REVIEW
The
last two decades have witnessed an explosion
in the number of poker books available
to the aspiring player. This has significantly
impacted the way poker is played in today's
casinos and card rooms. However, just
because poker has grown like wild over
the last several years doesn't mean that
the first poker book was written in 1979.
One of these earlier books was A. D. Livingston's
Poker Strategy and Winning Play, written
in 1971. This book was reprinted in 1991
as Poker Strategy. So, how does it compare
to more recent works?
Overall,
most of Livingston's strategic advice
is sound, including the admonition to
play tight. Many of the concepts he writes
about have been echoed by more contemporary
authors, including his belief that bluffs
should pay for themselves. That is, that
Livingston believes that bluffing just
for advertizing is a mistake. On the other
hand, it will come as no surprise that
some of his notions are very much dated.
For example, the high-low split games
discussed in this book never require a
qualifier for low. Also, it's amusing
to hear Livingston talk about an exciting
new form of poker called "Hold Me"
played with two cards dealt down and five
community cards dealt face up on the table.
His advice on strategy for this game isn't
any good by contemporary standards, but
even without a great deal of experience
in the game, the author realized the importance
of kickers, which shows some general understanding
of the game in question.
The
second section of the book covers mathematics.
His introduction to determining event
probabilities using combinations is reasonably
well explained, but much of Livingston's
calculations aren't very important in
the games that are commonly played today.
The general focus of the book is not on
the games that are typically found in
the modern card room, but rather on home
games. Therefore, determining the probabilities
of events in Cincinnati or Deuces Wild
Draw is on topic for the book, even if
it won't seem terribly relevant to most
poker players.
The
third section of the book is a description
of many kinds of poker played in home
games, including some brief strategic
information about each game. Much of this
would be pretty obvious to the veteran
poker player, for example, that one should
play awfully tight without the ace of
spades in the hole if the game is Chicago.
At the same time, some of it is insightful.
Occasionally, the terminology used in
the book may be a little confusing to
people used to the vocabulary of contemporary
poker literature. When speaking of games
with community cards, Livingston refers
to every round of betting in which a new
card is exposed as a "turn".
As long as the reader is aware of this,
it probably won't be too distracting.
By
today's standards, nothing in Poker Strategy
would be considered ground breaking. There
are some strategic errors in the text,
but at the time it was originally written
it probably contained some of the better
poker advice available in print. Unfortunately,
as far as I can tell, no updates have
been made to the original printing. Poker
Strategy might be useful to those players
who either want some pointers on how to
improve their chances when someone calls
for Baseball in a home game, or if they
want to learn about some different and
unusual games they might want to play
next Friday night. Poker book junkies
might find this book an amusing read,
but I believe that $15 is a little steep
for a book that hasn't been updated in
over 30 years.
Capsule:
Poker
Strategy is a reprint of A. D. Livingston's
1971 book Poker Strategy and Winning Play.
While the book shows its age, it does
contain some insight, especially when
it comes to the wilder varieties of poker
often played in home games. There's nothing
fundamental in this book that isn't repeated
more carefully in the contemporary poker
literature, but for those who just like
to read poker books it can provide some
entertainment.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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