The Making of a Poker Player
by Matt Matros

Most of the poker books I have read remind me of college textbooks. Although still a strategy book, The Making of a Poker Player is a welcome change from this typical “textbook” instructional style. While teaching both the basics and finer points of Texas Hold’em Matros shares the story of how he became the great player he is today .

Matros proves to be quite the storyteller as he tells of his early poker days playing dealer’s choice kitchen games and of his journeys to Foxwoods to play in small buy-in tournaments. Throughout his story, he helps the beginning player understand “poker-ese,” as he calls it, or the terms commonly used in poker. We can relate to these stories from the early days since we all had those “chase the ace” and “deuces wild” home games while growing up.

The story continues as the book gets into increasingly advanced concepts of poker, including game theory and heads up strategy. Some of the more interesting anecdotes Matros includes are that of tilting Phil Hellmuth at the Tournament of Champions and of when he went on a long losing streak and had to reconstruct his game. Matros includes a section on tournament strategy, including specific tactics for satellites.

The book appropriately ends with Matros’ recount of his 3rd place finish in the World Poker Tour championship. Many of you reading this may have already watched Mr. Matros playing at that final table with the likes of Hasan Habib and Martin DeKniff. Included in this Postscript (Matros’ 3rd place finish happened after he wrote the book) are interesting hand analyses. He goes through in detail each of the most critical hands he played in the tournament, as well as the super satellite where he won his seat.

I would recommend The Making of a Poker Player to any poker player, whether you are a beginner or an expert. Well written, inspirational, and extremely entertaining, this story illustrates how you can become a world class player.

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