The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One by David Sklansky (PDF)

Description

The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky discusses theoriesand concepts applicable to nearly every variation of the game,including five-card draw (high), seven-card stud, hold ’em, lowballdraw, and razz (seven-card lowball stud). This book introduces you tothe Fundamental Theorem of Poker, its implications, and how it shouldaffect your play. Other chapters discuss the value of deception,bluffing, raising, the slow-play, the value of position, psychology,heads-up play, game theory, implied odds, the free card, andsemibluffing.Many of today’s top poker players will tell you that this is the bookthat really made a difference in their play. That is, these are theideas that separate the experts from the typical players. Those whoread and study this book will literally leave behind those who don’t,and most serious players wear the covers off their copies. This is thebest book ever written on poker.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Sklansky’s The Theory of Poker has generally been reguarded as a classic since its initial release. Along with Doyle Brunson’s Super System and Mike Caro’s Book of Poker Tells these three book were the the 1-2-3 knockout combo of poker books. Super System covered many main types of poker specifically, Caro’s Book of Tells covered much of the psychology of poker, but Sklansky’s Theory of Poker was quite different.Instead of focusing on one aspect of poker, Sklansky decided to focus on the “big picture”. Odds, psychology, information, using these things in combination to make the correct decisions is what poker is all about. And with The Theory of Poker Sklansky wrote a book that attempted to teach you how to do just that. Simply stated, if you make more correct decisions than your opponent, and make less wrong decisions, then in the long wrong, you will win. Luck is the thing that keeps beginners and gamblers coming back to try and “hit it big”. And it’s what keeps those in the know in the money.That said, this book is not the easiest read for the uninformed. I admit that I was one of those caught up in Poker big boom a few years ago but I have truly fell in love with it since then and have become a true student of the game. I have gone from dead money to a profitable player – and alot of that thanks goes to many of the books I have read by many great authors. In an attempt to categorize them to help beginners like myself choose what’s right for them (in order):Beginners:Phil Gordon’s The Real Deal – A very easy read to get beginners thinking about the game.Sklansky’s Hold’Em Poker – Not much more complicated than Phil’s book and offers more good ideas for the novice for getting started.Caro’s Book of Poker Tells – Pretty straight-forward. Even most beginners should be able to grasp the concept of the tells and the psychological aspects of poker. Just beware of others who’ve read this book.Intermediate:Sklansky’s The Theory of Poker – Certainly a must have. Will definitely get you thinking critically about the game.Doyle Brunson’s Super System – A classic, but you won’t be able to dominate the tables like Doyle used to. And considering all the poker types it covers it’s an invaluable book.Harrington on Hold’Em vol. 1 and 2 – Even though this applies to mostly tournament play, much of this advice can be used in cash games. But if you play many tournaments (like I do) these are invaluable books and I would even put them ahead of Super System.Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book – A great suppliment to The Real Deal. Offers some great ideas and concepts and a pathway into the mind of one of the better Hold’Em players in the world.Advanced:Sklansky’s Hold’Em for Advanced Players – Simply the best book on Hold’Em written but a pain in the brain to read if you’re not in the know. Definitely work your way up to it.Poker Essays vol. 1-3 by Mason Malmuth – Much like The Little Green Book these offer some great ideas but is more advanced. I still highly recommend them.There are no doubt many other great books out there I haven’t read. But the fact that these books have helped (and I say helped, because it requires much more than just reading books) turn me from dead money to a profitable player is good enough for me to recommend them. I recommend buying them in the order listed if you’re new to Poker or reading them in that order if you’ve already bought several.***UPDATE***It’s been more than a year since I wrote this review, and since then there’s been a wealth of new poker literature out there.Among them, Sklansky’s No Limit Limit Hold’em: Theory and Practice is the most invaluable. It is akin to this wonderful book, but focuses on No Limit specifically. It belongs in the “super-advanced” section, but it has been the book that has raised my game to the next level.Also in that advanced category, “The Mathematics of Poker” delves into the complicated math behind the game, and while it is not exactly a practical book, it may introduce the math inclined to an insightful look behind the math that rules the game.Joe Navarro’s “Read em’ and Reap” is now the definitive book on poker tells. It was written by a career FBI agent who specializes in reading people. It not only gives you the tells, but goes into the deepest psychologies of what makes people reveal these tells.Both Phil Gordon’s Little Blue Book and Harrington vol. 3 tournament book are invaluable additions to each’s library. Harrington vol. 3 especially for its breakdown of famous hands, and the thinking behind them. Weighing the Odds in Hold’em Poker is another superb Limit book, and has become perhaps my biggest aid when playing Limit. Doyle’s Super System 2 is a valuable addition to vol. 1 if you wish to read up on various other games besides Hold’em.I wish the best of luck to everyone at the tables – there’s still enough fish to go around!

