Tag: Books

Review: Bringing Down the House

Nick Momrik6 Comments

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for MillionsAfter reading the back cover of this book I knew I had to read it. Bringing Down the House is the story of how M.I.T. students beat the house. They took Las Vegas and other casinos around the country for millions of dollars.

The book is one of the best I’ve ever read. It was one of those I couldn’t put down. I like to read chapter by chapter and each time I reached the end of a chapter I couldn’t resist going for just one more.

This story is the real deal. You read about the ins and outs of how these students worked in card counting teams to beat the blackjack tables one night at a time. These students forced casinos all over the world to change the way their security systems work. You’ll read about he highs and lows of winning big. If you’re a gambler this is a book for you. I give it an A+.

Review: Poker Face

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Poker Face : A Girlhood Among GamblersKaty Lederer writes about growing up as the younger sister to Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. Poker Face is her true story among the gamblers. The writing is fresh and the content kept me reading.

If you’d like a unique behind the scenes story about some poker pros I suggest you read this book. You’ll find out things about Howard and Annie that you won’t anywhere else. You’ll also see that the life of a poker pro isn’t always flashy like it’s made out to be on TV.

I enjoyed the book because it was different and it was entertaining. I give it a B.

Review: Zen and the Art of Poker

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Zen and the Art of Poker : Timeless Secrets to Transform Your GameThis book is good for bathroom material. It’s broken down into small sections so you can easily read a few pages here and there. Zen and the Art of Poker is nothing more than a collection of quotes relating to Zen. The author attempts to relate everything back to poker, but it doesn’t feel right. He even gives some bad advice along the way. One part that I remember is in regards to calling with a draw to the nuts. He claims that it’s OK to fold your draw when the pot is laying you the correct odds. The situation happened to involve a player that has been running bad and it just didn’t feel right to play the draw. Sorry folks, but if the pot is laying you the correct odds to hit your draw and you fold because you haven’t been hitting lately, then you are playing scared poker. The sharks will smell your fear and tear you a new one.

I did enjoy the book simply because of all the quotes and different philosophy that make Zen. There wasn’t a whole lot of good information about poker though, so if there is another book on your reading list, take the time to read it before opening this one.

I have to give the book a C.

Review: Winning Low-Limit Hold'em

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Winning Low-Limit Hold'em (2nd Edition)Lee Jones did a good job writing Winning Low Limit Hold’em. The book is a solid 193 pages of information for low limit Texas Hold’em players. If I hadn’t read SSH and ITH, I would have really been impressed, but WLLH was pretty much the same information, but just a shorter format.

Jones breaks the book down into two main sections titled Hold’em: The Game and Play of the Hand from Deal to Showdown. The first section goes over fundamentals, reading the board, and odds. It’s your basic Texas Hold’em primer. The next section of the book gives strategies for playing through a hand. This second half is the real meat and potatoes. It covers playing pre-flop from all different positions, playing the flop according to what type of hand you make, and then how to proceed on from there. It’s all broken down through the course of how a hand progresses, which makes the advice all mesh together.

As I mentioned, I didn’t get anything out the book that I hadn’t already read in other texts, but it’s always nice to reinforce the strategies I’ve read from other authors. If you’re looking for a good beginner book, WLLH will do the job. It’s a quick read and easy to follow, but I’d recommend SSH over it any day. Sklansky, Malmuth, and Miller put together the bible of low limit hold’em when they wrote Small Stakes Hold’em: Winning Big With Expert Play.

Review: Killer Poker Online

Nick Momrik3 Comments

Killer Poker Online: Crushing the Internet GameI’ve read some columns by John Vorhaus online and enjoyed what I read. His book, Killer Poker Online: Crushing the Internet Game, is a completely different story. The book is a waste of time and money. I’m glad a friend bought the book for me or I would have been very disappointed in the read.

