"Way of the Poker Warrior" by Paul Hoppe (GiantBuddha)

Our very own Paul Hoppe has released a new book - "The Way of the Poker Warrior". He was kind enough to send me a copy of the ebook. He had given me some idea of what it was about - and I thought, well it sounds more like a guy's book but I am going to be nice and read it anyway.

I am not really into martial arts - but I do love poker so was hoping there would be some pearls of wisdom in it that would help me out. I have procastinated for a couple of days because I struggle with reading due to focus and concentration issues.

I am now having to drag myself away from it so I can tell you guys about it and then get some work done lol. If it continues the way it has started I will be done with it by next week which may be a record for me.

I normally don't even read the forwards in books. There are 3 in this one and I read all 3. The first one is from his Taekwon-Do instructor/master and gave me the first clue of how martial arts and poker would tie together in the book - and leaves you very curious to know more about Paul and what he might have to say.

The second one is from Dusty Schmidt (Leatherass) I respect him a lot and his endorsement is big - and I love how he describes Paul in the last paragraph lol.

The third one is from Hunter Bick (BeachJustice) and he hooks you right away talking about his favorite band - and then how he came about hiring Paul at DragtheBar. (and again another person I respect a lot).

If you are not ready to read it after the forwards - then the introduction will definitely hook you. This is going to be easy to read because Paul knows how to tell stories and leaves you anxious to hear more.

I am now in Chapter 1 - it is definitely not written just for the guys lol. Damn you Paul - I am a very busy woman and have a lot to do and now you have me addicted to reading your book!

Anyway - you guys (and girls!) all need to get this book. I am sure Paul will jump in here and discuss it with us and answer any questions we might have. You can find details on how to purchase it here:

www.giantbuddhapoker.com

Also - we are having a special event game on Sunday and Paul is going to play in it with us and will give the winner a copy of his book.

Come Play Poker With GiantBuddha

Being a fellow martial artist (and 2nd degree Tae Kwon Do blackbelt).. I may pick up this book before I pick up Dusty's.. but I will definitely get both. I'm gonna try and save up some FPP points on PokerStars to get Dusty's book.

Or - you can win that game next week!

How much of the book is specific strategy vs general pokery stuff? Since he plays mostly (exclusively?) LH not sure how much of the book I would find beneficial as a nl player.

Also is it available for Kindle?

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the book thus far. I tried to throw some entertainment in there with the strategy and philosophy.

As Dakota states above, I'll be happy to answer any questions about the book or otherwise.

I'm definitely gonna try for that, lol.

I will definitely look into this book, thank you for the info Dakota.
Congratulations on the Book Buddha!

I want the book but with work being slow I wanna win it-when's the game?

Sold! I just ordered the book and look forward to an inspiring read .

The book is about 30% narrative, 30% general poker advice (how to learn, how to think about the game), and 40% detailed hand analysis. I consider myself a LHE specialist, but I don't play it exclusively. I used to play NL for a living, and before that I played mixed games. A lot of the hand examples are Limit hands, but they contain lessons that are applicable to all games. While there is a lot of detailed strategic discussion, I don't teach a poker by number approach. My goal is to teach you how to learn more efficiently and compete more effectively.

Dear Mr Budda from what I have read here you are a limit player why should I read you book? I mean I pretty much suck anyway but what can you book offer me (basically an excuse to sell your self ) For example I enjoyed LA book just for the different aspects of poker it focused on. What different slant will yours offer?

I'm reading a bit on Paul's website, a few excerpts from the book and such, and there is a forward by Dusty Schmidt in there.

A quote that really caught my eye was, "We sweat now, so we don't bleed later." -- this is very true in just about every sense you can think of.. whether it's playing poker, training for an athletic competition, a fight, a race.. just about anything.

Congrats on the Main Event cash Paul! Very impressive. I hope to be able to find some time for your book in the near future.

Nevermind you basically answered my question in the above replies, this is what you get for reading cards chat while playing poker (it was only a 1$ micromania that I got roped into). The book sounds intresting.

Haha...no problem. I was thinking about directing you to the above reply, but I'll give a brief list of some general topics that I cover:

• Dealing With Tilt
• Identifying and Exploiting Weaknesses
• Taking Notes
• Tells, Live and Online
• Game Theory
• How To Learn
• How To Profit From Getting Outplayed
• Thinking Outside the Box
• Combo Analysis

There's a ton of other stuff, but that's what I've got off the top of my head. I also try to make the whole book entertaining, so it should be a fun read.

Keep the questions coming! I'll be traveling tomorrow and Sunday, but I'll be back in the forums on Monday.

Well I think you have a customer here you sold me on the how to learn part which is something I struggle on right now, As soon as I clear my poker bonus or if I get some spare cash before then its mine!

