Book Description
Poker is a game of many skills and to become an expert poker player you need to master them all. This includes concepts such as hand selection, position, proper image projection, and reading hands. However, there are many players who have mastered most of these skills yet they still do poorly in the games — at best they are only small winners. And when they step up in limit and challenge the better players, they almost always fail. You see, knowing the concept is one thing, putting it all together is another.
As the text will show, winning poker is a process that requires a lot of thinking as well as a thorough and systematic approach to the game, and that is what this book is about. Topics include "Playing Too Many Hands," "Self-Weighting Cold Calls," "Short-Handed Play: Don't Miss Out," "The Strategic Moment in Hold 'em," "Countering a Good Reader," "A Poker Player in Therapy," and "Thoughts on the Effects of the Poker Literature." Those of you who are serious about your game should find much of this material to be extremely valuable.
Customer Reviews:
essential reading for anyone serious.......2007-01-15
there are lotsa other books on profiling players.... this one really makes you take a look at yourself as well
The Most Conceptual Poker Book. .......2005-11-14
I heard about Inside the Poker Mind from a few players who post at a forum I frequent, and I finally got around to purchasing it. Frankly, I have difficulty believing anybody gave this one less than 5 stars because it is a rare and excellent work. I will admit that it is not a book for beginners or even those who have yet to read Ed Miller's Small Stakes Hold `Em, but it offers extensive benefits for the intermediate player on up. Inside... is basically a collection of essays concerning topics seldom discussed, or not addressed in detail, within the typical "how to" manual. Feeney, despite having a PhD and being an accomplished high stakes player, is not broadcasting to readers from Phil Ivey-ian heights. Feeney ground out poker at the lowest levels before becoming the player he is today. His experiences in the small limits ring true for those of us dwelling in them today. My favorite essay in here, "How am I doing? Who Cares?", warns readers not to be results oriented in regards to sessions. Variance is sometimes mind-boggling, but what we must do is concentrate on playing correctly despite our aces being snapped or getting cold-decked. Really, the entire Part IV section on poker and emotion is sensational. His definition of tilt is much more subtle than the ones generally offered, and, I believe, it is much more accurate. Overall, with brilliant analysis and clear style, Inside... is far better than most of its competitors. It's for the thinking man which is what everyone should aspire to be if they want to make any money out of the game.
This is a Book of Cautionary Tales; Not a Strategic Text.......2005-11-06
I find the title of this book to be slightly misleading: "Inside the Poker Mind" is a collection of essays on what NOT to do as a poker player (e.g. do not get smug and play weak cards, do not go on tilt, do not overestimate your odds, do not play beyond your means, do not take bad beats personally, etc.). From the title one might expect the text to relate in some way to getting "into the mind" of one's opponent (i.e. the text may have some strategic advice); this is simply not the case. There are a handful of strategic plays involved in this book, and some consideration of reading hands. However, these are addressed from the perspective of how not to make a mistake in either overusing certain strategies, or being too rigid in the face of changing conditions in the hand.
Essentially, this book assumes you already know everything there is to know about being a good poker player, and merely need some cautionary advice on avoiding common mistakes. While not valueless, I do not believe this focus serves the prospective readers of the book; the author frequently references "Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players" and "The Theory of Poker" to flesh out ideas he mentions in passing, and probably the reader would do better to explore those books IN PLACE of this one (although I have a very low opinion of "Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players"). The warnings this book contains are well-advised, however, and on the whole I'd probably give this book 2 1/2 stars if I could.
HITS: Cautions against overplaying marginal hands; good essays exploring the tilt phenomenon; the author's "by the numbers" pure analytical mindset becomes infectious, and could influence your play for the better
MISSES: The author is so vehemently anti-no limit and pot limit hold 'em that he refuses to address these games at all (absolutely do not attempt to use the author's strategic limit plays in a no limit or pot limit game); tournaments are denigrated as a drain on the poker economy (demonstrably false, in my opinion); no basic strategy advice; references other texts (particularly "Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players" - a terrible book in my opinion - and "The Theory of Poker", which is truly great) excessively to fill in basic ideas that more properly could be explained in the text.
A fantastic hold'em book for experienced players.......2005-05-04
This is one of my favorite poker books. It is not for beginners; it is filled with interesting and advanced topics in limit Hold'em. This is a good book for any reader who is looking to read more advanced material. The section titled "Do You Pass the Ace-Queen Test?" was controversial when the book first came out, but Feeney's thoughts has proven to be correct. The Short-Handed essays are illuminating as well. Definitely a great addition to any hold'em library.
