Review of Making the Final Table

Title:

World Poker Tour: Making the Final Table

Author:

Erick Lindgren and Matt Matros

Publisher:

Harper Collins

Date:

2005

ISBN:

0-06-076306-X

Pages:

191

Price:

$15.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

November 8, 2005

Erick Lindgren has emerged as one of the stars of the World Poker Tour with two tour victories during season two as well as two other final table appearances. In the second volume of the WPT book series, Lindgren, with assistance from tournament veteran and poker author Matt Matros, shares his tournament poker expertise in Making the Final Table.

Lindgren walks the reader through the different stages of a multi-day WPT event dispensing advice on how to approach the different situations a player is likely to face. We get specific chapters devoted to the early and middle stages of the tournament, getting into the money, getting to the final table, and playing heads-up. Making the Final Table is written well in a light, conversational style that is easy to digest. The book is well organized, and Lindgren's voice and Matros' writing shines through clearly.

This isn't really a book about poker tactics. It's much more about mental attitude and also about some big-picture strategies. Consequently, those looking for hard core tips and tricks aren't going to find much of interest here. In this book Lindgren does provide a few suggestions on ways to play certain situations. In my opinion, one thing that separates the great poker books from the not-so-great is whether the author takes the extra step and considers possible counter strategies as well. Making the Final Table has some reasonable and occasionally novel insights into poker, but it doesn't distinguish itself by taking this extra step.

Chapter 9, however, does have some new and interesting things to say. It is titled "Living the Life of a Pro", and I think it's the best part of the book. We've heard poker players tell us how to win million dollar tournaments before, but there has been almost nothing written about what happens next. Lindgren discusses taxes, investments, moving up in game size, separating poker bankroll from living expenses, and other similar issues. This is good stuff, and there's a lot more than can and should be said on this topic. Still, I give Lindgren and Matros credit for even scratching the surface in an area that deserves much more coverage than it has gotten.

Overall, Making the Final Table is a light, entertaining book that has a few things to say about a successful approach to tournament poker. The problem is that it really doesn't say that much, both because the book rarely gets into specifics and because it's really less than 130 pages of text in the body of the book. Fans of the WPT and of Lindgren will probably enjoy reading this book, but despite the inclusion of one interesting chapter, there won't be enough here to satisfy more serious poker readers.

Capsule:

In Making the Final Table, Erick Lindgren gives us a look at how he approaches big time poker tournaments. There's some new material here, but the well-read poker player has heard most but not all of it before. There are some new and interesting ideas in these pages, and the balance of this book's ideas may be useful to poker players who aren't that widely read. It's not a bad book by any means, but I don't expect those looking for breakthrough poker advice to be satisfied with such a short and general work.