Bill Chen

Finally at last.
This is a book on poker that will hopefully change the way how this game is approached and analysed. Pretty much every poker book since Super/System has relied on some rudimentary maths for calculating pot odds and estimating hand values in potential showdowns, but this book takes it to a whole new level. Both authors are mathematicians and they clearly view the poker mind as a fire to be kindled rather than as a vessel to be filled. There is (with one remarkable exception) very little in terms of concrete advice on how to play a certain hand in a certain situation. Instead, the book tries to break the incredibly complex game of poker apart to more manageable parts and then find a mathematically correct way to approach the problem at hand.
Although the book really doesn't use any overly difficult or complex maths, it is not an easy reading for mere mortals. It is intense and tough going, but extremely revelatory. And, depending on your point of view, the best or worst part of it is that authors don't expect you to simply believe in what they are saying, they ask you to look and see by yourself.
I don't know if reading it makes you any better poker player than you currently are, but I am certain that working it through will change the way how you see and think about poker. What you do with it is up to you.… (meer)