Add this to your library.......2005-03-24
I'm a fairly serious poker player. As such, I have a lot of the books everyone talks about; Super System I, most of Sklansky and Malmuth, even Phil Helmuth. (I'm not a fan of Phil, but he makes some good points, especially on Omaha) I debated getting Inside the Poker Mind for a while. Wish I had gotten it a long while ago! It's not the "greatest" poker book I've read...hey, I only gave it 4 stars. It is, however, very useful in that it does illustrate some real issues with thinking at the table. While I found that I knew much of what he had to say, I still enjoyed the book and feel it improved my game somewhat. However, as other reviewers have noted, NOTHING takes the place of LOTS of hands played. As an aside from the review, my personal recommendation is as follows:
1) Get the books and study. Re-read as your game improves.
2) Play on-line cheaply and move up in limit as your game improves.
3) Buy the Wilson software...it's not impressive looking, but it lets you play millions of hands without going into your wallet.
4) Get into or start a home game and play as often as possible. Playing with friends isn't as scary as with strangers at a casino.
5) When you've done the first 4 things, visit a local casino or cardroom and try an inexpensive game.
If you're still losing money after that, I suggest you switch to checkers or tiddlywinks.
Amazon.com
There's more to poker than the obvious matters of odds and bluffing, as poker master Mason Malmuth--himself a professional mathematician--discovered long ago. Now Malmuth shares his insights and expertise in a collection of bite-sized essays on every aspect of the game in its various forms. This is no book for beginners. It assumes you already have a firm grounding in poker. However, good players who want to become great players will find this an invaluable source of profitable wisdom covering general concepts, technical matters, structure of play, strategy, psychology of image, tournament play, and card room matters.
Book Description
Poker is an extremely complicated game. This is especially true if your form of poker is either Texas Hold'em or Seven Card Stud. In addition, the typical opponent that you will face has gotten tougher as the years have gone by. As a result, those of you who just play tight (also known as playing ABC) are unable to win more than just a small amount at the lower limits. As a result, to win at poker in today's modern game requires not only numerous skills, but also a lot of thinking about the game.
This text contains many of the author's current ideas on poker and related subjects. Topics covered include General Concepts, Technical Ideas, Structure, Strategic Ideas, Image, Tournament Notes, In the Cardrooms, and Poker Quizzes. In addition, advice is offered on jackpot games, handling pressure, why you lose, fluctuations, bankroll requirements, differences between stud and hold'em, too many bad players, limit versus no-limit, thinking fast, weak tight opponents, the best hold'em seat, playing short handed, playing loose or tight, appropriate image, being an alternate in tournaments, taking advantage of tight play in tournaments, behaving professionally, the future of poker, and much more.
The book is designed to make the reader do a great deal of thinking about the game. In fact, very few readers will agree with everything the text offers, but the information provided should help most people become better players.
Customer Reviews:
Still very much worth reading.......2006-10-10
This is the first collection of Malmuth's essays, most of which were originally written for Card Player Magazine beginning in the eighties, and rewritten or at least touched up for this book which originally came out in 1996. For the professional poker player they are something close to a must read because of the range of Malmuth's interests and because of his thoroughly professional approach.
Malmuth does not pretend to be a world class player and most of his experience comes from middle level cash games prior to the rise of the tournament phenomenon. But make no mistake about it, Malmuth knows poker. Not only is he the author of perhaps a dozen books on the subject, but he is well known and respected among professionals. Typically he played $20-$40 Hold'em and Seven Card Stud games in Las Vegas for many years and perhaps still does. I must have played with him some time before that in the Gardena clubs, but I don't recall meeting him. I have talked to regulars who have played with him, and they allow that he is a good, if unspectacular player who will definitely be a drain on your win rate.
The essays here concern some topics that are no longer of anything but historical interest, such as lowball and draw poker, spread limits, the old jackpot games in the Los Angeles area, and in general the atmosphere and conditions that prevailed in California and Las Vegas ten to twenty years ago. However, most of the book is still surprisingly relevant and even topical. Malmuth spends some serious ink on delineating the differences between seven card stud and hold'em, which skills are better applied to which game, and which game is juicier and why. He also enters the debate about which game--limit hold'em or no limit hold'em-requires more skill to play well. He supports the minority opinion that it is limit hold'em and he makes some very good arguments for that somewhat surprising opinion. Personally I think it's clear the limit hold'em requires more technical skill and knowledge, but no limit requires more hand- and player-reading skills, and more "gut."
What sets Malmuth apart from almost all other poker writers is his willingness to write about the nuts and bolts of the poker world. He opines on cardroom management, on which games should be spread and why, on tipping the dealer, on cardroom behavior, and he loves to dispel and refute poker myths and misinformation. He likes to quote (anonymously of course) from would-be poker authorities and tell you why he thinks they're wrong. But, like David Sklansky, Malmuth especially likes to write about poker strategy.
Some of the best essays in the book include:
"Common Seven Card Stud Errors." He gives 23, and I have to say I agree with all of them, although a few are fairly trivial like "Checking blind on the end when you have an obvious flush draw"--few good players would do that except as a play.
