Gotta Get It

As the new generation of poker superstars are coming through the ranks, DB has released the new version of the original Super System. After reading some sections of the book, I can already see it as a nice reference for some time. Think of it as a legendary poker champion pulling you aside and telling you how to make it. Add the fact that Mike caro is practically giving away information for the price of this book and Jennifer Harmon doing a complete section on limit, very nice. I am no expert on Omaha or Stud, but I plan to reveiw those sections.

A lot of criticism has been placed on the messiness of the book. Consider that deadlines were pushed back due to the hectic tournament and business schedules of the pros that participated in this book. All of their chapters were just put together as they came in. I can overlook that and think of each section as a different mini-book. Some people criticized the waste of Daniel Negreanu on triple draw poker. First of all, Negreanu is awsome at explaining triple draw poker. But he will eventually write a Hold'em book of his own. Do you think he is going to give away hold'em tips in a Doyle Brunson book? The purpose of this book is to learn how Brunson kicked butt with his aggressive style. When Negreanu ever writes a book, the information will be a lot different. I would have like to see Brunson call on a lot more greats to contribute to sections, but this book is good and well worth the attention it has received. You may never see this many professionals combining their expertise into one book.
Hope this helped some of you. You know you have to get it and see for yourself. If you pick up one thing from it, you are going to play that much better at the tables.

Great Book

this is One Big Book. It will take many hours to read, but when you are finished your game will thank you

Know Your Enemy

First off, I only bought this book to read Brunson's exposition on No Limit Hold'em and, therefore, be warned this review is not of the entire book but substantially of that section. (However, you should note that this book does have a good section on Omaha hi/lo, which is important since there are no definitive books on this game).

As to Brunson's writing, he writes in a casual, friendly style and he gets to the point.

As to Brunson's poker, he plays hard, fast and aggressive. So, if you feel adventurous, read this book and give his power poker a try. If not, still read this book and learn about the most feared tournament opponent you may face - the maniac.

Point in example. As I was reading Brunson, I was playing in an on-line tournament. It was early middle round and the leader at our table had about 3,500, while I and another person had about 2,500, a fourth had about 1,500 and the other six had somewhat less.

The gentleman with 1,500 had been mostly quiet. Then, all hell broke loose. Mr. 1,500 won two consecutive pots to build his chipstack to about 4,000. Thereafter, anytime he saw two or more players enter a hand, he would tag along and bet each flop at 1,000 chips. If someone was willing to go along, he would put them "all-in" on the turn. Needless to say, most of the time no one had a strong enough hand to risk their entire chips and their tournament life and so, though we suspected he was bluffing, everyone was folding to him and his chipstack grew and grew. Necessarily, this gave him control of the table and led to several unwise moves by the other players (including myself).

In the end, the blinds grew too high and I went "all-in" on a pair of 7s and he called, turning over Q-4. As you may guess, he caught the queen and I was gone. At that point, he had over 20,000 in chips and the next highest at our table stood at 4,500.

That's the upside to the "recklessness" of power poker. If you can stomach it, it will take you for a ride; if you cannot, batten down the hatches if your are up against a maniac/power player because it will take you for a ride anyways.