Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em

Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em author: Phil Gordon rating: asin: 1416927190 binding: Hardcover list price: $21.00 USD amazon price: $14.28 USD

This book is the companion to the Little Green Book. It also comes in a box set with The Little Black Book, which is a reprint of his The Real Deal book which the "players" on Celebrity Poker Showdown wave around from time to time. The Little Blue Book consists of 70-odd hands that Phil Gordon played, with commentary. Around 80% of the hands are from tournaments, so if you are primarily a cash game player this may not be exactly what you are looking for.

The book tries to illustrate a lot of the concepts from the Little Green Book with concrete examples. At the end of the book there is a section matching up the sections in this book with the corresponding concept from the Green Book so you can refer to them easily.

There are some entertaining anecdotes and stories, such as "The River Apu" where Gordon goes head-to-head in a home game with Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (yes, I copied-and-pasted that). Another chapter relates how he managed to fold pocket Kings in a pot against Phil Hellmuth at the final table of the 2001 WSOP.

Some of the hand examples I found to be a bit obvious, for instance, in a number of them the author makes a terrific hand like a set or even quads and is only scheming to get the most money into the pot.

Gordon takes you through his thought processes in great detail, giving you a good insight into how to think about particular hands.

I'd recommend this book primarily to beginning to intermediate tournament players who have already read and enjoyed the Little Green Book.