Zen and the Art of Poker: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game

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• #32 in Best Poker Books
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32 Reviews

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This book sets out to achieve a clear and reasonable goal of applying Zen to help your poker game. It describes the limitations in doing this in a clear and reasonable manner.

Many of the concepts set out by the book are very useful. What really marrs the book is the occasionally mention of ways of detecting and leaving a cold table early and like issues. That part of the book is just incorrect.

I'd suggest this book for anybody (isn't that all of us) that occasionally or not so occasionally has troubles with emotions coming inbetween plan and execution. Read each section critically and I believe the sum output is well worth the cost.

Ever wonder how people like Howard Lederer win so much cash over the long haul in poker? It isn't that line he and other pros like Phil Hellmuth always give ("I see into the soul of the other player"). Poker pros say that as a standard defense just in case they ever run into you at the table, so they can intimidate you (hey, these pros aren't stupid, they realize psychology is a huge factor to Texas Hold-em)... The real key is patience (a simple, yet very difficult concept in poker). It is pretty well known that Lederer has gotten into Zen over the last year or so (and his game has soared to even higher levels then before). Don't worry, there is no chanting or other mystical weirdness in this book, just 100+ quality concepts of fundamental, intermediate and advanced poker techniques and tactics. The key is being able to implement them into your game. I would guess only 20% or so of you reading this have what it takes to do that (just human nature)... If you can implement these techniques, there is no doubt you will win consistantly, whether you play on the internet or in traditional card rooms. I would imagine those who wrote bad reviews for this book are the aggresive type players who are unable to play a quality "thinking man's" or "woman's" game. The bottom line is, do you want to win cash or do you want to be a maverick who may hit a lucky big pot here and there, but ultimately give all their chips away to guys like Lederer, Dan Harrington, Erik Seidel and Andy Bloch. Yeah, I know, those are not the most flashy players around, but they are guys who probably have the most cash in their bank accounts. The truth is, grinders win. And this book should be part of any personal poker instructional library (the format of it is also great as it lends itself to not only cover-to-cover analysis, but quick reference as well).

Kudos to Larry Phillips! I am a person who is very technical in approach. I was frustrated with why I understood how to play poker, yet was not winning consistently. Then I read Zen and the Art of Poker. I realised that I had mastered the rules of the game, but not myself. Having watched the emotions of many poker players, I can tell you that what is missing in their game, can be found in this book. I was amazed at what a difference it made. This book teaches you how to make peace with poker. When it comes to a bad day at poker (and we all have them), this book will be the difference between going home angry and going home wiser. Usually when you buy a book, you take money out of your pocket; this book is responsible for much money going into mine. So buy this book and next time we meet at the poker table, just remember who you have to thank for pointing you in the right direction.

"Zen and the Art of Poker" teaches lessons essential for anyone who wants to better understand the emotional element of the poker game. I consider this text to be the most useful thing I have ever read on poker (and card playing in general). Any success I have had since reading this book is the direct result of the lessons contained in its pages, as I have transformed myself from a sloppy gunslinger to a cold-blooded pot-dragger.

Success at the tables can be owed to three things. The first is luck, which can't be taught. Next is a player's mathematical understanding of the statistics of the game, which is the subject of almost every other poker book written. Finally, the overlooked element of successful poker play concerns self discipline at the table. This book outlines Buddhist philosophies that can be applied in a poker game, helping a player better understand how their mental approach to the game is as important as the cards they are dealt.

This book is not for the average poker player. A person needs to be prepared to do some serious self analysis and abandon old tricks, habits and superstitions that have no real practical purpose in the game. If an open-minded player does "buy-in" to the lessons of this book, they will learn to focus, remain calm and dominate weaker-minded opponents.

My regular poker game is a high-level no-limit hold-'em game much larger than the games that Phillips describes --- a big-winner in a session will take home $10-20k. After 5 years of playing in this game and learning the hard way how to be a consistent winner, I was struck by how on-target Phillips points were. Poker is technically not a very difficult game, but it requires profound self-discipline and attunement to the emotional states of other players and yourself. The detachment that Phillips advocates is precisely the state you need to be in to win over the long run.

