Book Review: Bad Beats and Lucky Draws

Bad Beats and Lucky Draws
By Phil Hellmuth

Lately I've found a number of books in the discount section of my local bookstore, so I've picked up a few and plan to pick up a few more.

For those who don't know Phil Hellmuth, well, that just doesn't seem very likely. Google him or something.

For those who don't know of his books, he's written a few. Play Poker Like the Pros is his most well known book. I haven't read it, but it essentially goes through some recommended basic and advanced strategies for various games.

Well, Bad Beats and Lucky Draws is nothing of the kind. It's basically a book of stories, tales from the tables at some of the biggest tournaments and highest stakes cash games in the world. Many of the stories happened to Hellmuth, some did not and were recounted by Hellmuth, others did not and were recounted by guest authors.

I will say that most of the hands described were amusing for one reason or another. What I will not say is that the book was a quick read. It wasn't, and not because it's long. First, one can only read so many hand descriptions in a row before needing a break, and second, Hellmuth writes just like he talks, and for those of you who have heard him talk at any length, it makes it difficult to read him for too long at a time.

What I loved: Some of the hands were just incredibly. He did a good job of giving flavour of different kinds of tournaments (WSOP, WPT, etc). And the guest authors were fun to read.

What I didn't love: As you might guess, this ended up being somewhat repetitive. I made it to the end, but I was kind of glad when I was done.

Rating: (out of 5)

Hellmuth's a doozie of a poker player...but man oh man I can't stand hearing him talk. I couldn't imagine reading a non-strategic book of his in a million years. Good for you for making it through

I loved reading his book. 2nd book I read on hold-em..
I do love his descriptions on types of players and I do like the idea of how he says to become aggresive.. It got me playing aggresive but at times I played overly aggresive cause of it.