Doyle Brunson - Super System 2

Written by one of the true goliath's in poker history, I eagerly bought this book, excited by the fact that Doyle Brunson had enlisted the aid of a dozen other top poker authorities to each tackle a separate chapter, each discussing different poker games.

The book, in my opinion, could have used a good editor, as it reads in an extraordinarily disjointed manner - I suppose that's inevitable when every chapter is written by a different author, but developing a consistent voice is one of the tasks of a good proof-reader or editor. That being said, I found the different writing styles somewhat refreshing, especially since the book covers so many different games, resulting in the stylistic differences not being nearly as noticeable as they otherwise would have been.

I particularly liked the sections on limit hold'em and omaha, which are typically my two games of choice. I was somewhat disappointed with the NL hold'em section - I know that's Doyle's bread and butter, but I was at least hoping that he would have updated some of his material since Super System I - alas, I found many of the chapters had been lifted verbatim from that text, which incidentally isn't regarded all that highly by many of today's poker authors. Surely he has learned some new tips and tricks in the last 20 years that he could pass on to the reader, hasn't he??

One thing I could have done without are the endless (and shameless) plugs Doyle makes for his own online website. I know we've all probably done some self-serving promotions in our time, but I thought Doyle's talk as though his website was the king of all online poker sites was sorely, sorely misguided - anyone who plays online will tell you that Doyle's site is no more than a bit player that nips at the heels of the larger sites such as Party, Empire, Stars, Ultimate Bet, and the like. Presenting it as the be all and end all of online poker I thought was quite misleading, although readers are naturally advised to draw their own conclusions. Regardless of what site you choose as your online home, you can find sign-up bonus codes floating around the internet that will make your sign-up far more worthwhile. Some reviewer here pointed out that pokercroaker.com kept theirs updated fairly frequently.

Regardless, I have no reservations in recommending this book to anyone looking to improve their game, if for no other reason than Doyle is one of the living legends, and it gives fascinating insight into his poker game. That being said, I much preferred the chapters written by other authors, especially Harman and Negraneau.

Poker Book Review: Doyle Brunson, Poker Wisdom of a Champion
Powerful Winning Advice & Anecdotes by Doyle Brunson

Doyle Brunson is a good businessman. This reprint of a 1980's feel good, texas power-poker story book is proof of that. However, it has nothing to do with the quality of the content, which is seriously lacking.

I wish Doyle was more sour like Helmuth, then it would be easier to slam him for a cash grab book like this, but he is not. He is a poker legend, and some of the stories in here are mildly interesting in that regard. But for sure, it is a series of articles and anecdotes that some may find interesting and believable. I didn't.

  There is not much here to help anyone's game but I am sure there could be a couple of short films made about some of the situations described here.

Mike Caro
David Sklansky
Dan Harrington
Michael Kaplan