The Zen theme is both overwrought and shallowly applied; the writing is amateur; the quotes from Zen masters and philosophers are gratuitous and too numerous --- but the concepts are dead on.

You wont learn funky plays with this books, which is more focused on keeping your emotions under control, and avoiding the costly "steaming" sessions. As mentioned by another reviewer, the principles in this book are also interesting for traders.
Two main criticisms:
1. Poker players know they must keep their cool, avoid steaming, manage their expectations... Still, anger is a human thing, and I think the book does not give good tricks in terms of implementing the methods advised (which is the difficult part rreally...)
2. Poker is a game of agression: trying to implement "Zen Poker" puts your usual poker at risk, as playing Zen/agressive really is tough.
Overall this book is interesting because it takes a different view to poker, but all in all it wont revolutionize your play.

This along with David Apostolico's "Tournament Poker & the Art of War" is the Number 1 book that has totally transformed my game. I used to be a big Sklansky fan until I first found Apostolico's book. After reading that, I hit the delete button on 95% of the Sklansky material that I had memorized and I never looked back.

Now, after months of playing with an "Art of War" attitude, I have finally found the cherry to my Sundae. Zen and the Art of Poker has taken my game to heights that I never knew it could reach. If you want to play like the greats, than this book will show you how. Imagine having the skills of Phil Ivey and the patience of Chris Ferguson, if that's what your looking for, than this is the book that can help you get there.

There is a little bit of fluff (just a tiny bit), which is at the end of the book, but everything else is top notch. The information could have been condensed a little bit further from what it was, but the extra details do clear up any questions that might come up. Plus I loved the quotes from Zen Practitioners, Sports Player's, and the like. It reminds me of the Aposotolico books where all of them are extremely relevant to the topics at hand.

Overall: **** 4 1/2 Stars!!! Definatley a Must Have in any Successful Poker Player's Library!

Well, this certainly is not the first book you should buy concerning poker, but it is definitely an illuminating read. The concepts will be appreciated by the intermediate to advanced player but their clarity is so pronounced that practically anyone can get something out of its pages. Phillips has an original and creative approach to the game which can best be compared to David Apostolico's poker tributes to The Art of War and The Prince. However, Zen and the Art of Poker is superior to both of these works due to its directness and focus. Some of the observations made by Apostolico I found contrived and their effect was that he was "trying too hard." Here, you find that the connection between the practices of Zen and those of an outstanding poker player are fairly obvious. Phillips' advice regarding folding and the need for patience is very practical and of great benefit. Without patience, one is on the road to living in the gutter. His take on the need to avoiding feeling like a martyr when you don't get good cards for an entire night was valuable along with the notion that losing is a part of everyone's game. Yes, unlike Michael Jordan's habit of finding the zone, in poker, you lack a great deal of control regarding outcome. One's will and the discrepancy between talent levels only goes so far as the randomicity of the cards has much to do with how successful you'll be. His "two steps forward one back" for the pros is great, but is undoubtedly an understatement of how much even they lose. Barry Greenstein, in his book, stated that he wins only 58 percent of the time in ring games which means that one of our most affluent and skilled practitioners appears quite human 42 percent of the time. Phillips explanation for the importance of being aggressive, deceptive, and betting out your best hands I found to be inspirational. A pleasant side effect of reading this book is that, while learning more about poker you also get to learn plenty about Zen, which, for me at least, made the purchase well worth it.

Stay calm. No matter what happens, stay cool when you win and lose. It takes practice to control your emotions and that is the basis of this entire book. I think that if you had some time on your hands, and didn't mind wasting a couple of bucks, than I am sure that you will enjoy it, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are some concepts that you MIGHT find helpful, but you have to sort through all of the non-essential info first.

Remember: This is MY opinion of the book! I am not much of a critic either.

The focus of this book is keeping your cool while playing poker using a zen buddhist mindset. As a poker player who dabbles in buddhism I found this approach fascinating, as well as very, very useful. This is book is clearly on my top 10 list of poker books. No advice on play, rather, it tells you how to keep from getting emotional over inevitable bad runs of cards. A must buy (and I hope all my opponants don't buy it).

