Review of Poker Strategy
- Title:
- Poker Strategy
- Author:
- A. D. Livingston
- Publisher:
- The Lyons Press
- Date:
- 1991
- ISBN:
- 1-58574-064-0
- Pages:
- 224
- Price:
- $14.95
February 6, 2002
The last two decades have witnessed an explosion in the number of
poker books available to the aspiring player. This has significantly
impacted the way poker is played in today's casinos and card rooms.
However, just because poker has grown like wild over the last several
years doesn't mean that the first poker book was written in 1979.
One of these
earlier books was A. D. Livingston's Poker Strategy and Winning
Play, written in 1971. This book was reprinted in 1991 as
Poker Strategy. So, how does it compare to more recent
works?
Overall, most of Livingston's strategic advice is sound,
including the admonition to play tight.
Many of the concepts he writes about have been echoed by more contemporary
authors, including his belief that bluffs should pay for themselves.
That is, that Livingston believes that bluffing just for advertizing is
a mistake. On the other hand, it will come as no surprise that some
of his notions are very much dated. For example, the high-low split
games discussed in this book never require a qualifier for low. Also,
it's amusing to hear Livingston talk about an exciting new form of
poker called "Hold Me" played with two cards dealt down and five
community cards dealt face up on the table. His advice on strategy
for this game isn't any good by contemporary standards, but even without
a great deal of experience in the game, the author realized the importance
of kickers, which shows some general understanding of the game in question.
The second section of the book covers mathematics. His introduction
to determining event probabilities using combinations is reasonably
well explained, but much of Livingston's calculations aren't very
important in the games that are commonly played today. The general
focus of the book is not on the games that are typically found in
the modern card room, but
rather on home games. Therefore, determining the probabilities of
events in Cincinnati or Deuces Wild Draw is on topic for the book,
even if it won't seem terribly relevant to most poker players.
The third section of the book is a description of many kinds of poker
played in home games, including some brief strategic information about
each game. Much of this would be pretty obvious to the veteran
poker player, for example, that one should play awfully tight without
the ace of spades in the hole if the game is Chicago. At the same time,
some of it is insightful. Occasionally, the terminology used in the book
may be
a little confusing to people used to the vocabulary of contemporary
poker literature. When speaking of games with community cards,
Livingston refers to every round of betting in which a new card is exposed
as a "turn". As long as the reader is aware of this, it probably
won't be too distracting.
By today's standards, nothing in Poker Strategy would be
considered ground breaking.
There are some strategic errors in the text, but
at the time it was originally written it probably contained some of
the better poker advice available in print. Unfortunately, as far as
I can tell, no updates have been made to the original printing.
Poker Strategy might be useful to those players who either
want some pointers on how to improve their chances when someone calls
for Baseball in a home game, or if they want to learn about some
different and unusual games they might want to play next Friday night.
Poker book junkies might find this book an amusing read, but I believe
that $15 is a little steep for a book that hasn't been updated in
over 30 years.
Capsule:
Poker Strategy is a reprint of A. D. Livingston's 1971 book
Poker Strategy and Winning Play. While the book shows its
age, it does contain some insight, especially when it comes to the
wilder varieties of poker often played in home games. There's nothing
fundamental in this book that isn't repeated more carefully in the
contemporary poker literature, but for those who just like to read
poker books it can provide some entertainment.
Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the
publisher. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in
the success of this book.
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