The book on tells, this illustrated guide to ticks, twitches and betting patterns is a very good read; especially for a live player.

Caro writes very clearly and explains his concepts well - each tell is illustrated and explained and a scenario in which it might be useful is given. It’s an idiot-proof guide to a very complex thing, i.e. the psychology of reading people.

Online players will get less out of this than live players will, as many of the tells are actions people make - in fact, I would not recommend this for an online player. In all fairness, though, the amusingly anachronistic hairstyles are proof that this book was written far before the age of online play. Also, you will need a grasp of Stud and Draw poker in order to understand all the situations.

All in all a serious live player cannot be without this book, and I would advise any online players who wish to give live play a shot to peruse this text also. Many of these tells are still very common today.

Categories: Poker Books, Reviews
No Comments »

In answer to yesterday’s conundrum, I would say that c, $7,000 is a good amount. It’s 35 buy-ins for NL200 but that amount allows Bob to be aggressive and take shots at NL400 and play some high-variance MTTs.

Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book is aimed for beginning-to-intermediate players and is a very good read for a player of that level. It introduces slightly more advanced concepts than your archetypical low-level book such as pot odds, blind stealing and semi-bluffing.

These concepts are written well, and Phil explains them in a simplified manner without being condescending. I first read this book when I was aware of most of the strategies he explained; I still, however, found it to be worth reading - it’s always good to get a fresh insight on things.

If you know the basics of Texas Hold ‘em and you’d like to advance your game I would reccomend this as the ideal purchase. Phil also has a DVD called Final Table Poker that illustrates some of the same things in this book in a visual format. I’ll review that at some other point.

Categories: Poker Books
No Comments »

David Sklansky’s Theory of Poker is often – correctly – considered to be the best book on poker ever written. Applying mathematical and psychological theory, this book is truly the “Desert Island Disc” of poker books. I can’t reinforce that enough – if you only ever read one poker book in your life, make it this one.

At first the mathematical processes can be overwhelming but in all honesty there’s nothing overly challenging there – it’s around a high-school level of mathematical problems, and even people who struggle with numbers should wrap their heads around it after some time.

He expresses complex points in a very simple and understandable way, and while you might (nay, will) need to read it several times to fully understand the meanings of what he talks about, once you absorb even a small fraction of what he is getting at you will be a better player.

Some people may be put off by the fact that he draws on examples from lesser-known games such as Stud and Draw poker, but even those examples are explained well enough for novices to those games – and in the back of the book he includes a brief run-down of the rules of Stud, Razz, Draw and Hold ‘em.

In short, if you don’t get this book you are quite literally burning money. It’s as valuable a tool to a player as cards and chips.

Categories: Poker Books
No Comments »