First Book Review

Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em

I have been going over several poker books in the last few days as I feel as if I finally have some free time to read non-academic texts and I need to exploit it to the point where I consume much theory and later allow it to develop in my play. In the past week, I killed off both Phil's Green and Black books and am reworking my way through Sklansky's and Miller's NL theory book. The green and black books are decent but nothing serious or overly detailed. They teach some basic, aggressive poker that will benefit newer players. The blue book, however, is a much better treat than the other two. Therefore, it will be my first book review for the blog:

The book is in a decidedly different from both the Green and Black books as this one takes the format of relating actual hands played by Gordon. Each stage of the hand breaks down his reads, stops to allow you to decide what you should do, then goes on and explains his thought behind each action he makes. It weighs the pros and cons of such action and also takes into consideration the mathematical calculations given likely hand ranges by his opponent. This reminds me mostly of Harrington on Hold 'em Volume III as it feels like a workbook where there are multiple examples for individuals to work through and attempt to solve. As I read I can hear Gordon's voice in my head as I have both read the Green Book and have listened to it on audio tape in trips up to Turning Stone (closest casino here about 1.5 hours away).

A newer player learning to play decent poker would greatly benefit from this book as it establishes a decent way to play poker and the thoughts that go behind each move. A more experienced player benefits from reading the book as it gives them practice with knowing the outcomes to many hands. Naturally, any player who has some experience behind them will disagree with Gordon and the dialogue the book provides will give you some room to argue with him. Even Gordon acknowledges that he does not always make the right play.

Gordon can be wrong. He is not arrogant about his approach and has readily put hands in the book were he misread his opponents and made the wrong play. Sometimes he reads his opponents correctly and makes the right play, but the outcome involves a less than happy beat. In all, a good read for practicing and brushing up on your theory while also getting a more standard angle on playing the hands. This is not a rigorous books and not one that focuses on teaching a concept and applying, but relating hands and summing up relevant concepts at the end of each hand.


The book is a pretty straightforward read that can be consumed within a few days if one is familiar with the concepts and is reading every section. A briefer scan can last a day, while I expect a newer reader to give it about a week to a week and a half.



The next book on the docket is is Scott Fischman's Online Ace