Review: The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King
Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time
I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since Christmas, when I received it as a gift. A few weeks ago I finally got around to reading it and finished it last week. It ranks right up near the top with some of the other poker related books I’ve read.
Before starting on the book I knew the general idea of what the book was about, but I really had no idea the events discussed in the book happened so recently. The “Richest Poker Game” was just before and around the time of Chris Moneymaker’s famous World Series of Poker win.
For those not familiar with everything, “The Professor” in the title refers to poker pro Howard Lederer, “The Banker” refers to Andy Beal, and “The Suicide King” is the King of Hearts because of his sword stabbing his own head. The “Richest Poker Game” was a limit hold’em heads-up match between Andy Beal and a group of poker professionals. The game was played at limits up to $100,000/$200,000, so swings of millions of dollars were not unusual.
Michael Craig did a great job telling the story by piecing together information from many different sources about the game. It’s really an insightful read into the high stakes poker world. I’d easily give it an A.
2 New Books
A couple of new books came in from Amazon today…
- High-Low-Split Poker, Seven-Card Stud and Omaha Eight-or-better for Advan (Advance Player)
- Harrington on Hold\’em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Endgame, 2
I’ve been enjoying tournaments lately so HOH2 was a no brainer buy, especially after I liked Volume I so much. Hold’em gets boring at times so I figured I’d try to learn a little O8 on the side. Al, the expert O8 blogger told me HLSP was the bible, so that’s what I bought.
Poker Podcasts
On my rides to and from work each day I’ve been listening to poker podcasts. Listening to poker discussions keep my mind off the traffic. In the mornings the poker talk gets my mind thinking and after work it helps to relax me after a long day.
My favorite poker podcast without a doubt is Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio. Cincinnati Sean, Brent Stacks, and everyone else who contribute to the show to an excellent job. Congrats on your 1 year anniversary guys!
Another poker podcast I started listening to is Rounders. It’s actually a poker radio show that they turn into a podcast. The radio station is Team 1040 AM out of Vancouver, Canada. My favorite part of the show has been the interviews with some of the top names from the poker world.
What do you know…my two favorite poker podcasts are both from Canada…eh! As a lifetime Michiganer I’m glad to finally find something good to come from our friends across the lake. 
Another popular poker podcast is Poker Diagram by Henry and Zog. It comes all the way from London. Each week they play some kind of online poker and discuss their play and other things poker. I listened to a couple of episodes and it was put together well.
I’m sure there are many other podcasts out there related to poker. Do you have some I didn’t mention? Leave a comment because I’d love to check them out.
Poker Hacks
As many of the poker bloggers know, Doubleas is writing a book for the O’Reilly Hacks Series which will be titled Poker Hacks. The people contributing to the book make a who’s who list of poker bloggers. Earlier this week Doubleas contacted me to see if I’d like to contribute something from Poker Chip Tricks and I couldn’t say yes quick enough. I can’t teach you any poker lessons or knock your socks off with my writing, but I can teach you a chip trick or two. He announced it on his blog today, so I figured I could spill the beans here now as well.
PCT has been in one magazine (twice so far), a different magazine on the way, and now a poker book.
Review: Harrington on Hold’em - Volume I
I finally finished reading the best poker book available on tournament play. Dan Harrington has done the poker world a great service by writing Harrington on Hold’em. I would have finished the book much sooner, but it was my bathroom reader, so I was only reading 10-15 pages a day.
Harrington breaks down the game of no-limit just like any other author by pre-flop, flop, turn and river. What makes this book stand out though are the awesome Problems presented at the end of each chapter. Dan uses actually hands that he’s run into or observed over the years. He lays out the hand and then asks you questions along the way. He describes what you should be thinking as you make you decision. It’s great to see what a world class player and World Series of Poker Champion is thinking during a poker hand.
Volume I is a great book for any poker player of any level. The attention to details is fantastic and the book is easy to read. I can’t wait to get my hands on Volume II for some of the more advanced topics and moves.
Harrington on Hold’em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments (Strategic Play) definitely gets an A+ from me.
Bringing Down the House
Bringing Down the House is the best book related to gambling I’ve ever read. Read my review at MtDewVirus.
Review: Poker Face
Katy 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
This 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.
Zen Quote
A small leak will sink a great ship.
Zen and the Art of Poker : Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game
Review: Winning Low-Limit Hold’em
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.
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