"Differences between Stud and Hold'em." He gives eleven differences including #6, "It is often correct to chase in stud."
"The Effect of a Maniac," which gives some nice ideas on how having a wild player in your game might effect it, e.g., maniacs in the game make the game harder to play, although they should increase your expectation (and your variance!).
"What You Can Make Playing Poker." Of course this is dated and does not apply to either tournaments or the Internet, and is clearly approximate. Still it is good for comparisons, such as the fact that Malmuth thinks that the good $10/$20 stud player, for example, can expect to make about the same as the good $10/$20 hold'em player.
"Bankroll requirements." There are actually several essays on this subject. I think Malmuth effectively nails it and probably gives the average reader more information and rationale than desired, but for the professional, this is probably the definitive word.
Also good are the essays on short-handed play and whether to play tight or loose and when.
There are some curiosities. The essay, "Are Poker Tournaments Dying?" did not predict the tournament boom fueled by television "lipstick" cameras and the Internet; and of course Malmuth is hardly to be criticized for not predicting something so surprising.
As in his (and Sklanky's) other books there are quizzes pertaining to good and bad play. The four here are selected from hands Malmuth actually played. As usual with such quizzes, opinions can differ. In particular, concerning the first hand, I think his opponent could have had, according to the way the hand developed, A7o or 85s or even pocket nines (to name three hands that would make Malmuth's conclusion that he should raise the river bet with his three sevens faulty). In fact, this hand is the sort that defies an entirely correct analysis. The fact that (apparently) his opponent did have A9 and was beaten, is only a sampling of one in the universe of possible situations fitting the facts as Malmuth relates them. I would have just called since the combined probability that the wild man was bluffing or had a better hand was greater than his having a hand that I could beat that he would actually call my raise with.
Malmuth is one of the intellectuals of poker, the kind of guy who would also fit in perfectly as an officer in a Poker Player's Association (note his essay, "Suggestions for Professional Players": don't slow-roll, don't lecture opponents, don't throw your cards at the dealer, etc.). He is intelligent, rational, and very much the middle level professional.
Great book about poker and LIFE!.......2004-12-03
Poker Essays is a great collection of articles on life and poker. If you're looking to play for any serious amount of money, part-time income, or full-time playing like myself, this is great reading.
A classic in the poker literature.......2003-09-19
Also see my longer review of volume III in this series.
This book is a collection of essays from Malmuth's columns in poker magazines, including the excellent Card Player.
As the author or co-author of many of the definitive books on poker games and ideas, with advanced degrees in math and extensive study in psychology along with multiple decades of experience as a poker pro, Malmuth is eminently qualified, and almost all of his books deserve your attention if you are at all serious about improving your poker game.
I have read (and reread) just about all of his writing, and this book is no exception. Divided into several sections, this book covers important and relevant ideas in poker, in short (2-4 pages each) essays, that don't really fit well into a pigeonholed topic. The book doesn't repeat ideas from other sources, but rather expands on them, or discusses a new twist on a particular idea.
The nature of short, separate essays lends itself well to reading in small chunks or all at once - you can benefit from this book with just five minutes. And, the reading is entertaining and interesting - no small feat for a book with filled with complex ideas and accurate technical ideas.
This is one of a handful of poker books that I, and many other professionals, refer to and reread again and again. This book probably should be used to supplement the other great poker literature and not stand by itself.
Also see Volumes II and III in the series, each includes his best writings over about a five year period. Highly recommended.
Just okay.......2001-10-14
I wasn't thrilled with this book. I know it's a compilation of articles published individually, but they didn't hold together well as a whole.
I've packed my books away for a move, so i can't tell you exacty what it is, but seem to remember the same phrase in nearly EVERY piece and almost the same exact paragraph over and over. I got sick of it after a while. Perhaps my focus on hold 'em biases me, though. Overall, Mr. Malmuth knows much more than i do about playing poker in a casino and i respect his ideas for that at the very least.
Relevant, direct and useful.......2000-10-15
Mason Malmuth in Poker Essays I and Poker Essays II provides the most direct and relevant general information on playing poker. Having played casino poker for a decade and having read and reread most of the poker literature I feel that Malmuth provides the most credible material. The information in both of these books is general, covering all aspects of poker. If you are interested in the world of poker then these books should be part of your global reference. (These books are a reedited collection of magazine columns.)
Book Description
Poker is a game which many people play, but in which few excel. To be successful requires a great deal of work and study, and a deep understanding of those concepts that govern winning play. Yet it is fairly easy to win at poker. All you need to do is learn to play tight, and stick to easy games — usually those prevalent at the low limits. But there is a problem with this. While this is a winning formula, it won't allow you to do much better than "minimum wage." But there are a small number of players who do much better than this. These are the experts who have mastered the proper skills and have done their share of thinking.
