Play Poker Like the Pro’s review:
By Matt Jacobson (GambitMJ)
To begin with this book is probably not for the advanced all around player, but moreseo a beginner’s guide to all the widely played poker games including Texas Holdem. For an experienced Holdem player, the book is instrumental in teaching important elements of games he/she may not be as familiar with such as razz, seven card stud, Omaha and Stud 8/B. Mostly this book teaches starting requirements to enter a pot and how to deal with certain obstacles that may come up. This book is not only a teaching manual but Hellmuth throws in many of his own poker anecdotes, and of course promotes his greatness in the process!
In terms of the Limit and No limit Holdem sections, they are of course the longest sections in the book because of their vast popularity, but I believe them to be the weakest in the book. Mainly because there are so many more books that deal with the subject in such more depth and greater detail that Hellmuth’s section is inadequate and leaves much to be desired.
The other sections dealing with the miscellaneous poker games are a nice beginner’s guide with some insightful views on the different games and Phil’s best starting hand guide for each game. These are very useful for players just starting out, especially since less is known about these games and the best starting hands in games such as Stud 8/B are still disputed by pro’s.
The weakest section of the book, however is the one regarding Internet poker. For the most part Phil just talks about Ultimatebet.com (the site he endorses) and talks little or nothing about the intricacies of Internet poker. For the most part this section is simply filler, if it were left out entirely, nothing would be lost from the book.
Overall however, a solid book for the beginning player, or the advanced specialist wishing to diversify in games, but it still has some major weaknesses including its brevity on key topics.
