Poker Authors Analyzed

Editor's note: In "Poker Authors Analyzed," some of the best, worst, and most influential poker strategists are discussed. Rolf Slotboom has read just about every poker book available, and in this series of columns, he analyzes one poker strategist at a time. He analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both the person and his products - whether it's books, DVDs, or just articles. Extensive reviews and ratings of individual books and DVDs can be found on Rolf's site, www.rolfslotboom.com.

There are two things that I don't like to see in any poker book. First, I hate to see a great player hold back in his writings, and as a result, come up with fluff or filler. And second, I don't like it when the author plugs his own interests in situations in which it's just not in the reader's best interest.

Unfortunately, Making the Final Table by Erick Lindgren suffers from both problems. The author makes it seem as if the World Poker Tour is the only televised tournament of any interest, and when mentioning other books, he leaves out many of the greats. Perhaps even more importantly, when it comes to the actual poker advice, Erick just doesn't dig deep enough. There's lots of white space, lots of outright filler, and a completely useless chapter titled "World Poker Tour Millionaires Club" that consumes no less than 15 percent of the entire book.

These are all signs of someone trying to make a quick buck rather than having a genuine interest in improving the reader's game. This is the same reason why I also dislike the similar type of books such as Online Ace by Scott Fischman and especially In the Money by Antonio Esfandiari. They are all books by young players who are supposed to be good, and who are supposed to think on a very high level, yet they show way too much dumbing down and hardly any "real" secrets.
In my view, a poker-strategy book is a piece of art that needs thorough analysis, constant writing and rewriting by the author, a plan and a good structure, and, most importantly, information that is not available yet in any other books. And the three books mentioned here just don't score very high on this list.

The reason why I still think this book by Erick Lindgren is not all that bad is more than anything the sympathy that I have for the author. He is an open person, is laid-back, and has a "play to win" attitude that I like. In addition, his loose-aggressive style of play (say, in the Daniel Negreanu tradition of seeing lots of flops) is a nice one to have and to read about. Furthermore, I also like the fact that Erick talks specifically about long and grueling four- or five-day tournaments and the strategy changes that are required at the different stages of such events. (Very few books discuss this type of tournament.)

And a final thing that I like about the book is that it focuses in large part on post-flop play, described by Erick as "the cornerstone" of his game. This is in contrast to the many books that seem to focus almost exclusively on preflop play.
All in all, just one book is probably not enough to give someone a truly meaningful overall author rating. My guess is that if, in future books, Erick will start digging deeper when it comes to his strong points (post-flop play, and outplaying the opposition) and will make a true effort to come up with a definitive book, he will then be part of my small group of must-read authors. But given that Erick is so popular and has so many TV and playing obligations, it may actually be more likely that any future books will be done "on the side" and will result in more fluff and filler rather than quality products.

Next issue: Byron Jacobs ♠

Rolf has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at www.rolfslotboom.com.

About the Author

Strengths:

Sympathetic person, excellent resume with lots of good tournament results, an open and attacking game plan that focuses on "playing to win," and decent analysis of post-flop play.

Weaknesses:

Not as in-depth as I would have hoped; or, as I wrote in my original review: "If this is all Erick knows about the game, winning a couple of WPTs should not be all that hard. But since winning WPTs is hard, it could lead to only one conclusion: Erick knows much more than he has written down, and for that reason, I think the book is not as good as it could have been."

Best/worst piece:

Has written just one book, the decent but fluffy Making the Final Table: No-Limit Hold'em Winning Strategies for Surviving and Thriving.

Titles (good, very good)

Making the Final Table

Additional information:

At the time of the book release, Erick had reached World Poker Tour final tables five times. He is the 2004 WPT Player of the Year and a highly popular player, most likely because of his "Negreanu-like" style of play.