This text contains those essays the author wrote from 1996 through early 2001. Topics include: General Concepts, Technical Ideas, Strategic Ideas, In the Cardrooms, Hands to Talk About, The Ciaffone Quiz, and Two More Quizzes. In addition, advice is offered on which game to play, controlling steaming, marginal hands, selecting the best game, bluffing, unusual strategies, raising with suited connectors, keeping poker honest, reading hands, checking aces, and much more.
As with the first two books in this series, Poker Essays, Volume III is designed to make the reader do a great deal of thinking. In fact, very few readers will agree with everything this text offers, but the information provided should help most people become better poker players.
Customer Reviews:
For serious players, Malmuth is always worth reading.......2006-10-11
This is the third collection of Malmuth's poker essays, and like the other two is interesting to read and full of valuable information. It is also more recent that the other two volumes (see my reviews) with a copyright date of 2001. Much is the same with the quizzes on hands played, discussions of the differences between hold'em and stud, and strategy considerations in various games, and Malmuth's signature section, "In the Cardrooms" in which he writes about cardroom problems, gives suggestions, etc. Here he delves into possible collusion in the games and gives some advice on how to keep the games honest.
In this respect I recently read Dirty Poker (2006) in which cheating in poker is examined at length, although by a writer (Richard Marcus) who is not a regular player. Here Malmuth with an assist from David Sklansky makes it clear that collusion in the cardrooms he plays in is unlikely and certainly couldn't last long. A good point he and Sklansky make is that it is not all that easy for two players to successfully scam a game, and more players working together would be fairly obvious to the regulars. I believe they are correct, and my experience over the years has been about the same as Malmuth's who says he has never encountered collusion in the clubs. I believe I did once, in the early nineties at a ten and twenty game at a club in the Los Angeles area. The betting pattern was not just obvious, but glaringly obvious. I got up, and before leaving and never returning, said something to the floorman. I don't know what the result was. Possible collusion on the Internet is another matter, however.
Which brings me to the weakness of this book for the contemporary player, which is the dearth of writing about Internet games. I hope Malmuth is currently playing on the Internet and is writing some essays about that experience that will appear in his next collection.
One of the more interesting essays is "Which Is Bigger?" (stud or hold'em). Malmuth and "an associate" compared records at the $20/$40 level and discovered to their surprise that they had a larger variance at stud. Malmuth's explanation is a bit convoluted but seems essentially right. However, his statement "the bigger the standard deviation, the bigger the game" is true only if the games are the same size. The fact that they had an hourly standard deviation of $280 for the hold'em game and $350 for the stud game is not a reflection of more action at the stud game but is a direct result of the fact that stud and hold'em games with the same betting limits are not equal in size. Because there is an extra betting round (a Big Bet betting round) the stud game is bigger. Malmuth dances around this most salient point when he should make it clear that that extra double bet round is the real difference and not because he and his associate as expert stud players have learned to play looser. (Their relatively small S.D. suggests otherwise!)
The way to figure the standard deviations for comparison purposes is to adjust for the absolute size of the games, which would lower their higher figure for the stud game. If that is done, I believe it will be seen that hold'em is relatively speaking both a bigger and a chancier game.
Personally I believe the expert player has more control at stud, despite the hidden river card than he does at hold'em in games with mixed talent. Quite simply seven card stud requires more skill because in addition to all the skills required at hold'em (which also exist at stud), there are the exposed cards to watch and evaluate. Malmuth has previously argued about which is tougher, stud or hold'em, and if memory serves has come to the conclusion that stud is indeed tougher.
Malmuth might ask himself if he had to play against the best stud players in the world or the best hold'em players, who would he prefer to play against? For myself, even though I am probably a better stud player, I would definitely try to get lucky against the hold'em experts rather than the stud experts.
One other thing. I know Malmuth was a math major but there is no excuse for a sentence like this: "That is only the person for whom they are intended for should have knowledge of them." (p. 161) The second "for" should be "that," I presume, but it's still ugly. Also on page 159 there is this, "You must be able to work successfully with your fellow dealers...and the players to whom you deal the cards to." (Cut "the cards to" or at least the dangling "to" on the end.) Additionally, Malmuth habitually uses the word "less" in such constructions as "This not only slows down the game...but it reduces the house drop since less hands are dealt." (p. 163) "Fewer" is the correct word when you're talking about things that can be counted rather than, say, weighed or measured.
But these are small matters. What really counts here is the value of the book to the serious poker player, and that is considerable because Malmuth is an accomplished professional who has a deep and abiding love for the game. For many readers, because of the increase in the number of quizzes and the thorough hand discussions, this collection may be his best.
