Phil Hellmuth

This book is one of the least insightful books I have read about poker. If you have a monthly game with friends, I suggest giving them a copy of this book to increase your own chances of winning. His rating system for players is just not that insightful. His preflop hand selection is horrible. The Anne Duke section on Omaha 8 is slightly better, but not that great. You could read either Super System II or the Full Tilt Strategy book to get a much better background on the theory of O8.

Hellmuth is a great poker player and I love watching him on TV - not necessarily for his poker prowess but mostly for his craziness. He simply cannot take a bad beat, which is surprising, given the amount of huge poker tournaments he plays. Probably his greatest poker skill is his ability to read other players, and I was hoping that this book would lend a little bit of insight into that because it promises the 4 types of poker animals - mouse, elephant, lion and jackal. Although he does give show more a decent breakdown on how you can tell a poker player's style based on these categories, he devotes far too little of the book to it. You also get the feeling that he's holding a little bit back, or that he simply can't explain exactly what it is that gives him the ability to read so well. And yes, I have to say that his ego does seem to jump in there from time to time in a way that detracts from the book.

All in all, I wouldn't be as harsh as the Amazon reviewers, but this is not a great place to start your poker strategy. It has some useful things in it that I use in my poker game, but not nearly enough depth to stand up well on its own. show less

It was interesting to read, but as I've let it sink in and learn more about his play I find it more useful than I thought it would be. He didn't make 3 final tables and win bracelet #10 for nothing!

Meh. It was all right. Phil likes to play a lot tighter than I do. Also, a lot of his book had to deal with the limit game (I prefer no-limit).