⭐I you want a book to explain how to play poker, this is not it; this book is all about winning poker. It assumes a pretty good knowledge of the game in general, and focuses on the main casino forms of poker (there are appendices with brief rules of the games and also a good glossary). And as the title says, the author puts forward a “theory”, a framework that he uses to focus each of the specific skills and strategies of the game in order to define what winning is (no, it’s not winning a hand), and how to measure and make decisions to help ensure that you win. I wavered between feeling like it was a little pretentious and the realization that he clearly had put a lot of thought and experience into the book.From a practical standpoint, I think a casual reader’s eyes might glaze over after a few chapters. You really have to concentrate and work out the nuances that he describes. One criticism is that as the book progresses, I found that he relied more and more on examples and less on explaining how to think about the specific cases presented. Honestly, while not a bad writer, I think the author is a poker player first. The last few chapters seemed more like he was filling out an outline than actually presenting new information. But the beginning and what he calls the “Fundamental Theorem of Poker” really is where the meat of the book is, and I found this part extremely useful and very practical.The book tends to fall into jargon, and also tends to be a little defocused, skipping between different games and betting structures for examples without a lot of explanation of why the example was particularly relevant. For example, I found his assumption that readers would understand Game Theory and Bayes Theorem preposterous. I studied economics in college and work in the computer software field for my profession so have a working knowledge of both fields of study. I know enough to know that any practical application, especially of Bayes Theory would be far beyond the reach of many readers, and with almost no explanation seems little more than pretense, to me. I’m calling his bluff on this part :-)So in the end, it’s a lot of work to read the book. There are no simple proscriptions or rules, nor is there any discussion of basics, like working out odds. But there is a logical, and well presented framework that really helped me begin to make sense of how I need to change my game depending on a lot of little things I had never really put together before. And the result has been that I have much greater awareness of what’s going on … and no matter what stakes you are playing for, it makes the game more fun and rewarding.

⭐Firstly, this book is not specifically focused on Texas No-limit Hold’em; it speaks to a number of poker games including stud and draw poker variations, so if you are unfamiliar with those games (as I am) then you might find yourself getting lost in unfamiliar terminology and rules.But the lessons and theories detailed in this book are applicable across the board. It is a detailed overview in fundamentals, hand reading, bluffing, position etc. and brings an awareness to the level of thinking and attention to detail that is required to do well.Worth a read for novice players but I doubt it would provide any useful insight to more experienced players.

⭐This was (I think) the first poker book that I read. In short, it’s one of the best poker books that I own. There’s plenty in here for all types of players, but it really helps get beginners on the right track when you’re starting out in the micros. Everything is clearly explained with easy to understand examples – the beauty is that even though this was written well over a decade ago the theory is still very much applicable to modern day poker. This should be one of the first poker books that you buy!

⭐This book contains a lot of good tips and strategies, however, most of it you will know already if you play poker. Suitable for the amateur but anyone playing online forget it, the rules dont apply at all you better to take your own rules and play as you have been. Not sure the razz and other bits are really still current and relevant.

⭐A waste of paper. All man wanted was a simple guide to play poker, but this is an overload, badly written and seeking to impress by being verbose and repetitive.Even I, who have never played poker, could have done a better job than this.

⭐Great book for beginners, I have read more books after this and without reading this one first i wouldn’t have a clue what they were on about! Only thing I didn’t like was the book is about all poker games, and not just 1! Some people may prefer this! Everything in this book every poker player needs to know!

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