Jason Flamm

Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and Little Blue Book
By: Phil Gordon

Both books are written by Poker pro and former Celebrity Poker Showdown host, Phil Gordon. The Green book, the first in the series, is geared towards the semi-beginner who may be taking poker seriously for the first time. It gives out sound poker advice such as "playing big pots with big hands" and "little pots with little hands", how to get the money in with the best hand, and the importance of learning from better poker players.

It then goes on to present some situations for you to analyze and then offers his analysis to you to help you begin to think like a professional poker player. The green book offers ideas for play in all stages of a Hold em hand (pre-flop, flop, post-flop, and river). The book ends with Gordon's ideas of how to beat certain "types" of players.

The Blue Book starts where The Green Book left off. The first couple chapters are a simple rewind of lessons learned in the previous book, and then it goes straight into specific situations that Gordon has been in, explaining the thought process involved in those situations. It also divulges Gordon's tournament strategy, cash game strategy, Sit N go strategy, and online poker strategy. This book is intended for those have read and conquered the green book.

As far as Poker strategy goes I believe these books should be in the top 5 of everyone's poker library. I actually read the books out of turn, reading the blue book before the green. I enjoyed the blue book the most but for someone who is just beginning to take poker seriously the blue book would be overwhelming and confusing for them to read right away. No matter what level of a poker player you are I feel like you could definitely get something out of both of these books, even if they are used primarily as a refresher throughout your poker career.

Before I read his works I didn't think very highly of Gordon as a poker professional. I saw him on Celebrity Poker Showdown and that was enough for me to discredit him. However, after reading his works my opinion of Gordon has risen a lot. Gordon does a great job of getting his ideas across and the books are organized well. The negative on the books would be the Sit N go strategies and the online poker information. Gordon in no way claims to be an online poker master and you will not gain much online poker specific information out of these books. The Sit N go strategy is basic and doesn't provide anything you couldn't easily find on online message boards. I recommend both of these books to the avid poker player and fan.

You Can Purchase This Book At The Poker Dynasty Book Store:Phil Gordon's Little Book Box Set