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Mark Blade’s Professional Poker
Content:  
Organization:
Overall:
This book is not a regular strategy text. Rather, it focuses on how to manage money, people and your mind. The over-arching goal is to help you decide (1) if playing poker for a living is for you, and (2) how you should go about doing it.
Book Content:
I really liked that Mark Blade's Professional Poker gave good advice about how likely it is that one's best career choice is professional poker. Mark Blade is very straight forward that a life of poker is not for everyone, and he's also very good at explaining the reason why.
His discussion of how profitable poker really is makes for a nice reprieve from the fantasy world of big tournament winners and million dollar paydays. Tournament players will also find some sensible advice about bankroll; advice which may send them to the cash games pretty quick! But not necessarily to the low limit games because, as Blade demonstrates, most low-limit games are not profitable enough to sustain even a modest living. Blade also dispels some of the myths and mantras about bankroll and win rates that a lot of intermediate players parrot to themselves (and others) every day, but don't actually understand.
Although the book is more about a life of poker and the preparation needed to succeed in one, rather than how to play poker, the last section of the book has some great poker tips. Lots of them are ones that even advanced and expert players might not think of, although one should note that a lot of them have to do with live games and tells/psychology which might not apply to online poker.
I would really have liked to see Blade cut down on the number of times he mentions future books that he is writing. Granted, he has every right to advertise, but at a certain point it simply becomes annoying. It's different than when someone like Sklansky references one of the many books he's written - in that case, players can easily go pick up the other books and read more. Blade is just advertising. Nonetheless, kudos to him for including a section on books one should own, which is about other author's works and not just his upcoming books.
Organization:
Mark Blade's Professional Poker was surprisingly easy to read. Although moderately sized, I found myself going through it more quickly than most strategy texts. That is a credit to Blade's use of short paragraphs, spacing, and visual aids (such as charts and tables). It's also a credit to his ability to explain complicated topics quickly and efficiently, a skill many authors lack. I like the organization of chapter as well, because he starts off with some very basic questions designed to steer people who should not play professionally away from trying to do so. As the book progresses, I found the footnotes Blade used quite helpful, especially when he gives seemingly contradictory advice.
Overall:
Mark Blade's Professional Poker is a good read for any serious semi-pro, pro or someone who wants to be either. Take Blade's advice to heart, especially about how poker is not always glamorous or profitable, and hence, shouldn't be a career entered lightly.
 
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