Tournament Poker and the Art of War, David Apostolico
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military strategist who lived about 500 years before Christ. In his book 'The Art of War’ he described the essence of successful Military strategy some of which is still valid today. Many poker professionals have been inspired in their choice of tournament strategies by Sun Tzu. The book, 'Poker Tournament and the Art of War' translates the key message of Sun Tzu into usable poker tournament strategy. Here 'usable' means that only advanced poker players will understand what is meant. For beginners, however, there are hints like 'Play strength to maximum value when your opponent is weak' which are too general to be of any help. The tips given are almost always of a general nature and only rarely are specific game situations described. Neither does it matter what type of poker is played because it is about tournaments in general, whether Texas or Omaha Hold'em, Razz or Stud. Most strategies are clearly not applicable to No Limit Tournaments!
Some statements out of Sun Tzu’s work are not easily understood as they are formulated in rather 'special' English which reminds one of the sayings of Confucius. Do all Chinese express themselves in such a flowery way? However, most tips from author David Apostolico are easily understood. Not even the well-meant foreword by poker pro Andy Bloch can change the reviewer's opinion that the book was written in first place to make the till ring and not really to help the reader achieve a higher level of poker strategy. Due to the low price, however, the price-performance ratio is acceptable.
Our recommendation: Only very enthusiastic advanced poker players who have a good command of the English language should add this book to their libraries, but it is not, however, a joy to read from beginning to end!
