[kudzudemon]

If I may, with standard rock crit/music snob conceit, follow your stream of thought on the poker/music comparison…

When I was actively writing about music, I was asked several times to participate in one of those “Best Rock Albums of All Time” polls. In virtually every one, at least for the first few years, the winner was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles. Almost every critic who remembered it’s release voted for it, and mentioned it’s influence, it’s impact, and it’s historical perspective. Almost every essay written in it’s support was washed in nostalgic musing and generational tyranny. I became embroiled in more than a few debates when I questioned it’s brilliance, and mentioned that everything about it was hideously dated. Whatever it’s merits, it was a chore to listen to. It wasn’t, to my thinking, even the best work of the Beatles, let alone all time. I argued that other albums, while a bit less “influential”, maintained a vibrancy that transcended their era as Sgt. Pepper failed to do. As years passed, and others began to chime in, the domination of Sgt. Pepper in these polls began to diminish, and, while it deservedly retained it’s rep as a landmark album, it was being seen more and more as “overrated”.

Hold ‘em Poker for Advanced Players is the “Sgt. Pepper” of poker books. It was, at one time, the industry standard, and it still contains immutable concepts that remain mathematically and technically correct. But the game has evolved so much that deeper study of it’s ideas and concepts has become a necessity. It’s ideas have been expanded upon so well, in later books, some by the same writers, that it seems a bit superfluous now. I wouldn’t say, as you did, that it “isn’t a very good book”…a bit clumsy and dated, perhaps, but not BAD.

Mason, your claim to HPFAP’s historical significance is irrelevant to it’s overrated/underrated status. And, frankly, the declaration that HPFAP is underrated seems a bit over-compensatory and downright silly.

SUPER/SYSTEM, because of it’s influence and it’s popular perception, is probably the most overrated, even though most serious players see through it pretty easily and don‘t rate it highly to begin with; it‘s overrated status comes from it‘s undeserved rep and technical holes, not simply from it‘s obsolescence.

So…let’s review:

Hold ‘em for Advanced Players=Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles

Super/System=Eagles Greatest Hits

A few good songs, but mostly mediocre radio pap; the sizzle don’t make the steak

Ace on the River=Sail Away, by Randy Newman

Maybe too subtle, and not your standard rock album; rewards the serious listener and open mind

Theory of Poker=Robert Johnson-The Complete Recordings

The blueprint from whence it all springs

Tournament Poker for Advanced Poker=Frampton Comes Alive

May have served a purpose once, but now you’re just kind of embarrassed that you haven’t sold it on Ebay already

Small Stakes Hold ‘em=The Sun Sessions by Elvis Presley

Still valid after all these years

Inside the Poker Mind=Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan

Will redefine what you thought you knew

Poker Essays 1-3=The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis-Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland

Despite their inherent representation of their era, they still resonate with power and depth

Harrington on Hold ‘em 1and 2=In Utero by Nirvana and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco

Modern classics…well, In Utero is over fifteen years old, but they’re a damn sight more modern than the rest of the hippy-dippy cosmic moo-juice crap I still listen to

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells=Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols

A lot of noise, and stylistically antiquated…but still valid


No Limit Hold ‘em; Theory and Practice=All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2

The jury is still out, but it sure feels like a classic

Play Poker Like the Pros=Destroyer by Kiss

Admit it…you still have your copy; can’t throw it away, can ya? That’s okay…it’s better than you think…I mean, it has it’s place, right?

Okay, it sucks…eff you, I still like it...