"The Science of Poker" by Mahmood: Any opinions?

grapes · #1 02-22-2005, 12:47 AM

I hadn't heard of this book until it was auto-recommended to me on Amazon. I'm not sure what to make of it. A web search turns up little on it, and the official cover blurb doesn't give much of a clue, except that it covers hold'em, omaha, and stud, all in 192 pages.

These would all seem like bad signs for it being worthwhile, but I'm wondering if anyone had more information - what it covers, who it's geared toward, if it's any good. I'll probably buy it anyway out of curiosity, but I'd still appreciate any opinions.

Thanks.

theRealMacoy · #2 02-22-2005, 02:09 AM

ditto grapes,

last time i checked it was a month past the time it was supposed to be released and still no book.

any new info would be cool.

cheers,

the Real Macoy

turnipmonster · #3 02-22-2005, 01:30 PM

the general consensus (that I agree with) is that some of his sims are flawed, but the general content is pretty good. I bought it for the PLO chapter and feel it's worth it just for that.

BluffTHIS! · #4 02-22-2005, 03:27 PM

As Turnip alluded to by commenting on the book, it is in fact out and available on Amazon where I got it, if I am understanding you correctly to mean you don't think it's out yet.

I agree with Turnip that the PLO chapter is very good. It would give anyone a good grasp of the relative value of various hands and the number opponents you would or would not like to have for each one. Having said that, I also agree with Turnip that the sims are flawed precisely because even the best AA hand like AAJTds is not more than a 2-1 favorite over other hands and even something like 8765ss could be played against known aces and someone else giving you 2-1 on your money if you think you can actually extract money from the other players if you get a good flop/board.

Regarding the PLO chapter one thing is for sure, a relative new-comer to PLO is much better off with Dr. Mahmoud's advice than that found in Stewart Reuben's recent 'How Good Is Your Pot-Limit Omaha?', which requires great experience and regularly playing against the same opponents whom you have good reads on to enable you not to lose a lot of money playing his way.

theRealMacoy · #5 02-22-2005, 05:25 PM

gentlemen,

thanks for the update
the book has not yet been released to amazon.ca
we canadians will have to be patient
or buy it through amazon.com (which only has 2 copies left)

cheers,
the Real Macoy

BluffTHIS! · #6 02-22-2005, 05:52 PM

[ QUOTE ]
gentlemen,

thanks for the update
the book has not yet been released to amazon.ca
we canadians will have to be patient
or buy it through amazon.com (which only has 2 copies left)

cheers,
the Real Macoy

[/ QUOTE ]

This is of course a conspiracy by your neighbors to the south to keep you canadians in the dark as long as possible regarding advanced poker principles so we can have canadian trout for dinner as long as possible in online games [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

theRealMacoy · #7 02-23-2005, 04:28 AM

i finally warmed up my igloo enough to take off my glove and type. luckily my excellently strong canadian beers are keeping the rest of me warm. i always appreciate brash yankee-doodle bravado whenever i can get it, as i often find an inverse relationship with computational ability. oops, left my dog-team outside and my girl friend always complains about all the yellow snow.

Cheers my southern Big Brother,
the Real Macoy