Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35881 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 369 pages

Customer Reviews

Well worth the Price
This book will probably pay for itself within a few days if you study it's contents diligently.

The small-stakes games on the internet, and those home games between friends, are notorious for being populated by many poor players. By poor I mean that they play far too many hands pre-flop and that they often play hands for far too long e.g.they'll often call with hands like J-8 offsuit reasoning that 'any hand can be a winner', and will often play Ace high hands to the showdown just because they have an Ace. Given these tendencies of weak players, Ed Miller describes the startegy and thinking processes you must go through to exploit weak players to the max.

One of the most useful sections of the book is devoted to pre-flop play. It's summerised with the use of tables indicating what hands you should play, given your position, action so far in the hand, and the number of players who usually see the flop. If you remain disciplined and stick to just these hands, then you should see an immediate improvement-mainly by not losing as much through calling pre-flop with very mediocre hands.

Miller then moves onto post-flop concepts, which are far more important and difficult than pre-flop decisions. If you can understand the concepts, and I really do mean understand, then post-flop will become much more profitable for you.

The book ends with a large hand quiz. To get the maximum benefit from this quiz, really think about the question before you look at Miller's answers. You'll be able to pin-point where your game is going wrong, and also which parts of the book you might need to re-read.

In conclusion: A fantasic book which, once studied thoroughly, will reap vast rewards.

Superb
This is by far the best work I've read on how to play Hold'em. The book simply lays out the different aspects of the game in easy to digest sections. There is a lot to read, but then again there is a lot to learn. If you're looking to improve your play on small stake tables this book is your bible.

All in all, this book is a must buy. £12 is a small price to pay for a lifetime of improved pay at the table.

Definately recommended.

Excellent overall but beware certain advice
Unlike another reviewer here, I do not consider this to be the first book you should read about holdem - in fact, this is stated by Ed Miller himself in the introduction to the book. The first book you should read in my opinion is Matthew Hilger's 'Internet Texas Holdem' - a superb book which will give you a solid grounding - and a lot more.

This said, this is an excellent book once you have gone beyond the basics and have learnt to grind out a small profit by playing tight ABC poker. Miller says you have to get in more pots by playing a few more hands and that overall you simply have to play aggressively in many spots post flop in order to protect your hand. Sound advice. The chapter about value betting on the river against loose players is bang on. I have a few issues with the text, in terms of paying off even when you are convinced you are beat - this is what bad players do - but overall the book rewards and repays serious study.

An excellent addition to the literature.