I read the book expecting to get some new insights into online poker. I was looking for strategy and examples of online play. In the first paragraph of the Introduction, Vorhaus writes:

…I want to put forth the startling idea that, hey, maybe Internet poker’s not such a hot idea…

What? Is this really in a book about crushing the Internet game? Instead of reading about poker strategy, the book taught me the basics of how online poker works. Chapter 2 is titled “The Mechanics of the Thing” and explains the computer recommendations for running a poker client, what a screen name is, what the lobby is, play money tables, hand history logs, setting your options and various other things.

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Review: Internet Texas Hold'em

Nick Momrik1 Comment

Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet ProA little over a month ago, Ammon from ITH offered me a free copy of Matthew Hilger’s book Internet Texas Hold’em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro in exchange for writing a review on my site. Since I always review the books I read and had wanted the book, I quickly took him up on his offer.

At the time, I had just started reading Theory of Poker (my review), so I didn’t start on ITH until last week when I was taking a break from the poker tables. I finished ITH earlier this week. It was really a quick read, even though its length is comparable to most poker books. I was able to read it so fast because I’m already familiar with most of the concepts discussed from reading TOP and Small Stakes Hold’em. That’s not to say that the book is all repeat information though.

ITH is a great book and one that I would recommend to anyone who wants to start playing poker online. Yes, I’d even recommend it before SSH in this case. What sets ITH apart is that the book concentrates on the differences between online and live play. Hilger gives you solid advice on how to beat the online game.

The book is broken down into chapters and the order was great. The jump from one topic to the next flows smoothly and would allow a beginner to easily follow along. Perhaps the best part of the book is the examples and how they are used to supplement the text. At the end of each chapter there are 15-20 real examples taken from online hand histories. The situation is laid out in plain English and then a question is proposed. Should you call? Is raising a better play? Right after each question, Hilger lays out what he believes is the correct play for each situation. Another thing that sets the examples apart from the other books I’ve read is that the author doesn’t use large card images to show you the hand and situation. He simple explains it in text form. This helps to cut down on a lot of space and flipping back and forth between pages.

ITH is not only a great book for the beginning poker player, but it can be a great resource for anyone’s online game. I’ve been struggling with my game over the past two months and the book helped to reinforce some of the concepts and strategies that I had forgot. There are other books I like better, but since the book does so well at what it’s meant for I have to give it an A.


Review: The Theory of Poker

Nick Momrik1 Comment

The Theory of PokerThe Theory of Poker by David Sklansky is probably the most comprehensive book ever written on poker strategy. Sklansky covers bluffing, slow playing, game theory, table selection, and every other topic you can think of. While the book was written several years ago, almost everything can still be applied to today’s styles of play.

I will say that this book should not be the first poker book you read. It shouldn’t even be the second or third. The concepts would easily confuse someone that is just learning the game. There were times while reading TOP that I was confused. The book is just loaded with information. I doubt I’ll ever understand it all, even if I read it 100 times in the next year. I’m not trying to scare anyone away from reading the book, because it’s a must read for any poker player serious about learning the game. I’m simply saying that there’s a lot to take in.

One of the most brilliant, yet simple, things I’ve ever read about poker is Sklanky’s Fundamental Theorem of Poker:

Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose. Conversely, every time opponents play their hands differently from the way they would have if they could see all your cards, you gain; and every time they play their hands the same way they would have played if they could see all your cards, you lose.

The age of the book can be seen by the number of examples relating to games such as Stud, Razz, and Draw poker, but the concepts can be applied to any game out there. It would be nice if Sklansky would come out with a revision that just related to hold’em, the most popular form of poker today.

Like I said before, if you’ve read a few other poker books, feel free to jump into TOP, otherwise wait until you have some more experience and reading under your belt. Once you do though, dive right in. I give the book an A.


Killer Poker Online: Crushing the Internet Game

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Killer Poker Online: Crushing the Internet GameMy friend Dave just bought me this book after he’d purchased the original Killer Poker. From what he’s said it really gets into the mind games that you play with yourself in poker. Just what I need lately. I hope it will help me to figure out why I think some of the things I do or act in certain ways. Watch out fish! My poker library is growing quite large lately. I have at least 6 books that I’ve yet to crack the cover on. I guess it’s time for more study and less poker play.