psychology of poker by alan schoonmaker

[davepoker]

what does everyone think of this book?
its a bit old (2000) but it covers alot about player types-LAG,LP,TAG,TP

i read about half of it, skipping over the parts about passive players for now.

[kingetje]

i dont like it much... its very basic, pretty much all the info on how to adjust to different players are kind of clear cut and should be pretty obvious already

on top of that it assumes noone can play winning poker using a loose-aggessive style

[lwestatbus]

I love this book. How do I love it? Let me count the ways.

1. The types in the book let me cast otherwise inexplicable play into an explainable perspective. I can then make much more reasoned decisions based on this information.

2. I also like his double-sided approach to types--looking at your opponents' types and YOUR type. I rate myself as a (2, 5), up from a (2, 2), and need to work myself toward being a (2, 8) or so. I have the intellectual tools to do this and am working on adjusting myself out of my natural (2, 2) comfort zone further along the aggression dimension.

3. His commentary on GAMES of different types (essentially games dominated by a certain number of the same player type that shapes the game type) has helped me immeasurably in adapting my play to the game I am in. As kingetje says, some of this is pretty obvious and I was developing reasonable approaches on my own but the book's insights have been tremendously helpful. They have helped me to formalize what I was thinking on my own and also highlighted some ideas I'd not thought of.

4. The specific tactics to use against different player types have been incredibly helpful. Again, here is where kingetje is correct in noting that some of this is pretty obvious already, but only if you have the experience to make it obvious. Like any book, this one shortcuts the experience needed to acquire knowledge on your own and I think it does so in a remarkable context.

5. The psychological context for theory discussions resonates strongly with me. I have the professional and academic training to understand mathematical concepts of poker and have put them to use with some level of success. But this differentiating by player type adds another dimension to the math that I believe is valid and understandable.

6. The theory is presented in different ways that, again, resonate with me. He presented two concepts in particular that came to life for me from Schoonmaker's presentation even though I've seen them before. They are:

a. Hand values are relative, not absolute.
b. You are deciding what bets to partipate in and you have the ability to shape the bet.

Understand those two points are what allows me to move beyond the fear that had me hemmed in as a tight passive player and allowed me to move further along the aggression dimension. Hey, I don't have to win them all, I just need to participate in a majority of good bets and the winning will take care of itself.

7. I heard Howard Lederer say once that the player who can consider the most factors in his decision making is the one who will win consistenty. Schoonmaker gives us another factor to consider--the fact that not all players play the same and that attributing the same motivation to each player will lead to incorrect assessment of their holdings.

This isn't a book for beginners. They must start with one that focuses on the math and EV. But it should be read somewhere in the first year of play.

Experienced forum members will know that I am incapable of making a short post. But I have strong feelings about this topic and am happy to share them.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

I think it's pretty much useless considering all the other great literature on the game out there. For the price it's an absolute ripoff.

[lwestatbus]

I think it's pretty much useless considering all the other great literature on the game out there. For the price it's an absolute ripoff.

But what do you really think?

I guess everyone is different. Hmmmm....I think that's what the book is saying. I always appreciate Diamond's contributions.

[davepoker]

i never bought the book.
my library system has alot of poker books that I read cause I was too cheap to buy them.
Although i dont think there are more than 15-20 good books out there.