When the first Super System book came out in the late 70 it was a real sensation. After winning the world series of poker back to back in 1978 Doyle Brunson started the book project. He didn't wanted to write just another poker book: "I decided to write the best possible book I could, regardless of time or expense." He knew he couldn't do it alone, so Doyle asked five other players he considered the best in his field to join him and obliged them to hold nothing back. "I had a talk with each one of them before we began each section. I told them if they had any reservations about giving up any 'trade secrets' not to start the job. I would find someone else. Fortunately, each expert liked the idea of doing an authoritative Poker course and agreed to do their very best. As I had picked up the top player in the world in each game, I was both grateful to them and relieved I didn't have to take second choice in any game." (p. vii)

Super System was the first poker book that gave the reader accurate advice for all poker games commonly played in card rooms. For years Super System was considered the bible of poker. Unfortunately as the years went by Super System became outdated. On the one hand the games treated in Super System no longer reflects the games that are today played in the poker rooms. Draw poker (jacks or better, lowball) were once the main games in Californian poker rooms because only this form of poker was considered legal then, but are hardly played anymore today. On the other hand the structure of the games have changed. The seven card stud hi/lo game Sklansky discusses in his section has no qualifier for low (as it is standard today) and the limit hold'em game was played with a single blind.

Now more than 35 years after Super System Doyle has published a successor: Super System 2. In my opinion the book came out a couple of years too late. With the exception of triple draw you can get solid information about all the game variations Super System 2 discusses from other books. Super System 2 doesn't break new ground as the original edition did. That doesn't mean it's a bad book which it isn't it just means it won't have the impact Super System 1 had.

The following table gives you an overview about the games treated in the old and new edition:

Game	Author
	Super System 1	Super System 2
Draw Poker	Mike Caro	-
Seven Card Stud	Chip Reese	-
Lowball	Joey Hawthorne	-
Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo	David Skansky	Todd Brunson
Limit Hold'em	Bobby Baldwin	Jennifer Harman
No-Limit Hold'em	Doyle Brunson	Doyle Brunson
Omaha Hi/Lo	-	Bobby Baldwin
Pot-Limit Omaha	-	Lyle Berman
Triple Deaw	-	Daniel Negreanu

As you can see there is no section about seven card stud in the new edition which is surprising because stud is still the second most popular game. I guess Chip Reese didn't want to rework his stud chapter and nobody else wanted to do it because it's hard to surpass Chip's work. The section by Chip Reese in Super System 1 is still the reference work for the game of seven card stud. New are the sections about seven card stud hi/lo, Omaha hi/lo, pot-limit Omaha and triple draw. Two of them are outstanding: Bobby Baldwin's chapter about Omaha hi/lo and Daniel Negreanu's triple draw chapter. Even if you don't play any of these games you should read these chapters. Maybe it arouses your curiosity to give it a try.

The stud hi/lo section is pretty good though the way the material is presented doesn't make it suited for beginners. Lyle Berman's chapter about pot-limit Omaha is ok though I wouldn't buy the book just for it. There is better information on the market for this game, especially from Stewart Reuben who uses a more scientific approach.

The limit hold'em section was newly written for Super System 2 by Jennifer Harman, a successful high limit player, who knows what she is writing about. The section is very good to excellent, but keep in mind that this is written mainly for high limit play. Here is an example:

"There are ... situations where you might even flop a flush draw, but then release it on the turn. Let's say you have the 5-6 of hearts and find yourself in a multiway pot with multiple bets in it. The flop comes K♥J♥4♠, followed by the 9♦ on the turn. If there are four players in this pot, there is a very good chance someone has a bigger flush draw than yours, leaving you drawing dead. So, even if the pot is laying you the right price to draw, you'd still want to muck this hand if there is a reasonable chance that you are drawing dead." (p. 267)

In a high limit game where all your opponents have some idea what they are doing it may be correct to lay down your hand because it is hard to find three other legitimate hands that don't contain a better flush draw than you hold. But, in a low limit game, folding in this spot is just throwing away money. Your opponents may hold all sort of hands, ace high, bottom pair, a small pocket pair, a gutshot etc. Even in a typical mid limit game where the competition is tougher, I would never fold that hand.

As good as Jennifer Harman’s limit hold’em chapter is in Super System 2, I still think Bobby Baldwin's limit hold'em chapter in Super System 1 is far superior. That chapter has always been the most underrated in the old edition. People think it's outdated because the game Baldwin discusses is played with only one blind. Of course this is true but it doesn't impair it's value. While Harman uses a how-to-approach to the game that makes it perfectly suitable for beginners and intermediate players, Baldwin uses a thinking approach that shows you how to judge a situation, what to look for, what to take into account before making a decision. I reread the Baldwin section every few month and I'm always amazed how good it is. You can feel the insight he has in every sentence you read.

As in the old edition Doyle Brunson has written the no limit hold'em chapter. Alas, he hasn't changed much. Even the examples are the same. At least he eliminated the references to ESP (extrasensory perception). But Doyle still believes in rushes.

"If you're going to have a rush, you've got to let yourself have one. You've got to sustain that rush. And to do that, you've got to get in there and play. It used to be that after I had won a pot in no-limit I would be in the next pot, regardless of what two cards I picked up. And if I won that one, I'd always be in the next one. I'd keep playing every pot until I lost one. And in all those pots, I'd gamble more than I normally would. Nowadays, I still to try to observe this, but I've modified it because players are much more aggressive. If you don't play that way, you'll never have much of a rush. I know that scientists don't believe in rushes, but sometimes rushes can make you a fortune. There's only one world-class poker player that I know of who doesn't believe in rushes. Well, he's wrong, and so are the scientists. Besides, how many of them can play poker anyway? I've played poker for more than fifty years now, and I've made millions at it. A big part of my winnings came from playing my rushes." (p. 562)

Needless to say the rushes concept is nonsense.

Should you buy Super System 2 if you have Super System 1? There is enough new material in the new edition to make it a must-read for every serious poker player. The only exception is if you are only interested in the no-limit section. Then you can pass because both sections are essentially identical.

And what if you have Super System 2? Should you buy Super System 1? Absolutely! There is no question that Super System 1 belongs in every poker library. It contains Chip Reese's seven card stud chapter that alone is worth the price of the book many times. And if you haven't read what Bobby Baldwin has written about limit hold'em, you should definitively do so.

(Tristan Steiger)

Buy Super System 1!

Buy Super System 2!