In his previous book, Zen and the Art of Poker, author Larry Phillips compared the principles of Zen Buddhism to the characteristics required to be a successful poker player. Now, in The Tao of Poker, Phillips invokes another venerable eastern religion in his quest for poker self-improvement.
When I first saw this book I have to admit to being more than a little intrigued. Before reading his previous book, I had some idea how Phillips would connect Zen and poker. I had absolutely no idea how he would be able to link up Taoism and poker. From what I recalled from reading Lao Tzu, I just couldn't make the connection. As it turns out, there really is no connection. The Tao of Poker has essentially nothing to do with Taoism. That doesn't make it a bad book, but those who might be looking for connection stated in the title have been forewarned.
Instead, The Tao of Poker is really a less-strongly themed continuation of Zen and the Art of Poker. This is Phillips' second "self improvement" book focused on playing poker. Over the course of the book the author presents 286 poker rules that are designed to improve a player's poker game primarily by improving their attitude and demeanor at and toward the game itself. These rules are divided into several sections on such familiar topics as Bluffing, Body Language, Practice, Tiredness, etc.. Overall, I think Phillips provides much more good advice than bad, although, frankly, most of this is covered in one form or another in his previous book.
In my review of Zen and the Art of Poker, I was quite critical of Phillips' ruminations on the nature of luck and on how players should react to that phenomenon. While some of what Phillips says in The Tao of Poker still bothers me, I have to admit that his statements in his latest book are far less wrong. He even goes so far as to try to explain one particularly objectionable passage from Zen in Chapter 23 of Tao. His explanation is of this is weak, and no matter how he tries to explain it away, the passage is still wrong, but Phillips is far more careful about his wording in Tao, and I'll give him credit for that.
The last chapter of the book covers playing online poker. I found this to be the most intriguing section of the book. Phillips gives a generally good introduction to the phenomenon of Internet poker, although I wish he would have gone further. A gaping hole in the poker literature still exists regarding the topic on online play. It is necessary for someone to write the definitive work on this subject. In the mean time, bits and pieces, such as Phillips' Chapter 27, will have to do. At the end of this section the author lists "Common Myths and Rumors About Online Poker Play", which includes statements about cheating, bad random number generation, bots and shills, etc.. The problem is that these are just stated. There is no commentary on these issues, so the reader doesn't know how to categorize or respond to them. It's my opinion that the author shouldn't address the topic if he's not prepared to achieve some measure of resolution to these sticky issues.
Overall, The Tao of Poker is really a continuation of Phillips' previous book, only without the strong theme. There is a lot of good advice here for those who are having problems playing their "A" game all the time. There is also some not-so-good advice here, but the overall quality is higher than it was in Zen and the Art of Poker. Nonetheless, I'm not sure that the author's new book adds substantially to what he has already written. Players who are looking for further affirmations in order to help improve their own attitudes toward poker should find much of benefit in The Tao of Poker, but I'm not sure they wouldn't be just as well off rereading Zen and the Art of Poker. Some of the additional material in the book, specifically the last chapter on online poker play, may be quite interesting to those who aren't very familiar with the topic, but this is a fraction of the book. Still, coming with a very reasonable price tag, it's unlikely that many players who are intrigued at all by the subject matter of this book would feel disappointed by it. Overall, I'd say I'm ambivalent toward The Tao of Poker.
While The Tao of Poker has nothing to do with eastern religions, it does contain a continuation of the advice given in Phillips' previous book, Zen and the Art of Poker. Those looking for more affirmations to improve one's emotional control will find them here. At the same time, despite some new material (such as a brief, but good, introduction to playing online poker) there's not a lot here that Phillips hasn't already discussed. However, at least this book doesn't demand a steep buy-in from those seeking more control over themselves at the poker table.
Click here to return to the index of reviews.