matt maroon book???

saw a matt maroon book i'd never seen before yesterday.

anyone have a view on it. the one amazon review is just scathing.... but it looked somewhat o.k to me.

and the price was right C$10 or US$8.

thanks in advance.

Thanks for including all the extra question marks to help identify which book you're talking about.

[maurile]

I've only read the short-handed section so far, but it is quite good.

[Pike]

There are many typos in the book, but I found the book to be actually very good. He discusses some topics that aren't generally talked about in most of the limit holdem books, and the shorthanded section was very good in my opinion. I think this book is geared more towards the mid to higher limit games than the lower limit games however.

[sweetjazz]

Apparently there are a lot of typographical errors (not surprising because it wasn't done by a major publisher). But the author is a winner in the mid/high limit Party games (up to 30/60 I believe) and understands the game quite well, so he's capable of writing a good book.

I haven't actually seen the book yet, but I definitely plan to pick it up at some point.

[Jeff W]

[ QUOTE ]
But the author is a winner in the mid/high limit Party games (up to 30/60 I believe) and understands the game quite well, so he's capable of writing a good book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here are some gems from his website:

[ QUOTE ]
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can play 30 percent of your hands and still be a winner playing full ring games.

I actually have empirical evidence that you can. And it appears that you can be just as big a winner as the 15s.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
...the 2+2ers who prop up the game and are basically as lucrative to you as any calling station...

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm buying his book anyway FWIW.

[sweetjazz]

Yeah I have read a fair number of his postings on his website. He obviously has a thing about 2+2 which I don't get.

As for the 30% vs 15% quote, I think he was claiming that 30% can still be profitable (but not optimal) [which most would agree with] and the second statement seems to be saying that the profitable hands left out by a 15% VPIP player are worth more than adding the extra unprofitable ones to get to 30% [controversial but not absurd]. Or he was just talking out of his tooshie because it's his own personal blog.

But while most of his blog isn't that interesting in terms of poker theory, I remember coming across a few things that suggested he "got" limit poker. (One thing I remember is that he advocates playing only 1 or 2 tables at a time, focusing on getting specific reads on all players. While this does not maximize hourly rate at the given instant, the ability to continually improve can lead to a substantially higher hourly rate in the future.) The author has played a lot of Party 6-max, so hopefully he has figured out a thing or two interesting to say about SH.

Anyway, I'm not sure how good the book will be, but it seems worth the $10 investment. This book (like any other) should be read with a critical eye, but I think it's worth a read.

[Pike]

The whole 15 percent/30 percent thing stemmed from a comment I made on his blog. After datamining the 30-60 games however it turns out he was correct. There are a quite a bit of players who can play 30 percent of their hands and win as much as people playing 15 percent of their hands. Most people will think that such a statement is absurd, but anyone who datamines the 30-60 games knows that it's the truth. (This is not to say that someone who normally plays 15 percent of their hands will have the same win rate if they all of a sudden try to play 30 percent of their hands)

[steamboatin]

Mason mentions something similar in one of his Poker essays books. Can't remember which one but He says a loose player becomes much better at playing post flop than a tight player because they are in marginal situations more often than a tight player and so they have more experience playing post flop and in marginal situations.

just bought the book at indigo in canada... i will tell you how i find it.