March 16, 2022
In the 2004 World Poker Tour Championship, Matt made the step from online poker at partypoker .net to being a force in the world when he captured third place and the nearly three quarters of a million dollars that went along with it. It also allowed him to cap off his book, "The Making Of A PartyPoker Player", with an epilogue that was worthy of the quality of the book. It was surely a sign that Matros was made for the game of internet poker! Nowadays, Matt continues to play the game and advance his writing and education. While he hasn't quite made the same noise as he made in the 2004 WPT Championship, Matt has continued to play excellent tournament partypoker net and write quite a bit about the game on his website, mattmatros.com, which contains excellent insight to playing the game. I had the opportunity to correspond with Matt via E-mail recently to talk about his book and his thoughts on the game.
One thing that tends to block people from learning about how to play partypoker net through books is that they can sometimes be a little over the top on strategy, terminology and mathematics. Dennis Purdy, a longtime (and now retired) professional gambler and partypoker player, seems to have overcome this roadblock with his well-done "Illustrated Guide To Texas Hold 'Em". It is a very nicely priced book at $10.17 and tremendously valuable for the information that is provided. While most useful for the beginner player, it can still be an excellent guide for a long time player in the game as well. What Dennis has come up with is basically a walk through the free Texas Hold 'Em jungle at Partypoker .net and he is there to hold your hand and guide you.
It basically looks at the game of Limit Hold 'Em Partypoker .Net, so if you want a No-Limit guide this book wouldn't be much of an aide (although the hand breakdowns as to their winning percentage will hold true in NL). There is very little mathematics involved and there are some great charts that show the breakdown of EVERY hand that is possible in Hold 'Em and their winning percentage. These are based over a partypoker one million scenario analysis done by Purdy, so it is obvious that he has done his homework on the background of the game. Where "The Illustrated Guide To Texas Hold 'Em" really steps into its own is in the 150 different question and answer situations that are offered to the reader. Purdy really steps into his own as a teacher of the partypoker game here as he presents these thoroughly thought out hand setups and then presents the reader with their options.
Rather than go for the easy out of "it depends", Dennis gives a very detailed analysis of the quality of your partypoker hand, the position at the poker table, and a reaction to your opponent's actions. He then gives a definitive answer for your play and the reasonings behind it, which is what most new players are looking for. Bluff, which already can boast a circulation of around 250,000, and ESPN, with their online partypoker room that offers a wide array of poker games, teaming up, both are showing their commitment to the sport of poker and to being an instrumental part of its future. The collaboration will be a great thing for both, as the cross promotion alone would benefit the two outlets and further their exposure to partypoker net fans worldwide. Be looking for the contributions of Bluff Magazine to the ESPN Poker Club at espn.com/poker.
