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FROM POKERNEWS.COM, JULY 2010

Paul Hoppe started his career in poker at the legendary Mayfair club where the film Rounders was set and more recently became known as the Limit hold’em coach at DragTheBar. He is also a fourth-degree black belt with Taekwon-Do International, which qualifies him as a “master.” The Way of the Poker Warrior is his first offering in the poker publishing arena and throughout the book Hoppe provides us with lessons learned from the world of competitive Taekwon-Do which are also applicable to poker.

Every chapter starts with an anecdote from Hoppe’s life as a martial artist, one where a valuable lesson was learnt about his opponent, his approach to the sport or life in general. The lesson is then applied to mirror scenarios in poker. For example in one chapter he talks about how to target his opponent’s weaknesses during a fight and juxtaposes that with targeting player weaknesses with exploitable and unexploitable strategies at the poker table. In another chapter he discusses how he goes about profiling his fighting opponents and what questions he asks himself, much in the same way he does poker players.

I will be honest and say when I first heard about the theme of this book, a large part of me was expecting it to be quite bad. Martial arts is considered very mysterious to those of us that don’t understand it very well and I feared this book would be rife with cryptic clichés about flying like dragons or how in order to win you must first learn to lose. Not only was this not the case, I would actually say the books easiness to understand and its practically applicable advice is one of the books biggest strengths.

Lots of difficult concepts to understand such as game theory, exploitable and unexploitable strategies, calculating EV and levelling actually seem to be easier to explain with these martial arts analogies. There is also a lot of sound advice about how to deal with the different challenges opponents present, for example how to deal with bullies or superior opposition. Throughout the book Hoppe includes poker hand examples that perfectly highlight the points he is making and reinforces the practical value of the book.

Don’t get me wrong, many of the fighting references were completely lost on me because my martial arts experience goes no further than trying the Karate Kid Crane Kick in a school yard, but that doesn’t stop the lessons learned from being very easy to digest. You certainly do not need an interest in the fighting arts to get the most out of the book, though no doubt it would help.

Perhaps one of the most pertinent themes in this book is the importance of always being a student of the game and it offers lots of practical insights into how to embrace learning. How to study on your own, with coaches or friends, how to identify opportunities to learn and areas you need to work on. In fact the book is a tribute to the concept of learning and how valuable it is to always be a student or teacher, rather than a master.

This book isn’t for everyone; I wouldn’t really suggest this book to anyone who has any obvious technical leaks in their game for example, because there are so many more detailed ‘how to’ publications out there.  I do think, however, that Way of the Poker Warrior is an ideal companion for anyone whose game needs a bit of a kick start or feel like they are in a bit of a slump. For those people who have been playing the game for a while it serves as a brilliant reminder and guide on how to recapture the enthusiasm for learning poker wisdom that we all had when we first started playing the game.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

*”Way of the Poker Warrior is a brilliant reminder on how to recapture the enthusiasm for learning poker wisdom that we all had when we started playing the game.” — Poker News

*”Way of the Poker Warrior helped me simplify and get out of the mother of all slumps. The wisdom in this book hits you like one of Paul’s roundhouse kicks to the head. He is both brilliant and a total badass.” — Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt

*”Paul Hoppe’s dedication, discipline and poise are a model for any aspiring player — especially established players looking to shore up bad habits.” — Jared Tendler, mental coach

*”Quite simply, Paul Hoppe breaks the mold with this book. He approaches the game like he does life — refusing to settle for mediocrity.” — Reese “johnnyrocket” Newell

*”A serious intensity underscores everything Paul does. The work ethic, the ambition, the drive to be the best, the confidence to explore new projects outside a comfort zone, the complete and total devotion to a task — he has it all. When Paul teaches, you see a never-ending attention to detail in his approach to the game. His intensity in improving his game and his students’ games is unmatched. No matter how good you are, you can always get better at poker. Paul understands that as well as anyone, and his drive is evident to everyone who knows him.” — Hunter “BeachJustice” Bick, CEO, DragTheBar.com

*”In this book, Paul will show you how to win and make money. What I think you’ll ultimately find, though, is that these are the least important things Paul has to teach.” — Grandmaster Suk Jun Kim

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FROM THE BLOG OF DUSTY “LEATHERASS” SCHMIDT

I want to tell you briefly about a poker book that the company I own, Imagine Media just put out into the world. The book is called Way Of The Poker Warrior and it was written by Paul Hoppe (aka GiantBuddha on Poker Stars aka Limit holdem phenom). The book is one I have read and enjoyed immensely, despite not being a limit holdem pro. Essentially the book is poker and life instruction through the lens of martial arts. I guess one might loosely say it is like the book Art of War for poker players. Paul’s Grandmaster, Suk Jun Kim, said this about the book, “In this book, Paul will show you how to win and make money. What I think you’ll ultimately find, though, is that these are the least important things Paul has to teach.” This sums it up completely for me. The book, no matter what form of poker you play, will help you make money at the tables. And while you may be making more money after reading the book, down the line that is the one of the last things you will remember the book for. It is the kind of book that has the potential to really elevate your approach to poker and life in a way that you may be grateful for for a very long time.

One thing Imagine Media is proud of is that we are the leaders is driving down the cost of poker books written by online poker pros. When online poker pros first began writing poker books a few years ago, they were all $500 or $1,000 or even as much as $5,000 a book!! Yeah, that isn’t a typo, there were books put out that cost 5 GRAND! Last summer, I made the decision to write Treat Your Poker Like A Business and I was looking at the poker book market and the cheapest book I had seen written by a successful online poker pro was $399 and it was on sale! No joke, it was on sale at $399. I told myself there was no way I would ever put out a book that carried a price tag like that so I released Treat Your Poker Like A Business for $39.99 (only 10% of the cost of the next cheapest book) and blew every other book written by the online guys out of the water. And I am glad that I did it. I have long believed that there are a ton of talented people out there who never get to realize their potential because of lack of opportunity. So to me anyway, putting a book out into the world that only serves the people who are among the “haves,” is clearly not in line with what I believe in.

Anyway, enough with that, Paul’s book is $24.99 and can be be purchased in either ebook or hard copy form at GiantBuddhapoker.com There is a review up on the site that Pokernews.com’s Barry Carter was kind enough to provide that will give you an unbiased opinion on the book, as well as some excerpts, if you are interested in purchasing it. All in all I think you guys will be well served picking up a copy and I hope if you do, you are glad you did it after reading the book.

Well, I am going to log onto Poker Stars here in a few minutes and play all of the major Sunday tournaments. I am also going to grind the cash games until my eyes bleed so hopefully I can get a hold of some loot by the end of the day. As always, I will provide updates on my Facebook page when I am done playing for anyone interested.

I hope you guys kick some butt today at the tables!