill and +EV..