Poker: The Real Deal by Phil Gordon
Early in 2008 after a couple of years of playing recreational Texas Hold ‘em with friends and free online, I decided that it was something I wanted to get a little more serious about. Not “professional” serious, but just a deeper understanding of the various strategies involved and how to come out a winner a bit more often than not. On the recommendation of a good friend, and resident poker guru, I picked up Phil Gordon’s Poker: The Real Deal
The book was suggested to me based on some basic criteria I gave my friend. Simply put, I was looking for my first poker book to be one that would give me a good overview on everything Texas Hold ‘em without getting too deep into something specific and without half of the book being hand ranking charts and betting order.
I found Phil Gordon to be a gifted writer. He was able to describe things to the reader such as pot odds, implied odds, tells, and the different playing styles used by some of the more popular players to the game. He did it in such way that was easy to understand and doesn’t bore me in the least. To give you an example, when he describes the actions available to a player on their turn he describes them as a poker players “toolbox”. Folding is the flat-head screwdriver, he tells the reader, as it will be the tool used most often. He spends a page or so on each of the tools, outlining when one tool should be used over another.
Phil never considers himself the authority on poker. He admits many times throughout all of his books that there are many different styles of play and many ways to win the game. I came away from this book a better poker player simply from the better understanding of pot odds, the importance of position, and the poker player’s love of aggression. At slightly more than 300 pages, I finished this book in just a couple of days reading over lunch. I am happy to call this my first of now many poker books in my collection.