Phil Gordon's Little Green Book

by Phil Gordon

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Reviewer: Tiburon41

Don't let the small size fool you. Phil Gordon, a former WPT champion, knows what he's doing with his Little Green Book. An outstanding intermediate strategy guide for No-Limit Holdem, the Little Green Book deals in situations as well as starting hands and the like, and offers insight into the mind of one of the top professionals in the world today.

Phil Gordon is a natural teacher, and it is readily apparent in the book. He doesn't seem to be any different from the persona he displayed on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown. He comes across friendly in the book, with a wealth of information, illustrated by examples and his own experiences. He also brings the complex concepts from books like Theory of Poker, Doyle Brunson’s Super System and Super System 2 and makes them understandable to the common (non-theoretical) player.

For years, Pot Limit & No Limit Poker by Ciaffone and Reuben has been considered the main text on No-Limit Hold’em, and while Phil Gordon’s book is different in its style, it too belongs in that same discussion. This is without a doubt the type of book that belongs in every No-Limit Hold’em player's library.

Reviewer: BuyFerrari

Most think Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book is the number one book for No-Limit Hold’em cash games and there is a good reason for this: It is extremely practical.

First, Phil Gordon lists the common traits of great players. After that comes the common mistakes made by bad players. It is a simple but often forgotten truth: You need a big hand for a big pot but a small hand is often enough for a small pot. Great players seldom go broke with just one pair. You see this happen online all the time in the case of lesser players.

The Little Green Book describes Phil Gordon’s style of play. You’ve seen him on TV so you know it works. Although it should be noted that he makes it clear that his style is not the only way to play winning poker. Phil Gordon makes the case that the most important decisions in No Limit Hold’em take place before the flop (i.e., ‘should I play the two cards I’ve been dealt?’) and provides starting hand guidelines from various positions/situations. Post-flop play from different hands and positions are discussed throughout the book as well.

Aggressiveness is stressed in this book and Phil Gordon address questions about raising the right amount. It is important to always consider the stack sizes. Phil also makes the case that heads up play is simpler than against multiple opponents.

An important issue to consider is that drawing hands are generally overrated in NLHE if your opponent knows what he is doing. Often it’s too expensive to go for a draw. “Biggest Online Winner” brings a delightful exception to this view. More about BOW later.

Phil Gordon also adds some useful insights for how to play the River. It was interesting to read that he check-raises on the river less than one out of ten times the play is available.

This book also includes a useful section on tells and reverse tells and chapter on tournament strategies. In a tournament, staying alive is essential. Gordon advises that one targets the average stacks, not big nor short ones. In other words, do not press a desperate foe too hard. Examples are also provided for how often you should steal the blinds and big stack and short stack strategies in tourneys.

The Little Green Book also includes a percentage and math section which is simple enough for everyone to grasp. This includes some examples of matchups of certain hands; interesting and unexpected ones. There is a small but useful table concerning opponent’s bet relation to the pot size and necessary chances (outs) to break even if you call.

I felt the need to be less concentrated with the sections of the book following the math section. After that Phil discusses about psychological aspects of the game; although it should be noted that Phil argues that mastering the psychology is even more important than the numbers. To win at NLHE you must be capable of making a big laydown, and forming a game plan is a necessity against different kinds of opponents.

Of course any NLHE book wouldn’t be complete without some words about bluffing and the bankroll management. Gordon likes to play with the maximum buy-in. This or any other advice in the book aren’t set in stone, as the author states in several occasions. If you have a good reason to do otherwise, he encourages you to go ahead.

There are a few pages about online poker and sit-n-go tournament structure at FullTiltPoker, where you can watch and play against Phil Gordon, Chris Ferguson. Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman and other stars.

Also included are player profiles of Gus Hansen, Dan Harrington, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, John Juanda and finally the expected “Biggest Online Winner” whose real and screen names remain secret. BOW’s principles: Get in cheaply, massive overbet with some premium draws, and massive overbet with the nuts. Gordon includes a table where you can see why the BOW wins. Gordon also introduces a counter strategy against BOW. Notice that you need a huge bankroll to play like BOW.

