My book: "Professional Poker"

[Mark Blade]

Hello everybody,

A new poker book that I wrote has just been released. It is titled, “PROFESSIONAL POKER: The Essential Guide To Playing For A Living” by Mark Blade. You may recognize my name from an article I wrote for the Two Plus Two internet magazine a couple months back on “money management.” A follow-up piece to that article has been scheduled by Mason Malmuth to appear in next month’s internet magazine. (FYI – I’m making this announcement here because of King Yao’s previous mention that Mat Sklansky deemed it as acceptable.)

PROFESSIONAL POKER is intended for players who are currently trying to make a living playing poker (either as a full-time or part-time job), plus those players who just want to plan for a possible future poker career. If you are solely a recreational player, you could still get some value out of the book. For example, there are some universally useful topics such as advice on how to mentally cope with bad beats or prolonged losing streaks. Other portions of the book, however, include topics such as the intricacies of bankroll formulas, staking arrangements, or how much money professionals can actually expect to earn. Info on these topics isn’t really necessary for you. Though, it could make for interesting reading material.

I have made my living entirely from poker for over 10 years, primarily in the Los Angeles area. If you are a loyal fan of Two Plus Two’s many landmark books, you will notice throughout my book the many glowing raves I share regarding these titles. In fact, if you come across a professional poker player who claims to have never read books such as The Theory of Poker, Hold ‘em Poker For Advanced Players, etc., there is a high probability that they are either not as successful as they purport to be or simply lying.

I won’t tout the strength of my own book as my judgment is obviously biased, but if you are interested, you can read some early reactions on my homepage, MarkBlade.com. Also, I can definitely assure you that this is a first-class produced book. I can’t guarantee what all your reactions will be, but I know there won’t be any criticisms about ridiculously oversized fonts, a bunch of blank pages, or some other underhanded production trick.

I hope you like the book, but I welcome reading your reactions to it whether positive or negative. (By the way, Amazon currently lists my book as available to ship in a couple weeks, but this must just be an initial listing error as there are plenty of books in the distribution pipeline to fill Amazon’s warehouses as orders begin coming in.)

Good luck in all your poker endeavors!

Mark Blade
www.MarkBlade.com

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Mark:

It's our policy to allow one post like this providing that you ask for permission in advance. The reason for that requirement is that there are a few authors whose books we deem so bad that we would not allow them even the one post. So you are free to answer any questions concerning your book but don't initiate any more ads.

Also, I notice on your site that your book is endorsed by Lou Krieger, Bob Ciaffone, Ken Warren, Michael Konik, and Greg Dinkin. I don't believe that any of these people endorse any of our books.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Femto]

I look forward to picking this one up. When will it be available?

[-Skeme-]

Sounds like another version of Improve Your Poker.

[johnnybeef]

[ QUOTE ]
Due to the explosion of poker’s popularity, many avid fans of the game fantasize about playing poker for a living. In fact, for many of them, it has become the new “Great American Dream.” But what does it really take to achieve this dream? And what are your actual chances of succeeding? How much money can you make? Should you quit your day job or just play poker part-time instead? Professional Poker will answer all these questions and many more in a refreshingly honest manner.

[/ QUOTE ]

You forgot to mention the many pros who have recently realized the American dream of becoming a published author.

[Rudbaeck]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like another version of Improve Your Poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, as I completely agree with Mason's 9 for IYP that would be awesome. I dobut it though. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Mark Blade]

Hi everyone,

Here are a some quick responses to the previous posts:

-Hi Mason, thanks for the clarification of your posting policy. Will do.

-Femto, thank you for your interest. It's available right now from certain places like Amazon (where I believe shipping will be much, much sooner than stated) and BN.com, along with other internet sellers including gamblersbook.com (which has a Vegas walk-in store). If your question was when will it be available in the popular brick & mortar stores, then it may or may not be fairly soon. It depends on where you live. I hear that Barnes & Noble and Borders have recently put in orders, but they will probably just be at their biggest stores where their poker books sell best. Obviously, my book has an extremely low profile right now. Only if it starts selling well will they expand their shelving to more stores. So online may be your best bet if interested.

-Skeme, I wouldn't really compare it to Improve Your Poker, although it does have some advanced playing tips that I hope will improve your game. My book is more broadly reaching topic-wise, covering many additional topics that are important to making money at poker besides just the specific mechanics of the game.

-johnnybeef, I cracked up when I read your post. Very funny and true. But think of it this way. If you and I face each other at a heads-up table, one of us has to lose. But if you read my book and find it to have value, then we both win! I like that kind of equation in the poker world. (I also got a kick out of your steak pic, by the way.)

-Rudbaeck - I can appreciate your skepticism. I admit that I have it myself when I see a new title by an unknown author (or even a known player/author if they don't have a previous book that I've liked). I hope that I can pleasantly surprise you. And yes, if you end up judging my book on par with Improve Your Poker, I'd be very happy and flattered.

Thanks for the all the feedback!

Regards,

Mark Blade

[12AX7]

Hi Mark,
A few questions...

1) Are any excerpts available?

2) Is a E-book version available?

3) Is the book primarily *not* about the game itself, but rather about the perhipheral issues of being an "earn your living pro"?

[12AX7]

[ QUOTE ]
Due to the explosion of poker’s popularity, many avid fans of the game fantasize about playing poker for a living. In fact, for many of them, it has become the new “Great American Dream.”

