Poker, Gaming, and Life

Rating:
Summary: Precise as Always
Review: Among serious amateurs, semi-professional and professional players, David Sklansky is THE author to read.

"Poker, Gaming and Life" is collection of articles that have appeared in "Card Player" and similar specialist magazines during the 1990s. The bulk of them are on poker, and reading them one is reminded that Sklansky almost invented the serious, logical, and carefully reasoned approach to the game based on statistics and probablity. An entire generation of winning players has been the result, changing poker forever.

Sklansky isn't a great writer, and his style suffers from too much passive voice. But every essay is well thought out, and his conclusions hard to dispute. Since the pieces are almost all short, this book is somewhat easier to read than his full length treatments of specific games.

The last section finds the author in a more relaxed mood, as he tries to apply some of the mathematical and statistical principles of poker to more general "life" topics.

One small criticism - some of the articles and examples apply to games that were once common in public cardrooms, but for one reason or another have all but disappeared now. For a younger player unfamiliar with Jacks or better draw poker, or Razz, this can be a little confusing.

Its hard to imagine any David Sklansky book that won't improve your poker - this one, although not essential, should provide some thoughtful and informative reading.

Rating:
Summary: Precise as Always
Review: Among serious amateurs, semi-professional and professional players, David Sklansky is THE author to read.

"Poker, Gaming and Life" is collection of articles that have appeared in "Card Player" and similar specialist magazines during the 1990s. The bulk of them are on poker, and reading them one is reminded that Sklansky almost invented the serious, logical, and carefully reasoned approach to the game based on statistics and probablity. An entire generation of winning players has been the result, changing poker forever.

Sklansky isn't a great writer, and his style suffers from too much passive voice. But every essay is well thought out, and his conclusions hard to dispute. Since the pieces are almost all short, this book is somewhat easier to read than his full length treatments of specific games.

The last section finds the author in a more relaxed mood, as he tries to apply some of the mathematical and statistical principles of poker to more general "life" topics.

One small criticism - some of the articles and examples apply to games that were once common in public cardrooms, but for one reason or another have all but disappeared now. For a younger player unfamiliar with Jacks or better draw poker, or Razz, this can be a little confusing.

Its hard to imagine any David Sklansky book that won't improve your poker - this one, although not essential, should provide some thoughtful and informative reading.