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51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ultra-reliable information, 7 Jul 2003
David Sklanksy is actually a very funny man (if you don't believe this look for his wry cardplayer articles about his experiences as a young player). Of course, this book is not very funny at all; it's written in the reassuringly dry style of all his other 2+2 efforts, but everything in the text is gold.It is obvious from this book why Sklansky is the leading theorist in poker: his ideas are insightful, and his writing is authoritative and so thoroughly researched that the reader has complete confidence in each point. For the UK player this is Sklanksy's most important collection since the seminal "Theory of Poker". (If you play mid-limit stud or hold'em then "...for the advanced player" is as important.) Do you think you know everything in here already? If you are a typical UK tournament poker you've got a lot to learn from this book. You probably know the "Gap Concept" between hands that can call a raise and those that can raise, but you aren't aware of situations where you should refrain from eliminating players (page 80). I'm certain that this particular play is unknown to the small-buyin tourney player as I get a strategy lecture for using it. This is the book that contains Sklansky's controversial article "The System" (page 122). In it, he implicitly attacks the no-limit structure in hold'em tournaments and gives case studies of amateur players neutralizing most of the professional's edge without post-flop betting. Subsequent articles (e.g. from D. Neagranu) have endorsed the message that Pot Limit is the more skillfull game, so perhaps "The System" presages the end of NLH's supremacy. (The Cadillac of Poker was driven to the top of the gambling heap by the Texas Road-Gambler's dominance of '70s poker, and might be considered a historical accident. If the championship events had been decided by the Californian players we'd all be studying NL lowball; which might be the game-of-the-future because its more TV friendly. In fact, some of the examples here are taken from lowball.) I have to quibble with the Sklansky/Malmuth house style. The fifth chapter is a deliberate rehash of the preceding material in the guise of "Questions & Answers", and to bulk-up the page count they re-use their old trick of inserting large images of the cards instead of describing them. However, if there exists any chance that you don't know everything already, an investment in this book will prove very profitable.
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by Dan Harrington
by Gus Hansen
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