Hello everybody

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Poker-...n%3A2656022011

Has anyone red this book? Is it any good?

It's a book why you shouldn't apply pot odds, that's what is says at the back at Amazon. As far as I know are pot odds essential in the long run, so I'm curious why the writer wrote this. Hopefully someone will read it and review it.

The sole review on Amazon:

Thanks for your reply, Garick

I've already red that review, but I wonder what the 2+2 forum thinks about it. I value the opinion of 2+2 forums, because from what I understand there are some great poker minds here. Also it's only still one review on amazon, and it's not a verified purchase. I wonder if the author is talking complete nonsense, or that he has actually some good advice in his book.

The book is only been out for 2 weeks by the way, so I expect there to be more reviews in a little while. But I came here on this forum (normally I only read posts here) to see if someone had some information about the book or already knows that it's rubbish for example.

If your not aware of pot odds your going to be a long term loser it's basic probability. I would never buy this book but if people are buying this guys book I need to hurry up and write a book about how betting for value is never a good move, check raising is useless and bluffing every hand is + ev.


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Yes, that's exactly what I thought. That's why I'm interested in what the author is trying to make clear in his book. I'm not going to buy it to find out myself, because maybe he is just talking complete nonsense. I only consider myself buying this book if the reviews are positive and the book has usefull insights.

Perhaps the most fundamental poker rule for a betting action is to make the decision that maximizes your EV. Suppose villain goes all-in with a bet of B into a pot of P. You have 2 action choices. Call or fold. If we agree that EV is change in your stack as a result of a decision, then clearly the fold decision has 0 EV. The EV of the call decision is

EV = eq*(Pot + Bet)-(1-eq)*Bet,

where eq is your best estimate of winning the hand in the showdown. To assure +EV set EV in the above equation to >0 and solve, you get the following decision rule:

Bet if (Pot + Bet)/Bet > (1-eq)/eq

This is the same as

Bet if Pot Odds > Card odds (against winning)

This is a situation that is not rare. Certainly pot odds are easily calculated here and if you don’t make an estimate of your winning chances you’re not playing good poker.

Saying that pot odds is impractical or rarely is useful is ridiculous IMO.

Even though I'm not really optimistic about the book either (which doesn't mean it's necessarily bad), some of you guys should really give a book a chance before judging it solely by its title!
OP has a valid approach I think (and I have the same curiosity), but those trying to respond to him without having read the book, well it's nice to take the time to respond, but it's not helpful. I think OP knows that pot odds are very important in our view of the game, that's why he's curious.

Exactly! I've always been thought that pot odds are essential, and mathematically pot odds makes 100% sense to me and also why it's essential in the long run. But that's the reason why I'm so curious what the author of the book is trying to make clear in his book. And indeed, I'm happy with everybody who takes the time to respond in this thread. But I really want to find out what the author's point is, and if his mathematical approach to the game makes sense. Maybe there are some things in the book that are usefull and applicable to your game, maybe not.

The author, according to the back of the book, is an innovator who has been playing poker for 30 years and has been coaching for 6 years.

On the back of the book he says that there are 3 groups of people. People who:
1. Know nothing about the pot odds
2. Know the pot odds and do not use it
3. Know the pot odds and apply it to their poker game
And (according to the author) after reading this book you probably getting among of the fourth new group of poker players:
4. Know the pot odds and do not use it, unless it works for you

With the last sentence he does not say that you have to stop using pot odds if it works for you. But he clearly has the opinion that you're better off without pot odds. My question is: why? And which method according to him is better? And does it work? Is his method mathematically right?

thought=taught, spelling mistake, could not edit it anymore.

So apparently bluffing, deception, are NOT part of poker anymore?

There are many times when pot odds, are of little to no importance. A fact that seems to escape "pokerisfu."

If Your going to talk smack you ugly troll face quote me so I can get the notification. You don't want none of this jelly home slice you don't no what I've been threw I've seen Dolphins before and I'm always heating up cactus sauce you elbow gnome.


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There is a lot of garbage books out there. Poker is not an easy topic to write so it is fairly easy to quickly flush out crap books. Here are some characteristics that I notice in most of them:
- author is unknown and no way to cite credentials. Author claims to be a coach. Well, the poker community is small enough such that if he is a coach, he should be noted elsewhere
- book is short
- book description sounds over hyped and geared towards people who aren't willing to do real work to get good at poker

Who needs pot odds?

I don't need no stinking odds

Just bet a bunch if you have a hunch

That's what I do

Reading the intro to the book the author claims all the poker books he has read say the difference between a good player and a bad player is an understanding of poker odds.

I don't think we need to go any further after a statement like that.