Killer Poker

This book is one of the best poker books I have read. The info in it is not basic and is definitely not for beginners. This book is about strategy if your looking for a book to tell you what to do in every situation, a) you won't find it and b) if you did I'd tell you to burn it. Poker is a game of situations that require skilled analysis of the situation and your opponent. The strategies in this book help you to do both of those things and make it harder for your opponents to do so. Killer Poker is about a mindset, if you embrace the mindset this system will help elevate your game to a much higher level. To let you know after reading this book I won my college's no-limit tournament with over 500 other players and went to AC and won over $400 in 6 hours at a $1/$2 table.

It's no wonder some of you poker bandwagon jumpers hated this book. It's much too advanced for you. This isn't one of those cookie-cutter books that every por is writing right now to make a few bucks. This is a serious look at the philosophy of poker, written by a self-proclaimed amatuer. The best piece of advice in this book regards becoming a poker professional. "When should I turn pro?" someone asks. John answers "Probably never." It's wisdom like that which makes this book so valuable. John gives out his email address in the version I read and I decided to write him with a question. He answered me, and gave me some good advice. What a stud. This is the best poker book I've ever read, and I've read about 40 of them. Trust me.

"Killer Poker" is the best "attitude" book on poker I have found, and I have a fairly extensive library. If one simply skims it one could conclude the book advocates a loose, wild, free-wheeling game. It absolutely does not. It's central message is, when you have the goods, when you have an advantage, be aggressive, more inclined to raise than call. On the other hand, Vorhaus does not shy away from making "moves" (tricky stuff like bluffs) when appropriate, and he clearly articulates when such moves are a waste of time. The author strongly advocates that you "get a line on your opponents," a point he makes in all his books. He makes it clear what specific advantages this brings and how you are limited if you do not do so. Vorhaus' book is full of mental and tactical poker aspects to consider, and live-play exercises to reinforce many of them. Some exercises will not win you anything on the spot, in fact may lose (so do them at low limits), but they most certainly will make for a good habit or break a bad habit. Two examples of points he addresses: People view the world through either a process filter ("How can I objectively use this information?") or a judgment filter ("How does this make me feel?"). "Strong players user their process filter exclusively." Second, he presents a great exercise in how to break the habit of playing weak cards. On the other hand, Vorhaus has no problem describing the limited situations in which one can take a chance. In fact, he uniquely talks about "situations" where one can and even should step away from the usual rules of tight, aggressive play and make a "move." Vorhaus is a writer and it shows. His text is clear and well structured. Humor laces the material.

Vorhaus is probably the most talented writer in the poker genre, which makes him, and particularly this book, very fun to read. More importantly, however, he covers the subjects most knowledgeable, but struggling players need to learn. By "knowledgeable", I mean we have read a few books, played a few years or more, and know a few tricks of the trade. If you have played very little poker and/or are still new to the game, then go ahead and read the basic strategy books and learn starting hand requirements, odds, how to play a drawing hand, etc. (there are about 14 million of them now to choose from)...but after you play awhile and feel you have hit the glass ceiling in your results, or maybe even getting worse, then read this book. Anybody who can read can learn the basics of poker, but what distinguishes big and consistent winners from the pack goes much deeper than what you can learn in a few pages of the typical poker book. I am futures trader and this book reminds me of a book called "Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas. The premise of "Zone" was that more and better market analysis was NOT the key to more profitable trading, but the key was within you, your thinking. This may seem like the standard "positive mental attitude" baloney, which I despise, but it is not. It is a MINDSET. You'll have to read that book if you want the details, but the ideas in that book directly apply to poker (See also Way of the Warrior Trader by Richard McCall). Vorhaus, without saying it in these terms, points out that to succeed beyond where standard and predictable poker strategy can take you, you need to develop a new mindset. He DOES NOT say you should start playing looser and wilder and with trash hands.....don't misinterpret my previous statement. The most successful poker players play with the same 52 cards we play with, get dealt the same good and bad hands we get dealt, and suffer the same bad beats we suffer (or worse), and yet they are consistently more successful than the rest of us. Why?......they have a different mindset. Vorhaus calls this "Killer Poker". Notwithstanding the undeniable reality, and often the disproportionate amount, of bad beats in poker, often at the hands of reckless idiots, particularly in hold'em, consistent success will come from a mindset that is different from, and superior than, that of the average player. Any amateur can catch a straight flush and bust a top player on occasion, but day-in and day-out, the consistent winner will be the player that thinks differently than the masses, and accepts and embraces the realities and risks of gambling in general, and poker specifically. The mental aspect of poker (or futures trading, investing, or risk-taking in general) is what separates winners and losers. How do you handle that bad beat? How do you handle winning a few big pots in a row? How do you control your emotions? How do you handle your mistakes? How do respond to a table bully? How do you evaluate your competitors? Wha

I've read 5 or 6 poker books. They all deal with details of starting hands and how to play and so on. The problem is not so much that we don't know how to play well, it's that we don't do what we know we're supposed to do. We are victims of our own emotions and bad habits.John Vorhaus has an easy humorous syle that shows us thru examples and excercises how to get better control of the beast within us that encourages us to play badly. This is not to say that there is no playing strategy. Luckily,by simplifying starting hand selection with his "absolut" and "small card poison" ideas, my own play online has improved very noticeably. He has also simplified understanding of the odds so that you can use your mind for playing instead of computing.He provides many excercises that you can use no matter what methods you currently follow that WILL improve your game. This of course pertains to players that may need to improve their game. If I were only going to read one poker book before playing this would be it. Books that concentrate too heavily on strategy treat poker as if it were a strictly mathematical excercise. Poker isn't blackjack. With poker it's decisions within decisions within decisions. Mental discipline doesn't come easy, we need to work at it. For me this is the BEST poker guide to that end.