Customer Reviews

Hold'em Wisdom for all Players

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I agree with Nick and Milhouse below: this book is mediocre at best. I doubt that Daniel Negreanu contributed a single idea to the writing of "Hold 'em Wisdom for all Players." There isn't one bit of unique advice in here that hasn't been seen in the poker literature for the past two decades. In fact, it feels like some ghostwriter all but copied and pasted large blocks of text from David Sklansk's works on hold em (but deleting the mathematical or strategic explanations for various plays).

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Daniel Negreanu. I was hoping to glean some sort of insight into his thought process at the tables while reading this book. But quite simply, none of that is here. "Hold 'em Wisdom for all Players" advocates a tight, weak style of play that I doubt Daniel Negreanu would ever employ. It focuses on basic card values, provides no particularly helpful guidance on reading your opponents, and is shallow in its reasoning and explanation for its various "bits of wisdom." Even for beginners, this book is far too elementary, taking the form of "thou shalt not play J8 off-suit" without any explanation of math, positioning, chip count, etc. I was hoping for a book that would provide some insight into how to play an intelligent, but aggressive game of poker; this book can only teach you how to play a truly conservative, borderline passive game. This might be enough to help you win a fair bit of money against drunken tourists at the $1/$2 ring games in Vegas, but this style of play probably will not work against more aggressively unpredictable online players.

For all that, I'll give the book three stars because "Hold 'em Wisdom for all Players" may still be useful for rank amateurs in staying out of too much trouble while learning the game. The book also isn't bad in the sense that these bits of advice have been considered conventional truths in the poker world for decades now. And maybe I'm being nice because I like Daniel Negreanu and even read his blog on occasion. In any event, if you've read Sklansky and Harrington before, then this book is wholly duplicative, if not inferior, to those works. But if this is the first book you were looking at for learning Texas hold 'em, it wouldn't be a bad choice.

I'd also recommend The Poker Tournament Formula and Poker Tips that Pay: Expert Strategy Guide for Winning No Limit Texas Hold em for readers that are looking for more detailed, hand-by-hand poker strategy and advice.

I'm a big fan of Negreanu, and have had the pleasure of watching him on pretty much every televised game he's been on. Unfortunately, I'm in agreement with many of the other reviews here, in that this book is simply disappointing at best.

There's no new information here, nor even any unique insights into old information. Having read dozens of other books and always finding some new wisdom in them, I can't say I read a single thing in this book that was worth the money I paid for it. By all means, buy any book but this one. Phil Gordon's Little Blue/Green Book, Super/System II, Harrington on Hold'em (highly recommended!), any of Sklansy's books, are all great picks, and far more value for your dollar than Hold'em Wisdom.

This book is average. If you have read any poker books you've probably heard all the concepts in this book, and you've probably heard them in greater detail. It's an easy read and the book is a good review for some basic concepts.

It's difficult to recommend this book. If you are a beginner there are better books out there and if you an intermediate or advanced player you have already heard most of these ideas.

I disagree with the reviewer below on pretty much every point.

I've played poker, both live and online, for the past 4 years or so, and I was anxious to pick up this book to get some insight into DN's game.

I was extremely disappointed. I realize the book is designed to be a quick read, outlining various concepts, but there is nothing approaching wisdom here.

I've read dozens of poker books and have been able to pick up something, however big or small, from each one. This book is the exception.

Wisdom like "dont play J8, it's tricky", or "check-raise the maniac", or "go all-in against good players when you're not as good, because it's your best chance" ... aren't wisdom at all. Perhaps they could be if the book had bothered to provide some insight and not just headlines.

(btw - the above paragraph represents about 30% of the actual content of the book).

BOTTOM LINE - It's not worthwhile for true beginners because it doesn't provide any detail. It's not worthwhile for mid-level or expert players because there's nothing remotely new here.

It appears that DN (who I am a fan of) has adopted the Krusty the Klown endorsement strategy. Slap your name on whatever you can, and spit out product quickly before your 15 minutes are up.

Like most of the other reviewers, I'm impressed with Negreanu's poker play. His ability to put opponent's on a hand and to win with such frequency is astounding. I picked up this book hoping for some novel insights. Negreanu, after all, claims it contains wisdom for all hold'em players. Not only does Negreanu provide nothing new or incisive for those of us with an advanced understanding of the game, the book doesn't even qualify as a something useful for beginners.

