Kill Phil: the Fast Track to Success in No Limit Hold'em Poker Tournaments
by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson

I had the pleasure of playing with Blair Rodman at my first table at the Bellagio Five Diamond main event, and after only 12 hours of begging, I managed to guilt him into giving me a free copy of his and Lee Nelson's new book – cleverly titled Kill Phil. Please don't ask Blair for your free copy! He had only 4 left that his publisher gave him to hand out at Bellagio, but you can buy your copy now since the second print has just become available.

Unfortunately, I busted out on day 2, and had plenty of time to begin reading it. Then on my flight home, I had over 12 hours of delays and missed flights, so I was able to finish it. This is a very well written book, and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who plays poker, both beginners and seasoned professionals.

One of the greatest things that we can do as poker players is to always stay commited to learning, and to never sucker ourselves into thinking that we know it all. This book hits a home run in explaining the psychological mindset regarding aggression in poker. When I first started playing poker I read Super System, and gleaned the basic components of how to be a "solid" player. As I became better and had success, I would start recommending Dan Harrington's book to any of my friends that had a solid poker foundation, but wanted to take it to the next level. is a book that I will always recommend to my friends because it gets thru the clutter of poker psychology, and does so almost effortlessly as it is extremely well written.

The book outlines a technique to counteract the experience of the better professional poker players in the world (referred to in the book as phils), thru a hyper aggressive style that takes the seasoned poker pro out of his comfort area. The more I have played across the world, the more I have come to realize that almost all great players want to play small pot poker until they have the nuts. They prefer to chop, chop, chop away at small and medium pots without risking their stacks unless they have the nuts, which of course means they aren't risking anything…. Most professionals highly prefer to get their chips in post flop after they know they have the best hand. strategies take the pro's right out of their game.

I will stress once again that this book is not just for intermediate players looking to adopt a style to counteract the experience of better players. Blair and Lee do such a wonderful job of conveying the thought processes and intelligent decision making of great players, making it a must read for ALL PLAYERS to remember and refresh many of the things that we have forgotten about poker. It is rare to be able to get "inside information" from top players who have been playing against the best for many years. It is even rarer that these same players write it down for us in a manner that is so easy to read and comprehend.

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