Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75512 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 332 pages

Customer Reviews

The definitive guide for hold�em players
This is more or less considered the 'bible' for texas hold'em players, and for good reason: Sklansky and Malmuth are recognized as the leading authorities on poker strategy. While HPFAP is a difficult read, nearly every single aspect of proper hold'em strategy is covered in excruciating detail. While I would suggest picking up less complex books to start out with (look for Lee Jones'), this is a must read for all serious hold'em players.

Now for some constructive criticism: this is by no means a beginner's book - a lot of novices have heard the authors praised and figure they should run out and buy this book. I'll warn you now that unless you've got 6 to 12 months of hold'em experience, the writing in this book will be WAY over your head. It's not just the terminology, but the authors assume that readers are already well-versed in all basic hold'em strategies. The first time I read the book, it seemed utterly nonsensical. Only now that I go back and re-read it do I truly understand what the authors are talking about in many places.

Where to apply the poker tools this book gives you? Anywhere, really - I used to play at my local casino 4 times / wk, but now play almost exclusively online, since play goes so much faster - I go out of my mind with boredom when I try and sit at a casino nowadays.

A must buy for any serious player
Though this book has its problems, it is an excellent guide to winning holdem stratgy. Apart from the fact that most decent holdem players would have at least read it and so will (in tougher games) employ most, if not all, of the stratgies discussed, it uses an easy to understand format to discuss some complex plays and how to adapt them to any situation.

The problems however are that a lot of the ideas are applicable to tight aggressive high limit games, which the authors now frequent. With the explosion of poker, especially the online varient, you will find a large quantity of weak loose passive/aggressive players playing on the lower limits, where many of the plays described in the book will be wasted. Though there is a section on how to play loose games, if this is your game of choice, you might be better off buying a book devoted to the subject.

Also pot limit/no limit is mostly played in Britain and this book is meant to be applied to the limit games prevalent in America. However there are no books which focus solely on this available and the concepts are still valid.

The last problem is that it might encourage you to play too rigidly to their guidelines, ie the constant use of the hand tables. Winning poker play is about how to use your cards in the best possible way in a particular situation, rather than following a set of rules.

All in all though, this is a must buy for any serious player. Many people consider this to be the 'bible' of Texas Hold'em, and after you apply these stratgies to your game, you will probably agree with them.

(As a direct response to gamboler, the chance of making your flush from any two suited cards is about 13%, and anyone can see that if you have two suited cards, you are more likely to make a flush than if you have one. The reason why Sklansky rates J 10s as high as A Q is because it is a large money maker in multiway pots, compared to A Q, which will probably only win a small amount of money heads up)

A book packed with useful ideas
As with most hold'em books the book begins with listing the starting hands when to play them depending on position and how to play them depending on the play of your opponents.

The book then goes on to consider strategic concepts which includes freecards, semi-bluffing, check raising and odds and implied odds.

The next section titled miscellaneous topics gives advice on some of the typical situations found in a hold'em game, such as playing when a pair flops, playing pairs in the hole etc.

Following this there are chapters on loose games, playing short handed, playing non-standard games and other skills. To finish with there is an extensive question and answer section with questions on each chapter in the book.

The writing in the book has a very intense feel with often a dozen points hidden within a single page. This makes multiple read-throughs almost mandatory to gain the most from it.

It has been suggested that the advice in this book is too loose for the modern game. This may or may not be true, but if you are an advanced player surely you can take some parts of the book that are of use, and discard the rest.

I personally feel that this book will be of help to my poker, and is worthy of further study. I am also more than happy to take the advice of the experienced poker writers listed above by studying this book. Im sure they know more about the game than i do!