Card Player Magazine
January 13, 2008
Card Player magazine is an industry publication and web portal specializing in poker media, poker strategy and poker tournament coverage. The magazine was founded in 1988 by June Field. In 1998 it was bought by Barry Shulman, who is the current publisher and CEO. Jeff Shulman is the President.
The publication’s umbrella company, Card Player Media, also publishes Card Player Europe. The magazines have a combined monthly circulation of approximately 300,000.
Card Player releases a new issue every two weeks. An issue typically consists of feature articles, tournament reports, and columns. Feature articles are usually in-depth profiles of prominent players on the tournament circuit. Tournament reports are on-location reports of the richest and most prestigious poker tournaments. Each issue also has a large number of strategy columns, coming from a stable of acclaimed poker players and authors which includes three former world champions.
Card Player Media has content licensing agreements with media partners Card Player Polska (Poland), Card Player Dansk (Denmark), Card Player Italia (Italy), Lehti Poker (Finland & Estonia), Poker (Card Player France), Das Casino and Poker Magazin (Germany), Poker Magazine (Sweden), and CardPlayerNorge.com (Norway website).
Phil Hellmuth Presents Read ‘Em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent’s Guide to Decoding Poker TellsT
October 31, 2007
Too many books of this general type are fluffed up with a lot of rhetoric about why we should care about the
subject; there’s only a little of that here, before the author dives right in. Navarro provides a good catalog of unconscious tells to look for, hints on how to distinguish those from acting, and a good method for sealing yourself off from broadcasting tells (hint: watch Hoyt Corkins play). I was pleased to see that he discusses how to put tells in context and doesn’t exaggerate their importance.
There isn’t going to be a magic bullet in this field, as people vary in their responses, not to mention acting ability and the curious phenomenon of unconscious acting. I was once in a hand with two players ahead of me, where I had picked up a pair of 9s with my 97 (No snide comments allowed: The Persian Carpet Ride is my favorite trash hand, and you have one, too.) The two other players were competing to see who could lean over the pot the furthest; I had not seen anyone at the table completely lose it like this before or since. Caro would say they were weak but acting strong; Navarro would say they were strong unless you could be sure they were acting. With a bet and a call ahead of me, I’d love to be able to say I correctly diagnosed what they were doing, which was trying to make something happen with a couple of mediocre overcard hands, and raised them back into their chairs. I didn’t, though; since I couldn’t decide which way they were leaning, so to speak, I got out of the way with my middling pair. I wouldn’t do that today.
I’m thinking that Navarro is absolutely right that spotting a subtle initial reaction is much better than trying to figure out what something dramatic like that really means.
Navarro carefully points out that stress-based tells are not going to be prominent in low-stakes games. I’m glad of that warning, as my current live game is fairly inexpensive and populated mostly by people who have reasonable poker faces. This means I face a real challenge in tell-spotting.
The book is lightly sprinkled with Phil Hellmuth’s anecdotes, but don’t let that keep you from buying it. A couple of them are new, relevant, and actually pretty funny.
I’m absolutely disgusted to see this book at #146 in sales; that means I have to completely memorize the material on minimizing my own tells, as I cannot assume that most people have not read this book. I got in on the poker boom late, and now this. Darn!
The Mathematics of Poker
October 31, 2007
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the bond an option markets were dominated by traders who had learned their craft by experience. They believed that there experience and intuition for trading were a renewable edge; this is, that they could make money just as they always had by continuing to trade as they always had. By the mid-1990s, a revolution in trading had occurred; the old school grizzled traders had been replaced by a new breed of quantitative analysts, applying mathematics to the “art” of trading and making of it a science. Similarly in poker, for decades, the highest level of pokers have been dominiated by players who have learned the game by playing it, “road gamblers” who have cultivated intuition for the game and are adept at reading other players’ hands from betting patterns and physical tells. Over the last five to ten years, a whole new breed has risen to prominence within the poker community. Applying the tools of computer science and mathematics to poker and sharing the information across the Internet, these players have challenged many of the assumptions that underly traditional approaches to the game. One of the most important features of this new approach is a reliance on quantative analysis and the application of mathematics to the game. The intent of this book is to provide an introduction to quantitative techniques as applied to poker and to a branch of mathematics that is particularly applicable to poker, game theory.
There are mathematical techniques that can be applied for poker that are difficult and complex. But most of the mathematics of poker is really not terribly difficult, and the authors have sought to make seemingly difficult topics accessible to players without a very strong mathematical background.
The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success
October 31, 2007
What “secret” separates top poker players from poker wannabes?Is it zen-like mind-reading skills, a computer-like brain or thousands of hours of play? No. It is a series of established approaches and behaviors that enables these experts to bring their “A” game to the table session after session, regardless of short-term results.
In this groundbreaking book,
The Poker Mindset deeply explores vital topics that most poker books only touch upon:
- Tilt: What it really is, why and when you are most prone to it, and how you can avoid it.
- Bankroll: A complete examination of bankroll management from a technical, but more importantly, from a psychological and emotional viewpoint.
- Opponents: How to determine your competitors’ mental and emotional processes so that you can dominate, out think and outplay them.
- Downswings: Every poker player experiences them, but you will truly understand and be armed against low ebbs when they occur.
- Bad Beats: The Poker Mindset will enable you to overcome the trauma of bad beats and losing big pots.
Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. The Poker Mindset may be the most valuable poker book you will ever read. Embrace its concepts and you can overcome the unseen obstacles that are limiting your success at the table.
When you make the Poker Mindset your mindset, you will take control of your game and walk away a winner.
About the Author
About Matthew Hilger
Matthew Hilger’s interest in professional poker is three-fold: playing, writing, and managing poker content websites. His first two books, Internet Texas Hold’em and Texas Hold’em Odds and Probabilities, became best-selling poker books around the world.
Matthew received his bachelor’s degree in Finance from the
Matthew cashed eight times at the World Series of Poker between 2004 and 2006, including one final table and a 33rd place finish in the main event. He also won the 2002 New Zealand Poker Championship.
About Ian Taylor
Ian Taylor is a professional poker player and writer. His articles have appeared in a number of websites and publications, mainly focusing on poker psychology, variance, and emotional control. You can find Ian posting on a regular basis in the Forum discussion group at InternetTexasHoldem.com.
Ian received a degree in economics from the
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