Killer Poker: Strategy and Tactics for Winning Poker Play [Paperback]

Vorhaus is probably the most talented writer in the poker genre, which makes him, and particularly this book, very fun to read. More importantly, however, he covers the subjects most knowledgeable, but struggling players need to learn. By "knowledgeable", I mean we have read a few books, played a few years or more, and know a few tricks of the trade. If you have played very little poker and/or are still new to the game, then go ahead and read the basic strategy books and learn starting hand requirements, odds, how to play a drawing hand, etc. (there are about 14 million of them now to choose from)...but after you play awhile and feel you have hit the glass ceiling in your results, or maybe even getting worse, then read this book. Anybody who can read can learn the basics of poker, but what distinguishes big and consistent winners from the pack goes much deeper than what you can learn in a few pages of the typical poker book.

I am futures trader and this book reminds me of a book called "Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas. The premise of "Zone" was that more and better market analysis was NOT the key to more profitable trading, but the key was within you, your thinking. This may seem like the standard "positive mental attitude" baloney, which I despise, but it is not. It is a MINDSET. You'll have to read that book if you want the details, but the ideas in that book directly apply to poker (See also Way of the Warrior Trader by Richard McCall).

Vorhaus, without saying it in these terms, points out that to succeed beyond where standard and predictable poker strategy can take you, you need to develop a new mindset. He DOES NOT say you should start playing looser and wilder and with trash hands.....don't misinterpret my previous statement. The most successful poker players play with the same 52 cards we play with, get dealt the same good and bad hands we get dealt, and suffer the same bad beats we suffer (or worse), and yet they are consistently more successful than the rest of us. Why?......they have a different mindset. Vorhaus calls this "Killer Poker". Notwithstanding the undeniable reality, and often the disproportionate amount, of bad beats in poker, often at the hands of reckless idiots, particularly in hold'em, consistent success will come from a mindset that is different from, and superior than, that of the average player. Any amateur can catch a straight flush and bust a top player on occasion, but day-in and day-out, the consistent winner will be the player that thinks differently than the masses, and accepts and embraces the realities and risks of gambling in general, and poker specifically. The mental aspect of poker (or futures trading, investing, or risk-taking in general) is what separates winners and losers. How do you handle that bad beat? How do you handle winning a few big pots in a row? How do you control your emotions? How do you handle your mistakes? How do respond to a table bully? How do you evaluate your competitors? What is your edge? How do you take control of a table? How do you respond to cold cards? etc. These are the kinds of questions and issues (and many more) that top players are thinking about. You can rest assured that top players are not going to allow something as random and unpredictable as the cards they are dealt to determine whether or not they are successful in the long run. Since we all play with the same cards, have equal intelligence, why do they consistently outperform us? What is their edge? It is their mindset! They know the weaknesses and thought processes of the average player, and exploit them.

As the name would imply, Vorhaus advocates an aggressive style of play, but not a wild and uncontrolled dash to destruction, rather a purposed and targeted aggression with an end result in mind. Yes, for you poker students, a tight/aggressive approach as we were all taught, but he goes deeper and explains what this really means and how to apply it to your game.

Vorhaus also covers what EVERY poker player should do on a continual basis......seek and destroy your leaks. Over the long run, that occasional loose call costs you much more than you think. But Vorhaus, with logic that is remarkably similar to that in "Trading in the Zone", points out that leaks, or weaknesses, are not just innocent little errors, rather, they are the offspring of a much bigger and much more serious problem, a flawed mindset! A flawed mindset which is probably the source of numerous other "leaks" and mistakes that you are probably not even aware of. He teaches that a brutal self-examination is the only way to locate the source of these problems, which is where your efforts must be focused if you expect to correct these problems. SECRET: Just because you know of a specific fault in your game does NOT mean you know why you do it NOR does it mean you can correct it---no more than an alcoholic who knows he has a problem can just quit drinking. You have to fix the problem at the source.

Vorhaus, in connection with the tough self-evaluative approach he teaches, emphasizes the usefulness of keeping a journal of your play, among other things. Don't underestimate the importance of this. Keeping the right records can be VERY revealing.

Just as "Trading in the Zone" taught that more and better market analysis was NOT the key to success in trading and that real success came from the proper mindset; once you have learned the basics of poker, reading more and more poker books that say 95% of the same thing, will get you nowhere. It will be a WASTE.....OF.....TIME!! Spend that time studying your game and yourself. Find a few good books that teach you the basics and whatever advanced techniques you desire, and read them over and over and over. But along with that, to really succeed, you must improve your mindset. Killer Poker will help you do both, and much more.

As I said, there are countless books that cover the basics, and every poker player across the country in poker rooms or online has read many of them (I would highly recommend Winning Low-Limit Hold'em by Lee Jones for those new to hold'em and/or lacking in fundamentals), but Killer Poker is truly unique in that it covers the single most important aspect of your game.....you. Yes, I know that sounds cliché, but those "countless books" can TEACH you (the basics), but beyond a certain point, they can't really HELP you (take you to the next level), Killer Poker can, and along the way you will enjoy an interesting and entertaining writer. Killer Poker and "Improve Your Poker" by Bob Ciaffone are the 2 books that have truly helped me the most. Since you are my competition, feel free to NOT read either one of them.

I've read 5 or 6 poker books. They all deal with details of starting hands and how to play and so on. The problem is not so much that we don't know how to play well, it's that we don't do what we know we're supposed to do. We are victims of our own emotions and bad habits.

John Vorhaus has an easy humorous syle that shows us thru examples and excercises how to get better control of the beast within us that encourages us to play badly.

This is not to say that there is no playing strategy. Luckily,
by simplifying starting hand selection with his "absolut" and "small card poison" ideas, my own play online has improved very noticeably. He has also simplified understanding of the odds so that you can use your mind for playing instead of computing.

He provides many excercises that you can use no matter what methods you currently follow that WILL improve your game. This of course pertains to players that may need to improve their game.
If I were only going to read one poker book before playing this would be it.

Books that concentrate too heavily on strategy treat poker as if it were a strictly mathematical excercise. Poker isn't blackjack. With poker it's decisions within decisions within decisions. Mental discipline doesn't come easy, we need to work at it. For me this is the BEST poker guide to that end.

This is the worst book I have ever read about poker,and I have more than 20.This is not a book for serious poker player at all,it may teach some compulsive gamblers how to reduce their losses but nothing more.I paid $4 for it and I regret for buying it,don't waste your money.(I am not surprised that used copy of it goes for $1+shipping)