Book Details:
Theory of Poker - Pub. Date: July 1999; ISBN-13: 9781880685006; 276 pages

Power Poker Course’s Book Review:

Most people, when they first learn how to play offline or online poker, don't realize how complex it can be in practice. It seems simple at first glance: you should bet when you're going to be the winner, and you should save your money when you're going to lose. If only it were that simple! The fact that you can't see your opponent's cards (and they can't see yours) changes everything. It's a guessing game, and playing the probabilities is what is ultimately important to win at this game.

And that's where The Theory of Poker comes in. There are many good books out there that tell you what you should do here or there, but if you want to evolve past the novice stages of prescribed scenario poker plays, then at some point you'll need to start thinking for yourself. TTOP was the first book that changed my, and countless other professional poker players', way of thinking about the game. It doesn't tell you what decision to make in a given situation, but rather, it tells you what information you should consider and think through before making your decision.

Sklansky begins by explaining what he describes as the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, which is a simple statement with such profound implications that it usually takes years of experience to truly understand this concept. And it's much the same with the rest of the book – chances are that you'll think you will understand it fully at first, and then many years later, you'll come back to read it and say "Ohhh!" As such, this book isn't for the amateur, but reading it early in a poker career certainly won't hurt your game – but be warned that you'll need to read it several times throughout your poker playing lifetime to fully absorb the powerful content that is contained within its pages.

The simple fact is that there are just too many complicated discussions, on a variety of advanced topics, for intermediate and even the majority of advanced players to absorb it fully in one read. Topics include free cards, empirical odds, the value of deception, the semi-bluff, when to slow-play and when to raise -- the list goes on and on. This book was written before the Hold 'Em explosion -- so it uses different forms of poker equally to explain some of the universal poker concepts that will come up even in a game such as Seven-Card Stud or Razz.

To put it bluntly, no matter what type of poker you're playing, this book is something you must read if you ever wish to have better than a mediocre understanding of the game. Other books try to explain these things, but they just don't hold a candle to this fine text. At times this book can be hard going, because it isn't the most fun or exciting of books to read compared to many other books out there, but who cares about that if reading it will dramatically evolve your game forever? This is not a book to borrow to read – it's a book you need to buy and keep on your shelf as you will be referring to it over and over again in the years to come.


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