This book outlines the basic concepts behind WHY people play the way they do, which is essential to understanding how to play against different types of players. The playing characteristics of looseness and tightness are rated on one dimension, passiveness and aggressiveness are rated on another. These dimensions outline the four basic types of players: loose-passive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive, and tight-aggressive. Each player type is described in detail, their strengths and weaknesses are outlined, and strategies for playing against them are discussed as well. The reader is given opportunities to assess their own play according to the principles outlined in the text. This book is especially good for the beginning poker player to whom these ideas may be completely new. Advanced players who have not read this book will still undoubtedly learn much from it as well. One of the books listed on the *required reading* list for the San Diego Poker Discussion Group.

I should mention that I played a role in editing this book, and that I am good friends with Dr. Schoonmaker, and the readers of this review should know of my potential bias. However, I still stand by the book, if it wasn't good I would simply refrain from saying anything.

This book outlines the basic concepts behind WHY people play the way they do, which is essential to understanding how to play against different types of players. The playing characteristics of looseness and tightness are rated on one dimension, passiveness and aggressiveness are rated on another. These dimensions outline the four basic types of players, loose-passive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive, and tight-aggressive. Each player type is described in detail, their strengths and weaknesses are outlined, and strategies for playing against them are discussed as well. The reader is given opportunities to assess their own play according to the principles outlined in the text. This book is especially good for the beginning poker player to whom these ideas may be completely new. Advanced players who have not read this book will still undoubtedly learn much from it as well. One of the books listed on the *required reading* list for the San Diego Poker Discussion Group.

Most people think poker is a card game played by people. Those who advance to expert status eventually realize that poker is a people game that happens to be played with cards.

I have probably read every poker book that has ever been written, in part because I want to improve my own game, in part because I want to know what the competition is saying and/or thinking, and in part because I believe it to be the height of "penny-wise and pound-foolishness" not to spend a few bucks on a poker book when ONE good idea or notion in a poker book will probably earn the buyer many times the price of the book.

All that said, when I ranked poker books written in the year 2000, Alan Schoonmaker's "The Psychology of Poker" was an easy choice for me as "Poker Book of the Year" for 2000. Over time, the cards tend to even out. What does not even out over time is our ability to understand our opponents' emotions, and our own.

The only think I don't like about TPOP, as I call it, is that it will probably cut down on my profits when I play, because even though it has helped me--and I was already very good--it figured to help my opponents even more, because I had already focused the majority of my poker study energy into the psychological aspects of poker.

For a completely raw beginner, i.e., someone who has never played or who has rarely played and when playing has played for very low stakes, TPOP probably shouldn't be the FIRST book you buy. You need to understand more basic card and strategy elements. If you aspire to ever being more than a mediocre player who can hold his own against other mediocre players, and you're not some sort of poker savant or expert who has been winning heavily for 30 years, you should read TPOP at your earliest opportunity, and even if you are already quite good and have read it, you should probably re-read it anytime you find yourself in the midst of a losing streak.