Super System

by Doyle Brunson

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Reviewer:  Wixx

This book was once the Bible in the eyes of poker players everywhere. It was originally titled How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker. The book is full of useful tips that allow the reader to see some of the strategy behind Doyle Brunson's poker success and then breaks off into several sections focusing on particular games. Most of the general tips for winning poker have been written many times in many books, but this book was the first to make this information public as it written in 1979. These tips include not allowing yourself to get emotionally out of check, continuing to play patient, the importance of paying attention to the other players, etc. Brunson does say that you should go with your instincts, because sometimes you just know, which some people take in such a way that they think Doyle is suggesting a form of poker ESP. Sometimes trusting your feeling can get you into trouble, but it keeps you from second guessing yourself later when you should be thinking about the next hand. Overall, these tips are nevertheless useful. It is truly amazing to think that Doyle has been so successful even after writing his system for all to study.

The sections regarding specific games give you a good insight into a particular card game or realm of poker. Unfortunately, as this book is over 25 years old, some of these sections are not very useful anymore as games are discussed that you will rarely see played. All of the great information from Joey Hawthorne that will make you a winning lowball player is fairly useless with the rarity of lowball games these days. However, there are sections on 7 Card Stud which is very common in both card rooms and online poker. Mike Caro writes a section on various draw games, and he is the master of the draw. Bobby Baldwin wrote about Limit Hold'em and Doyle did the section on no limit Hold'em, the domain that he has mastered.

Some of the strategy is a little dated, as two decades worth of the evolution of the poker player has occurred, but the book is still almost required reading for anyone who is looking for insight into the game. There is a compilation of numbers by Mike Caro at the end of the book (Caro always seems to throw out a lot of great math in anything he writes doesn't he?) that break down some common situations and general odds in all of the games included in the book. Personally, I would get the Super System 2 and consider that you already skimmed this book due to the similarities between the two.

Reviewer:  cheaty_mcbluff

This book (by one of the legends Doyle Brunson) was originally published in 1978 and last updated in 2002.

As a recent convert to online poker this was the 1st Poker book I picked up. I found the history of the poker game development from Doyle and the others to be very interesting. Many of us just see the poker shows on television and don't realize how that realm evolved. It gave me a lot of respect for the pioneers of our "industry".

As far as the information on poker play I will start with Doyle Brunson's chapter on no-limit hold'em. As a no-limit player I was very interested in his advice. Because I
play primarily on the internet, all advice on posturing, tells, stalling, chat etc. was not applicable. Doyle does advocate aggressive play as long as you have some "outs". As long as you find "weak" tables this strategy is effective but in cases of calling stations and raise-maniacs beware and fall back to tight play.

I found Bobby Baldwin's section on limit hold'em to be more informative and helpful. He gave me sound hands and positions to play and really educated me on this game. I still struggle making the switch from no-limit to limit but Baldwin's advice has helped me a lot.

Mike Caro's section on draw was interesting but again much of his strategy comes into play in a live game. He used his crazy antics at this years WSOP main event and they drew some laughs but draw has become a hard to find game today. He does give us useful charts to examine but you would have to memorize them before play as most games won't wait while you peruse your notes.

Chip Reese's section on 7 card stud was excellent. I had never played this game and he gave great tips and strategies. I have since played online for fun and some small stakes and have done pretty well. This was my favorite section in the entire book and the most helpful.

The other sections on lowball and high/low split were good to read about but those games are hard to find and not widely played. The advice is helpful for use in Omaha high/low and that is where I benefited from this section.

2 sub-sections that were fun and informative are the glossary of poker "lingo" and terms and the 50+ pages of charts of hand odds and poker statistics. It is amazing to see the actual math in straight numerical form.

Overall even though the book is old and not readily adapted for online players the advice and principles they teach are sound and a good foundation to begin
building a novice player into a competitive player. I was very satisfied with this purchase and would recommend it to beginning/novice players. More experienced players would probably not learn much and might want a more advanced text. The historical information is great but that wouldn't be enough for a person to justify the purchase.

Reviewer:  KegTAP14

The bible of poker. The legend Doyle Brunson’s first book, originally titled “How I made over 1,000,000 playing poker” lives up to its name. This book is now called Super System - A Course in Power Poker, but the message is the same. Attack. Aggressive poker is winning poker. A lifetime full of knowledge from Doyle and his expert collaborators is packed into 600 pages of the most informative poker text ever written.

This book starts out with Doyle’s story, nothing very helpful to your poker game but extremely interesting none the less. It then goes into a general poker strategy section that is something I’ve looked over and reviewed on many occasions. The book then goes into individual sections covering games like draw, lowball, seven card stud, high-low split and of course, Texas Hold’em. All of the games have been written by a top notch pro, including Mike Caro, David ‘Chip’ Reese, Bobby Baldwin and David Sklansky. I have never read a better seven card stud section than the one in this book by Chip Reese. Both the sections on Hold’em are very well written and very informative as well. The last part of the book are some fairly helpful poker statistics, including the chance of catching certain hands and how often you should see any given 2 pocket cards.

The biggest problem with this book is that some of the things taught, especially in the No-Limit Hold’em section just simply cannot be used at the low limits. In this section it teaches a fair amount of advanced strategy and plays. These plays are far to sophisticated to be used in most games under $2-4. Many players at the lower limits simply cannot lay down marginal hands, the hands that Doyle preaches to constantly be semi-bluffing at trying to pick up. The other small problem comes from the fact that Draw Poker is basically a dead game. Very rarely do you find anyone playing forms of draw poker, especially not in the casino card rooms popping up everywhere.

Super System is acknowledged by many professional poker players as the greatest single poker book of all time, and who am I to disagree? This is a must have for anyone who plays poker seriously and a good book for even the casual player to read. Even if you just read the section on Hold’em it is worth the $35 or so you will spend on it.

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