Book Review: The Making of a Poker Player by Matt Matros

Bottomline: This is a fun and easy book to read. I would recommend it if that is what you are looking for - a good entertaining book for the beach. But if you are looking for a pure poker strategy book, then this isn't it. It was well written and entertaining, I enjoyed reading it.

I posted this review on Amazon:

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The Making of a Poker Player is basically a series of well thought-out, informative, interesting, and easy to read poker trip reports with a twinkle of poker theory thrown in. Through the different chapters, Matros writes about his poker experiences in his life, it could be called a poker-autobiography. As he tells his story, he adds in the rules and basic strategies of some games, such as Limit Texas Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha and Tournament poker. He also discusses some interesting ideas and theories (psychological, mathematical and game theory) in most of these chapters as it pertains to the different games. While it is impossible to do an in-depth study in any of these games through short chapters (each one would fill a lengthy book by themselves), that was clearly not Matros’ goal in this book. It seems to me, that his goal was to entertain the reader (beginner or experienced player), throw out some poker ideas and make the book a good read. If you want a book on strategy for a particular game, this is not it. But if you want an entertaining, easy to read book that gives good insight into different poker games, then this a good one. I enjoyed it.
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I'm going to post book reviews on Amazon, hopefully potential readers will find them informative. I'll try to keep in mind the intended audience for the book, but I won't be dishing out 5 stars all the time. One last comment: on page 245, regarding Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky and Malmuth, Matros writes "Be sure to ignore the advice on shorthanded and loose games in the 21st century edition." I have to review what they say regarding loose games, but I am in agreement about the shorthanded comment.



Books on que:
Poker: Winning 7-Card Stud by Ashley Adams
Sports: The Old Ball Game by Frank DeFord