Play Poker Like the Pros: The Greatest Poker Player in the World Today Reveals His Million-Dollar-Winning Strategies to the Most Popular Tournam

Phil Hellmuth is a freak. How he has managed to go without being assaulted for so long is a mystery to me, and he might just be the worst poet on this, or any other, planet. But this is a damn fine poker book for someone who wants to learn to play. I think the people slamming this book are missing the point. I've read quite a few books on poker and this is the one I'd recommend for someone just getting started. It's easy to read, concise, suggests a streamlined and easy to follow manner of starting out, and the ideas are well communicated. As you advance, you're certainly going to need to read more books, but the ones that are going to make you great (Sklansky and Brunson's, for example,) are just going to intimidate and drown a normal person if they read them when they are starting their poker career. You want to learn to play? Do yourself a favor and pick this up, play a few hundred hours in five and ten dollar online tournaments, and study the more advance texts on playing position, players, and specific situations when you have mastered the fundamentals of staying focused, playing your cards, and identifying other players attitudes. And remember: if you never give up, and never stop learning; nothing can stop you from winning!

Phil Helmuth has a lot of poker knowledge and talent. His temper is probably the only thing keeping him from being a real factor in any game he plays. This book is great for beginners because it provides the bare basics for each of the popular games in a very easy to follow format. His advice is concise and understandable, making this book a quick way to get you started right in poker. For people with a good hold on the fundamentals, there are better books. This one really stops at basic strategy and you have to pick it up from there. I was able to glean a few nuggets of wisdom, but try Super System if you are looking for advanced information.

Hellmuth's book was the first book I've read. Since then, I've read Brunson's and Slansky's. I took this strategy to a low limit game, and it worked well when I was playing GOOD players. I could bluff and take pots because my table image was tight. When I got into tables where people played loose and called everything down, it was over (i.e. low limit games). I got slaughtered. However, I really reccommend this book if you play tournaments. This book really will get you KILLED if you 1) play low limits, or if 2) you don't understand what is being said in this book.It really pays to be aggressive. Betting is your most powerful tool, after folding. The key here though is SELECTIVE aggression. Being aggressive wins you your lions share of uncontested pots, and increases your odds of taking down pots because it increases the chances of going heads heads up in a pot with someone (by virtue of betting everyone out), where you can proceed to destroy them, or fold if you sense they're strong. I think the reason why some players didn't like this book is because they're misinterpreting what agressive means. Its very EASY to learn how to be aggressive, but selective aggressiveness is DIFFICULT to learn. Being aggressive just means raising all the time. Being selective means knowing when to raise, and knowing when to FOLD and back off when sensing strength. The ability to know when to back off is a reading ability, but this can be learned, but is only learned through EXPERIENCE. Like Hellmuth says, you NEED to play in order to make this book useful. Experience gives you the understanding of two key ingredients to winning poker: 1) selective aggressiveness and 2) understanding the importance of table image. Get the experience, and keep referring to this book, and it'll all make sense eventually.

I considered myself an average poker player, until I read this book. Since reading "Play Poker Like the Pros" and "Super System", I realize that only NOW am I an average player and have so much more to learn and have an insatiable desire to do so. Just reading the first couple chapters changed my game overnight. Phil breaks different players into animal types. Jackal (agressive unpredictable) Elephant (enters too many pots) mouse (enters too few, but to be respected when he does) Lion (best at table) and eagle (one of best in world). My first impression was to skip this chapter thinking how ridiculous it was to sterotype players into such a narrow mold. However the next home game however I was amazed to see players falling almost precisely into the animal types Phil talked about. I could almost immediately peg 4 jackals, 3 elephants and a mouse. Phil hit the nail on the head. After all as Matt Damon says at the beginning of "Rounders". "Here's the thing, if you can't spot the sucker at the table in the first 30 min. then YOU ARE the sucker." Phil's first chapter will help you spot the suckers and then when you have a hand you can take their chips. The next chapter talks about what hand you can play with confidence. He calls it his "top 10 hands" they are as follows....AA,KK,QQ,AK,JJ,1010,99,AQ,88,77. If you have one of these hands you can play with confidence. (He later talks about other hands to enter with and strategies to play them after the flop). I realized after reading this chapter that I was indeed an "elephant" I played in entirely too many hands, and over time was losing money due to entering with weak hands.Once I began applying Phil's strategy that not only is tight, right; but TIGHTER is right. If you enter pots with the hands Phil recommends, you will be folding a lot. However the hands you do enter, the final result will often be a lot of chip coming your way. This is even more pronounced when there are a couple "jackals" at the table who are willing to call your raises or may even try to re-raise you. (In low stakes play there usually are more than one jackal at the table too) For any poker player(esp. limit/no limit hold 'em) I recommend this book, for any beginner I HIGHLY reccomend this book. (for intermediate players I reccomend Doyle Brunson's "Super System") Phil's text flows in a way that is both easy to read and understand. I haven't lost money in a home game since reading this book. Thank you Phil! For this price this is the best poker book I am familiar with. BUY THIS BOOK FIRST!

Hellmuth, a seven time world champion, and all around smart guy, provides a book that assumes the reader knows nothing about poker. The basics are explained with clarity. Then Phil discusses the math, game theory, and strategy in various poker games with an emphasis on Hold 'Em, the most complex (most interesting) and most popular form of tournament and casino poker. If you're already an Eagle (Phil classifies players according to type, such as the Mouse, the Elephant, the Jackal, etc. Eagles are birds capable of feathering their nests with millions of dollars from poker) this would be an interesting book for the insight it provides into the mind of another certified Eagle. If you're a beginner or intermediate with Eaglelike aspirations, this is the best primer around. It's not the only book you'll need to read, but it will teach you the language and strategies of poker. Then the manuals written for advanced players will make sense and you'll gain much more from them than if you just jumped in to one of them. One caveat: before you jump into a game for real money, finish the book. Don't get fired up after a chapter or two and hit the poker room at the Bellagio expecting to clean up. In poker, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. FINISH THE BOOK before you open your wallet.