REVIEW
In
his previous book, Zen and the Art of
Poker, author Larry Phillips compared
the principles of Zen Buddhism to the
characteristics required to be a successful
poker player. Now, in The Tao of Poker,
Phillips invokes another venerable eastern
religion in his quest for poker self-improvement.
When
I first saw this book I have to admit
to being more than a little intrigued.
Before reading his previous book, I had
some idea how Phillips would connect Zen
and poker. I had absolutely no idea how
he would be able to link up Taoism and
poker. From what I recalled from reading
Lao Tzu, I just couldn't make the connection.
As it turns out, there really is no connection.
The Tao of Poker has essentially nothing
to do with Taoism. That doesn't make it
a bad book, but those who might be looking
for connection stated in the title have
been forewarned.
Instead,
The Tao of Poker is really a less-strongly
themed continuation of Zen and the Art
of Poker. This is Phillips' second "self
improvement" book focused on playing
poker. Over the course of the book the
author presents 286 poker rules that are
designed to improve a player's poker game
primarily by improving their attitude
and demeanor at and toward the game itself.
These rules are divided into several sections
on such familiar topics as Bluffing, Body
Language, Practice, Tiredness, etc.. Overall,
I think Phillips provides much more good
advice than bad, although, frankly, most
of this is covered in one form or another
in his previous book.
In
my review of Zen and the Art of Poker,
I was quite critical of Phillips' ruminations
on the nature of luck and on how players
should react to that phenomenon. While
some of what Phillips says in The Tao
of Poker still bothers me, I have to admit
that his statements in his latest book
are far less wrong. He even goes so far
as to try to explain one particularly
objectionable passage from Zen in Chapter
23 of Tao. His explanation is of this
is weak, and no matter how he tries to
explain it away, the passage is still
wrong, but Phillips is far more careful
about his wording in Tao, and I'll give
him credit for that.
The
last chapter of the book covers playing
online poker. I found this to be the most
intriguing section of the book. Phillips
gives a generally good introduction to
the phenomenon of Internet poker, although
I wish he would have gone further. A gaping
hole in the poker literature still exists
regarding the topic on online play. It
is necessary for someone to write the
definitive work on this subject. In the
mean time, bits and pieces, such as Phillips'
Chapter 27, will have to do. At the end
of this section the author lists "Common
Myths and Rumors About Online Poker Play",
which includes statements about cheating,
bad random number generation, bots and
shills, etc.. The problem is that these
are just stated. There is no commentary
on these issues, so the reader doesn't
know how to categorize or respond to them.
It's my opinion that the author shouldn't
address the topic if he's not prepared
to achieve some measure of resolution
to these sticky issues.
Overall,
The Tao of Poker is really a continuation
of Phillips' previous book, only without
the strong theme. There is a lot of good
advice here for those who are having problems
playing their "A" game all the
time. There is also some not-so-good advice
here, but the overall quality is higher
than it was in Zen and the Art of Poker.
Nonetheless, I'm not sure that the author's
new book adds substantially to what he
has already written. Players who are looking
for further affirmations in order to help
improve their own attitudes toward poker
should find much of benefit in The Tao
of Poker, but I'm not sure they wouldn't
be just as well off rereading Zen and
the Art of Poker. Some of the additional
material in the book, specifically the
last chapter on online poker play, may
be quite interesting to those who aren't
very familiar with the topic, but this
is a fraction of the book. Still, coming
with a very reasonable price tag, it's
unlikely that many players who are intrigued
at all by the subject matter of this book
would feel disappointed by it. Overall,
I'd say I'm ambivalent toward The Tao
of Poker.
Capsule:
While
The Tao of Poker has nothing to do with
eastern religions, it does contain a continuation
of the advice given in Phillips' previous
book, Zen and the Art of Poker. Those
looking for more affirmations to improve
one's emotional control will find them
here. At the same time, despite some new
material (such as a brief, but good, introduction
to playing online poker) there's not a
lot here that Phillips hasn't already
discussed. However, at least this book
doesn't demand a steep buy-in from those
seeking more control over themselves at
the poker table.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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