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Card Player Magazine, February 13, 2008
(A review of "Elements of Poker" -- written by Tim Peters -- first published in Card Player Magazine, February 13 2008.)
To discover what we really need in a new poker book, let's first examine what we really don't need. A list of starting hands. A reminder that "tight is right." How to play a flush draw in limit. I could go on.
So what do we need? We need Tommy Angelo's excellent new book that covers 144 "elements" of poker (the title, no doubt, harks to The Elements of Style by Strunk and White). We need to develop our own selection of starting hands, by position; he provides a chart. We need to learn to play "mum poker," which "is not about not talking. It's about not talking about certain things, namely, poker things." We need to learn about "the path of leak resistance" (say, avoiding the pits: "When a poker player plugs the leak, or tries to, he walks the path of leak resistance"). We even need to learn how to fold: not what to fold, but how to fold: you "fastfold" when "you muck your hand as soon as you know you are beat" because (a) it's courteous and (b) it reduces your information outflow.
"Fastfold" is one of the many words and terms Angelo has coined (and his great verbal dexterity makes the book a pleasure to read; lively, entertaining, and interesting as well as instructive). He credits himself with the creation of the word "hijack" for the seat one to the right of the cutoff (because a raised from that seat "hijacked" Angelo from the button). Another one I particularly relished was "bliscipline," a combination of bliss and discipline: "when you are at the table and you are so totally in control of yourself and so totally at peace in the situation that no matter what happens next, you'll still have plenty of resolve in reserve."
"Bliscipline" is what you need to survive and win at poker; bliscipline is what you need to achieve--another Angelo-ism--"tiltlessness." While I still believe the definite work on tilt is Zen the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips (see my review in Card Player, April 25, 2007), Angelo is the new poet of tilt, which he defines as "any deviation from your A-game and your A-mindset, however slight or fleeting." Everybody tilts; "To make money from tilt, you don't need to be tiltless. But you do have to tilt less."
Tilt less; win more. How? "To win at poker, you have to be very good at losing." And that requires practice. Learn to become "hopeless" ("if I am hopeful that I will win, it is inevitable that I will sometimes be disappointed"). Recognize that poker is the "mother fluctuater" (which is "why it's best to not give a fluc"). Understand that the "gray area"--that huge swath of poker where you simply don't know what to do--is just another part of the game. Do not "resist reality": "Extreme resistance is extreme pain."
And we need to learn how to breathe (i.e., mindfully: "to elevate your calmness"). It sounds like New Age claptrap, but Angelo has made me a believer in the power of controlled, conscious breathing, which helps you step away from bad beats and losses: "By eliminating the past, and eliminating the future, we give ourselves this present." Very Zen, but, I think, very true--and very helpful (if you put it to work).
Elements of Poker does offer some traditional strategic on limit, no-limit, and tournament poker. Angelo is eloquently persuasive, for example, about the supreme importance of position, and there's a good section on the "dollar value" of your stack/position in tournament poker. But read this book for its understanding of the more subtle "elements of poker." Then read it again.
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Tommy Angelo gives you credit for having a winning A-game. His point is that every minute you spend playing your C-game is costing you a ton compared to spending that minute in your A-game. I certainly know that if I played my A-game 100% of the time, I would be a substantially better player. Tommy's book has helped me get closer to 100% A-game; I suspect it can do that for most people.
Look, serious poker players don't talk about Elements of Poker much because, well, they'd just as soon play against your C-game than against your A-game. But I promise you that the best serious players have this book and review it often, particularly when things aren't going well.
Read Elements of Poker and watch your C-game diminish from your life. It never leaves completely, unfortunately, but Tommy Angelo can help you keep it mostly behind you.
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Disclaimer: Tommy Angelo is a friend of mine. Then again, I have other friends who have written poker books but I haven't written reviews like this for their books.
I said this is a strategy book, but the actual content is also unlike other strategy books: it's more a "preparation" book -- both mentally and how to conduct yourself at the table. For this reason it's a really great book for any online players who want to prepare for the unique issues with live poker. There's also a lot of material on game and seat selection. But most of all, the sections on tilt will probably be the most valuable to many readers.
The limit hold 'em strategy section is relatively short, but it does an excellent job of summarising some key features of the game. Tommy calls anytime he is heads-up or three-way and last to act with the initiative a "bread and butter situation". He then says his goal is to maximise the number of bread and butter situations he's in -- which must be by playing raise-or-fold when first-in outside the blinds or when no more than two players have voluntarily entered. His limit hold 'em game selection advice similarly summarises the principal issue:
"If it's bad for you if you limp, then it's good for you if they do. Sit in games with limpers." (p.206)
The rare combination of great advice and great style make this book a highly worthwhile read.
To discover what we really need in a new poker book, let's first examine what we really don't need. Read more
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