One of the things I’ve been doing for the Poker Streams site is writing a series of book reviews. (I’m about 1/3 of the way through reviewing all the books in my poker library.) I just finished posting my review of Doyle Brunson’s masterpiece, Super System. I wasn’t able to give it nearly as good of a review as it deserves, which was difficult to do… but I don’t want to steer new players in the wrong direction.
When Super System was written, it revolutionized the game of poker, spawning a whole generation of professional poker players. The book is so unbelievably comprehensive that it is pretty much impossible to digest without long term study. This is a text book for a master’s class in poker.
So why the less-than-glowing review? Well, Super System is out of date. The blind and ante structures in modern games are so different that some of the advice is flat-out incorrect because of the strategic and statistic adjustments required by the modified games. Ignoring that, it would be difficult for a player relatively new to the game to follow certain elements because the game has changed so much. Still, probably 95% of Super System is still valid today, amazing for a book that was written so long ago.
There’s a happy ending, though… Doyle and his cohorts are coming out with a totally new version of Super System this year… called, appropriately enough, Super System 2. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. If it is half as good as Super System was when it came out, we’ll be looking at yet another revolution in poker.
Super System Redux
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