Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book

Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book

More Lessons and Hand Analysis in 

No Limit Texas Hold'em

by Phil Gordon

Quick Thoughts

Having previously reviewed Phil Gordon's Little Green Book (see here if you have not read this review) and given their popularity; its probably worth looking at another one of Phil Gordon's books. The little blue book differs in approach from the green book, using selected hand histories as a tool for analysis and advice. This is less of a beginners book then the green book, but makes a reasonable follow up to this and other introductory poker books.

Four out of five stars as a good follow up to introductory poker books.

Basics

As with the green book this is a nice hard back book. Although the book format is small, at around 400 pages in length it packs in a lot of material. Hand histories are divided into different formats of No Limit Holdem with chapters on cash games, sit and goes and a number of chapters on tournaments. Separating tournament play into a range of chapter is probably a good idea. The chapter on satellites and super satellites is interesting, providing advice specific to the non-standard payout structure of this type of tournament. The other chapters on tournaments considers early, middle and late stage play followed by a chapter that specifically considers the final table of a multi-table tournament.

Typical Cost

£9 to £12.99, $14 to $21

Additional Thoughts

Example hand histories and hand analysis can sometimes come across as contrived, where the author selects (or makes up?) a hand that simply presents the point or advice they want to get across. Phil Gordon goes to some effort to avoid this. The hand examples are from real hands he has played, and being real poker even when played optimally the hands don't always go his way. Similarly he is open about hands he could have played better.

This is a good book for dipping into, perhaps reading through 2 or 3 hands in a short session, or reading one of the chapters in a longer session.