[dubiousdrift]

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this book was very much aimed at beginners - or more like "2+2 beginners," people who have played some and know they're making mistakes but not really why or how. for example, everything up to REM is pretty close to how i was taught when i started in 2001, and it really helped me.


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Bingo - You hit this target audience squarely on the head. I tend to read a lot, so all the traditional topics were pretty familiar to me. I have read about all the basics topics, much of the fundamentals topics and even many of the REM topics in other texts. But still I was frustrated because, while I've read more than any of my home-game peers, I still was not able to crush my home game, and even worse - didn't understand why.

While I could understand these topics, I struggled to integrate them into my own game. This book, more than anything else, has given me a framework to for the concepts (REM), the tools to make it work (SPR), and the confidence to make the adjustments in a controlled manner (Hand Planning).

So much of what I have read in other places has come together here and something 'clicked'. I get pot size control now, I am more comfortable getting all in without the stone cold nuts (a big leak for me), I no longer have the compulsion to go broke with a hand that has triskaidekaphobia (another big leak). It doesn't do any good to understand the concepts if you can't apply them. For me, this book is about taking the information out of the theoretical realm and into the applied knowledge realm. I still have a lot to learn and plenty to practice, but my sincere thanks to the authors for shortening my journey.

As an aside, I got this note from a friend of mine who I regularly play against. He just got his copy after many delays at B&N:
"I'm up to the examples of applying the fundamentals. And I'll say this:
Its going to be VERY interesting the next time you and I get mixed up in a hand."