Great 'next step' for beginners.

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Product Description

On any given night, thousands of players are playing poker for real money on the Internet. This book is an excellent tool for players at all levels to be successful at limit Texas Hold’em with specific topics focused on Internet play.

A comprehensive overview of Texas Hold’em is presented including general poker concepts such as probability and odds, bluffing, raising and check-raising. Various deceptive tactics are also discussed such as inducing bluffs and calls, slowplaying, and buying free cards. You’ll learn the correct strategies for starting hand play as well as playing on the flop, turn, and river. You’ll learn the intricacies of playing on the Internet and the differences in strategies between Internet and live play. Finally, you’ll be able to practice all of these strategies on over 200 actual Internet hands.

Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. This is a book for players who want to improve their game to win more money. If you only play a few hours a week or strive to take your game to an advanced level, this book should serve as a reference for many years to come.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140145 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Matthew Hilger is from Atlanta, Georgia. He became an Internet poker professional in 2001. In his first full year he made over $100,000 playing online. He has logged over 7000 hours on the Internet, playing at limits from $1-$2 up to $30-$60 and many online tournaments. Matthew played in two live major tournaments in 2002 and won the 2002 New Zealand Poker Championship.

Prior to his poker career, Matthew worked in various accounting, finance, and consulting positions with Andersen Consulting (currently Accenture), Chiquita Brands International, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

He completed a Master’s degree in Finance at Georgia State University in 1991 and also a Master’s degree in International Business from Thunderbird in 1996.

Matthew also enjoys composing on the piano and traveling. His travels have taken him to over 25 countries throughout Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and "down under."

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Customer Reviews

Vastly underrated book!
In my opinion, if you have been playing holdem for a little while, and starting to become a break-even player (which is no small feat) or better, I would rate this book above Lee Jone's Winning Low Limit Holdem as the reference book to go back to time and time again to improve your play further, since there is more substance and advanced strategies to it.

Some of the advice, I think, is also a little bit more sound. Consider this: Jones says to always raise and reraise with pair Jacks pre-flop even from early position. This book says to call, then call any raise, which to me, is far more sensible. JJ becomes pretty marginal if an initial raise doesn't thin out the field or even if there are one or two callers before it comes to you. He does qualify JJ by saying its raisable first off in tight games, but the reality, I find, is that there are not many tight games in bottom-end low-level such as $1-$2, where most people start out. Some people tend to call with Jack, Queen, King or Ace high, regardless of kicker. So your JJ are going to have to dodge Queen, King and Aces going into the flop. So I agree that JJ is mostly only good for a call, unless you know what game and players you're up against.

Overall, as the example above illustrates, I think there is a lot more nuance to this book over Jones'. But having said that, I can see why people have raved over Jone's book. It's undoubtedly better structured and presented, less daunting and more accessible and digestable if you are brand new to the game, or if you have been following a losing path, and your game needs a complete re-haul from scratch.

So I think it boils down to this: in my opinion, Lee Jones Winning Holdem is the best book for beginning to intermediate players because it allows you to grapple with all the basic poker concepts more quickly. After that, this book takes over from intermediate level onwards due to its greater subtlety. Matthew is a world class player and his recommended plays shows. This book gives you far more substance to advance your game to higher levels once you have become familiar with the basics. I think this book lacks the recognition it deserves because it's probably not the most well presented, but the lessons within are first class. All said, BOTH books definitely belong on the shelves of any player serious in poker. Now, if only Amazon were to offer both books on a special package deal....

Wanted more original strategy advice, but not that bad.
I was somewhat disappointed by this book, not because the advice was poor, but rather simply because I don't think it added too much to the existing poker literature...the book bills itself as a guide to helping you beat the internet poker games, but most of the advice is simply generic poker strategy advice (and if that's all you're looking for, there are certainly more accomplished authors, i.e. sklansky, malmuth, jones) to look to first.

I also think the book could and should have devoted more time to the very real differences between the internet games and live casino play. The recent surge in poker's popularity has led to a HUGE influx of very poor players into the online poker sites, and I think the author could have taken some time to explain strategy variations that are effective in the different style of play you find online - if you do open an account online, though, search around for a sign-up bonus code to use when you sign up - another post here led me to pokercroaker.com, who keeps theirs updated fairly frequently.
That being said, the advice is fairly sound, and written in an easy-to-understand style - just not all that much different than can be found in more popular books, by the authors mentioned above.

Authoritative Guide to Playing Poker Online
With the phenomenal growth of poker playing sites on the internet, this kind of book is really overdue. But this one has been worth waiting for. Whereas most poker books are content to state the obvious, Matthew Hilger presents a practical system for maximising your winnings (or minimising your losses), specially targeted at internet play.

Whilst easy to read, the book goes into a good deal of detail, particularly on playing the flop, which the author evidently regards as of crucial importance. The book aims at the comparative novice who already knows the rules of the game, but there is information here that could benefit even intermediate players. I'd recommend this book, which if studied diligently is likely to pay for itself.