If you want to become a great poker player or a zen master, don't expect that this book alone will do it for you. However, I believe the author is an experienced player who has great advice for dealing with losing streaks and being mentally prepared for a game. With an open mind you will benefit from this book. As with all books, they can't give you the experience and the discipline you need, but it probably will help point out leaks in your game you can correct over time.

Once you've memorized the starting hands chart in a Sklansky book and learned how to calculate odds, you still have a long way to go to be a great poker player.
In this book, the author stresses letting go of ego, not letting emotions rule your game, and not allowing yourself to go on tilt.
Let's face it: your aces get cracked, and the next hand, you hold some piece of cheese that you normally would muck, but because you just got a bad beat, you're looking to put a beat on someone else. This usually leads to you losing another stack of chips.
Once you've learned more about tapping into the Zen of poker, you're one step closer to playing winning poker.

I love the greats, and I've read most of their books. I watch them on Full Tilt Poker After Dark. I read their blogs. And I have watched the Full Tilt instructional videos.

This book alone has helped me win more games, more consistently, than any other book I've read, hands down.

This book teaches Westerners like me how to yield, how to wait, how to be consistent and a force of nature when it comes to consistency and inevitability at the table.

I purchased it, read it a little, didn't ascribe much practical value to it, and set it aside for other books. I read them, and lost big at the tables (including books by Brunson, Caro, and Negreanu).

Then I picked up this little book again and everything changed. I realized that the biggest problem I was having at the tables was not my luck, but it was ME. Now I'm on the right path again.

This book may be my lifelong poker Bible.

This book is helpful if you really have trouble managing your emotions at the poker table. It's more of a "chicken soup..." type book than a book that can lead to improved poker play, that is, unless you're having trouble with the emotions of the game. It's not even an enjoyable read. Read "Zen and the Martial Arts" by Joe Hyams if you're looking for a good zen book, and basically any other poker book if you're looking to master poker concepts.

It's not enough to know the rules and stats of poker. Your mindset and understanding of the dynamics of the game are crucial to success at poker. This book taught me those things. While some of the concepts may seem obvious I found it was very easy for me to get off track when playing. This book not only got me back on track it has kept me there. I've only been playing a few months and have much to learn but my knowledge and profits are up five fold since reading this book.

But the writer hasn't really pulled it off. Far from essential for poker players.

This is not the best book to buy if you are just learning how to play poker (try Sklansky or Harrington), but if you are an advanced beginner or intermediate player, this book offers a whole new approach to the game that will radically improve your play. Most beginning players find themselves playing too many hands, and with disastrous results (hitting top pair with a weak kicker, or hitting second pair). This book's advice (Poker Rule #3) is that "If you've been folding a lot, for a long time in the game, and you're starting to think that maybe it's time you got in a played a few hands again... Keep folding." It counsels patience, emotional detachment, and selective confrontation. In a world of big egos, players on tilt, and WPT wannabees, this book will help you find a calmer, more profitable path.

Anyone who has read books on the martial arts, the psychology of playing the stock market, "real" Zen Buddhism, or almost any self-improvement book will find much familiar territory here. Just because the advice is given a lot does not mean that the advice is bad. Stay in the "now," concentrate, play your own game. Good advice.

Phillips has produced an easy read that covers topics like taking the long view, the importance of calmness, staying detached, getting into the rhythm of the game, not hesitating, respecting your opponents, and understanding why you are in the game in the first place. He peppers the chapters with quotes from Zen masters, athletes, and gamblers.

Reading parts of this book can be especially valuable when you're in the middle of one of those seemingly interminable runs of bad cards. Remember . . . a happy man is a man who grins.

Before I recommend this book, let me be blunt about its limitations. I don't recognize much philosophical weight in the old Eastern schools of Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen (although Neo-Confucianism is quite a bit more substantial). These traditions of parables and riddles are aesthetically pleasing and valuable to a certain extent, but modern Western thought completely overpowers them. Anyone who understands the outlines of Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," for example, necessarily understands where Zen tries to lead us and, simultaneously, that the goal is unattainable. So while I am deeply skeptical of the truth that Zen aims for, I do believe that Zen can be useful psychologically as a vehicle for understanding, accepting, and honoring truths that emerge from other lines of inquiry.

