Review of The Making of a Poker Player

Title:

The Making of a Poker Player

Author:

Matt Matros

Publisher:

Lyle Stuart Kensington

Date:

2005

ISBN:

0-8184-0642-9

Pages:

286

Price:

$14.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

December 11, 2005

There are a large number of excellent poker strategy books on the market today. Becoming a winning player, though, requires more than just reading the right books. There is always some sort of arc, a story, to the evolution of a winning poker player. There are a limitless number of courses one can take to make this transition from being just another poker player to being a winner, and this path is rarely apparent to those who have not already traveled along it. Matt Matros chronicles the path he took to become a winning poker player in his aptly titled book, The Making of a Poker Player.

Matros' poker career reads a lot like the dreams of many aspiring poker players. He starts off playing penny-ante games with his high school friends, evolves to playing casino poker, learns how to be a consistent winner, and concludes the book finishing at the final table of the World Poker Tour $25,000 buy-in championship. Matros describes the steps he takes to improve his game as well as the setbacks he faces.

While it seems to me that the main point of the book is to provide an example of a framework for a poker career, Matros includes a large number of specific poker situations. The reader is able to learn not only from his successes, but from the mistakes he makes as well. We get a very thorough and honest look at both the victories and defeats that the author endures. Honestly, I'm not all that impressed with the depth of Matros' hand analyses, though. Consequently, I expect that this book is likely to be more useful to beginning players looking for the ingredients they need to become long term winners than to readers who have already achieved this goal.

Matros and I travel in some of the same poker circles, so it was fun for me to read about the author's impressions of events that I had either witnessed myself or heard about from others. This may make The Making of a Poker Player less interesting for a general audience than it was for myself. However, all readers who have watched the 2004 World Poker Tour final event on television can do the same, comparing their impressions with what Matros' analysis of the situations he faced.

The book is well written, as one would expect from someone with the author's writing credentials. It has a nice, conversational flow that is easy and fun to read. I expect that beginning players may find The Making of a Poker Player to be useful as a framework for those looking to put the winning strategies they are learning in a broader context. Many, but probably not all, more advanced players will find this book to be entertaining, although perhaps not strongly educational. I'll recommend this book to these audiences.

Capsule:

Matt Matros' The Making of a Poker Player is a recitation of the authors evolution from a novice poker player to a winner who has achieved successes in major televised tournaments. The book is not primarily a strategic book, and I wasn't impressed with many of the strategic elements that are included here. However, the book was fun for me to read, and its story line provides an interesting context that beginning players might find useful. At the same time, some more advanced players might find the book sufficiently entertaining to make it worth reading.