I suggest you check for some updates and new thoughts at www.philgordonpoker.com/littlegreenbook.html

Reviewer: B. A. Winterhalter

Phil Gordon's book is, more than any other I have read on the subject of poker, an enjoyable read. Filled with Sun Tzu quotations, humorous anecdotes, and references to Gordon's favorite movies, the "Little Green Book" is nothing if not amusing. Its greatest strength, however, is in the clarity of the advice it offers. There are valuable insights into how to play solid, aggressive tournament poker in the "Little Green Book." The examples for these ideas, and the accompanying charts that uncomplicatedly present the underlying mathematics, are usually excellent and frequently thought-provoking. On the other hand, some of these examples are a trifle too jocular, and fail to successfully illustrate the concept in question. For example, in attempting to emphasize the importance of observing your opponents, Gordon relays a hand in which Phil Hellmuth accidentally exposed his cards, and lost the hand as a result (his "observant" opponent called straight away.) While this scenario is entertaining to learn about, it does little to demonstrate the much more routine kind of observation that one needs to learn to play strong no-limit hold 'em. Fortunately, these sorts of blunders are the exception rather than the rule.

One area of the book that I found particularly useful was the flop chapter. Gordon goes over in detail how to play just about every kind of hand you could conceivably flop. He makes subtle, important observations on each, and gives practical advice for how to manage a wide variety of situations in connection with these different possibilities. For example, he diagnoses all of the different possible ways for flopping two pair, and explains the various considerations that must be taken into account for each—for instance, with top and bottom two, one must be wary of the possibility of being counterfeited. While not quite as illuminating or conceptually oriented as Dan Harrington's explanations, these flop sections are invariably concise and accurate. I found that thinking about each particular hand gave me a very good sense of how much to bet for each one and, more importantly, why to bet that much.

Another excellent section was Gordon's explanation of the psychology of poker. Admittedly, he borrows a huge number of ideas from Mike Caro, but his elucidations of them are hardly to be looked down upon just for that. To say these ideas do indeed appear elsewhere is true, but they are nonetheless sound and helpful psychological insights into a difficult game. Indeed, reading what Gordon has to say about tells might give a useful glimpse at how to apply the more in-depth psychological techniques for hold 'em that Caro teaches elsewhere. Gordon, as always, writes in the part of the book with a light touch, and emphasizes the importance of these aspects of hold 'em without hammering at them. While not as in-depth as Dan Harrington's 3-part guide, Gordon's book is altogether a good one, and is well put-together and thought-provoking enough to merit attention by any student of hold 'em. And as mentioned before, it is certainly more entertaining than Harrington's books, or any other I can think of for that matter.

Reviewer: Guyster666

This is a must have for anyone who is even remotely interested in playing No Limit Texas Hold’em, both ring games and tournaments, specifically, but these lessons and teachings can be applied to play most other forms of poker as well. The text is so easy to follow in its format, easy to understand the lessons and most important easy to apply the teachings to ones game that can and will, give any player the edge needed to bring their best game to the tables. It’s the advice you’ve been searching, hoping and praying for to maintain most importantly, consistent winning success at poker.

Unlike most other winning poker strategy books that have achieved fame and fortune for many of their readers, where a fair amount of experience is needed to successfully understand, comprehend and apply their teachings and strategies appropriately. This book stets out and outlines in great detail the same strategies to guide absolute novices and the average players alike, but even the pros would find a secret or two revealed throughout to improve their game. As poker is a game that can never be mastered due to its complexity and constant advancement through all its factors.

There are reference to many other popular poker strategy books out there, where some of their most advanced calculations and systems for consistently winning are explained in such a simple manner, it’s all too easy to start to apply them in any game. Some of you will even think you knew how to do it already, and some of you will have your suspicions confirmed. With an in depth analyses on the psychological aspects of the game through numerous experiences and explanations through out the book, plus a great deal of mathematical how to on the spot calculations. These are things one will be looking for in the very next game played.

Plus tips for novices from other pros through their learning experiences, and tips from pros to other pros given through many different circumstances even while still playing at the tables. Even an invitation to meet and play some of the pros you won’t be able to refuse, nor will you be able to stop listening unless of course, your game is on.

Poker tells, or how to read opponents plays through their betting habits or lack of and so on, their physical demeanor, playing styles and even what is said at the tables during a hand are all important factors to consider for a winning strategy. Explanations of all mentioned above are brought up time and time again throughout the book, from Phil’s own experiences and the experiences of some of the other top poker pros. Hands to play and not to play are discussed and explained, even going into specifics like how much to bet, how and when to bet these amounts and perhaps most importantly here, when to pull out of those hands and why.

This book can be purchased in written and audio CD format. The CD format is just as good as the written works, if not even better due to the fact that you can load the disk(s) up, listen to Phil’s text spoken by the world champ himself, and you’re done in just around 3 hours. It’s like having the man himself in your living room advising you on how to bring your best game to the table every time you play while explaining the complexity of the game in full detail for future reference, and best of all in a (poker) language that you completely understand no matter what your current experience level of play may be.

Phil teaches you to have lots fun while working your way to your number 1 game at the table with friends, in the casino, or at the world series of poker.

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