Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players

Rating:
Summary: A very fine treatise
Review: Is the finest book on Hold em' that I have ever read. It has clear tables and info on the odds of improving a hand and money management as well. I highly recommend the book for all serious players.

Rating:
Summary: There is no better book, unfortunately
Review: Noone can maintain this book is well written. It is 'organized' in a chaotic way, and the writing style is terse and somewhat boring. However, the reason to give 5 stars to this book is that it gives an enormous amount of information (compared to books that are much easier to read such as Lou krieger's books), and the information is accurate. Time and time again I noticed that after thinking about some issues for a long time I finally arrived at conclusions that were already written down in this book.

You have to read and reread and reread this book to get everything out, because it is too much to digest at once.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: Several reviews say that is book is not for newbies. I disagree. If you know the basics of the game I cant think of a better way to start off on the right foot. Why waste your time losing money for a few years while youre becoming an "advanced" player. Keep in mind though that you need to be a data junkie to enjoy this book. It's kind of like reading a calculus book or something. You can't just sit down and read it front to back and expect to be a successful player. Be prepared to read the same information over and over until it makes good sense and becomes second nature. Also be prepared to memorize A LOT of information. If youre not willing to put in this kind of effort, don't buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Some good material
Review: Skalansky's method is based on card groupings, and when and where to play them. The book is not a beginners guide to Hold'em, and so the authors focus on specific hands, and what to do in certain situations.

This is not a gloss over, page through kind of book. Helpful tactics are discussed, but I think it needs to be dug into to really get the most out of it.

I believe this book has made me a better hold'em player, but I have material from elsewhere as well that I think is just as good.

Rating:
Summary: This book worked well for me
Review: sklansky is an excellent teacher. This booked helped my game very much and I encourage you all to buy this book and read it. It is important to pick up the basic and advanced concepts of poker to be able to get decent and make money at poker. I have done so and currently play online. You can too, and also you can try it out online with play money. I have tried other places, but party poker is the best.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: This is the one
Review: The greatest Book on Hold'em. This is the book that will make you $. All of the others can get you slightly above break even...but thios one will push you squarely in the black

Rating:
Summary: Suggested play is way too loose No help for advanced players
Review: The ideas contained in this book are outdated and useless, even harmful. The concepts were developed by Sklansky in another era for another game. The modern game typically has two to three players seeing the flop for two to three bets. When Sklansky wrote his original book based on his experiences in relatively low limit games i.e the 10-20 game at the Gold Nugget) where a tight game was described as one where around five players saw the flop for half a bet or a full bet. Another section of the new book talks about games where no one at the table takes the game seriously. Those games just don't exist at levels high enough for the player to have a chance to overcome the rake (20-40 or higher).

Particularly dangerous is the book's oft stated theme of rating suited hands much higher than non-suited hands. For instance, 10 J suited is rated equivalent to A Q offsuit. Playing small suited connectors is suicide in the average high limit game (seeing the flop against one or two opponents for two to three bets). There is only a minimal difference between say A Q offsuit and A Q suited in this type of game because (1) you hit flushes very rarely (about 4% of the time when you're suited) and (2) you'll actually make more flushes with the off suited hand. Playing garbage hands in hopes of hitting a 1 in 25 flush is the biggest single error made by bad players and this book sytemically reinforces this error. This 1 in 25 shot is particularly ill advised when you play in game with lots of two or three handed flops.

The other problem is that strategy suggestions repeatedly encourage calling way too loose and raising way too tight, just the opposite strategy that consistent winning players employ. I suspect that Malmuth knows that the strategies suggested won't work in high limit games and are thus of no use (or even detrimental) to advanced players.

It is certainly true, however, that an amateur player could benefit from the book as long as they understand that the book will not turn them into a pro or enable them to overcome the rake in low limit games.

Finally, the authors discussion focused almost exclusively on structured limit games. There are only a handful of truly successful limit poker pros in the world. Anybody that can play, even a little bit, should focus on playing no-limit or pot limit. Even the authors admit that many of the really difficult situations are break even decisions in limit poker. In open limit games, however, these situations are extremely critical.

Psychology, tells, and betting strategies are so much more important in no limit that most working, practicing holdem/omaha pros refuse to play structured limit. Limit poker is great for the house, because they end up with all the money. If you have some talent (and some passion) for the game and you're trying to become a serious player, pass on this book and pass on limit poker in general.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book for Experienced Players
Review: The most updated version of the book is excellent for all forms of play in Hold'em. This book is primarily designed for the more skilled games, $10/$20 limits and up. However, the updated version (1999) has a wealth of information about playing against less skilled players you find in lower limit games ($2/$4, $5/$10, etc).

This book is clearly for advanced or at least experienced players only. Beginners will not take much if anything from this book! It's pretty clear it builds off a few books more toward the beginner, which I haven't read. If you aren't experienced at this game, check out the more beginner level books. The concepts in Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players are extremely complex. Most notably, many of these concepts are very subtle in the book. They're very easy to pick up if you are a solid Hold'em player. But if you are new to the game, they'll be difficult to pick up and much of the wealth of information in this book will be completely lost.

This is must read information for anyone who wants to play this game at any serious level and win money.

Rating:
Summary: Best Hold'em book available
Review: The strategies described in this book are rock solid. Following them closely, I am up 2500 in on-line 5/10, even though I'm playing mostly late at night when the games tend to be tougher.

Be warned that those of you looking for a quick read may be disappointed. It requires a considerable investment of time. I have re-read my copy cover-to-cover about 5 times. After the first few readings there were some things with which I disagreed, but the more I play the more I see that he is absolutely right. The guy knows Hold'em.

The strategy he describes is beautifully balanced so that it is difficult for your opponents to read you, and you'll find they are constantly disgusted when you show your hand. To get the balance, though, you need to follow the full strategy, not just pick out individual "plays". Again, it takes time to absorb everything.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Tough Read
Review: This book has some good information but boy are these guys bad writers. I think one of the guys is a mathmatician. I guess he must have skipped English class. Many times I found myself reading a sentence 10 times over and still didn't have a clue what the author was saying. Overall I would give it 3 stars. I play online and found some of the stuff useful even though it's sometimes hard to get through. Definately not a book for beginners. If any of you are looking to play online by the way check out my poker site. I review poker rooms where you can play online. I'm pretty stoked, so far I've won about $4,000 playing online. My site is at: pokerstart.com