Tournament Poker and the Art of War–<span>by David Apostolico</span>
This is the most intriguing poker book I ever happened across. Author David Apostolico correlates the text of the Chinese classic and no limit poker strategy. Sun Tzu's The Art of War has stood as a classic on military strategy for over 2000 years. It’s teaching are hailed today by athletes, politicians, and business leaders. In his introduction to Tournament Poker the author quotes Sun Tzu “If you know the enemy and you know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.” Then adds, “You need to study, analyze, and ultimately, out-play your opponents." His introduction is a prelude to a wealth of information, for the novice and expert player.
For those unfamiliar to the name David Apostolico, Andy Bloch lends his opinions, of the author, in a well versed forward.
Apostolico believes that , in order to be a successful tournament player, one must attain the mind-set, of a warrior. He opens his book with what he terms the Ten Principles.
From: “Principle One: Understand all the potential consequence of your actions so that you may properly balance the competing goals of survival and chip accumulation.”
To: “Principle Ten: Poker is the art of deception.”Apostolico uses these ten principles, for the framework of his writings.
Tournament Poker and the Art of War
is laced with informative nuggets that players, of all levels, can incorporate into their own strategy. Many of these are direct quotations of Sun Tzu in captions above the page, or sometimes in the body of the text and then discussed as to it applies to poker.Most winning tournament players will tell you, No limit games require well directed aggression and well timed situational play. Apostolico references these ideas throughout the book. If you are a beginning player, you will not find any information, on hand selection. You will also not find much on Pot odds or winning hand percentages. But, you will learn how to play situational poker, and what force a big stack can carry and how to manipulate a small stack as you progress through a tournament.
Being a first year player, I always relied on my starting hands, never realizing that hand requirements are only one piece of the puzzle. Table image and my analyzing my opponents actions were foreign terms to me. I saw a ripe pair of pocket cowboys and thought I was going to win the pot. Then an ace would hit the board and I would muck my kings to a raise. Surprise, the late postition raiser flashes 78 suited and my ears turn red. But, after reading Tournament Poker and the Art of War
, I don’t fall for that type of bluff anymore and neither will you. If you’re a rookie player this is a must have for your library collection. Even the advanced player will be able to take much from this well written piece of poker literature. At a soft cover price of $13.00, it will pay for itself in no time.To buy this book on Amazon.com click here : Tournament Poker and the Art of War
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