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Phil Gordon
Poker – The Real Deal
Insider Tips from the Co-Host of Celebrity Poker Showdown


$19.95

(5.5)
A book that is clearly aimed at the “Celebrity Poker Showdown” TV audience. Lots of “dummying down” for the masses mean that this book doesn’t offer all that much value for the serious player. Heck, even for new players the book may contain way too much, and also a bit too much irrelevant, information to be a truly useful guidance. Lots of different subjects that are never discussed really into depth, and not a lot of structure in this book mean that “Poker – The Real Deal” is not even the ideal primer or the easy read that it obviously wants to be. So, this book is not really a favorite of mine – this despite the fact that the advice given is not bad by any means, and that with its stylish hardcover it may even be one of the best-looking poker books around. If you are a relative beginner that wants to start his poker reading with specifically a Phil Gordon book, then you may be better off by starting with his “Little Green Book”, as it offers a bit more actual strategic tips than this book – while still being a fairly easy read.

Having said all this, there are lots of people, and actually some people whose opinion I respect, that do think that “Poker – The Real Deal” is the ideal primer. So, please don’t think that I am saying the book is “bad”; it’s just not as good as I hoped it would be. But reading the book will definitely not do any harm – and the same cannot be said for all books that are aimed at a beginner audience. Therefore, I have given a rating of a 5.5 for this book, simply because I think a high-profile author like Phil Gordon should come up only with true quality pieces. If a lesser known person had come up with this exact same book, well then I guess I would easily have given it a 6 or even a 6.5.





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