Review of Secrets of Professional Poker 1

Title:

Secrets of Professional Poker 1

Author:

Rolf Slotboom

Publisher:

D&B Publishing

Date:

2008

ISBN:

978-1904468-40-0

Pages:

253

Price:

$24.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@jetcafe.org

August 16, 2009

Rolf Slotboom is a well known European poker professional who has written many columns on pot-limit Omaha and limit and no-limit hold'em for magazines such as Card Player and Poker Digest. Many of these columns have been aggregated into Secrets of Professional Poker 1, the first of a projected two volume set. Volume two is due out in November 2009. This is a review of volume one.

Many of Slotboom's columns have been controversial, and some of those that have been the most hotly debated are included in this book. The way the author seems to approach poker is to suggest an idea, often a radical one, and then to write about it as an attempt to ascertain if it has merit. This is a fine way to try to advance one's knowledge of the game, and it's a good source of material for columns, but I recommend that only those tactics that turn out to be beneficial be included in one's book. If the jury's still out, wait until the next project before including it. I think the jury is still out on much of what Slotboom has to say in this book.

I had already read many of these articles from the magazines, so I found Secrets of Professional Poker 1 to have less new information than I might have hoped. Of course, I'm guessing that the poker book buying public hasn't read quite as much as I, so this is less likely to be a problem for most of Slotboom's targe audience. Many of the articles that comprise the basis for the book go back to at least the year 2000, so even if one has voraciously read his articles from the last four or five years, a great deal of the material will be fresh.

Also, in some of the assembled articles Slotboom indicates that he now believes that the way he advocated playing in the original article is no longer appropriate. He explains in footnotes that he would now recommend adopting a new set of tactics. I have no problem with a poker player coming to a new conclusion on how to play in various situations, this is how we all learn, but why wouldn't the author change the article around to reflect how he feels the hand should be played? Then in a footnote he could indicate the fact that this differs from a previous writing. Additionally, more effort could have been made to tie the articles together to form a more coherent whole. From my perspective the book reads just like a series of articles included back-to-back without much in the way of updating or editing. I don't mind this method for assembling a book, but generally I'd like to see the author put in a little more effort than what I see here.

The first two sections of the book are on limit and no-limit hold'em. This is too bad, because I think the third, on pot-limit Omaha, contains the best information. Perhaps this is just because I have much less experience playing PLO, but I found more insight and valuable material on this game then on hold'em. In fact, many times I thought Slotboom was off base on his hold'em advice. Again, his approach seems to be to throw a bunch of ideas out there and see what sticks. However, even though the author warns in the Introduction that he expects that some of his recommendations will be wrong, I worry that his readers won't be as critical of his thought process as they probably need to be.

Another problem is that I don't expect all that many poker readers are looking for a book with about eighty pages on each of three different games. The second volume in this series is supposed to discover what I would call "away from the table" issues regarding professional or at least serious poker play. These issues include preparation, bankroll building, self-analysis, and other similar issues. I look forward to the second volume, but I have to say that I think volume one is a miss.

Capsule:

Secrets of Professional Poker 1 is the first volume of a two volume set by European poker professional and long time poker columnist Rolf Slotboom. The book consists of three sections containing reprints of articles the author has written on limit and no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha. Much of the information is hit and miss, and while experienced and confident poker players may find musing about some of Slotboom's more unorthodox suggestions to be fruitful, I'm afraid a lot of less experienced players will be led astray. I personally found the pot-limit Omaha information to be the most intriguing, but for me too much of the book misfires for me to recommend it enthusiastically. There is worthwhile material in this book, but given the number of other good books on the market I can't recommend anyone putting it high on his list.

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.