Review of Real Poker II: The Play of Hands

Title:

Real Poker II: The Play of Hands

Author:

Roy Cooke with John Bond

Publisher:

Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy

Date:

2001

ISBN:

1-880069-51-2

Pages:

256

Price:

$19.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

May 13, 2002

At the present time, Roy Cooke is the lead writer for Card Player magazine. A poker writer who still obtains a large share of his income from the game itself, Cooke focuses on mid-limit Holdem, and I am of the opinion that his regular column is at its best when he discusses what his thoughts are during the play of a particular hand. Real Poker II: The Play of Hands is a collection of these articles.

Cooke's second book, Real Poker II, contains versions his Card Player columns, sometimes unchanged, sometimes significantly revised. Each column focuses on a single hand of mid-limit Holdem and includes Cooke's analysis of the play of that hand. Each essay is clearly written, and unlike many collections of magazine articles, the editing process by Cooke, his writing coach John Bond, and editor/fellow poker writer Michael Wiesenberg has made the aggregation coherent while avoiding unnecessary repetition.

I'm generally in agreement with the author's analysis of most of the poker situations he describes, for what that's worth. Cooke has proven himself at the tables for many years so his opinions on how to play poker should automatically be given at least some credence. Sometimes the hands he plays work out well, sometimes they don't. Sometimes he gets lucky when he's drawing worse than he realizes, sometimes a miracle occurs to take a pot away from him. Through all this, his focus is always on making correct decisions rather than the outcome of a single hand. Another thing I specifically like about Cooke's columns is that he is not shy when it comes to writing about his own mistakes. This includes situations when he misreads someone's hand, or makes a bad decision and gets trapped. All poker players make these kinds of mistakes, and there is plenty to be learned from these situations.

Despite the fact that Real Poker II contains excellent information, there are two potential downsides to this book, both of which may not be important to much of its potential readership. The first problem is, of course, that just about all of this material has appeared before in Card Player magazine. Cooke's first book contained articles that he had written during the first five of the ten years (so far) he has written for that publication. Since then, poker has exploded in popularity, and Card Player's readership has increased dramatically, so a larger number of readers will be familiar with a larger share of this book.

The other significant downside is that many of the articles that were present in the now out of print first Real Poker collection are also present in this volume. In fact, it would appear that Cooke plans to re-release all ten (plus) years of his columns in three volumes (beginning with Real Poker II), where about half of these columns already appeared in the first book in this series. Therefore, this book will be partially, although not completely, repetitive for someone who already has Cooke's first book. I think this decision was unfortunate, as I'd much rather have seen Cooke just create a new volume of essays every five years using the previous format than pursue his current course.

For those who play mid-limit Holdem, haven't read Cooke's first book, and don't follow his column regularly, I'd absolutely recommend picking up Real Poker II. For those who have either the first book or have been reading Cooke regularly for several years, I believe this book will still be very worthwhile. I wouldn't blame those people who have read Cooke regularly for years and own the first book, and consequently decide to pass on this volume, although it may still be worthwhile to have all of these articles in one place. Certainly the information is valuable, even if much of it is already familiar.

Capsule:

I think Roy Cooke's articles on the play of hands in mid-limit Holdem are some of the best advice in print. Anyone who plays in these games and doesn't already know this material should seriously consider buying this book. All these essays have all appeared in Card Player before, many of them within the last few years. Furthermore, a significant number of these essays appeared in Cooke's first book, so the reader who is more familiar with Cooke's writing will find less of value in these pages. However, many of these people may still find enough value in this book to make acquiring it worthwhile.