Best in the series, maybe one of the best poker books ever........2003-01-22
I got this book two days ago, and have already read it twice. It came highly recommended by a winning player in my ...10/20 stud game, and I haven't been disappointed.
The essays are taken from Malmuth's writings in Poker Digest and other magazines over the past few years, as with the first two volumes. I thought the first volume was excellent, and the second was very good. This is by far the best.
Poker Essays III, in my opinion, now joins "The Theory of Poker", "Super System", and the "for Advanced Players" series on the list of the most important poker books.
As usual, Malmuth succeeds admirably in forcing the reader to think about many aspects of their game most players are usually unaware of. He discusses, for example, specific flaws in many average players who overrate their own abilities. And the last two sections are wonderful additions to this volume: "Hands to Talk About", and then quizzes. The "Hands" section discusses specific hands/situations in depth, to try to bring together all poker ideas into making a decision. The quizzes section includes two of his own, one hold'em and one stud, and one previously published by Bob Ciaffone (whose book "Improve Your Poker" is also on my short list of great poker books). There are 50+ essays in the book, and I found all of them interesting, thought-provoking and relevant. One of the things I like best about Malmuth is that he finds topics to write about that are completely ignored or forgotten by most players but that are either directly or indirectly relevant to winning play.
As with Poker Essays I and II, I'm sure I'll be rereading this book several times over the years.
Amazon.com
In this follow-up to his first Poker Essays book, poker expert Mason Malmuth shares new insights that separate good players from great players. His bite-sized essays contain illuminating anecdotes and examples of great and terrible play. As in his first book, he offers the categories of general concepts, technical ideas, structure, strategic ideas and card room play. Included this time is a section on erroneous concepts that's worth careful reading and a section of humorous true stories titled "Something Silly." Poker beginners may get lost in here, but if you're a competent player looking to master the game, Malmuth is an excellent mentor.
Book Description
Success at poker does not come easy. However, poker can be extremely rewarding since it will allow you a degree of freedom that virtually no other profession can offer. Yet, very few people ever achieve this level of competence even though many try. The reason for this is that very few players are able to master all the skills that a top poker professional needs. Some are unwilling to make the effort — "these players usually come to gamble" — and others who try are not quite able to grasp the depth of sophistication that is required.
This text contains those essays that this author wrote from 1991 through early 1996. Topics covered include: General Concepts, Technical Ideas, Structure, Strategic Ideas, In the Cardrooms, Quizzes, Erroneous Concepts, and Something Silly. In addition, advice is offered on handling rushes, moving up, poker skills, simulations, maximizing your expectation, betting when first to act on the river, whether limit hold'em should have two or three betting levels, playing the overs, adjusting to the big ante, how to play well, low-limit hold'em, how many hands you should play early in a tournament, chopping the blinds, cardroom theory, and much more.
As with the original Poker Essays, this book is designed to make the reader do a great deal of thinking about the game. In fact, very few readers will agree with everything this text offers, but the information provided should help most people become better poker players.
Customer Reviews:
Also still very much worth reading.......2006-10-11
This second collection of Malmuth's essays was also first published in book form in 1996, which means some of the material is definitely dated; nonetheless this book is still very much worth reading mainly because of Malmuth's expertise and thoroughly professional approach to all things poker.
Just for the fun of it I will take a more critical approach in this review than I did in my review of his first collection.
In an essay entitled, "Is It Better to Be Lucky or Good?" Malmuth ventures that he would rather be lucky. This recalls the old rounder's dictum, usually voiced after a bad run of cards, "I'd rather be lucky than good." Of course the rounders always said that because they figured they already WERE good. Malmuth's somewhat quizzical take is really an excuse to comment on variance and short term luck in poker. The statement "...if you are lucky, you will probably win, and if you are unlucky, the probability is high that you will lose" (p. 33) is actually something of a tautology in that the very concept of being lucky implies winning, while being unlucky implies losing. Malmuth's main point is luck is always a statement about past events. Since each poker hand is an independent event, there is no way of knowing whether one will be "lucky" in the next hand. Lucky people HAVE BEEN lucky. Whether they will continue to be lucky is an open question.
It's good here to recall another old rounder's dictum, "I play results." What this means is that when a player has been winning and there is a question as to whether that player has been lucky or good, and you don't have enough evidence to be sure, the judicious course is to assume that the player is good--that is, to base your evaluation of the player on his or her results, not the possible prejudicial reports from other players. Many losers whine about their luck, which means that they often think that the players beating them are just lucky when in fact the losers are getting outplayed.
In the essay, "Is a Point Count Worthwhile?" Malmuth argues rather convincingly that such schemes are questionable in hold'em, highly questionable in stud, and possibly of some very limited value in Omaha. The main point he makes is that because point counts don't take into consideration position or the tendencies of the other players, or in stud, information from exposed cards, they can be misleading because the value of your hand changes with the changing circumstances. As Malmuth explains, K9o is a better hand on the button than say T9s if nobody has entered the pot, but not as good if there are several callers already in. By most point count systems they would be about equal in ranking.
