Weighing the Odds - Finish it?

I've read about 60 pages, and I'm not too impressed with it so far. It's not horrible, but it's not good either. It got 5 stars on Amazon by 14 reviewers, so I got it. Is this book worth finishing?

vincent,

we regret to inform you that twoplustwo publishing is not hiring at this time.

we thank you for your interest and will keep your resume on file for future reference.

in all seriousness, i think it's a great book. very comprehensive, easy to understand and well-written.

best sections i think are starting hands (although i like that in any book) and shorthanded (i think it's the best out there). apparently others really like the turn and river sections.

[MaxPowerPoker]

Finish it! The shorthanded section alone makes the book worth the price. Though others don't care for it, DIPO has really helped me out when I'm drawing. And honestly...who isn't drawing?

Thanks guys, maybe I'll jump to the SH section & read from there.

[tinhat]

After all the raving on 2p2 I was extremely disappointed also. To be fair even without the raving, if I had browsed the first 1/3 of the book at the store I never would've bought it. But once I hit somethng like pg 109 (or thereabouts) my opinion of the book started to change completely. I'm now glad I did buy it and forced myself to continue reading.

For some reason the first part of the book (IMO) is childish; but his writing style really starts to shine not until after the first 1/3 of the book; and agree with another poster that King made way too big a deal out of DIPO (and I reacted to the "core" of the book thinking what a stupid and inadquate tool DIPO is).

If he ever updates the book *I think* he should remove the focus he gives DIPO; maybe make it a footnote or something. As it is now it definitely biased me especially when the book stated following sections were based on the DIPO method (IMM meaning I needed to use this stupid DIPO thing to follow later examples).

So skip around or give it another 40-some pages; you may end up really liking his style/the rest of the book...

Mike

To each his own. I'm 1/3 of the way through the book and find it a great complement to SSHE. I'm actually enjoying it more than SSHE, but I think that's due to having more experience playing than I had when I read SSHE. Gonna go back and re-read SSHE soon. There are a couple of things in Weighing the odds that I disagree with, I don't like DIPO, but most here on the forums don't as far as I can tell. Other than that I really can't recall more than a sentence here or there that I thought might be wrong for me.

[maurile]

I think very highly of the book, but I skipped the first 100 pages and started with the chapter on position. I'm sure the first 100 pages are fine, but I really didn't need to read another explanation of EV, pot odds, or starting hands.

The chapters on reading hands and on short-handed play are particularly good. The river chapter is also excellent (and is online somewhere for free, I think).

[King Yao]

Vincent,
I hope you do finish it, and I hope the rest of the book is more enjoyable and useful to you.

Everyone else,
Thanks for the constructive criticism. I've already made some changes due to messages I've received from readers, so it's always helpful to me. Of course I won't agree with every problem that readers have, but it's good to know about these issues so I can make corrections, clarifications or changes. Thanks.

As for the free chapter on The River that a poster referred to, it can be found here:

A preview chapter: The River

It is in an adobe acrobat format online, that means some may have trouble viewing it.

King,

I am enjoying your book, even the 1st 100 pages which are review. Are you going to apply your writing skills to any other poker games? Omaha, 7-stud, etc?

S

[bilyin]

Vincent:
I am sure you will be totally indignant if 2+2'ers are accused of group think.