Review of Phil Gordon's little green book

Phil Gordon graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in computer scientce in 1991. He joined the start-up of Netsys technology as their first hired employee. In 1996, Netsys was acquired by Cisco Systems, making him a millionaire, and in 1997 he retired from the high-tech industry to travel the world and to play poker.
He is now one of the great poker players out there. He finished fourth in the 2001 WSOP Main Event, and has a total of 16 money finishes in the world series, but although he has made several final tables, he has yet to win a bracelet. He does how ever have a WPT title, as he won the 2004 Bay 101 Shooting Stars event.

Phil's Little Green Book, was the first audio book I found about poker strategy, and was there for the first book I ever read on the subject. It helped my game immensely, and I consider it to be valuable for any player, as It will reinforce your good plays, and help you make fewer bad ones, regardless of your skill level. I find my self rereading it every time I feel like I've made a little bit too many bad plays lately. Lets face it, there's a donk in all of us, but the little green book is usually sufficient to scare mine into submission for a while. Not that I necessarily try to copy Phil Gordon's style of play blow by blow, but it's a great catalyst for thinking about the game. A lot of the time the book gives me questions, not answers, which in my opinion is a great method for learning, as it forces you to draw your own conclutions.
Of course, if you're still trying to figure out if a flush beats a straight, it's not going to help you that much . . . but if you have a grasp of the fundamentals of no limit holdem, this book will add a great deal of value to your game, and it'll remain relevant and helpful as your game improves.
The book covers it all, starting out with Poker Truths, which even experienced players should know but occasionally forget, and then moves on to play pre-flop, and on the flop, turn, and river. it discusses strategies for playing when you flop certain hands and what to do when a scare card hits on the turn, and how to get maximum value from big hands on the river.
Each section is a short essay that needs to be dissected and analyzed, and there for the book is probably best read little by little. I how ever have read it from cover to cover every time, as it's both very entertaining and very instructive at the same time.
There is a chapter on tells, that has made me very aware of what I'm doing and how, on those rare occasions when I'm playing live poker. but you've gotta concentrate on other tells when you're visually impaired. Luckally for us, the authur also talks about how to exploit cirtain betting-patterns and the like. a much more reliable tell in the online-world, or if you can't see your oponents.
I love the tournament chapter.It's a fantastic introduction to winning strategies that even a beginner can understand.
There is also a chapter on the mathematics of poker, that makes that intimidating subject, which I consider to be a necessaty for online poker, very easy to comprehend. This is a good reprieve for starting player who may have problems figuring out hand odds on the table. It makes it very simple and easy even for the novice player, to calculate pot odds and implied odds. The "Rules of Four and Two, are simple tools, albeit not totally accurate, in knowing hand odds on the flop, the turn and the river. You'll also be able to find: charts on starting hands, possible number of outs, preflop probability and hand rankings.
Then there's a chapter on psychology that makes the thought process behind playing tight and weak opponents, and making the big laydown very accessible. , at least in theory.
Phil Gordon has never stated that he is the greatest no limit player in the world, just a very profitable one. One would be hard pressed to argue with that, given that his tournament winnings exceed $2,200,000 as of 2010.
The audio version of the book is read by the authur, and he definitely does a great job. through out the book, he includes personal anecdotes from his own playing experience, which makes the tone of the book easy going and very conversational, and he manages to sound exactly like that, easy going, and conversational..
There are poker players you admire, poker players you despise but respect, and then poker players that you’d really like to just have a beer and hang out with. For me at least, Phil Gordon definitely falls into the last category. Whether you agree with me or not, If you want to improve your no limit holdem game, and you some day want to meet him at a final table, I really think you need to reed his book and learn from him!