[/ QUOTE ]


Let's face it. That's the effect of TV, no more, no less.

[Mark Blade]

Hi 12AX7,

Sorry I haven’t responded to your questions sooner. Here goes:

1) No, there aren’t excerpts currently available. There may be in the future. More about this in answer #3. In the meantime, don’t miss the upcoming August issue of the TwoPlusTwo.com internet magazine for two reasons. One reason, of course, is because of the great articles it always has. Another reason is that I’m one of the writers in the issue so you’ll have a chance to start judging my poker writing talent. Uh-oh [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img], I hope I don’t bring down the magazine’s extremely high quality-article batting average! Just kidding - I think you’ll like my article, although if any of you don’t, I know you won’t be shy about letting me know in the internet magazine forum. By the way, I’ll make myself available to respond to any feedback there. Unless I’m extremely busy, I would never duck constructive criticism. (If you read between the lines, you can already catch me laying the groundwork for a possible escape. “Yes, I know you hate the article and I’d love to chat, but I’ve got to paint my house. Sorry!”)

On a side note, I hope there are plans to turn this internet magazine into a real-world print magazine. I’m sure this topic has been covered before on this site, although I couldn’t find anything. If there are plans, Card Player and all the other new poker magazine start-ups might have to really watch their backs.

2) No, there isn’t an E-book version available. I’m curious. Is this something that you prefer? If you do prefer it, is it ever a decision breaker for you? In other words, would you ever be interested in a poker book (or any book for that matter) just barely enough that if it was available as an e-book you’d buy it, but if it wasn’t, you’d pass entirely? And what about the price? Would you prefer an e-book even if it was the same price as the hard copy, or is price the primary attraction for it?

3) I guess it depends on how broadly you define “game.” There is a chapter titled “Twenty Advanced Tips” that is definitely about specific game play strategy. It has insights into very specific bluff plays, calling on the river, advertising, straight-drawing considerations, etc. There is also a long chapter on poker odds that runs the gamut from beginner/intermediate level to expert level. So these things are certainly about the “game.” Please don’t think that this one book could possibly be a comprehensive book on playing strategy, however. It certainly is not.

Some chapters are on subjects such as game and table selection, and what factors you should consider when evaluating the profit potential of a cash game or a tournament. There is an entire section on the mental aspects of playing the game with many various tips on how to shrug off bad beats or prolonged losing streaks so that you can always play with the sharpest mental advantage. I guess you could loosely define all of these topics as being about the game.

Probably more than half of the book, however, goes into very extensive detail on things such as bankrolls, the many different staking arrangements and considerations, long term career issues, taxes, work hours, family/social life, health topics, how much money you can really make, etc. Many of these subjects would probably fall outside the “game” category. Although I believe that most players, even many very experienced ones, don’t often consider how vitally important many of these issues are to their bottom line profitability, and their ability to always play their best (which, of course, goes hand-in-hand). I know it may appear that this book is tackling a lot of varied topics, and it is, but I think you’ll find that most of these topics are explored with some serious depth. I wrote this book for anyone and everyone who is serious about making money playing poker, regardless of if you are a beginner or seasoned pro. If you are simply a recreational player and always intend to be, you aren’t the reader I generally had in mind.

Getting back to your first question about providing excerpts, part of me is reluctant to give out any excerpts just because of the fact that the book is so varied and certain parts of the book will be much more important to you depending on where you are in your poker endeavors. For example, I could excerpt the first chapter which is titled, “Should You Quit Your Day Job?” This is going to be an extremely important chapter to poker players who are starting to contemplate this move. But for all the players who know they only intend to play poker as a second job, they might read such an excerpt and presume that this book isn’t for them, when actually almost every chapter except for the first one is for them. Or I could excerpt one of the simpler portions of the odds chapter, but this might turn off advanced players. Vice versa if I excerpt an advanced portion. If I excerpt the entire odds chapter, I potentially turn off everyone who wants to learn about what you termed as the “peripheral issues” and were looking for a book that fills that void. It’s tricky from a marketing standpoint. Of course, I’m sure everyone would prefer if I excerpted the entire book for free. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But then I don’t make any money for my hard work. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

If the book doesn’t seem quite like your cup of tea or you’re just not sure yet, you might want to wait for the reviews to start coming in over the upcoming months from the very informed posters who regularly review books on this forum. I’m confident with letting my book live or die on its own merits. That’s all any poker book deserves regardless of if the writer is famous or not. (I might make an exception to this advice if you happen to be currently contemplating quitting your day job, in which case I hope you take a leap of faith on my book before doing so in order to make a more informed decision).

If Malmuth, Sklansky, King Yao, or any of the other top poker authors who frequent these forums have any thoughts on the pros and cons of poker book excepts, I’d be very interested to hear from you. And I suspect that many other forum participants might also. I think Yao’s book skyrocketed into orbit because of a very impressive excerpt. Yet the Two Plus Two titles dominate the poker shelves and I don’t ever recall seeing excerpts from any of them. It might be particularly interesting to hear from Mason who is not only a poker author, but I believe also has the most experience and possibly insight into the nuts & bolts of things from a successful publisher’s perspective as well.

12AX7, I hope I’ve helped you with your decision regarding my book. Sorry for the long post. As Mark Twain said, “If I had more time, I would’ve written less.”

Best regards,
Mark Blade