Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (a book review)

I believe this was the latest book from Two Plus Two Publishing, by David Sklansky.  It was a badly needed addition to the Two Plus Two collection of poker books, addressing tournament poker.  David Sklansky is, in my opinion, one of the best poker authors.  His explanations are baed on facts and mathematics, and are very easy to understand.

Tournament poker is very different from cash games, and even No-Limit cash games.  I’ve written here before about the balance between aggression and risk that one must find in a tournament.  Pretty much all of the considerations that a tournament player must make are addressed here – from how to play at the beginning of the tournament, and how to manage your table image, to how to play on the bubble, and at the final table.

He assumes you already have a good foundation in cash no-limit poker, so he didn’t write much about hand selection or any of the basics.  He explained the rule of 4 and the rule of 2, and briefly talked about pot odds.  As with many of the TPT books, my favorite part is the hand quizzes at the back of the book.  In this particular book, the hand quizzes take up almost half of the book – that’s a good thing, because they are so important.  It helps you to make sure you actually understand what you’ve read.

Also like so many of the TPT books, I tend to read them once (sometimes twice) – and then go back as I play, reviewing specific chapters as they apply to situations that arise during games.

It’s a great book, and paired with Volumes I and II of “Harrington on Cash Games” makes for a great power course in no-limit cash games and tournaments.