I developed a point count system many years ago. What I learned (and I think this is something that both Sklansky and Malmuth have missed) is that a point count system can help the beginning player as a guide and as a study aide. Sklansky arranged starting hold'em hands into groups as a guide. Sklansky's system required the player to commit to memory which hands to open or raise with in which position. I believe a point count system would make the learning curve less steep. A simple one for hold'em is A = 13, K = 12...etc; suited = 4; connected no gap = 5, one gap = 3, etc; pair = 14. Thus AKs = 39; T9o = 22, and so on. (My system was a little more sophisticated, but not much more valuable than this.)
Some differences between this and Malmuth's first collection include more essays on Omaha and Omaha eight or better, and more essays on "great players" and what makes them great or not so great. Similarities include the continuing discussion of which game is more difficult, seven card stud or hold'em, and why Malmuth believes that limit hold'em is more complex than no limit hold'em.
There are the usual quizzes and well-meaning lectures to poker room staff, dealers and professionals for which Malmuth is well known and appreciated.
I want to close with a couple of quibbles on the quizzes (if you will):
Malmuth writes, "If hold'em was not played with community cards, that is, if everyone received their own flop independent of everyone else, then it would be correct to play almost every hand." (p. 245) This is obviously false (and probably just careless phrasing by Malmuth). This would be similar to seven card stud with a bet before third street. Again obviously playing any two cards would not be wise just as playing any two cards in antiquated five card stud would not be wise.
On page 247 he writes that "a small pair...in a many-handed pot...will not win as often as a random two cards." This is also incorrect. Even 22 is more likely to win than a random set of two cards, the average of which is something like the "computer hand" of Q7o.
Finally, I was surprised to read that Malmuth's "guess" is that AA will win in low limit games "approximately one-third of the time." Trust me, I have the stats: pocket rockets in any game--even micro limits--will win more than fifty percent of the time. If you raise with them every time I can promise that at the 2/4 to the 30/60 level they will win at least 70% of the time, and if you go to the river and call every bet regardless of the action, they will win at least 75% of the time! A cold computer simulation of simply dealing out the cards verses nine players will show AA winning about a third of the time, which is what I imagine Malmuth had in mind.
Bottom line: again a must for the professional player and a pleasure to read for all serious players.
Book Description
In gambling circles, fleecing suckers is a time-honored tradition and in Hunting Fish, Jay Greenspan builds on this history of con-manship by offering a unique narrative that chronicles his journey in search of the worst poker players America has to offer, wherever they may be. Armed with a small bankroll, he sets out across the country in search of pokers best games and worst players. Heading west from New York he plays in the tiny border towns of Texas and Arizona, where frontier law and guns still rule the day, to places like Tunica, Mississippi, the glamour of Las Vegas and finally Los Angeles where he matches wits with the eliteand where some of the biggest fish reside. The author has one simple goal in mind: Build a large enough bankroll to play in a Commerce Casino game where the players are skilled and fearsome and thousands are lost in a single hand. Hell need to build a $20,000 bankroll on his trip to play. Thats a lot of fish to fleece.
Customer Reviews:
entertaining, insightful read.......2006-11-04
This book is a great read, compelling from start - what's more compelling than reading about a poker player getting robbed, literally, of his bank roll a week before setting out on a cross-country poker trip? - to satisfying finish. The hand descriptions are precise and vivid, but it's Greenspan's excellent description of the color around the game - the various tablemates, the tedium of long sessions - and, most impressively, his thoughtful chronicling of his internal journey that the great gift of this book. A wonderful yarn, and a thought-provoking read for anyone who's ever considered going pro.
Good Story.......2006-11-04
This is not a how to book. It is a nice story about the author traveling the country trying to find soft poker games. Some of it is a bit tedious, but overall a good read. I like the end where he decides that a normal life is preferable to the poker life. Worth reading.
Marginal. .......2006-11-03
This is another of the poker books now available reflecting the nationwide poker boom (which hopefully isn't in the past). Greenspan tells us his story of going on a trip across America looking for profits against weak players. Much of the play described on these pages is very entertaining; although, I wonder about the author's playing style. Some of the plays he makes are totally batty despite their working out in the tale; although, the description of the poker action is very believable and easy to follow. His fellow semi-pros will readily identify with the ups and downs. Further, I liked that he let us know that sometimes fish are very bad for the bankroll. Their bizarre moves can eat you alive--at least in the short-term.
