Scott Fischman
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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Games & Strategy Guides -> Internet Games
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Games & Strategy Guides -> Strategy Guides -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Games & Strategy Guides -> Strategy Guides -> General AAS
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Good book for both experienced and inexperienced players 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful.
Scott Fischman is a guy who was once a dealer who went on to win a couple of World Series of Poker bracelets including one for the HORSE event. This interested me. (Yes, I used to play basketball and remember Bob McAdoo of the Lakers who was a deadly shot at HORSE, about whom it was said--by Michael Cooper--"You do, McAdoo.") But I digress.
HORSE in poker stands for Hold'em, Omaha hilo, Razz, Stud, and stud Eight or better. It's spread in some clubs, but you can almost always find some limit games at PokerStars and other places on the Internet. A round is played of hold'em and then a round of Omaha eight or better, then a round of razz, which is stud lowball, and then a round of regular stud and then stud hilo, and the cycle is repeated. You have to be a pretty good all-around player to be successful at HORSE, and anybody who can beat that game regularly earns my respect.
This book, like many others published in the wake of the TV- and Internet-turboed rise of poker, is directed at beginners or near beginners. The "Mastering Internet Poker" in the subtitle is justified however because Fischman reveals a lot about his overall approach to the game of poker, especially his psychological approach. For Fischman the most important psychology in the game is self-psychology.
There is plenty of strategy presented throughout the book and some explanations given on how to play various hands in various situations; but mainly Fischman concentrates on his overall approach to the games. In a sense this is a hybrid book: part "how-to" and part "how-I-did-it."
Fischman is not a deep strategic master of the game or a mathematical whiz. He is a "by the seat of your pants" player with a wealth of experience both online and in the brick and mortar clubs. His advice on tournament strategy, especially online Sit-N-Go's is excellent. He divides the tournament, one-table or otherwise, into three "seasons," the beginning when blinds are small relative to stacks; the middle, when the size of your stack begins to dictate decisions; and the endgame, when many or most decisions will involve all your chips and your tournament life.
In the "beginning" he likes to "look for spots where I can safely--or as close to safely as poker allows--double my stack. Otherwise, I've got no business being in the hand." (p. 71) In the middle he likes to start making small raises often with the idea of picking up the blinds from his now very careful opponents. In the endgame, Fischman becomes super-aggressive. One excellent idea of his is that near the bubble when many players start to play very carefully you can steal a lot of pots. He believes that in Sit-N-Gos you should aim to finish first, not just in the money because of the big difference between first place money (usually 50% of the prize fund) and third place (usually 20%). So he advises, don't be afraid of finishing fourth and out of the money. A first and a fourth are better than two third-place finishes.
Also interesting is Fischman's take on "multi-tabling" online. He believes that playing several tables at once not only allows the expert to win more money, it allows the expert to get into the zone and become "the Robot," as he calls himself when he is just one with the decisions, one after another in front of him on his computer screen. His idea is that because multi-tabling is so demanding on your attention it forces you to focus. You don't have time to worry about bad beats or time to over-analyze. You are a Robot, focused, decisive and unemotional. Yes, you miss subtleties and some opportunities, but you don't try to do too much and you go with your first instinct which is often right.
Fischman tends to the superstitious, which of course is NOT recommended. However he justifies it from a psychological point of view by noting that if something makes you feel confident that will help you win. So it's okay to depend a little on that lucky shirt, and yes it may very well be the case as you drive into the club and see all those license plates with the poker hands on them, "KAA 555," etc., that yes you ARE going to be lucky today!
Some of Fischman's recommendations on how to play specific hands in specific situations go against the grain of the conventional wisdom. But here again I found his ideas interesting. Sometimes he seems clearly "wrong" or maybe just doesn't make himself clear. For example on page 125 he writes about tables being broken down later in a tournament as players are eliminated. He notes that he doesn't like being moved to a new table after having made some rebuys because "I want to have the chance to win back the chips I have lost. I can't do that if the players I've been kind enough to 'loan' my chips to are suddenly scattered throughout the tournament. There's nothing worse that rebuying 10 times, having your table broken down, then finding yourself at a new table where no one has purchased a rebuy."
Unless I'm missing something, this seems plainly illogical because it doesn't matter from whom he wins chips. He still has the same number of chips and the same relative chance of winning the tournament. I think what he must mean is that while losing those chips he picked up some valuable information about those players and now can't use that information.
What is obvious from reading this very readable book is that Scott Fischman is one heck of a good poker player and that his strength is in his overall approach to the game, some of which comes shining forth from these pages. I think both experienced players and beginners will find something of value here.
Editorial Review:
From one of the game’s most dynamic young champions, the definitive guide to online poker. Click here and start winning . . . Nearly two million players go online each day to test their poker skills at virtual tables with real money. Few have made the transition from Internet poker to live tournament play as successfully as two-time World Series of Poker champion Scott Fischman, and in Online King he shares his expert insight, money-making wisdom, and priceless strategies for playing the game well. The first instructional book written by a renowned poker champion for Internet players (as well as those hoping to make the transition from computer games to live play) Online King gives readers invaluable instruction that can be put into practice immediately on his popular website, thefishtank.com. No matter what skill level you have now, Online King will raise your game.
