Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky

  As one of the greatest authors of poker and other gaming books, David Sklansky lives up to the expectations in Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (this is the second part of a series). Like in many of his other books, Sklansky excels at providing valuable information on playing good poker and gives superior illustrations to accompany his discussion points.  Sklansky quickly covers some introductory material and then moves in to talking about poker in depth. The first important idea he talks about is the "gap concept," which covers raising and folding in tight game tournament situations. Sklansky sheds new light on a familiar topic. He covers this gap notion so well, even seasoned players are likely to gain a better understanding of raising and folding than they might have expected.  The author then takes some time to discuss how to play various hands at various stages in the game depending on the tournament. Here he also covers different ideas for how a player might play depending on his or her chip count, whether it is high, low or somewhere in the middle. Again, as one would expect from Sklansky, he does an excellent job at covering this information and uses great illustrations to make his points clear. Also proving valuable, Sklansky takes the time to cover special situations that only occur in tournament play.  Moving forward, the author gives the readers hand quizzes so they can study and review various strategies. Be advised that this section is covered extensively and may test the patience and staying power of some readers. That being said, readers can skim over this section if they find it too exhausting. The information nonetheless is extremely valuable.  Though differing opinions do exist, many pros and advanced players contend that this is the single best book on tournament poker play. The book is roughly 250 pages in length and many argue it would have been even better if Sklansky had covered certain areas in greater depth. Of course, no one can cover every single aspect and angle of tournament poker. That being said, Sklansky does the best job anyone could ever hope to do in terms of covering a complex topic, giving detailed examples, and doing it in a way that is simple to understand.