That being said, I can give Hunting Fish no more than three stars. This is wholly due to the narrator's refusal to treat his readers with respect. He is your classic "think I'm a liberal anti-liberal." He's a leftist progressive and can't wait to tell us all about his political views--only none of us bought the book to be subjected to his pretension and skewed opinions. Greenspan also appears to have never considered that many of his peers are libertarians who realize the futility of the nanny state and understand that government is more shell game than charity. Perhaps Greenspan has never listened to his tablemates and thinks that all of us are shallow statists in the same way he is. As for me, I was alienated by his reckless lecturing right away. I just wanted him to be quiet about politics and talk about poker. The pontificating was definitely a nuisance and decreased my opinion of him along my enjoyment of an otherwise okay book. A lot of what he said was comical though as he doesn't know much about politics or government. His are the observations of a poseur. Greenspan claims to be very comfortable in his ethnically diverse neighborhood and then adds that he remains happy about being there even after being robbed, lol. Why would he mention this unless he thought the mixed nature of his neighborhood had something to do with being robbed? Then he gives us the big lecture about George W. Bush and Bob Jones University just so we know what a good person he is because he'd never craft guidelines against interracial marriage. That's great, but what does that have to do with politics, let alone poker? Worst of all, Greenspan is very hypocritical. He makes fun of people like me who he dismisses as nutty libertarians, but then he makes the argument on pages 167 and 168 that poker players are unfairly taxed. Of course I agree with his opinion, but would add that all of us are unfairly taxed in America. However, the author only comes around to his epiphany concerning the Fedocracy because he has been personally affected. If you ask me, there are a ton of better books out there than this one, please save your money.
terrible book from wannabe pro.......2006-10-21
this book has 2 problems - the author and the narrative. first, he spend the entire book building up to his shot at 10-20 nl, then spends 2 pages there. huh? why did i stay for this?
second the author has an extremely vaunted opinion of his poker skills. oh, hes a semipro? who isnt. in 1 memorable part, he 'thinks' he picks up a tell on a big pro, bluffs him off a pot, then assumes that he can now wash that pro anytime he likes. any thought to randomness here? no, he jumps right to the conclusion he is now one of the worlds best. minutes later when he busts out, he says 'on any given day i can beat the best'. ohhhh, really? guess what, on any given day, so can anyone. thats poker
in league with "big deal" as one of the best poker narratives.......2006-08-26
this book tells it like it really is. I've read many many poker books and I found this to be among the most riveting and realistic narratives. I would rate it up alongside Big Deal by Tony Holden as one of the most entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable poker books ever written. The author comes at it from a fairly unique angle, as a budding semi-pro player who is trying to make a living at a game he loves. Poker is about different things to different people, and this book tells a realistic tale about making a living as a "blue collar" cash game specialist.
Average customer rating:
- Perhaps one of our few chances left...
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The Big Empty: Dialogues on Politics, Sex, God, Boxing, Morality, Myth, Poker and Bad Conscience in America
Norman Mailer , and
John Buffalo Mailer
Manufacturer: Nation Books
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ASIN: 1560258241 |
Book Description
“Questions are posed,” writes Norman Mailer, “in the hope they will open into richer insights, which in turn will bring forth sharper questions.” In this series of conversations, John Buffalo Mailer, 27, poses a series of questions to his father, challenging the reflections and insights of the man who has dominated and defined much of American letters for the past sixty years.
Their wide-ranging discussions take place over the course of a year, beginning in July 2004. Set against the backdrop of George W. Bush’s re-election campaign and the war in Iraq, each considers what it means to live in America today. John asks his father to look back to World War II, and explore the parallels that can—and cannot—be drawn between that time and our current post-9/11 consciousness.
As their conversations develop, the topics shift from the political to the personal to the political again, as they duck and weave around one another. They explore their shared admiration of boxing and poker, the nature of marriage and love, television, movies, writing, and what it means to be a part of this extraordinary family.
Customer Reviews:
Perhaps one of our few chances left... .......2006-04-02
Growing up in the sixties, I guess I took Norman Mailer for granted.
Boy, I'll never do that, again.
After all, there was a time when people like Mailer, Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, actually had a regular column, each month, in places like Esquire magazine. And, people such as myself could count on brilliant, independent minds, capable of executing a great novel, providing periodic commentary on the times we were living in (through?). And, the books they wrote were still events: much read, much discussed, and looking back, they were actually what kept us, sane- at least those of us for whom sanity was a virtue.
But, tragically, those days are officially gone.
We now have any number of empty, babbling, pundits; essentially employees of General Electric, Westinghouse, Disney, News Corp and/or TimeWarner, whom we allow to define the day's agenda. What's left of the "culture", is divided up among television, movies, the Internet, and radio... probably in that order.
We actually have nothing left that can be referred to, with any seriousness, as a "culture". We just have different corporate entities using different means of entertainment with which they focus our attention on anything other than what it mean to be "alive" or truly "human". It's a very extraordinary, and extraordinarly dangerous period of history to be living in.