Negreanu's "advice" boils down to: be nice at the table, don't tell your bad beat stories, mix up your play and try to put your opponents on a hand -- and, oh by the way, I'm wonderful. Although he covers a number of important topics (pot odds, reading opponents, playing a short stack, etc.), he doesn't cover them in enough detail to provide a reader of any level with any insight into the game. It seems as if he spent no more than an hour writing each chapter. Indeed, most chapters are only a few pages long and too many contain his recollections of hands he's won. Worse, the tone of the book is often didactic -- don't softplay, be friendly, don't get angry, blah, blah, blah. I finished the book, but it wasn't easy.

If you're just starting out, Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book" is well-written, insightful, and with enough analysis and real advice to help a beginner or intermediate player take his game to the next level. Moreover, Gordon is never didactic or condescending. If you're a little more advanced and have the time, I recommend Dan Harrington's three-volume set on playing no-limit tournaments. Maybe the best series ever written on No Limit. Truly an outstanding piece of work.

Daniel Negreanu, Hold'em Wisdom for All Players (Cardoza, 2007)

It seems these days as if every professional poker player on the planet has a book (or a number of books) out, is writing a book, or is negotiating a book deal. Pretty tall order when the World Series of Poker is going on as I write this. The most recent (until next week) of these is Daniel Negreanu, who dropped two books on us within the space of a few months. Hold'em Wisdom for All Players, the smaller of the two, is a collection of articles he did for various websites and magazines. To be blunt, there's not a great deal here you haven't read before, as long as you've read three or four books on the game; the reason to pick this up and read it is that Negreanu's teaching style is a great deal different than, say, Dan Harrington's. The information to be found here is in small, easily-digestible bites that may be a little easier to fully internalize than you've seen before. Also, Negreanu directly addresses a few topics most pros only mention in passing (the playing of small suited connectors, for example), and that can be worth your time as well, if you haven't figured out what to do with them on your own.

For the beginner, or as a refresher course if you're feeling down in the mouth. ***

Reviewers who complain that this book contains no new ideas are correct, but they've missed the point completely. There aren't all that many new ideas left to right about. What this book does is explain most of the basics in a way that is much clearer and more entertaining than the vast majority of its predecessors. No, this is not a book for players who already have a lot of skill. But I'd rank this right up there among the very best hold 'em books out there for beginners, or maybe advanced beginners. No, it won't replace the Harrington books, which in my opinion blow the rest of 'em out of the water, but this is a damn good book--well written, and full of many important, if not original, concepts.

If this book were titled "Hold'em Wisdom for New Players" I would have given it 5 stars, as it does provide a lot of answers to questions a new player faces. For advanced players the book doesn't offer that much. I will say this is probably the easiest of all poker books to read and is suggested reading for the newby before you delve into the meat and potatos of poker theory and mathematics. I would recommend this book to a new poker player to be followed by Phil Gordons little Green Book. The information combined in both books will get you to the final table. They did me, since reading these two I have final tabled 7 times and still progressing.

i thought this book would give me insight into how daniel plays the game, one of my favorites. unfortunately, I found the book to be a mere cursory over view of aspects of the game with out any details or discussions on daniels specific game. maybe my expectations should have been lower but when one is dealing with negreanu I think expectations should be high.
sorry dan.

This book is similar in format to 52 Tips For No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em Poker In that each chapter is mostly independent of the others.

The sections with advice on Hold'em hand situations are geared toward players that already know the basics of hold'em. However, anyone that's read a few books on the game will find some of the advice repetitious.

The book was entertaining and educational for me. I didn't buy the book originally because of the reviews. Then, a friend of mine loaned me a copy and I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. I've read a lot of Poker books lately, and I'd put this one close to the top for fun to read value. Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play is undoubtedly better for someone that's looking for an almost encyclopedic description of one system for playing Hold'em. Daniel's book is obviously not intended for that purpose, but rather contains tidbits of mostly common-sense advice that can be inserted into anyone's game, as well as situational advice on specific hands.

He also talks a little about tilting, dealing with bad beats, rookie mistakes, offers an explanation of small-ball vs long-ball Hold'em strategies, and a lot more. There are 50 chapters, and each one covers a topic like these. Had the publisher shown the chapter headings on the Amazon site, I would have bought the book immediately in-spite of the somewhat negative reviews for it here. Particularly when compared with ecstatic reviews on clearly inferior Poker books I've also found here.

It was a fun book to read, and I can't see how anyone could be disappointed with the content. It's a mass market book for all Hold'em players, as the title clearly states.

Buy it, you won't be disappointed.