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My only complaint is that the book focuses on the rules of play in the large Las Vegas casinos. The smaller casinos and those outside of Las Vegas use rules mentioned in the book but not included in the counting charts. Adapting the charts for these other rules is time consuming and would be a welcome addition in a revised edition of the book.

If you are serious about counting cards, get this book, hunker down to memorize the charts then spend LOTS of time practicing.

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As for the Basic Strategy Chart, I will use the one published on the WizardofoddsDOTcom website since most casinos use multiple decks 4+ and the dealer hits soft 17. Learn the rules of the casino before playing. Also I recommend complementing this book with John Bukofsky’s “Blackjack: Play Like The Pros”. John gives more detail in other areas and offers a more in-depth analysis of the game. However, note that if you’ve read Mensa Guide to Blackjack you will gain a better understanding of what John is trying to teach you.

If you can only afford one book then get this one, this one does a better job of helping the beginner player understand the game. I recommend reading this book once and then re-reading it a second time. And if you are an advantage player, well you won’t be learning anything new here…

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The book is geared primarily toward no-limit tournies, although the Huck-Forrest Razz chapter is a particular highlight due its highly user-friendly dialogue format. C. Ferguson’s post-flop chapter is a must-read, and I like that he begins by analyzing the purpose of a bet:

1. Getting a better hand to fold (e.g., bluffing)

2. Getting a worse hand to call/raise (e.g., value betting)

3. Protecting your hand (e.g., flopping a low top pair heads up)

But my favorite chapter is Gavin Smith’s short text on exploiting the big stack. He advocates going after pots before the ante to build a big stack by the time the ante’s introduced, and then discusses specific plays to accumulate the big stack. One very interesting play is the flat-call steal, where a player raises and you flat-call widely if you have position and feel confident out-maneuvering the initial raiser post-flop.

A lot of very interesting material and quite well-edited. Highly recommended for tournament players.

- Collin Moshman

Author, Sit ‘n Go Strategy

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That’s exactly how the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide (Tournament Edition) reads. The book, edited by Michael Craig, is a collection of priceless essays from final table regulars like Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Howard Lederer and even Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. It’s a deep goldmine of information, including pre- and post-flop strategies, styles of play, and hard lessons learned from countless poker hands and years of experience.

More than half of the book’s 400-plus pages are dedicated to No-Limit Hold `Em, the game with the annual weeklong championship offering a multimillion dollar purse televised on ESPN. The rest of the text provides strategy essays on other games, including Limit Hold `Em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and even Razz.

The essays get into specifics, such as how to play big and small stacks, and to play certain hands in early and late positions. Everyone will learn something to improve his or her game from this book. The only soft spot in the text was the minimal use of statistical tables, but those can be easily found on-line in more detail.

Overall, Craig has put together a real winning hand with the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide and players shouldn’t hesitate to go all-in and get a copy.

Armchair Interviews says: This book deals you a hand of good advice

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The title suggests a joined-at-the-hip connection with the web site. Nothing could be further from the truth – the primary connection I see is that the book covers the games played on the site, and the site covers the games played at casinos, the World Series of Poker, etc.

Michael Craig (author of “Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King”, probably the best told tale ever of the biggest poker game ever) has done a masterful job of organizing the book. Though I did note a few small grammatical problems, none interfere with either the flow or the message.

Games discussed include: (1) No-Limit Hold’em (of course), (2) Limit Hold’em (similar name, different game), (3) Pot-Limit Hold’em (different strategy requirements), (4) Pot-Limit Omaha, (5) Omaha Eight-or-Better, (6) Seven-Card Stud, (7) Stud Eight-or-Better, and (8) razz. Long, long ago and far, far away I was a Draw Poker and Five-Card Stud player. Things I learned from those games make me a better Hold’em player, and if you’ll learn a bit about other variations of poker you will find your game improves.

A story has been told about Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch in which Ferguson spotted Bloch setting in a restaurant. When Chris went over to Andy’s table he saw that Andy was poring over a binder of computer-generated tables, the result of Bloch’s extensive simulations of hand versus hand, hand versus table, etc. Ferguson had done precisely the same sort of computations prior to launching his highly successful career in tournament No-Limit Hold’em. The similarity of their style of play – and their success – stems from this mathematical analysis away from the table. In one fact and concept filled chapter of 57 pages Bloch presents a series of tables showing some of the results of his simulations. This chapter alone is worth far more than the price of the book.

Other notable chapters include:

- A chapter on Seven-Card Stud by noted Stud authority Keith Sexton.

- A cram session on Razz strategy by Huck Seed and Ted Forest.

- Chris Ferguson on Pot-Limit Omaha.

- Ironically, Mike Matusow on Omaha Eight-or-Better – a game in which bluffing is particularly difficult written by a master of bluffing at No-Limit Hold’em.

- Limit Hold’em by Howard Lederer.

- Rafe Furst and Andy Bloch on Pot-Limit Hold’em.

- Phil Gordon discusses Short Stack Play in No-Limit Hold’em.

- Gavin Smith shares some of his tricks for Big Stack Play at No-Limit Hold’em.

- And more.

This book does for tournament poker what Super System did for ring games. If you aspire to be good – really good – at tournament poker, you need to study this book.