Improve Your Poker

16 Comments

1. M. Grapenthien says:

   August 4, 2010 at 11:51 pm

   I am a professional poker player, and own about 50 different poker books, most of which I’ve read more than once.

   Ciaffone is a seasoned pro (also an accomplished chess and backgammon player) with considerable skill and experience, as well as an ability to convey his ideas interestingly and accurately.

   The book is laid out as a series of short essays on all sorts of topics. Most of the information is not specific to any form of poker, but even those few essays that are, are written in a way that players of other forms should be able to apply the lessons.
   As far as format of the book and content, the closest I can compare it to is the ‘Poker Essays’ series by Mason Malmuth.

   This is truly one of the best poker books on the market. The essays throughout the book are helpful to players at all levels – I read this fairly early in my poker career, and have gone back to it many times, and still find new insights and reinforce existing ideas.

   One of maybe 6 or 7 books I would call “must-read” for serious players.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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2. Daniel Kimberg says:

   August 5, 2010 at 1:27 am

   Improve Your Poker is a well-written and insightful book that I believe is worth reading once and will stand up well to re-reading. Ciaffone’s goal here is not to teach the novice what poker is, or to provide a cookbook-style strategy guide, but to provide the reader with thoughtful reading on a variety of poker topics. The book covers a lot of ground, including tournament play and big bet poker, as well as more mundane topics like bluffing. Ciaffone’s approach, which often invites disagreement, should appeal to the reader more interested in discussion than in dogmatic advice. Although he occasionally presents his views strongly, he rarely seems to be asking the reader to accept his word on faith.

   I believe this book also lends itself especially well to mindset adjustment. That is, if you’re on a plane to Las Vegas, and you haven’t thought about poker for a few weeks or more, I think a book like this might be a better choice to help get back that poker mindset, rather than trying to cram with strategy manuals.

   Although the writing is not quite as lively as the book on big-bet poker he co-authored with Stewart Reuben, it’s engaging in its own way. I feel this book is better as a self-published book than it would have been in the hands of most publishers.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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3. Anonymous says:

   August 5, 2010 at 3:37 am

   This is an excellent compilation of Bob Ciaffone’s magazine articles. Some of the included articles proove invaluable in game play, and should be read, re-read and highlighted. Some articles, in my opinion, were quite erroneous, like the one on going pro. On the subject of improving your poker, this seemed irrelevant.

   Given the nature of this book, being a compilation, and not a traditional self-reflective guide, there is little continuity between sections. In another book, you might see a phrase such as, “As we discussed in chapter 3…” But these helpful reminders are absent here. The closest thing to such a phrase in this book is “For the purpose of this article…” Giving the entire work a disjointed feel.

   On the other hand, given the naure of the short, self-sufficient sections, the book is incredibly easy to read and follow. Some of the articles, as mentioned before, provide an invaluable wealth of information. Ciaffone also groups the articles, there is an intro, a section on bluffing, reading your opponent, etc. These distinctions in areas are what keep the book readable through its disjointed nature, but with all the excellence that Ciaffone exudes.

   Overall, a valuable purchase. Easy read, worth review. I personally have found books by David Sklansky to be better suited to my taste, as they deal more with the math and theory of the game, where Ciaffone offers a softer, more conceptual account.
   Rating: 4 / 5

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4. FRODE GJESDAL says:

   August 5, 2010 at 5:53 am

   If you’re a player with a serious desire to improve your game, look no further. Bob Ciaffone provides a theorethical framework from where to build a successfull poker career. After stating in two pages three basic strategies for how to stop the leaks in your game, he goes on and on with tips on topics like Table image, bluffing, shorthanded play, satellite play, the number of opponents and so on. There’s so much knowledge in this book. Things you might have some idea about after making some strategies mistakes in your own game. Here’s a guy whose been the before, putting it into a theorethical framework, and even more important, into print. I’ve made 14 000 $ in six months, playing two times a week, after reading this book and “Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker” which Ciaffone co-authored with English player Stewart Reuben. You can too. Enjoy.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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5. BSXX says:

   August 5, 2010 at 8:08 am

   This guy really knows how to teach and knows what most poker players need to learn no matter how good they think they are. Not as theoretical as the Sklansky books, but much more practical and much easier to understand and apply. I have read quite a few poker books and, so far, this is far and away my favorite.

   As usual, I had a yellow highlighter in my hand when I began reading this book to highlight all the most insightful and helpful comments. I soon realized, however, that I might as well dip the whole dang book in a bucket of yellow paint because I was highlighting everything but the page numbers.

   Do yourself a favor and buy this book, or do your opponents a favor and don’t buy it. It is as simple as that.
   Rating: 5 / 5

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