REVIEW
The
poker playing public's appetite for bigger
and higher-stakes poker tournaments seems
almost insatiable. As these events have
become more popular, several authors have
taken a crack at writing the definitive
book about tournament poker, and to date,
none have excelled in this task. Now David
Sklansky, a supremely talented poker writer,
makes his attempt to tackle this topic.
As
this is part of Two Plus Two's "for Advanced
Players" series, the reader is assumed
to be familiar with basic poker tournament
protocol and understand how to play ring
game (non-tournament) poker well. While
some introductory information is still
included, it is kept brief. Less experienced
players would be well advised to read
books such as Texas Hold'em for Advanced
Players and a more introductory tournament
book, such as Poker Tournament Strategies.
After
the introduction, Sklansky starts with
new material, including an explanation
of an important principle he calls "The
Gap Concept". Simply stated, in a tight
game it is often correct to fold hands
to a raise that a player would have raised
with if nobody had already raised before
it was the player's turn to act. While
this principle has been written about
before and will certainly be familiar
to any winning mid-limit poker player,
this is the best explanation of this phenomenon,
why it occurs, and how to use it to advantage.
It is especially important here, because
poker tournaments tend to feature tighter
play than ring games.
Sklansky
then moves on to discuss some general
tournament ideas, including how to adjust
one's play at various levels of a tournament,
how players might adjust their play depending
on when or whether their table will be
broken up, and playing (and playing against)
short stacks versus large stacks. Some
of this advice has been discussed in other
books or articles before, but much of
it hasn't, and Sklansky always provides
strong arguments to support the positions
he takes.
Next,
Sklansky addresses other tournament issues
including deal making, last longer bets,
and special circumstances surrounding
no-limit events. This last topic includes
an explanation of a no-limit Hold'em strategy
he calls "The System". This is an intriguing
simple strategy for playing in these events.
All of these topics in the book thus far
cover 134 pages in the book.
Next,
the author provides a set of hand quizzes.
This is less of a review than an extension
of some of Sklansky's key principles found
in the book, so it should be thought of
as more information, just in an unorthodox
format. However, these quizzes are followed
by more than 35 pages of questions and
answers (assembled by Mason Malmuth) which
are designed as a review tool for the
rest of the book.
Sklansky's
ideas are always well thought out and
usually thoroughly explained. However,
there is more that could be said about
many of the topics he discusses. For example,
he explains how to evaluate whether a
two-person deal at the end of a tournament
is fair or not, and why there can be no
single fair deal when three players remain.
However, there is a great deal more that
could be said about this. This is an area
where simulations could provide some additional
suggestions, and formulae for coming up
with ranges for appropriate deals for
multiple players could be worked out.
I would have appreciated it if this topic,
as well as others, had been dealt with
in more depth. Depending on how one wants
to count it, there is about 130 to 190
pages of original material in this book.
I think even more information would have
made this book better.
Nonetheless,
the information that is contained in this
book is very good. This is simply the
best single source of information on poker
tournaments written to date. Tournament
Poker for Advanced Players manages to
be the first book on this topic of which
any gambling publisher can be truly proud.
More could have been said about many topics,
and this is by no means the last word
on the topic, but Sklansky's effort is
a very valuable one for tournament players,
well worth its price.
Capsule:
Tournament
Poker for Advanced Players is the best
book written on tournament poker. Everyone
who has a serious interest in these events
would be well advised to obtain a copy
and study it carefully. While this is
an excellent book, it is by no means the
last word on the topic, and much more
could have been said about many of the
ideas in its pages. Nonetheless, I highly
recommend this book.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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