Recently I have been travelling down to London for work on the train and this gives me lots of time to read, and of course poker is my first choice of literature.
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Ever since I decided to play poker I started to read about it. I have probably read over 20 books on the topic, as well as every monthly magazine going. I believe that if you are going to do something then you should try to be the best you can, and reading about poker is a very important part of that process. The hardest part is shifting from your normal game and trying to incorporate some of the things you learn into your own game ...... but you must to improve.
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One player that I think is a mile away from my own style is Gus Hansen, so I was keen to read his book revealing every hand on the way to his 2008 Aussie Millions win. I hoped that I could steal a litttle of the "Madman" to put into my own game.
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On first read I felt a little dissapointed with the book. Whilst it showed Gus' style it doesn't really help to show his hands in context. It lacks the detail of table dynamics and things like how many hands he folded between moves, etc. I also started thinking that it was easy to talk in hindsight with bravado about a tournament that you had won. I wondered if I wrote an entry here how good it would sound because I won the tournament. What about all those times it doesn't work.
It would be nice to read a counter book of a tournament where he struggled to get into the money for instance, showing how he uses a short stack etc.
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Then I started to play online again, and found myself consciously referring back to the book. I started to take a little bit of Hansen and use his mentality when situations seemed right. I was improving my game ....... thanks to this book.
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Would you beleive it a book I didn't rave about has actually started to transform my game.
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So in hindsight I think this book is a very valuable addition to your poker library.
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Go out and buy it!
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Until next time
Keep it Tight
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