Tournament Poker And The Art Of War [Paperback]

David Apostolico (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Lyle Stuart; First edition. edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081840647X
• ISBN-13: 978-0818406478
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I love a good book whether it is a terrific work of fiction, an historical biography or a current non-fiction book. I'm a fan of many genres. Lately, I have really enjoyed the works of Malcolm Gladwell. Both The Tipping Point and Outliers really resonated with me. The books challenged some of my beliefs and were eye opening in their relevations. Gladwell is a master of tackling cutting edge concepts and presenting them in an oh so easy to read style.

In my latest book Compete, Play, Win: Finding Your Best Competitve Self, I hope to do for competition what Gladwell did for marketing in The Tipping Point. I want the reader to look to discover a few things about him or herself as to why and how they compete and how they can harness that innate instinct for maximum gain in today's strategic world. How we're wired has not changed in thousands of years but how we need to channel that competitive drive productively has changed dramatically. Just about all of us will, at times, let our competitiveness get the better of us and lead us down a path of self destruction rather than production. Recognizing that tendency and knowing how to combat it is critical to achieving success. I want people to become results oriented rather than focused on winning little battles that accomplish nothing more than satisfying the ego.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The proverbs of poker, April 19, 2005

By 

R. Alvarez (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tournament Poker And The Art Of War (Paperback)

If every single poker book that was ever written were assembled into a bible-like book, David Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War would fall under Proverbs. Apostolico takes a very different approach to expound the many subtle strategies that any successful poker player should implement by using Sun-Tzu's Art of War as the basis to approach a No-limit Texas Hold-em tournament game. The book is a very quick read and I have prospered greatly from the wisdom that oozes. The book is well written, but contains one fundamental flaw that is easy to get around. Despite this flaw, I will highly recommend Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War to any student of the game.

The book begins by outlining 10 principles that are gleaned from the Art of War and applied to tournament strategy. This 30-page section on the 10 principles is easily the strongest part of the book and I have read it and re-read it many times. It is worth purchasing this book for this section alone. I briefly summarize the 10 principles below:

1: Understand all of the potential consequences of your actions
2: Play each hand for maximum value and minimum risk
3: Eliminate your opponent the first chance you get
4: Accumulate chips at every opportunity
5: Mix up your play
6: Know thy enemy and know thyself
7: Use your strength to exploit your enemy's weakness
8: Do not wait for pocket Aces to make a move
9: Adjust your play with changing situations
10: Poker is an art of deception

In the remaining chapters of the book, Apostolico does his best to incorporate the teachings of Sun-Tzu by integrating excerpts from the Art of War into the text of the book. It sounds like a good idea, however there are so many excerpts integrated into the text that the book suffers from giving the reader too much information. It is very difficult to remain focused on the topic because there is an interruption after every paragraph. The vast majority of poker players are not academics and this style of writing may not appeal to a broad audience. I have found that this issue is easily overcome by skipping over the Sun-Tzu excerpts and focusing on Apostolico's writings.

I have read many books on poker. I love Sklansky and am not a big fan of Brunson the author. Although I skipped all of the Sun-Tzu excerpts in the latter part of David Apostolico's Tournament Poker and the Art of War, I find that this book remains strong nonetheless, and holds a top spot in my list of recommended books on poker strategy.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Reflection., August 26, 2005

By 

Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!" (CHICAGO! USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tournament Poker And The Art Of War (Paperback)

When I first heard about this book I could not help from thinking what an excellent idea it was. It could succeed in bringing the maxims and philosophy of Sun Tzu to legions of people who had previously never heard of him. Apostolico summarizes the arguments of Sun Tzu from The Art of War, and then applies the concepts to tournament poker. Many times, however, the author stretches the similarities existing between poker and war. He does, quite responsibly, point out in the beginning that his work is in no way intended to minimize the seriousness of war by comparing it to a game. Yet, strategy for one can be juxtaposed with another to a certain extent.

The only real problem that I had with this book is that it was tough to get through, and it was not a result of the subject matter or the austerity of Sun Tzu's writing. In actuality, Apostolico did not use enough specifics and examples in his text. He's a tournament player, and I think, from a readability standpoint, he would have done better to include more scenarios from his experiences to illustrate each individual tenet. What we have instead is page after page of generalities. Most of the arguments and suggestions are helpful, but they are dry and fail to captivate.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In 15 seconds, June 15, 2005

By 

J. Boucher "The Butcher" (Flat Rock, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tournament Poker And The Art Of War (Paperback)

In 15 seconds, you have to make a decision online or the card room, each of the 10 principles must be thought about and your decision entered, your tournament life is at stake.

Excellent book for the players who think they need cards and luck to win, this read will be an eye opener. they will begin to see what is REALLY happening at the table.

Excellent book for the players who understand position, pushing chips, and table domination. This book will bring to the forefront and reinforce the principles of tournament play that you already understand. You will discover and add more power to your game.

This book is NOT a novel, each paragraph brings strategic ideas to light, that must be thought about and replayed in your mind. When you understand and can implement all of the 10 principles your tournament game will never be the same.

The action is to you, in 15 seconds you must make a decision that will affect the rest of your tournament life, do you have all the information you need?