Price: around $16.95
Best for: Intermediate to Professional (however would be suitable for
all levels of player)
Rating: 5/5
Established poker writer Ian Taylor teamed up with Poker Pro Matthew Hilger to write
The Poker Mindset. The book is subtitled
'Essential Attitudes for Poker Success'-
That is exactly what it is.
Not a poker theory book but a clear and intelligent text,
which concentrates on the attitudes that make a successful poker player.
The corner stone of the book is the
Poker Mindset, or in other words,
the 7 mental traits key to poker success. These
are set out and explained by the authors.
Here are the 7:
1. Understand and Accept the Realities of Poker
2. Play for the Long Term
3. Emphasize Correct Decisions over Making Money
4. Desensitize Yourself to Money
5. Leave your Ego at the Door
6. Remove All emotion from Decisions
7. Dedicate Yourself to a Continuous Cycle of Analysis and Improvement 
Each of the points are discussed in detail and introduced into discussions
on subjects such as bad beats, downswings, upswings, bankroll,
the minds of opponents, along with more advanced topics and
poker and life.
A particularly good section was the chapter on
TILT.
I was one who claimed he never suffered from tilt.
I honestly believed that - until I read this book.
If we describe tilt as the act of playing worse than you are capable of playing,
- all the factors that can effect my game are there in these pages.
I think it's a book that you will see yourself in too.
It's possibly a book that deserves more than one reading in
order to absorb. Although, after suffering from a frustrating downswing
earlier this year, 3 chapters into this book was enough to help
me continue happily with online poker.
It is also a work that can be dipped into
again and again to re-fresh and reassess your poker journey.
An easy read, clearly understandable, much of what is said,
you will think you may know already. However, I believe
it has never been written down before and almost certainly never so well.
We all differ in personality. We will each have slightly different ways
of approaching poker and of making a success of it.
Everything in this book may not be for you.
Yet, the book is so full of common sense that it's hard to imagine any poker
player who wouldn't benefit from reading it.
Towards the end of the book, the authors tie things up nicely when they speak
of the emotional paradox of poker i.e. on the one hand we want to remove emotion
from our decisions - and on the other hand we want to enjoy our wins:
enjoy the excitement of winning a pot, outplaying an opponent etc.
After all poker is just a game and it's an exciting game.
It's also fun to win money.
I believe if anyone can absorb the attitudes of The Poker Mindset,
whilst striving to improve their game they will win money and have fun
doing it.
It's not perfect. Out of 5, I'd give it 5, since 4 out of 5 didn't seem enough.
A very good book.
Book Review: The Poker Mindset, by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger 
Real poker players don't cry....
