Poker Book Review – Part 2
This is the second part in my two-part guide to which poker books I’ve read. I’m doing them in chronological order based on when I read them.
Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold ‘Em -TJ Cloutier & Tom McAvoy 
TJ suffers from the same problem as Phil Hellmuth. Great player, not a great writer. I learned nothing really new from this book, except that TJ is tight, very tight. He doesn’t really care much for big slick and he mostly advises what to throw away instead of what to play. There are some “stories from the road” that are supposed to be charming, but mostly they suffer from not being told at the poker table and me not having had any drinks before hearing them.
Small Stakes Hold ‘Em – David Sklansky
This is a book about limit hold ‘em–not no limit. I didn’t know this going in. The advice is very much directed to to limit players. You can extrapolate the advice to suit your no limit game, but it might not be easy. As with other Sklansky books (one of which I’ve read, others of which I’ve thumbed through) this book is dry and analytical. You can’t argue with his math. He’s definitely very smart, but I’m not sure I could begin to follow his advice at an actual table and certainly not in online poker, considering the speed of the game. I’d recommend this book to anyone who plays mainly limit hold ‘em, otherwise save your money.
The Theory of Poker – David Sklansky
This was described to me as “a must read for anyone serious about poker”. I don’t think I can agree with that assessment, but I can’t imagine anyone reading this book and getting something from it. Sklansky runs the numbers as well as anyone I’ve seen. His math is kinda sick. This book goes through what is common to all poker and analyzes every little iota of the game. The hard part is that he jumps back and forth between all the different games. With my limited experience, it was hard to jump into the razz examples or stud 8. He doesn’t bother with simple ideas like “what’s a good stud 8 starting hand?” Instead he focuses on the right pot and implied odds in any table situation and whether or not to bet or call based on the expected value. If you’ve already read a book that teaches you about every game, read this book.
Next time I talk about books, I’m going to go over a couple of books that aren’t “how to play” books, but still great poker books.
