Professional No-Limit Hold 'em Volume 1 Review Thread

[jsbjoe]

I finally went out and bought this book. It is absolutely terrible. God awful. Shocking.

I confess that I did not read the whole book. I just couldn't continue. Fortunately, I bought the book at a local casino which allowed me to return it for credit the same day...

I got to page 53 of Professional No Limit Hold'em, Volume One. I would (generously) estimate the TOTAL amount of substantive content through page 53 at one and a half pages. I have never before read a book, of any kind, on any subject, with less content 50 pages in. For this, blame must be given not just to the authors, but also to the publisher. I just can't imagine how Mason let this thing go to press this way.

In addition to saying absolutely nothing, the book is dressed up to look like it is just chock full of stuff. When you look at the book on the shelf, you see this imposing tome, thick and substantial. And what a name:
PROFESSIONAL No Limit Hold'em, VOLUME ONE.

Wow. Look at how thick the first volume is. It's Professional! And only Volume One ! Three authors !!! There's more to follow! This must be the definitive treatise on no limit holdem. I can't wait to start reading it!!! Yeah, right.

It is so incredibly insulting to pay for a book, and spend the time to read 53 pages of it, and afterwards realize that the book hasn't even made a single statement (unless you count that it's ok to bluff for small amounts).

I am not interested in having someone tell me that I didn't give this idiotic text a chance. NO BOOK should take the reader this far with fluff, filler, and grandiose statements about what the book is about to, but does not, deliver.

In addition to the "content" itself, everything about the book is designed to add as many pages as possible. I'm talking about a typeface that's too large, line spacing (the spaces between the individual lines of type) that is so huge it actually makes the book harder to read, idiotic and unnecessarily huge card illustrations (a two plus two tradition), silly mathematical equations that take up a third of a page and which aren't necessary to make a point (were a point being made in the first place), an absolutely first grade chart (that occupies a third of a page) that says nothing more than how many big blinds a small and large stack are (and this has already been fully addressed in the text, to the tune at least a page of filler), filler pages that "introduce" each "section" of the book, (the book is replete with hyperbolic prose that promises the reader everything that the book is about to, but does not, deliver).

Again, the publisher shares in the blame for all of this. WHERE IS AN EDITOR WHEN YOU NEED ONE ??? And this is a shame, considering all the excellent books that Two Plus Two has put out.

A godawful book that severely insults the reader. I am taking all wagers on whether Two Plus Two releases a "Volume Two" to Professional No Limit Holdem. My money's on the under.