Is there anything on games played entirely heads up (as opposed to heads up on the end)?

Most of the concepts can be applied to heads up games. You just need to realize that the average starting hand is weaker than in a ring game and therefore the chances of a particular hand you or your opponent holds being best, goes up.

David, which of your books would you recommend to give as a gift to someone who understands the game pretty well and looking to improve but not going to messing about with things like solvers. Imagine if you will a book that can be easily absorbed while reading on the beach without access to a computer for additional study. Something like a cruise vacation or someone going on a beach/casino vacation.

I normally recomend super system because it's super light reading and easily digestable for the weekend warriors of the felt. Told in the form of anecdotes and yet gets a lot of the low hanging fruit cleared pretty quickly to help someone start thinking about poker on a deeper level. I'm thinking now though that maybe it's time to start getting a bit more updated in my poker book gifting.

Any suggestions?

TOPATNL

Ah, what a miraculous coincidence

I swear this was not a setup, just assumed with all your books maybe you had another one that was lighter in nature for the more casual crowd

Will order a copy today, it's long overdue I stop handing out copies of super system

Will this book help players trying to enter middle- to high-stakes live cash games? I'm thinking $5/$10, $10/$20, and above. I did get the book, cannot wait to bust it out and probably ruin the binding from constantly reading it

Read it and then you tell me.

Is this book geared towards cash games or tournaments?

An even better question is, "Does David Sklansky play those stakes?".

The main differences between tournaments and cash games is the prize structure, the fact that players tend to be weaker, the fact that you usually want to reduce volatility, and the fact that you are often playing an effective shortstack. There is a whole chapter on the first concept as it relates to tournaments and the other ideas are addressed throughout the book.

Just purchased this book on Amazon. They said it will be delivered on Wednesday - I'm going to be reading it all day Thursday. Then hope to have a review up by Friday!

If that’s your litmus test for an even better question, why stop yourself there, why not push it further to its full potential and let it assume its ultimate form: Does he play in the biggest games? Does he play in the worlds highest limits ever put on felt, with the toughest competition to walk amongst us?

A more enlightened question would be: Do thinking players and pros at all limits, even the highest limits, use his theories as part of their strategies?

Great question

Is this book an updated version of Theory of Poker? Or should I read TOP first?

If you never play limit poker, you can get away with not reading the original book. The new book contains enough quotes from TOP to allow you to do that. But it is a lot more than just an "update".

Thank you. TOPATNL is in the mail. Looking forward to reading it.

The kindle is now up:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V4JYGDL...al-text&sr=1-2

Mason

Why the price is the same as the paperback version?

We have no control over the kindle price. That's set by Amazon. However, it's my experience that after being up for a couple of days Amazon will add discount. But again, we have no say in it.

Best wishes,
Mason

Thanks.

Last question: I'm from Canada. Do you know when the Kindle version will be availlable on Amazon.ca? It's easier for me to buy on Amazon.ca

Hi JefPat:

I don’t. Behind the scenes we had a lot of issues getting the kindle up on Amazon.com with the last being Amazon questioning whether we really were Two Plus Two Publishing LLC. We think this has something to do with increased security that Amazon is now applying to kindles (but are not necessary for printed books). So, it wouldn’t surprise me if it takes a while for the kindle to make it to other Amazon sites.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hey David. I'm currently reading the kindle edition I bought last week. I have a couple of questions from what I've read so far.

-You seem to hint that some concepts found in calculus can be applied to poker. I am thinking of your mention of anti differentiation =/= integration. Do you think that this novel approach to theory is more a result of an objective observation, or your personal background?

-You write that you didn't foresee NLHE becoming more popularity than limit back when you first wrote Theory of Poker. Can you recall why you came to that conclusion at that time?

-You write that as of the time of your writing in 2019, humans cannot play GTO poker. When I read that it made me wonder. How long did it take you to write this book? Were certain chapters down well in advance and other additions made later? I find it remarkable that this work was able to be written and edited so well in the span of seven months...

The calculus reference was in relation to one specific problem and is unimportant. The anti differentiation reference was part of a joking comment regarding impressing my father and is again inconsequential.


No limit would have never become more popular than limit if it wasn't for TV and the hole card camera. There is still a good chance that NLH mwill take a back seat to other games once recreational players fully realize the disadvantage they have against experts.


The book would not have been written anywhere near this quickly except for the fact that many of the chapters were not written from scratch but were instead based partly
on the original Theory of Poker.

How is this thread not larger. Buying book will post review shortly.

I have a couple questions for David:

1) on "don't waste your Aces" are you suggesting to not 3bet AA preflop? Wouldn't our bluffs balance our 3betting range, preventing villain from insta-folding? Why wouldn't we 3bet the preflop nuts then? If we're 100 bb effective or more, we need to build that pot don't we?
2) on LP, vs limpers, with hands that want to enter the pot, you suggest to "sweeten the pot with a min-raise or 3x the limp", since it would "double our EV"? Is this because we gain initiative and position postflop, plus people will usually check to us? I never heard of this play before though. The usual play is to overlimp with speculative hands and to raise substantial with big hands and/or broadways to benefit from either taking the pot down pre, playing HU post, and building the pot with our big pairs. It seems to me that the min-raise pre would not accomplish any of these goals. Let me know what you think.