And that's the capacity in which Zen and the Art of Poker is valuable. It helps readers integrate the paramount virtues of discipline and patience into their game-concepts that you don't need to be a Buddhist monk to appreciate, but that you have to be a little like a Buddhist monk to live by.

This book isn't a technical manual of how to play poker. It doesn't describe when to call, bet, raise or bluff.

This book (rightly) points out that winning at poker requires an inner discipline. It then uses the Zen philosophy to encourage the readers to develop that necessary discipline. Knowing when to call, bet, raise, and bluff, are necessary to win at poker, but these skills aren't sufficient.

If you're the type of player that knows the odds, and most of the mechanics of poker, but you still can't win [this is especially true for low limit players], then this book could greatly help your game.

Im not a big fan of poker books. They tend to be very dry and difficult to apply the specific theories to the game. This book is simply explains another way to look at the game. It is very easy to apply to the game after reading. It is mostly a book about folding and how to fold well. When youre folding well, youre playing well. Folding well implies betting well. The book states this much more clearly. Overall a great book for any poker player.

This is the one book that I can read time and time again, and always learn something new depending on where I'm at in my poker career and my life. It's not a poker instructional book by any means. It's about you and who you are at the poker table -- but really, it's about who you are in your every day existence.

If you like to look inside and make yourself a better person, then this book addresses core issues that can help you excel. Let's face it, life is poker and poker is life. Larry Phillips encapsulates this beautifully. It will help you play better and it will help you live better, if you are willing to do the work and look at yourself honestly.

It's a quick read with much thought provoking insights on just abou every page. It is written very well.

I have been playing poker professionally for a little over a year now and have read all different kinds of poker books. But this was the first one that really took into the importance of your mental state. If you want to read a book that is going to give you statistics and odds this isn't it. If your looking for something that is going to make you think more about your innerself and others at and away from the table this is a must read. By the way- I have never written a review before but I felt that this was a must for the serious or even part time player!

There are several aspects to becoming and great/profitable Hold Em player. Larry Phillips will give everything you need to know about two of these aspects in Zen and the Art of Poker. Learn patience. Learn controlled, focused aggression. Learn to win.

I hadn't picked up a book in probably 5 or more years. I found Zen and The Art of Poker by chance. This book changed my style of play instantly. I couldn't help but relate the proverbs to my life which has also changed dramatically for the better, in various ways. This book has inspired me to live and love my life everyday. If you want to learn how to play patiently, powerfully, differently, or you simply want to add that extra advantage or foundation to your game... I highly recommend this book. If you have read every other poker book besides this book... I still highly recommend this book. It is a great addition to any style or way.

Great book for any level of poker player. I was in the Zen last night at the tables with the help of this book!

Zen is a book you should read when you first start to play cards. It main goal is to get you to understand the attitude you need to play the game. Even though the concept of Zen and poker are close to opposite, Phillips utilizes the the technique of keeping calm and not going on tilt. The book is full of general tips that are sometimes overlooked in the game. Despite the book being a little slow to read, i give it four stars and would recommend it.

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I have been trying to read a few books to improve my poker game. This one has an interesting outlook on poker, but there are better books out there that are more helpful.

This is a great book for any poker player. Rather than focusing on formulas, plays, moves and strategy, this book focuses on one's attitude and state of mind while playing poker. It's a quick read, and has a fair amount of filler in the form of quotes, but I found that it helped my game immediately.

This book focuses on one of the hardest (if not the all time hardest) things to learn at the poker table-- keeping your cool and staying in control of yourself, it brings up lots of very interesting points and reads like a story-book, I enjoyed reading it very much, a great book for any poker player.

This is a great book for the beginner to middle player skill level. It starts off like it may be for advanced players but with its redundant reminders of how to play certain types of hands and what to do in case scenarios it drills it into the player. Making it much easier to retain the information.

This book drew my attention to a part of my game that had gone untouched for too long. It points out the emotional aspect of your game, and stresses that you be rid of it. I've yet to steam, seek revenge, or bitch over a bad beat since I've gone through this reading experience, and I can't believe the improvement I've seen in my play. The caliber of this book is small, but how far can strategy get you if you let people or occurrences at your table mess with you?