- ISBN13: 9781416927198
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Product Description
In Poker: The Real Deal and Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book, Phil Gordon — a world-class player and teacher — shared the strategies, tips, and expertise he’s gleaned during his phenomenally successful career. Now he shows players how to apply those theories to actual hands in order to make smart, confident decisions with every move.
Gordon walks readers through hands that he’s encountered in cash games; early, middle, and late tournament play; Sit & Gos; satellites and supersatellites; and the final table of the World Series of Poker, revealing not only what plays he made but also why he made them. He relates what goes through a pro’s mind in every situation, whether it’s a timely bluff or a questionable call, and helps players calculate their own best moves in the most pressure-fueled of situations. In analyzing specific hands, Gordon also imparts important lessons in key poker skills such as calculating odds, shorthanded play, and discovering tells. And he discusses memorable plays — the good and the oh-so-bad — explaining why certain moves were made and, in many cases, how the hands should have been played differently.
Insightful, witty, and filled with real-life pro secrets, Phil Gordon’s Little Blue Book is required reading for every player looking to make a profit and raise his game to the next level.
Phil Gordon’s Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold’em
I have all of MR. Gordons books (3)….I enjoyed all of them…anyone who plays poker….should add them to their poker library…shari
Rating: 5 / 5
When learning something like poker I like my information straight foreword, not with a lot of embellishment. While studying each hand I had to remind myself what I was trying to learn that particular hand without being distracted by the anecdotes.
I’m sure many students will find this makes the learning more interesting but my goal when studying poker is to improve my game with the least amount of effort.
About a quarter of the way into this book I asked myself how would I be better served? Should I continue with Little Blue or would I get more out of re-reading books I had already studied like Harrington Vol I or Little Green.
About 5 problems into Harrington Vol I…there was my answer. Goodbye Little Blue.
Bottom line…maybe this is a great book but if your learning style is similar to mine…take a pass.
Rating: 3 / 5
Phil Gordon claims that “The Little Blue Book” will teach you how to think about poker. I do not think his work lives up to that claim. The book is dedicated primarily to tournament analysis, with the first quarter of the book dedicated to cash game play.
If a book claims to teach you how to think about poker, then it firstly must provide a generic framework for thinking about poker problems and then it should use specific hand examples to show you how to apply that framework to make profitable decisions.
Gordon’s book is a haphazardly assembled collection of hands along with his analysis, some of which is insightful and some of which is not. Some of his advice includes:
“Be careful when playing hands that are easily dominated – even drunks can play top two pair effectively”
“Do not underestimate the power of implied tilt odds. You can at times take the worst of it if a monster suckout will open a fire hose of angry tilting money”
“It’s usually correct to slowplay when you flop an absolute monster”
“When a player who never bluffs makes a bet or a raise, you have to put him on a big hand”
To be fair to the book there are some good points inside but nothing that a solid intermediate poker player would not understand already. For a more comprehensive treatment of tournament poker, I would definitely recommend Harrington’s three part poker series. I can’t really recommend Gordon’s book to any type of poker audience.
Rating: 2 / 5
The author tells how he played certain hands. Problem is, most of them are OBVIOUS! For example, he takes a whole section on how to play four of a kind. Quads! He reccommends slowplaying them. No kidding!! There is another section where he has 10-7 and his opponent has AA. The flop come 6-8-9, then he tells how he took all the guy’s money. I don’t need a book to tell me how to play these hands.
Rating: 2 / 5
This is a great poker book for many reasons. It is the easiest to read. In fact I treated it like a John Grisham, can’t put it down ’til I’m done book.
It is a great follow up to Little Green Book and Final Table dvd both by Mr. Gordon. In fact if you wanted to give a multi-media gift to someone the three pack would be cool! But it also works as a stand alone, assuming the reader has some intermediate knowledge of poker.
Mr. Gordon has selected 70+ hands from throughout his poker career, each pointing out some specific subtlety of play (and liberally sprinkled with anecdotes).
You learn why a pro makes plays the way they do. Why is he slow playing here? Why is he folding KK there? Your ability to calculate pot odds will improve.
Unlike some other books “written” by pros, every word in this one is truly Phil’s because there is no way it could be ghost written.
Good flops!
Rating: 5 / 5