I am sure David Apostolico could write a wide array of other genres, because among poker writers his form is right up there with John Vorhaus. He does give way to Vorhaus in terms of style, and well, let’s say – zestyness, but his tame approach has merit as well.

Better known for his philosophical endeavors, the writer who penned comparisons in poker strategy to that of Szun Tzu and Machiavelli, Apostolico takes on here a much more precise, real life reconstruction of tournament hands he either witnessed or participated while playing in the Professional Poker Tour.

The PPT is an offshoot of the WPT productions but is a smaller field of invited professionals only. So while you may not have heard of David Apostolico too much, many of the hands discussed here include the top rated poker names that you will easily be able to put faces to as the hand is played out and analyzed.

As this is David Apostolico’s first poker book as an actual analyst I was surprised to read fairly strong, to excellent recreations of the hand action that quelled my internet-driven desire to see all that I was reading on video. In fact, because of the familiar names, it was quite easy to get caught up in the confrontations and then get a chance to read and think about Apostolico’s analysis while judging the players that participated in the hand.

A couple of situations involved Doyle Brunson making some truly amazing laydowns for what seemed to be inconsequential pots. Apostolico pointed these hands out indicating Brunson’s true talent and that as a seasoned pro that knew how to conserve chips for better opportunities. There are other equally captivating hands that make the book worthwhile in themselves.

The book coagulates in chapters by categorizing some popular hands and how to play them, specific opportunities and how he applies them in tournaments, and broad strategic concepts that may help your over all thought process when entering tournaments.

All this amidst most of the best players in the world, and a chance to go over everyone’s thought process for that particular hand. If I could say anything negative about the book, it would be that little bit of pizzaz! that makes some books stick to your hip until you’ve finished reading them may be lacking. With all these great characters involved in each hand, a little background and side notes might have helped in that regard.

That is being picky though, because at 15 bucks this book packs a lot of value if you want to get better at tournaments. I could stack 3 or 4 other particular tournament books together and they wouldn’t carry the weight of this valuable little paper-back.

By: Marty Smith

It only takes a few minutes to pick up the basics of poker and start your career learning the finer elements of the great card game. In this article, I’ll get you started straight away.

Poker is a fascinating game. Did you know that it is the card game where skill plays the greatest part? Even better than Blackjack. Anyway, here are the basics of the game.

The most common type of poker is Texas Holdem. There are other less popular ones like Omaha, but most people when they say “poker” mean Texas Holdem.

The aim of the game is to have the best hand at the end. I’ll come to the types of hands later but you have probably heard of things like “two pairs” or “full house” already.

First, everybody gets two of their own cards. Then the dealer will put five “community” cards in the centre of the table that are shared by everyone. So from a total of seven cards you can make your own hand.

But the best bit about poker is that the community cards are slowly revealed and betting rounds take place. So the longer you want to stay in the game, the more money people will challenge you to put up. If someone raises and places a lot of money down for everyone else to match to stay in – are they holding good cards or just bluffing? This is the beauty of poker!

You don’t win every game of poker. Every time you fold, you lose a little money but at least you live to fight another day and if you play well, then your winning pots should far exceed the small cost of participating and folding.

By: Donnie Carter