Book Reviews

Small Stakes Holdem

When the Hold'Em explosion hit poker rooms across America, hundreds of thousands of inexperienced players were beginning to play limit Hold 'Em for the first time. The number still grows today, as poker rooms continue to expand around the country. As a result, 2+2 Publishing put their stamp on the low-limit world with this instant classic, Small Stakes Hold 'Em: Winning Big With Expert Play.

In sharp contrast with their previous writings such as Hold 'Em Poker For Advanced Players, Ed Miller and company suggest playing a new brand of poker. Instead of playing relatively weak-tight for the games today, they suggest playing more pots and playing much more aggressively. The fact that you play better poker and don't play marginal-to-hopeless hands means that you'll exploit your opponents tendencies to offset your slightly looser-than-normal play.

For example, they will recommend in many spots to raise with such marginal hands as A-Ts, even from an early position. The reason behind their logic is today's games are so soft that players will give you action with even weaker hands almost like clockwork. They even advocate some plays that might seem strange to the typical middle-limit player, like raising into a crowd on the button with a hand like A-Js.

Again, this is all a drastic change from previous writings, even on low-limit games. The logic in the past about raising with marginal hands out of position was that if you get action behind you, you are beat and are drawing already. The problem with these previous thoughts is that in games today, players are cold-calling two, three and even four bets with almost any two cards. A typical $3-6 Hold 'Em game could have as many as six players on average seeing a flop.

To beat these games today, you must adjust your style of play. Some of the topics and strategies in here can translate into higher-stakes games, but typically these are best kept to the white chip games and loose middle-limit games.

Overall, if you want to stand a chance in the 'no fold 'em' games of today, you must adjust your strategy drastically. This book offers most players a good guideline how to do just that.

Review by Jon Eaton

Biggest Game in Town

Probably the most famous book about big-time poker, A. Alvarez's Biggest Game takes you back into the first years of tournament poker. Set around the World Series Of Poker in the early '80s, Alvarez wrote at length about the people and places that make up the poker world back then.

Probably the best part about the book is that it's not quite as 'linear' as most other books. Alvarez doesn't go from chapter-to-chapter describing the rounds of the tournament, nor does he even go through in an real discernable order. This is a collection of stories and events throughout the early part of the poker days that have become legend today.

When I read this book, I wanted to actually see these poker events take place. I have since seen videos of the old World Series tapes you could by in the Horseshoe gift shop, but none of them do the job that this book does in depicting the glory days of Doyle Brunson and the gang. If you really want to 'see' what it was like back then, this book is as close as you will get.

Alvarez writes on a level that is perceivable by the novice poker player, and also writes from a fairly independent viewpoint. That is, Alvarez was a poker player himself, but unlike players like Phil Hellmuth and the likes, he has no vested interest in the business of poker, therefore, he writes very openly and honestly and the people and places around him.

His observations of the opening events of the 1981 World Series Of Poker, leading up to the conclusion of Stu Ungar's championship, are definitely the best passages ever written about poker. The entire time, I felt like I was immersed in the smoke-filled poker rooms of the early '80s, and that I was actually watching Ungar take down his second title in a row.

I've read a lot of books that have tried to emulate this book, but no one has come close. If you're looking for a true classic about the game of poker, then Alvarez wrote this one just for you. Any true poker fan should try and pick up a copy of this and read it at one point.

Review by Jon Eaton

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story

After a long delay, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is finally seeing domestic release. The film was extremely successful at the major film festivals and has been eyed by poker players for a while, but had yet to pick up distribution throughout the US.

Finally, New Line Cinema picked up the project and has put it on the Starz movie network, with the DVD version hitting shelves on March 15th. I recently had a chance to view the movie, which was a relief since I had been waiting for over a year to see it!

Michael Imperioli, of The Sopranos fame, stars as Stu Ungar. Imperioli transforms himself into Ungar very well. While he is not a spitting-image replacement for Ungar, he pulls of the part perfectly.

The story, which was written, directed and produced by A. W. Vidmer, is accurate enough that I consider it the only true biographical information on Ungar's life available. Vidmer takes us from his childhood days on the streets of New York to Stuey's troubled days in Las Vegas.

Others notably appearing are Vince Van Patten, Pat Morita, and the late Andy Glazer. Renee Faia, with a very limited acting resum', plays Ungar's wife Angela.

The film focuses more on Ungar's life than Poker. If you're sitting down to watch this movie with the mind set that you're going to watch a sequel to Rounders, then you will be disappointed.

However, if you're really interested in seeing a glimpse at the all-too-short life of one of the greatest poker players (and all-around card players) of our time, then this film is a definite hit.

One of the best aspects of High Roller is that it was painstakingly made with the intent to be accurate. I remember reading a Q&A with the filmmaker Vidmer about the process to write the script and it was very involved, even with some notes from his family.

One of the scenes I remember vividly was the final hand of his first World Series victory in 1980. I had to think to myself who he was playing heads up, because the actor they chose to portray Doyle Brunson was far from a Doyle-look-alike. Once I figured that out, I remembered the way the hand went down, and it was perfectly accurate. I appreciated the little details that they really strived to get down.

The lows of this film are few and far between, but there are obvious scenes of somewhat torturous dialogue from the less-experienced actors. The most noticeable are with Stu's childhood actor, and late in the film I had a hard time buying the father-daughter interaction. But with this being Vidmer's first major film and most of these actors not being A-list, there's little to complain about.

This film is extremely turbulent, much like Stu's life. You see Imperioli go from a wide-eyed 20-year-old to a down-and-out Vegas junkie. It's a rough ride at times and really tears at you to see such an amazing individual with the high-level of intellect that Ungar possessed go straight down the drain.

However, that's how it happened, and it's one of the best films about poker or poker players you'll see. I highly recommend this film to anyone with any interest in Stu Ungar's life.

Review by Jon Eaton

The Theory of Poker

If it seems like I keep reviewing books that are all excellent, it's because there are literally dozens of top-notch literature available today on poker. Theory is by far the one that should be at the top of the list. This classic by David Sklansky is definitely the one book that every poker player should have on their shelf.

In fact, I feel The Theory Of Poker one is so important, that it should be declared the true Bible of poker. Super System might have this label now, but I truly feel that this is the most important book a player can read on the subject.

Theory covers aspects of poker that are universal; that is, they can be used in any form of poker. It spells out in fairly plain English what every specific play and tool that there is available to you. While the actual writing itself is a little off (Sklansky and Malmuth admit in their 2+2 Publishing books that they aren't professional writers), it's not bad enough that anyone will have a hard time reading.

The topics covered in the book range from the fight for the ante, slow-playing, the free card, and the psychology behind poker. It's very well organized and each section includes a simple summary to review what you just read.

The important thing to realize about Theory isn't that it's a good book about poker, it's that your opponents have read it, too. Therefore, I feel anyone serious about poker is required to read this to get ahead of the curve. The more you know about what your opponent knows, the better off you are.

In short, if you have just one book to buy to learn about poker in general, this is definitely it. Be forewarned-this book reads like a textbook. It's not exactly fun to read, but then again, poker isn't about having fun, it's about making money.

Review by Jon Eaton