I appreciate you showing an interest in my book! I just wanted to let you and others know that Poker Stars is currently sold out of my book (not too shabby because we shipped them A LOT of books), but we are working on resolving that issue and the book should be back in the store very soon.

Paul's book is definitely a great, somewhat quick read that I am sure everyone will enjoy. Congrats again Paul!

I might not be able to make the game, so I'll take the easy way out and just order it. I mean, f"#k bees, right?

Haha...thanks man. I'm making vegan smores tomorrow, but they're only kinda vegan because I'm using honey graham crackers. F*#k bees, imo.

Congrats on the book Paul! You are now on my list...of poker authors to read (& thank you for clarifying the vegan s'mores...I was thinking along the
lines of some sort of nori/seaweed concoction but my mind has been wandering around Malfunction Junction all day ).

I really enjoy limit poker and I'm looking forward to picking up this book after I get my books for coll......Wait, vegans can't eat honey?

Vegans do not eat or drink any animal products or anything produced by animals... like honey, being produced by bees.

Vegetarians on the other hand, just don't eat meat.

By the way, my compliments on a very well written book. I must admit that I was skeptical initially because I was fearing it might turn cheezy in stretching the analogies between martial arts and poker, but that's not there at all. And after reading it, it's now clear that you're very talented in (at least) three fairly separate areas.

In terms of enjoying the read, this book is second only to Elements of Poker in the poker literature that I've come across. Well done.

Really? So it's a definite read even for NL players?

Do you really think reading a book or books is a better substitute than just playing and learning by trial and error?

If you're looking for pure strategy content, there's probably better material to spend your time on. Not that it's not there. And I think a lot of NL players can benefit from occasionally thinking about combinatorics and hands the way a limit player does. But if you're struggling with motivation and want some inspiration to work harder, this is definitely worthwhile.

The real inspiration for me, though, doesn't come so much from the book as from Paul himself and people like him. Some people just seem to get so much stuff done, and I used to feel a lot like I just didn't get a whole lot accomplished in a week. There's a guy like that in my office. He puts in more hours at work than most others, but somehow he also has time to rebuild parts of his house, exercise 3-4 times a week (including maintaining a very solid quality in his squash game - guy's 53 and still barely breaks a sweat when playing me. Bastard.), take care of his sailing boat and actually go on trips with it, has a wife and kid, a private little business on the side, a healthy social life, etc. And I used to feel like I barely had time to do my 40 hours of work and play some poker now and then on top of that.

See, a lot of time just get swallowed by nonsense, and the lion's share of that nonsense (for me) has to do with not feeling motivated enough to do something more productive with my time. So I end up watching TV or playing video games or whatever. Seeing what others manage to do with - presumably - the same length of week as I operate on is a good way for me to get cracking on stuff.

That said, my comment that you quoted was aimed more at the quality of the writing than of the content. It's actually a good read, in terms of writing quality, something that - sadly - most poker books aren't. In fact, most of them suck which makes my putting it at #2 sound facetious, but I really did enjoy it.

Two points:

1. Trial and error is a costly way to learn poker. It's also a really hard way to learn to play poker, because your "errors" are very often not going to show up in terms of making money. If you make a bad play and win a huge pot, what have you learned? Or if you make the correct play and lose a stack, have you learned the right lesson? In order to actually learn from trial and error you have to first learn how to learn from it.

2. This book isn't trying to teach you how to play poker, in my opinion. It's teaching you how to learn. See point #1.

well i say this in terms of yournament play poker.. and i am only a freeroll tournament player. i decided that if i cant make it into real money playing these then i wont make it anywhere depositing so this is what i do.

Thanks and lolz. The vegan smores were excellent.

Honey is one of those things that's borderline and disputed amongst vegans, since it comes from insects. It's not like there's a society of vegans and you get kicked out for eating this or that. But something containing honey is unlikely to be labeled vegan on the box.

I can't give a better answer than the one F Paulsson gave, so I'll just say that I completely agree with the following:

Learning by practicing is very important in poker. But regardless of what type of poker you're playing, developing a solid theoretical understanding of the game will allow you to learn the most from the hands you play.

Starting off with freerolls and play money is a decent way to start. I freerolled a $100 bonus into my entire bankroll, and I know many others have done the same.

Thanks for the compliments, and I'm glad that you actually enjoyed reading the book. Of course I want the book to help the reader make more money playing poker, but I really want the people to enjoy reading the book. I believe learning should be fun, so I'm trying to do my part.

Today I received one of those cardboard USPS flat rate mailing envelopes and the return address was Brainerd, MN. Though I don't know anyone from Brainerd, I opened it anyway.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled out Way of the Poker Warrior--how exciting! Will start reading this evening...

Cool and congrats.

Enjoy the read.

(Have to get me one of those now... LOL)