Product Description: The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky discusses theories and concepts applicable to nearly every variation of the game, including five-card draw (high), seven-card stud, hold ’em, lowball draw, and razz (seven-card lowball stud). This book introduces you to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, its implications, and how it should affect your play. Other chapters discuss the value of deception, bluffing, raising, the slow-play, the value of position, psychology, heads-up play, game theory, implied odds, the free card, and semibluffing.
Many of today’s top poker players will tell you that this is the book that really made a difference in their play. That is, these are the ideas that separate the experts from the typical players. Those who read and study this book will literally leave behind those who don’t, and most serious players wear the covers off their copies. This is the best book ever written on poker.
as advertised everything was great with my purchase... the book was in good condition as advertised, and it was shipped in timely fashion. recommended seller
Won't change your game overnight, but a must read As many have noted, the general idea of what Sklansky tells you isn't revolutionary. It's downright simple. Basically, if you could know exactly what's in someone's hand, there would be a correct play that would be better than all others, and give you the best chance of winning. Each time you play a hand differently than this you are giving your opponent an advantage. And each time you play it correctly, you are giving yourself a better chance of winning.
Of course you can't actually see the cards in your opponent's hand. But starting with this as the goal, you begin to realize what kinds of questions you should be asking each time your enter a hand and what kind of information you want to find out in order to give yourself the best chance of winning.
A lot of the specific information in this book has been disseminated through a variety of sources and you may find yourself reading something that you think you already know or think somebody else said. Well guess what? It started here. But like any information the further you get from the primary source, the more likely it is to have been corrupted by someone's misinterpretation or attempt at improving upon the original idea. It's really one of the best texts for the fundamental theory of poker and to help ground your decision making.
No you may not use this like you would Doyle's Supersystem to change your game immediately, but it's the kind of important information that your game would be hollow without.
Not recommended This book might have been very good ages ago, but we there are a lot of better poker books by now. I found nothing new after browsing through the whole book, and it was also very boring.
There are better books for complete beginners. There are better books on advanced aspects of the game.
Not enough explanation For understanding strategy this is a good book. Good depth on bluffing, drawing out bluffs, etc. But if you're looking for an explanation on how to compute odds or "do the math" of poker this isn't the book for you. Since most of the understanding of the strategies revolves around how you "do the math" I would say this book is lacking in proper explanations on the probabilities. But, if you know how to "do the math" then this is a great book.
Theory of Poker by David Sklansky Great book. Covers all sorts of situations very clearly, and shows the mathematical side of the game as well. Would recommend this to any skill level.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
