Tom Chambers has two brand new e-books, PLO MTT and Live Full Ring PLO (148 densely written pages). I’ve only skim-read the MTT book, which is NOT the best way to read a Tom Chambers book, so this review is only for LFRP.

First off, why do we need a book about Live Full Ring PLO? Isn’t it just the same as 6-max with a few extra players? As Chambers points out, some of the things that make Live Full Ring different from online games include: more players per pot, straddles, a combination of deep, medium and shallow SPR situations, looser and more aggressive players, and more pots that continue past the flop.

LFRP has six chapters covering basic concepts, preflop, flop, turn, and river play, and hand examples. The basic concepts chapter contains some fresh material including a description of how straddles affect strategy, and what I think is far and away the most thorough discussion of SPR dynamics that I have seen anywhere.

He spends a lot of time defining board classifications and analyzing what he calls texture shifts where the board changes from one street to the next. This is pretty dry reading but is necessary because many of his hand reading techniques, strategy decisions, and bet sizes are based on the various board classifications and texture shifts, so if you don’t understand board taxonomy you’ll have trouble understanding his reasoning for various strategy recommendations.

The river chapter describes a process for analyzing how the hand unfolded to help select the play with the highest EV. Besides the examples sprinkled throughout the book, there are three comprehensive examples on hand-reading at the river and a full chapter of 25 hand analysis examples that illustrate how to apply the concepts and techniques described in the text. One of my favorite hand examples was a river bluff-catching situation where I would have had to just guess whether to call in a large pot. But after reading the hand-reading analysis, it was pretty clear that villain was unlikely to have the hand he was representing.

LFRP is an advanced book and although it contains enough background material to understand the theory and analyses, there are a few topics where I might have benefited from the more in depth coverage in Advanced PLO Theory. It provides a framework for evaluating PLO situations and distills an enormous amount of quality analysis and interpretation into a fairly small number of pages, and contains some excellent examples on how to apply it. However, there’s a big difference between reading and understanding it, and being able to apply the concepts at the table. Even though I think this is the most helpful poker book I’ve read in a long time, I still have a lot of work to do before I’ll feel like I’ve fully digested it.

Chambers’ analyses are highly regarded by some of the best PLO players in the world, and LFRP was a great book for me at my present level. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for you and your circumstances. If you don’t already have a lot of PLO experience or haven’t already read some of the more basic material, then this is the wrong place to start. If you want some relatively light reading with some good general guidelines for playing, you would do better with one of the off-the-shelf books.

I think there are several pricing options, but I believe the introductory price for LFRP is $150. If you’re not willing to put in the effort required to learn the material then it won’t be worth it to you, but if you are then it’s a bargain. The best way to know whether this is the right book for you is to check the free sample material on the Advanced PLO Theory website. The types of analyses included, the style, and the quality of the sample material is consistent with what you’ll find in LFRP.

I like the information presented in the table of contents for LFRP! I'll be purchasing soon for sure and reviewing in the future. Very happy about the price range it's listed at

When we're talking live full ring PLO what sort of limits are we talking here? 5/5 or 25/50? I am interested in any books that talk about how to beat 25/50+ plo but does Tom have any experience with those limits? It certainly is expensive..

I purchased the book last month. There is a chapter with 25 in depth hand examples and many of them are 25/25 limits and up. Also 5/5 And 5/10

Well I think the more relevant question is what sort of experience does Tom have with higher limit plo. I mean he can make hand examples whatever stakes he feels like in his books, but does he have a track record of beating those bigger games?

It's very tough to beat 25/50 plo, hence the value if someone genuinely know how to beat it and is willing to teach others.

I can't speak to his track record, and while relevant, it's not as relevant as his ability to present cogent theory and analysis, and many of the best players in the world hold his analyses in high regard. If I were playing 25/50 PLO, I would think it's a very cheap price for solid information.

My primary live PLO experience is at 5/5, 5/5/10, 5/10, and 5/10/25, as well as some 1/2 w mandatory 5 bringin and a little 25/25.

That range of stakes is the primary target of the book.

If you find the book expensive under those terms, feel free to pass. Like any writer I have many more non-customers than customers.

I wish you luck finding the similarly priced 25/50+ winner's complete disclosure book. Or any priced, for that matter.

Tom, any chance of this coming out in paper form?

3Barrel - sorry no, this one is secure ebook only.

Spinoli. I don't want to get into a flame war, I'm saying this to make a legitimate point.

I wish I could post the full list of 25/50+ players I've coached or sold books to, and that all of them were willing to come forward and publicly share what they've told me and others privately about their experience. Some have said things publicly, but more haven't.

There are no magic bullets for anything, let alone anything in poker, let alone anything in high stakes poker (although 75% of poker content is marketed as such). The above is just fact, take it or leave it.

In fact, I remember you from 2009-2011 making the same appearances in APT threads. Always challenging, always more or less respectful. I also remember you from MSPLO. If you want a free lesson on any PLO topic, message me on the website I can't post or put in location but is in my profile.

Seriously.

Or feel free to tell me I need a lesson from you. Whatever floats your boat.

Tom, are you currently selling your e-books?

Tried to contact you couple times on the last few days throught plotheory.com but u didnt respond.

bumping, tried to order on plotheory yesterday and have not received a response.

Got a response the next day and ebook a day after payment

thanks for update - please post a review after reading.

A review would be greatly appreciate.

any chances to see these books on kindle?

How did you contact him/get the book?

I've been trying for two months to get in contact with him, tried on pokerjuice and email, but havn't been able to get the book. Would really like to purchase it.

Same here. Bought the PLO MTTs book via PokerJuice's website at May 14th, still waiting for it...

Having the same issue... if anyone knows how to get in contact with Tom please advise. We are all trying to give him our money.

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did you guys contact him through his website plotheory.com?

He got in touch yesterday and fulfilled the order so hopefully comms have been restored.

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Unfortunately I haven't heard anything yet, and I even already paid for the book on May 14th (via PokerJuice). Good for you though, hope you have a good read.

I would try contacting him through plotheory.com, that is how I got in touch with him.

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No luck that way either