Review of Larry W. Phillips ”Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game: zen AND THE ART OF POKER”
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To be honest, I had never heard of the author Larry W Phillips, but since I was recommended his book I thought I’ll give it a chance, and to my joy it was great reading. Larry W Phillips claims to be “a longtime poker player” but the only tournament result shown for Mr. Phillips in the book was a second place finish in the 1997 Wisconsin State Poker Tournament. Not much I admit but nevertheless, good advice and useful knowledge can be found in his book. He has also written a book about TAO OF POKER, which I’m looking forward to reading.
Overview
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This is probably the most unusual poker book that I have ever read. What Mr. Phillips has attempted to do is to apply general zen philosophy and wisdom to poker (note that zen is spelled lower-case, because in zen there is no room for ego.) But how is this possible I ask myself? Zen is about achieving enlightenment by focusing your consciousness. Something the author thinks will help in poker. Well, I don’t know about enlightenment but the ability to focus is most important in poker. Particularly when you play long tournaments, and especially freerolls, where it’s easy to loose your temper because all the bad beats one suffers. I’m always in the hunt for a good freeroll and usually take a look at Pokerlistings to find the good ones.
So what about general zen wisdom? Well, there are some contradictions between the aggressiveness of poker and the calm philosophy of zen. But make no mistake, Mr. Phillips is fully aware of many of them, and does a good job of bridging the gaps.
Book Structure
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The book is divided into five main chapters, each covering a main aspect of zen. The first is about the foundations of zen, the second about rhythm, the third about the nuts and bolts of zen, the fourth about warrior-zen and the fifth is about feelings and opponents. In each chapter there are between four and six essays which the author uses to convey his message.
Apart from the essays there are one hundred zen based “poker rules” like nr 40: master thyself, not the game or nr 61: “learn the voice of the opponent”.
Unique Advantages
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There are some good and enjoyable essays that really can teach one about how to act in the difficulties of even the worst bad beat in poker.
The poker rules are quite useful since they can be read on their own. You don’t need to read the entire book to understand them.
Another advantage is that you get to learn about zen, something that might very well be useful in everyday life.
Disadvantages
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Sometimes some of the advice seems to be a bit ”too” philosophical. For instance there’s the chapter that tells you that everything in life goes in cycles, including luck and bad luck. Therefore when acting in poker, you should ask yourself if your luck is going up or down, and act according to that. This is just the opposite of general poker wisdom who says that since you never know if you are going to have bad luck or not you must in a hand you should always try to get the maximum out of it.
Conclusion
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It’s an easy buy if you have the slightest problem of controlling your feelings in poker. I for one play a lot of freeroll tournaments and I think that people play like crazy in them since they usually don’t give a damn how they fare “because it’s free”, so bad beats occur by the minute. Therefore I had good use of some of the techniques taught in this book, and I’m now able to better control my temper. So nowadays I’m even looking for more freerolls at Pokerlistings.
Focus: 8/10
Unfortunately its “only” 175 pages and I would have loved to read some more zen. But at least these are well written 175 pages.
Quality of advice: 7/10
Some of the advice, mostly those about feelings, I fully agree with, but those about general zen are maybe more useful in everyday life than in poker. Therefore this is maybe a book best suited for people that have already learned some of the fundamentals of poker and wish to broaden their views.
Examples: 8/10
There are plenty of well written examples covering many aspects, sometimes even in depth. But I remove two point for the lack of hand examples.
Readability: 10/10
As earlier stated, it’s very well written, filled with enjoyable stories and examples. Even the illustrations are well made.
Overall (not an average): 8/10
Clearly a book that deserves to be read by all who know basic poker and especially by those who want to learn more about self-control.
VERDICT: Why wait?
