There is less than two weeks until the celebration of Christmas around the world and Hanukkah is already in full swing, with its conclusion on Monday. At this point, many have exhausted all of the gift options that they might have thought of, but there are a couple of books out there that might interest the poker fan in a person’s life. These books are diametric opposites – one a stringent strategy guide, the other a more whimsical look at how the game shapes a life.
First, the strategic objective…
Jonathan Little has become one of the more prolific writers for the folks at D&B Publishing. His earlier works – his trio of books entitled Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker and his tome Live No Limit Cash Games – have been excellent entries into the poker strategy genre. Even after all of this, Little has wanted to do more to help the amateurs in the poker world improve their games. So what did Little do? He ask for a little help from his friends.
Although his name is on the top of the billing, Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em is more of an ensemble work, kind of like how there wasn’t a real star of Friendswith its ensemble cast. In putting together the work, Little had an excellent idea to look at several different aspects of poker and not just from the playing side of the game. While Little would probably have a good clue on some of these things, he chose to have other players or even psychologists address these issues rather than dominate the book himself.
The list of players that make up Little’s book are some of the best the current poker world has to offer. Poker Hall of Famers Phil Hellmuth and Mike Sexton, Olivier Busquet, Liv Boeree, Scott Clements, Matt Affleck and Bernard Lee were all gracious enough to step up with a contribution to Little’s book and each person hits their own niche. Hellmuth and Boeree, for example, examine how to play a short stack, with Hellmuth putting up his “old school” version while Boeree espouses the “new school” way to play. Busquet tackles heads up play, while Little puts his skills on paper in preparing for a tournament final table.
While there is a great deal of strategy in Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em, Little takes it a step further in looking at the mental aspect of the game. Dr. Patricia Cardner, who has partnered with Little previously for Positive Poker, presents an abridged version of that tome in her chapter regarding mental toughness. Jared Tendler, another psychologist and poker player, offers ways to help players eliminate tilting from their games. Personally, however, I found two sections to be quite helpful.
2003 World Series of Poker Championship Event winner Chris Moneymaker, in one of the early chapters of the book, discusses how to play smaller buy in events. With their faster structures, fewer starting chips and other idiosyncrasies, these types of tournaments – the daily events you might find in Las Vegas casinos or even buy-ins up to $1500 – require a different approach than deep stacked, high buy in events. Moneymaker offers up to the reader a solid method of approaching these tournaments and presented ideas I had not considered.
The other chapter of the book that impressed me was from Ed Miller, another longtime poker author with some books of his own that have helped players. In his chapter, Miller offers an excellent approach to moving up in stakes. Instead of setting artificial bankroll limitations, Miller looks at it from the approach of how you are attacking the players and when you reach a certain level of efficiency at beating those opponents. Miller’s writings made a great deal of sense and I’ll have to check out more of his work.
For the more whimsical other book, author James McManus – the author of the seminal poker work Positively Fifth Street – has stepped back into the literary world, but not exactly with something that is entirely poker-related. While it is titled The Education of a Poker Player, McManus’ book is more a coming-of-age story rather than a great treatise on the game of poker. For some, this might be a turn off but, for myself, I found the book to be quite refreshing.
The book seems to be semi-autobiographical as it follows a young man in the 1960s as he works through that tumultuous decade. It also deals with the young man’s tumultuous hormones as he discovers his attraction to girls and his enjoyment of playing poker with his extended family. Unfortunately, all of these things are anathema if he is to fulfill his grandmother’s wishes and become a Catholic priest.
While the book lacked anything remotely resembling poker strategy, the story of McManus’ main character is probably someone that all of us would see if we looked in the mirror. For many of us, poker was a game that we learned at a young age and has captured us ever since. It has become a part of us, even though there are those that would prefer we didn’t follow that path, and McManus’ lead character exemplifies many of the obstacles that we potentially faced. It also tracks through some of the most distressing moments of the 1960s, including President John Kennedy’s assassination.
Overall The Education of a Poker Player isn’t going to make you a better card player. It isn’t going to give you a way to sniff out that river bluff or a magic wand to get someone to move all in over the nuts. What it will give you is a little better appreciation of the game, perhaps a remembrance of how you got your start, and bring a smile to your face as you relive those memories.
