Strategy in Poker, Business & War

Rating:
Summary: Strategy, good, but kind of unsatisfying
Review: Okay, over all I like this book. I don't know exactly what I thought this book would provide. I think I was looking for a little more game theory than what this provided me. It is short, and pretty good, so I would have to say it is worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Strategy Primer
Review: This book is really a study of games - specifically strategical games such as poker. Strategical games are those where information is imperfect. The author uses poker as a model for describing strategy in business, war, and politics - Three of life's other strategical games.

He correctly deduces that the optimal strategy in poker is not to have one - that is, to vary unpredictably. Poker playing requires deception, and to do that, the poker hand "must be concealed behind a mask of inconsistency," as he puts it. This is critical poker knowledge, but you don't have to buy the book for that.

He makes the important observation that the winning strategy in general is to have better information than one's opponent. Thus, poker players bluff representations of strength and weakness, in order to deny information about their hands to their opponents. People involved in capital markets try to get better, faster information (e.g. "real time quotes") because that is the only way to win.

Don't buy any poker books besides this one. It has everything you need. Don't buy any other gambling books - no sense wasting more money on games you can't win. As for business, war, and politics, this book describes a good "mindset" for thinking about these fields.