Ace on the River: An Advanced Poker Guide
<span>by Barry Greenstein
</span>This book is a little different than your typical poker strategy book. The book itself is literally different – it is tall and thin. Publishing gimmicks aside, Ace on the River has a wealth of information on the poker lifestyle in general and a smaller section on poker strategy. It includes an introduction by Doyle Brunson and glossy photos of many different poker rooms.
The poker strategy that is covered is only about 60 pages (the book itself is about 300pgs long) and is near the end of the book. It covers real tournament hands that Greenstein was involved in. Although brief, the strategy that is covered is all advance play and full of example hands similar to Harrington’s books. Greenstein puts you in his chair and gives you the blinds, the position and tendencies of the other players, your position, chip stacks and asks -- what do you do? The book encourages you to answer the question yourself before reading the Greenstein's solution, which is cleverly always on the following page.
The strategy section is good, however Ace on the River stands out for its coverage of the many other aspects of poker life. It covers the full spectrum of poker culture and gambling in general. Greenstein writes about everything from pokerroom beggars, the top 25 traits of a winning poker player, how gamblers think, the dangers of sports betting, and believe or not he actually has a small chapter on how sex affects your play when you're "on the road." Other topics include the psychology of gamblers and the types of gamblers that exist. Greenstein does go slightly overboard with some subjects like a chapter on “brain chemistry”, but that just didn’t interest me, maybe it will you.
I think the best part about Ace on the River is Greenstein’s emphasis on how to behave while playing poker. Although I am not as patient as he is, Greenstein is the master of poker etiquette and I did learn a lot of the dos and don’ts. As an added bonus, the book has lots of great color pictures of actual casinos and poker rooms. Every time I open the book and look at the photos, it makes me want to go play immediately. No other book does that for me.
If you have read Andy Bellin’s “Poker Nation,” and liked it, you will probably enjoy this book as well. If, however, you are looking purely for another strategy book, then it's probably not the ideal book for you. I personally love the book for its other qualities and would recommend it to anyone who loves poker.
To buy this book on Amazon.com click here : Ace on the River
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