Play Poker Like the Pros – Phil Hellmuth Jr.
Play Poker Like the Pros
It’s been a while since I’ve wrote a review. So, this is my attempt to get back into the swing of things. Last summer I spent a lot of time working in the garage and outside. My iPod was always there with me. I decided to down load a few audio books and see if maybe I could expand my mind instead of bomb-barding it with heavy metal lyrics.
My first trial audio book was “The Art of War”. It seemed this story teller approach appealed to the kid in me so I downloaded a few more books. One of these books was Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth Jr.
I’m going to jump all over the place here so try to keep up. The book was first published back in 2003 (or around there). So needless to say its old compared to the number of other books on the market.
I listened to the whole book and my first impression was: this book is just terrible. All Phil did was talk about himself and how he’s an eagle and won all theses bracelets, yadda, yadda, yadda.
In all honesty, I’ve never watched Phil play any poker or heard any other thing about him up until I listen to him recite his book. Needless to say I didn’t think to highly of him.
BUT WAIT!! ISN”T THIS A BOOK REVIEW!??? Sorry, I’m getting there. To give Phil’s book the proper review I had to give you a history of my thoughts on him. Regardless of what any reviewer tells you their personal opinions of an individual affect their reviews.
I started a draft copy of this review and never posted it. In the past several months I managed to watch Phil on several T.V. shows. At first, he seemed just as arrogant as he sounded in his book. However, after a while I finally think I figured him out.
Phil is arrogant because he can be. He is good at poker and has the history, money, and awards to back up his reputation. And, if I was that good, I’d be a little arrogant too.
So, I went back and listened to Phil’s book a few more times to make sure I was giving it a fair shake.
If you are a beginner then Phil’s book is for you. It covers most the hold’em recommendations you’ll find in any hard back poker book or online. However, this book was published pretty much before all the poker websites took off. So, I guess you can say it was ahead of it’s time.
The book covers Phil top 10 hands to play with. While this concept is great for the novice player you will need more in your arsenal.
Phil’s book also covers other forms of poker like Hi-Lo, Razz, etc. I don’t play them so I can’t comment on it. So, in retrospect Phil’s book is pretty good for the beginner.
Read MoreThe Poker Tournament Formula 2 – Arnold Snyder
First, I’m writing the review of this book before the PTF1 (Poker Tournament Formula 1) review. I just finished reading this book (PTF2) and decided while it’s fresh on my mind so I’ll lay out my thoughts.
The reason I bought this book was because the styles and techniques laid out in Mr. Snyder’s first book was (in my views) the best I’ve ever seen.
PTF2 – starts where PTF1 left off. PTF1 was a fast tournament play book where PTF2 covers the long more skillful tournament set up (blind times longer than 15 minutes).
I like this book because it doesn’t go in detail on what starting hand requirements a person should play. This is an advanced concept book and is not for folks who are just starting out playing hold’em.
I won’t take away from Mr. Snyder and lay out the content of his book online. You can purchase the book for all of that. However, I will describe a few of topics otherwise no one will be inclined to read his material.
One of the interesting things about the book (and it’s not even listed as a selling point) is the 10 functions you have with your chip stack.
Think about it for a second, can you list down all the functions your chips stack has besides adding to the pile? PFT2 goes into detail on how to use your chip stack to make information bets, value bet, dominate small stacks.
The books primary focus is utilizing the weapons you have at hand to develop a monstrous chip stack.
Anyway, I know I’m not listing out alot of information but I feel by doing so would take away from Mr. Snyder as a writer.
I will say that his books are nothing like the other mundane books I’ve read. Just about every other book (with the exception of Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book) tells you what you already know.
How to play certain hands; memorize a chart, etc, etc, etc.
I think what makes the PFT1 & PFT2 stand out is they were written by a guy who hasn’t played hold’em for the last 50 years. What I mean by that, is all the book out there now are written by pros who have been in the game for over 20-30 years and where playing hold’em is second nature.
I think this leads to’blindness where the content of most poker books is lost on ‘this is how you play this hand on this chart’.
Mr. Snyder comes from a black jack back ground and his books seem to reflect more of a journal of what worked and what didn’t from a research type method.
Now from my experience, I played in tourneys and I sucked. After reading PFT1 and applying some of his ideas, I soon found myself making it to the final table a hell of alot more often. Hopefully, I’ll get to put his ideas from PFt2 to use soon!
So, read the books!
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In The Money – Antonio Esfandiari
There’s an upside and down side to this book. If you bought it to learn poker you wasted your money. If you bought it to be entertained then it’s a pretty good book. I take nothing away from Mr. Esfandiari he’s a great player but the book lacks when it comes to poker.
Antonio spends his times retelling stories of how he learned poker and all of his magic tricks and very little on the game itself.
In a nut shell he pretty much preaches that you be aggressive, aggressive, and aggressive. That’s about it.
The one thing the book does tell is how he became such a great player is that he played hours upon hours of heads up poker with Phil Lock while they were roomies. After months of training like this, I think most individuals would become really good players.
Other than that, the book came with a DVD so you could learn chip tricks. According to Antonio, fancy chip tricks at the table will intimidate other opponents you play against at the table.
I’ve played against folks who can do the fancy tricks I’ve seen and they still played like crap. I can’t do a single trick and when I do try one it’s for ‘advertising’ purposes only at the table. If folks try and judge my poker skills by my ability to do chip tricks then I welcome that judgment. J
Read MoreWinner’s Guide to Texas Hold’em Poker – Ken Warren
This was the first Hold’em book I ever bought. I was just starting out playing hold’em and everything I have learned up until the purchase of this book was via experience and the internet. I seen this book at 1/2 price books and picked it up.
I must say, for a starting book on hold’em, this book is pretty good. It covers all the basic preflop strategies, turn and river strategies. However, this book is focused only on cash games. It has a list of hands and how they should be played. It also provides a detailed chart on card odds and what hands beat other hands and the percentage of the time they do beat them.
Over all, if your starting in hold’em and playing cash type of games this book is a good solid foundation to start your card playing career out with.
However, it goes over exact hand starting requirements and what hands you should play and shouldn’t play in certain positions.
This is good for an early beginner in to the game but if you follow hand charts to the letter a good poker player will soon catch on. And exploit the methods of your betting and hand playing.
Yet, I still recommend it to just about everyone. It’s a small book and had some very good tips that everyone can benefit from.
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