This book is going to turn the way you approach tournament no limit holdem upside down. It will soon rank with Super System and the Harrington holdem books as absolute essentials for playing no limit tournaments. The subtle beauty is that it can allow inexperienced or moderately experienced players to negate much of the skill edge veteran and expert players hold. This book is a detailed and expanded version of "The System" described in David Sklansky's "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players", which Sklansky designed to allow a complete novice to be competitive in a big buy in tournament.

Before "Kill Phil" was published many of the very young very aggressive players were already using this type of approach with great success against the established tournament pros. It is an amazing strategy which if you don't know and understand will leave you in the dust against the rest of the players who do know it. I will go out on the proverbial limb here and predict that it will become an instant classic and "must own" book in any players no limit library. It is that good.

It is not the "Holy Grail" for no limit,but because it is so powerful, you must understand how to use it and when it is being used against you. It does have drawbacks certainly, but used as described will minimize the skill gap for lesser experienced players where they may be put to tough decisions too often. Understand this, the core of the system is a combination of math and psychology; the system has you making some hyper aggressive plays with hands that don't seem to warrant it, but the psychology of the all in bet coupled with the possibility of elimination if you call- and either guess wrong or are outdrawn -make it a devastingly effective strategy in the right situations. Even when you call an all in bet from an opponent, you are rarely more than a 2:1 or 3:1 favorite against even mid range suited connectors(unless you are specifically holding a hand like AA versus another pocket pair 4:1 etc)

If someone asked you at the beginning of a $10,000 buy in tournament to flip a coin for your entire buy in, would you do it if you knew ahead of time you would probably lose your $10,000 about one time in three? I recommend you study this book if you are a serious tournament player.

Kill Phil is an outstanding contribution to tournament poker literature. This is not, contrary to what you might suppose, merely a naive all-in approach. The basic Kill Phil approach involves (i) minimizing tough decisions after the flop (but not eliminating them-- both the basic Kill Phil approach and, to a greater extent, the more advanced variations invlove play after the flop) and (ii) adjusting your aggressiveness and the risks you are taking based on blind levels, stack size and number of players. The hand rankings that form the basis of the system are exceptionally useful and are very different from the hand rankings that you may be familiar with from Sklansky or similar sources. These hand rankings are intended to reflect playability in an all-in situation against hands that may call you or hands that may have raise or called in front of you--domination for example results in some hands ranking lower than you might expect, and the likelihood of two live cards results in some hands ranking higher than you might expect (e.g., middle suited connecters). The authors make the point that the Kill Phil approach does not have to displace your regular game, but can be incorporated into a style that involves a small ball approach as well. In any case, about half way through a sit and go tournament, and in the later stages of other tournaments, all-in skills are crucial.

I have incorporated the Kill Phil approach into my regular game and am very happy with the results. I think the book can operate either as a complete method of tournament play or as a supplement to more traditional tournament play. Highly recommended!

I like the idea of a simple system that makes mediocre players competitive with better players. The Kill Phil System promises this, but I have been watching it fail online and on television. The 2005 WSOP was full of players doing the All In rhumba and exiting the tournament quickly. Online, I play against Kill Phil players regularly at SNG tables and they rarely make the pay level.

After reading it, I thought their advanced system was pretty good and use some of the ideas in my own game. So, I recommend reading it. But the folks who use the Rookie or basic system had better get ready for a thumping at the hands of better players.

These guys have fleshed out David Sklansky's all-in or fold "system" from Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. And they have done it using concepts similar to those Dan Harrington wrote about in Harrington on Holdem 2 - (i.e., M, Q and zones) combined with position.

If you are new to NLHE tourneys, this is a good way to learn to play. If you aren't new but having trouble, this book will help get you back on the right track.

As for the book itself, there is quite a bit of filler material in the beginning that would only be of interest to complete beginners. But after that, the book is outstanding.

Kill Phil joins the Harrington books, David Sklansky's Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, Barry Greenstein's Ace on the River, Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and Howard Lederer's More Secrets of NLHE DVD as the best resources available on NLHE tourneys.

I play mostly online tournaments and sit and go's. I play tight and try to survive until I catch a big hand. My results though have been pathetic.
After I read Kill Phil I decided to give it a go. I couldn't believe the results. I won two sit and go's and made the final table in a multi-table in seven tries.
This stuff definetly works. Now I need to know what to do when other players are equally aggressive.