Opinions on Sklansky's "Hold'em Poker for Advanced Play |
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Posted Sat May 08, 2004 10:15 pm GMT by Avatar
Just picked up Sklansky's Advanced book today.
The biggest problem I have with this book, thus far, is the grammar is repulsive and lacks in flow most of the time. Could they not have had someone edit this book, with more than a high school education?
I just read through the sections on which hole cards to play. They recommend playing lots of hands and raising in lots of situations. Ie - raising with 2-4s in later position with none or one player calling the original blind. I see what their getting at (taking control), but some of these suggestions seem dangerous and costly to apply.
For those who have read the book. How good did you find the information? Is the information pretty bang on? And how long did it take you (personally) to master or fully comprehend the ton of information they present in this text?
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Posted Sat May 08, 2004 11:40 pm GMT by TheMrLegendary
Mason Malmuth and David Sklansky are both poker players and state they have made a living playing poker all there lives. I say they state this, I haven't seen it or heard of it from anyone but themselves so you can see my point...not calling them outright liars but I don't trust 99% of poker players in what they say....then again by that rational don't trust me...which is perfectly fair.
David himself plays a rather...tight....safe game. Though he does talk about playing aggressive poker. Then again what poker book says ok you can only play AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AKs and the rest is garbage. Many say just about the same thing. Granted David and Mason have successfully published over 20 poker books and have made 2+2 Publishing high successful.
OK OK my personal view, read his books, and read them all, after you read all of Ken Warrens books, or atleast his newest one on holdem. If you want to play stictly holdem poker...I wouldn't focus on much of Davids stuff. In many of his books he talks about examples in certain situations and brings up examples of draw poker or stud. These are very helpful to people who play them all and those players have a better chance of using them and applying them to holdem. Though most players I have run into online play mostly 1 game of poker or another and dont often play any others. This is the biggest flaw in their books I have seen other than the previously mentioned poor flow of words and it does appear to be edited by someone with a loose grasp on the english language. I am not saying I am an english major, though my wife is. It is clearly poorly written, even though they mention in the beginning that they want to convey their poker knowledge not top notch grammer. I do recommened their books to anyone, but if you say hey Ill read all of 2+2 published books then quit my job, move to Vegas and wonder why I lose, dont be at all surprised. You take any respectable course in school you always read a variety of books with many authors to get the whole picture, just as you should in poker. GOOD LUCK!
Posted Sun May 09, 2004 1:12 pm GMT by Avatar
Lengendary, thanks for the reply.
Ya I did read their little excerpt about "don't be hard on us..we're not english majors". But come on..this is a published book. There really is no excuse. I could write more fluidly in grade 8. They should have hired someone with some knowledge of the english language to edit it. They would have gotten better reviews and even probably would have sold more copies.
Let me give an example for those of you who have not read this book.
Bottom of page 29 - "It also helps to have tight players in the blinds. If this is not the case, it is probably best to only call with these hands (referring to hands A-J and K-Q). And if someone has limped in who is likely to hold a dangerous hand such as A-A or A-Ks - you should consider folding."
Consider folding?! How on earth is one to know if someone ahead of you has limped in with pocket rockets? They don't explain it any further. They just end the sentence and move onto a new topic. It was like both of them just brain farted at the same time. Who in their right mind would fold A-J or K-Q in middle position when they only have to call one bet, and only one person ahead of them has gone in?
Anyways, Legendary, can you recall any advice given in their Hold'em Advanced book that you found unpractical and costly when attempting to implement it into your own game?
Posted Sun May 09, 2004 7:03 pm GMT by Wada
Oh ya... Ive been saying the same damn thing throughout the entire time I tried to comprehend what the hell they were saying.
I had to go back over and over just to try and make sense of the sentence rather than what they are actually trying to convey about poker.
I sometimes have caught several things that made sense and I know would help me. But I have to re-read things several times to actually absorb the ideas and philosophies behind their strategies in order to remember them. And then I'll be able to use them in actual play. I just said screw it and ended up reading the entire book to the finish rather than trying to dissect the book. I wanted to get through it to get the overall picture of the book and get to know how the book was laid out.
What helped me to understand them better was to put the book down and I started to read "Hold'em Poker" first. Then I went on to read the Advanced book.
Both books mention the hand rankings and have them separated into Groups. The only time they are mentioned is in the beginning of the book. He hardly refers back to the groupings throughout the book. Since I am a rookie poker player, Im not sure if there is a reason behind this. It could be that at this point in my playing level, I do not understand why he starts with hand groupings but rarely refers back to it. I noticed that the book is extremely dynamic just like an actual game of poker. The way the book is written is completely complicated and that might be because poker (especially Holdem) is so hard to explain especially when dealing with many different situations. Having that in mind, its the only reason why I can possibly understand why the book does not flow or sometimes make sense right away.
You are right. There could have been some editing done. These guys should have sat down with a decent writer and discuss what he was actually trying to say. And then have it interpreted on paper with proper grammar.
I think the book will still help us either way. It is a guide for us. It is alot better than nothing. You (and I) will probably gain about 6 months of playing experience (or even more) just from reading the book and not actually playing.
So in answer to your question in your first post - I am still trying to learn from his books after having them for two months. I will re-read it over and over until I understand what he is trying to say. Heck I might not ever be able to understand it all but if I get just one main point - I know I am better off than I was when I first started.
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