Book Review: Phil Hellmuth’s ‘Play Poker like the Pros’
When I first started getting really into poker, I spent a long time reading poker books in the book store, trying to figure out which one was most worth my time and money, which would make me the best player in the shortest amount of time. While there are a lot of legendary books out there, including ones by Phil Gordon, David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, and just about everyone else you’ve seen on High Stakes Poker, the one that I felt was the easiest introduction to the game, that did the clearest, cleanest job of introducing basics and intermediate ideas to winning at Texas Holdem, was Phil Hellmuth’s ‘Play Poker Like the Pros.’
Hellmuth’s book begin with the basics, the nuts and bolts of poker, such as positions and betting structure, as well as Hellmuth’s top ten hands and how to play them preflop and postflop. A lot of the information offered in the early sections is stuff most semi-experienced poker players have become well versed in, but it is laid out well and is a good thing to gloss over, and definitely a good map for the newbie.
More interesting across the board is Hellmuth’s breakdown of actually applying these hands to various situations. He breaks down each of his hands and how they should work with the flop and other player’s betting. He doesn’t get into a lot of position play or bluffing, but is more concerned with just the basics of playing good, back to basics old school poker.
While I wouldn’t recommend this book to players who have gotten a grasp on the intermediate play of poker, I do think it is one of the best beginner’s tools and an important primer in the heart of the game. Though if you are looking for advanced strategy and gambling theory, you’d do best to jump on ahead.
