Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
Texas Hold ’em is not an easy game to play well. To become an expert you must balance many concepts, some of which occasionally contradict each other. In 1988, the first edition appeared. Many ideas, which were only known to a small, select group of players, were made available to anyone who was striving to become an expert, and the hold ’em explosion had begun. It is now a new century, and the authors have again moved the state of the art forward by adding over 100 pages of new material, including extensive sections on "loose games," and "short-handed games." Anyone who studies this text, is well disciplined, and gets the proper experience should become a significant winner. Some of the other ideas discussed include play on the first two cards, semi-bluffing, the free card, inducing bluffs, staying with a draw, playing when a pair flops, playing trash hands, desperation bets, playing in wild games, reading hands, and psychology. |
Customer Reviews
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 Trying to be objective, Jul 6, 2023
I am really wondering about the reviews on this page. Some were critical, but then there was a huge mass of positive reviews, completely ignoring the obvious problems with this book.
Let's try to get a picture of this. A book is good if it not only contains valuable information, it must also transfer this information to the reader. The second part is where this book fails completely.
In an essence the book offers you a collection of plays. The authors are trying to come up with concepts and rules, but at the same time they are giving so many exceptions, that the concepts and rules become vague and unreliable. In the end the reader is completely confused and doesn't know what to do with all of this.
Also their starting hands are questionable. Some guys did research on it and they discovered a few errors (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/mummert/poker/). Now it is up to the reader whom to trust, which adds even more to the confusion.
Overall I gave 3 stars for the information that must be hidden somewhere in this book. I didn't find much, but I can't deny that some conclusions made me say "ahhh". If you don't mind reading the same stuff twice or more before you vaguely understand what the authors wanted to say, I am sure you can find a few gems.
This book will definitely put you in the twillight zone of poker education. When you read it you have the feeling that there is lots of important stuff presented to you, you just don't know if you will ever understand it.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Quite confusing but full of knowledge, Jun 23, 2023
I've tried to make my way through this book twice unsuccefully. His style of writing is very very hard to follow.
However, what he says makes a lot of sense and the theories behind his ideas are very sound and profitable.
So, if you can climb your way through the jungle of tangled ideas and methods that he describes, you will be able to advance your game. If you're looking for something that flows a little easier then you should try picking up another book.
Also, to be mentioned, is this book covers only limit hold'em, not the more popular no limit of today's games.
7 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
 Honestly Perhaps the Most Confusing Book I've Ever Read!, May 19, 2023
Author David Sklansky thanks his father for helping to edit this text; he really ought to have hired a professional editor to re-write this book for him! Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players is poorly written and even more poorly organized. Here is a typical bit of wisdom from the book: "One criteria to keep in mind when deciding to play a small pair or a medium to small suited connector is how passive/aggressive the game is, in addition to its being loose. Specifically, as just mentioned, small pairs play well in loose aggressive games providing that they are not too aggressive. This is because if you flop a set you can anticipate many bets going into the pot. If the game is too aggressive and you hold a small pair you will frequently be forced to play for several bets, and now your hand will not achieve the implied odds that it needs to be profitable. If the game is passive, you prefer the suited connector to the small pair. This is because a 'set' will have trouble collecting a lot of bets. On the other hand, if the suited connector flops something like a gut shot draw it won't necessarily be bet out of the pot."
It should also be noted that this book specifically addresses itself to limit hold 'em games, and does not address today's far more popular no limit games. So even if you succeed in parsing out some sort of strategic themes from this book, they may not be applicable to no limit hold 'em. The book is completely focused on making the mathematically correct play in 1001 different situations, but as any no limit hold 'em player knows, the math of that game is frequently a lot less important than the psychology (since you can risk your whole chip stack on any hand).
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Can be complex, but very helpful, May 13, 2023
This book can be tough to read if you're not really familiar with hold'em, but once you get used to the lingo, it's a good read. I especially enjoy the Q&A; at the end of the book because it's helpful to review for different strategies. They give a lot of good examples on how their strategies apply too, which is very useful.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
well done, Apr 24, 2023
I read a lot of poker stuff and I have acquired a good understanding of strategy in conjuction with other texts, especially from applied mathematics and gambling psychology. This book explains in depth the strategy, reading hands and even psychology in an enjoyable manner. But I think it still has no full coverage of odds calulus and interpretation and math behind the poker. I found Catalin Barboianu's "Texas Hold'em Odds" far superior on this count. I recommend it as a completion for this book.
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Based on 49 reviews.