Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: A really good poker book. I was introduced to poker by a wiser friend and got very interested in the game as a way of thinking about decision making. As a result, I zoomed through some of the detailed case-situations. My goal was to understand the key principles that a beginner should know. I definitely got that from the book.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. Poker is about 2 things – decisions and information. The information you collect feeds into your decision making. In the long run, the better the decisions, the better you will do at poker.
2. The best way to avoid making mistakes in contentious situations is to avoid getting to them altogether. You do that by making decisions easy for yourself. So, at every moment, think of second and third-order consequences -e.g., if I choose to play this hand, will it make my future decisions earlier? If not, fold.
3. Understand WHY you make every decision. Great players fold 80% of the time but, when they decide to play, they play decisively. Really understand why you’re making a decision
(No wonder every life situation has an equivalent poker analogy)
Book notes here.
Marler's Observatory 