I remember someone on some talk show way back in the early 70's saying that "we're the last ones [that generation, not this] who will remember what it was "like".
Well, here is someone who not only remembers what it was like, but can still, at the age of 83, compare "it" to how it is now, and leave one grateful, shell-shocked, aching for a change of guard, and thanking one's lucky stars for the privilege.
Plus, apart from the conversation bewteen Mailer and his son, there is also an essay inserted right in the middle of the book which alone is worth the price. It is called "Myth Versus Hypothesis", and despite the pretentious title, it is one of the best pieces of political writing I've ever seen in my life. It was apparently delivered as the Keynote Address during Harvard's Commencement Ceremony in 2004. I have not been able to find it anywhere on the Internet, so I do not believe it was ever published elsewhere. I challenge anyone to produce anything comparable, which has appeared in recent years in any magazine, newspaper, etc.
Mailer has lived and learned quite a bit in his time. And I can not exaggerate the value of this gem for those of us who can still appreciate the "Real McCoy", or for those who who would genuinely like to briefly step out of their "Orgasmatron" and actually visit what was once the late, great planet Earth.
I once read that the great French novelist and mystic Romain Rolland carried a copy of Goethe's "Faust" with him at all times ("my constant companion") for his entire adult life. I'm not comparing this book to "Faust", or Mailer to Goethe, or suggesting to anyone that they do the same with it. But, I did recall that statement of Rolland's while reading "The Big Empty". Because it reminded me of how there a just a few rare indivifuals in any epoch that can really help make their age TRULY intelligible to their fellow travellors.
Norman Mailer proves that here... in spades.
Book Description
More than 50 million Americans play poker. But poker is much more than a popular game. It is a world unto itself, populated by a multitude of colorful characters -- professionals and amateurs, hustlers and dreamers.
From the rich field of all the writers who have ever loved the game, editor John Stravinsky has gathered thirty-nine best-of-breed short stories, essays, excerpts from novels, and poems: Mark Twain, John Updike, James Thurber, Nelson Algren, Martin Amis, and Billy Collins are among the winning hand of renowned writers in this collection who have mined their personal experiences at the poker table.
Entertaining, enlightening, and essential, Read 'Em and Weep is a stacked deck of pure poker-reading pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining.......2007-06-12
You do not have to be a poker aficionado to enjoy this book. It contains 38 short stories, excerpts from books or essays, all of which have poker as a theme or main story element. With authors the likes of Stephen Crane, James Jones, Mark Twain, David Mamet, Bertolt Brecht, Sumerset Maugham, Clark Clifford, Barbara Tuchman and James Thurber you can't go far wrong. The stories range from comic to tragic, with just a little instruction on the finer points of the game thrown in for good measure. You may not love all of the chapters, but I am sure that enough will entertain you to make reading this short book very worthwhile.
And I do not even play poker.......2004-01-26
All of the sudden, books about the inner world of poker seem to be springing up all over the place. My 18yo son and his friends mess around with it for pennies or toothpicks, and I hear them arguing the rules long after I've gone to bed. But now I find myself in the unlikely position of having read three books on the subject, and I'm really getting into it.
Read 'Em and Weep is a collection of essays, short stories, book excerpts and (of all unlikely things) poems dealing with the eternally interesting world of the game. Many of the tales focus on the fast-paced newish game called Hold 'Em. But most of the contributions (from authors such as Mark Twain, Maugham, and Thurber) deal with the traditional more gentlemanly games from a bygone poker era. It's a good melding of the two worlds, past and present.
a good collection of poker stories.......2004-01-19
This is a collection of short stories or snippets of books all about poker there are 39 authors this is taken from those of you who have read other poker memoirs will recognize Anthony Holden,Michael Konik ,A. Alvarez and other notable poker writers.Then there are notable authors like Mark Twain,John Updike,Martin Amis,and many others.
This covers subjects from the wild west river boat gambling to the current modern day of world series of poker.So give this book a try and possibly expose yourself to some different authors or refamilarize yourself with some of the old poker authors.
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The Poker-faced Princess (Leapfrog)
Gwyneth Vacher
Manufacturer: Hodder Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0340402970 |
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- King Arthur Pendragon (Pendragon 5th Edition)
- Laws of the Night (Mind's Eye Theatre)
- Laws of the Wild (Mind's Eye Theatre)
- Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) (Learn to Play Go)
- Learning Maya 7: Foundation
- Lost Empires of Faerûn (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement)
- Mapping the World of the Sorcerer's Apprentice (Harry Potter) (Smart Pop series)
- Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty
- Minimus Pupil's Book: Starting out in Latin (Cambridge Latin Texts)
- More Art Puzzles By Number: From Easy to Mind Bending
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