Poker Book Review: Play Poker Like The Pros by Phil Hellmuth

My comments relate to the Limit Hold'em content of the book, although I suspect it is fairly consistent with the book in its entirety.

I make no pretences about the fact that I am an average Hold'em player. I play limit anywhere from 3/6 to 10/20 and make a nice profit over time, but I am definately not the kind of player that walks from a table to a round of applause :) Phil on the other hand needs no introduction. His reputation (great at cards, shocking at manners!) is known to anyone who takes an interest in the game.

Like many players though, I rushed out and bought his book when it hit the shelves, and like most I was hugely disappointed... It's a story of "I'm Phil Hellmuth, I'm great, and I'm gonna keep telling you I'm great, and now I have your money for a book full of rubbish!" I threw it the corner with the same feeling you get when another player draws to an inside straight and hits - bad beat!

Let's face it. What seperates Mr Hellmuth and other big name players from the rest of us is an instinctive ability to accurately read a player, to the extent that they can almost read the suit of your cards, let alone the value. From there they pressure you when you're weak and back off when you're strong.

For us mere mortals we need to rely more on the technical aspects of poker that make the foundation of any good player's game. Play Poker like the Pros is extremely light-on here. In fact more information can be found for free in an hour searching a few online forums.

If you want to actually improve your game, any books by Sklansky, Malmuth or "Middle Limit Holdem" by Ciaffone & Brier and the like are the way to go. If your new to the game and need a solid introduction, you can't go past "Winning Low-Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones. Just don't waste your money with Hellmuth.

So how am I making a killing?

Well, there seems to now be a wave of new players, "Phil Hellmuth's Pheasants" I call them - the sixth animal not discussed in his book - and they're just waiting to be plucked. Invariably there seems to be at least 1 at every table. You'll see them three betting pocket 5's pre-flop and raising on the flop with second and middle pair "to see where their at". These players are the ones that were never good enough to begin with, hence they actually believe the diatribe, and have not improved with their latest book purchase.

Once identified these muppets can be targeted so easily, because they become so predictable pre and post flop and almost all of them have zero talent on the turn and river play. (Interestingly, areas that are hardly touched by Phil's book.)

In the 12 months prior to the release of "Play Poker like the Pro's" I averaged a profit of $57 per hour. Like I said at the start, fairly average for the stakes I play. Since his book and the adjustments to my game to target the Pheasants that average has risen to $74ph. All I can say is "Hurry up and release your next book Phil, so we can both get rich!"

Poker Book Review: Phil Helmuth's Texas Hold'em Poker by Phil Hellmuth

If you already own or have already read Hellmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros then forget about buying this book. It is merely a reprint of chapters one through seven, chapter 15, the appendices and glossary in that book. Maybe if they had been above board and advertised this, it wouldn't feel like I got ripped off! OOPS...there are 14 WHOLE PAGES of new material...my mistake! J. Parker I have to agree here. By virtue of being a paperback though, I did read through it all and was reminded of the animal characters that Phil describes. A useful tool to be sure, in particluar for beginners. The way Phil describes these poker playing personalities is much easier to conceptualize than loose/aggressive grids. This unique angle on classifying players makes at least one of Phil's books a good buy, but as the reviwer above noted, not both.

Marty Smith, PokerStrategyArticles.com

Poker Book Review: Bad Beats and Lucky Draws by Phil Hellmuth

I have a library of over 40 poker and gambling books and this one is without question the worst. It is page after page of Hellmuth politely putting down every player he has ever sat across from and re-hashing how great he is....over and over and over. It is almost laughable at times.

There is no strategy, there are no redeeming qualities and it is nearly a waste of paper. Come on Phil, I know you are a sell out but this is crap. Anyone who knows poker (even his peers) does not give him much credit anyhow since he is a long term loser in the worlds biggest cash games. His game crumbles when the risk is 10 or 20 times higher than the WSOP and it is spendable money.

Chris Donaldson "Pokerdon"

Based on this review, it sounds like this is one of those poker hype cash grabs. Too bad.

Marty Smith - PokerStrategyArticles.com

Related links:
Lou Krieger
Lee Jones
David Apostolico
Erick Lindgren