Customer Reviews

Improve Your Poker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a professional poker player, and own about 50 different poker books, most of which I've read more than once.

Ciaffone is a seasoned pro (also an accomplished chess and backgammon player) with considerable skill and experience, as well as an ability to convey his ideas interestingly and accurately.

The book is laid out as a series of short essays on all sorts of topics. Most of the information is not specific to any form of poker, but even those few essays that are, are written in a way that players of other forms should be able to apply the lessons.
As far as format of the book and content, the closest I can compare it to is the 'Poker Essays' series by Mason Malmuth.

This is truly one of the best poker books on the market. The essays throughout the book are helpful to players at all levels - I read this fairly early in my poker career, and have gone back to it many times, and still find new insights and reinforce existing ideas.

One of maybe 6 or 7 books I would call "must-read" for serious players.

Improve Your Poker is a well-written and insightful book that I believe is worth reading once and will stand up well to re-reading. Ciaffone's goal here is not to teach the novice what poker is, or to provide a cookbook-style strategy guide, but to provide the reader with thoughtful reading on a variety of poker topics. The book covers a lot of ground, including tournament play and big bet poker, as well as more mundane topics like bluffing. Ciaffone's approach, which often invites disagreement, should appeal to the reader more interested in discussion than in dogmatic advice. Although he occasionally presents his views strongly, he rarely seems to be asking the reader to accept his word on faith.

I believe this book also lends itself especially well to mindset adjustment. That is, if you're on a plane to Las Vegas, and you haven't thought about poker for a few weeks or more, I think a book like this might be a better choice to help get back that poker mindset, rather than trying to cram with strategy manuals.

Although the writing is not quite as lively as the book on big-bet poker he co-authored with Stewart Reuben, it's engaging in its own way. I feel this book is better as a self-published book than it would have been in the hands of most publishers.

This is an excellent compilation of Bob Ciaffone's magazine articles. Some of the included articles proove invaluable in game play, and should be read, re-read and highlighted. Some articles, in my opinion, were quite erroneous, like the one on going pro. On the subject of improving your poker, this seemed irrelevant.

Given the nature of this book, being a compilation, and not a traditional self-reflective guide, there is little continuity between sections. In another book, you might see a phrase such as, "As we discussed in chapter 3..." But these helpful reminders are absent here. The closest thing to such a phrase in this book is "For the purpose of this article..." Giving the entire work a disjointed feel.

On the other hand, given the naure of the short, self-sufficient sections, the book is incredibly easy to read and follow. Some of the articles, as mentioned before, provide an invaluable wealth of information. Ciaffone also groups the articles, there is an intro, a section on bluffing, reading your opponent, etc. These distinctions in areas are what keep the book readable through its disjointed nature, but with all the excellence that Ciaffone exudes.

Overall, a valuable purchase. Easy read, worth review. I personally have found books by David Sklansky to be better suited to my taste, as they deal more with the math and theory of the game, where Ciaffone offers a softer, more conceptual account.

If you're a player with a serious desire to improve your game, look no further. Bob Ciaffone provides a theorethical framework from where to build a successfull poker career. After stating in two pages three basic strategies for how to stop the leaks in your game, he goes on and on with tips on topics like Table image, bluffing, shorthanded play, satellite play, the number of opponents and so on. There's so much knowledge in this book. Things you might have some idea about after making some strategies mistakes in your own game. Here's a guy whose been the before, putting it into a theorethical framework, and even more important, into print. I've made 14 000 $ in six months, playing two times a week, after reading this book and "Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker" which Ciaffone co-authored with English player Stewart Reuben. You can too. Enjoy.

This guy really knows how to teach and knows what most poker players need to learn no matter how good they think they are. Not as theoretical as the Sklansky books, but much more practical and much easier to understand and apply. I have read quite a few poker books and, so far, this is far and away my favorite.

As usual, I had a yellow highlighter in my hand when I began reading this book to highlight all the most insightful and helpful comments. The whole book is now yellow.

An excellent poker book from an interesting writer.

Bob Ciaffone is an excellent writer. This book isn't as much a workbook as his other book (which I also give 5 stars), Middle Limit Hold Em. That book I can almost guarantee any player will improve if they work through all his examples. This book is more a collection of articles. Ciaffone writes well, and you can sit and read this book (as opposed to the great Sklansky and Malmuth poker books where you have to sit and ponder and think). Improve your poker will improve your poker, perhaps not as much as Middle Limit Hold Em, but it's a much easier read
than the great Sklansky books on Hold Em. If you don't have a thief in your heart, stealing pots, you will after you read this book, several articles propose betting when the game is short-handed or limited number of people in the pot. There's also articles on money management and turning pro. There's bound to be something here that you'll like but if you're really keen to improve your game, I would get Middle Limit Hold Em by Ciaffone and the Sklansky books (such as Small Stakes Hold Em) from 2+2 publishing first (if you haven't read them already).

This is the first book I've read from Bob Ciaffone but it certainly wont be the last. Well written and full of great secrets, tips, and insight into what the pro players are thinking when they're at the biggest events in poker. Bob explains the differences between money (ring) games and tournament play, low-limit games and big-bet games, and many other subjects reguarding hold-em and omaha games. His 47 years of experience is well represented here, I'd reccomnd this book to any intermediate/advanced player who would like to improve their game.

Are you tired of buying poker books yet? And each one starts out "well, here's the basics of how to play...". NOT THIS BOOK.
This book assumes you know how to play the game, and want a little serious advice on how to seriously improve your poker.
The book is a real value for the money, and for the time you will spend reading it. I highly recommend it.

Ciaffone's one of the best poker writers in the nation, and this collection contains some of his best advice. A great companion to Theory of Poker. Highly recommended

The first few articles crystallized an approach I had been working on to beat passive vs. wild games. Very profitable and enjoyable book. Lots of common sense and insightful articles.