Rating: 
Summary: Great for the Intermediate Player
Review: Phil Hellmuth has created quite a readable book with some interesting insights into pre-flop card values and exceptionally aggressive play pre-flop. However, there are some scary gotchas in the book that I wouldn't want a novice player to read as the gospel truth. All in all, he has come up with a book that is most useful to the intermediate-level hold'em player that is able to sniff out what will and will not work at the skill level of his local game.In the 90's, a great deal of statistical analysis was done on the relative value of pocket cards. As a result, a whole group of books were published that ranked pocket cards into tiers of value. Based on what tier your cards fell into, you were supposed to bet in different ways. Hellmuth still uses the tier system, but he has re-arranged what cards go into what tiers. His perspective is that while certain hands are statistically more likely to be winners, some hands are more likely to pull down big pots, making them of greater value than a statistically superior hand. In particular, Hellmuth values pocket pairs very highly. His point is that you don't often flop your set, but when you do, look out- here comes a very profitable hand. After playing with his system for a while, I must say that I agree with the inflated values of pocket pairs, given one simple rule. If you don't flop your set or have top pair, fold. It's pretty simple, but really tough to make yourself throw away your pair when you just raised pre-flop. Have some discipline and this system will work. The other main benefit that Hellmuth's aggressive pre-flop play brings to the table is the ability to buy a hand with a single bet after the flop, especially from early position. If you come in raising pre-flop from an early position, you are pretty much representing either a high pair or a suited ace or ace/king. If the flop comes without a high card, you will be shocked at how often you can just buy the pot with one bet after the cards come out. Finally, your aggressive pre-flop play may allow you to isolate yourself against the maniac at the table. By pushing up the pre-flop bets, you can often drive out marginal hands, but a maniac will almost always call you down. If you know you are up against this type of player, your odds of taking down the pot are good if you are heads-up. The trouble with Hellmuth's system is when you are up against tight players. Lots of tight players will just allow you to build up the pots and simply call you down with the best of hands. It becomes difficult to read other players when they simply call you down all the way. You have to have the discipline to throw away a hand that might be a winner. Hellmuth says that in order to win at poker, you have to be willing to fold some winners. How true. The same warnings are true for games that are very loose. If you can't scare anyone out of the pot, and you get called down on every hand, your best strategy is just to tighten up and raise the nuts and call the nut draw when pot odds allow. Not too complicated, but if you are lucky enough to find a game that loose, than you don't need this book. Lastly, Hellmuth's system is very dependant on your table image. You have to really vary your play depending on how the others at the table think you play. If you come in raising and get called down with a looser, don't expect to drive out players post-flop. So, you had better tighten up. That way, you'll get more action on excellent hands. On the other hand, if you have some nice hands early, get even more aggressive as you will be able to buy many a pot. So much is dependant on what your table image is that it takes out much of the true mechanics of typical systems. While this can make the game much more fun, and if you're good at it make you more money, it can crush you if you do it wrong. Hellmuth warns that while you should take down more money in the long-run, your swings will be much greater. I'll vouch for that, especially if you are not aware of your table-image. I was disappointed with Hellmuth's chapters on tournament play and Omaha and Stud. You'll do better elsewhere. All in all, I recommend this book to someone that is experienced in the sound fundamentals of Hold'Em play, and is capable of varying their playing style based on table image. If you're not to this point yet, try Winning at Low Stakes Hold'Em by Lee Jones and the "Theory" books by David Sklansky. Four Stars,
HawkeyeGK
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: It was an easy read, some good tips but he likes to pump his website too much. Good book to add to your poker arsenal.
Rating: 
Summary: bad for beginners
Review: This is a book that is very, very dangerous for beginners at texas holdem. (If you are beginner, the book is a 1 star book) Hellmuth tells you to play only a few, very good hands preflop. That is good. Then he tells you to play them all the same: VERY AGGRESSIVE. And this is not a good advice if you are playing low-limit holdem. To use his own language: there are to many elephants (callingstations) at lowlimit. A lot of players will stay even if you play aggressively preflop and on flop. If you are sitting with 77, 88, 99 (hands that Hellmuth tells you to raise and reraise) or something like that, you will lose a lot when you dont hit a set. This aggressive strategy only works if the other players fold, and in low limit they dont. This book explains Hellmuths style, and that style is not something to use against elephants. If you want to learn how to play, buy for example Lee Jones: "Winning Low Limit holdem".
Rating:
Summary: Great starting place, whatever you may think of the person!
Review: Until I saw this book I didn't know Phil Hellmuth from Phil Donahue, but his book was several stitches more helpful to introducing me to Poker in general (and Hold'em in particular) than "Poker for Dummies". I've been playing on UlimateBet.com for a while, while holding his book in hand, and have had a blast learning the particulars of the game, and now I'll soon feel confident enough to start playing "real money" games without feeling like I'm about to get fleeced. Of course I deviated a bit from his strategies when I found that his first initial advice (bet only from first top 10 hands in his book) didn't seem to work for me, but when I re-read the ENTIRE section the "Top 10" made perfect sense. It was my own naive, impatient play that got me into trouble. In any case, if you don't know poker, this is the REAL "Poker for Dummies" you should look into. The instructions are clear and concise, and take you through a game in baby steps. I wouldn't have begun playing (and thoroughly enjoying!) poker if it weren't for this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great intro to NLH and PLH
Review: With this book, Phil gives the reader the knowledge to build a personal style. I have used his top-10 and top-15 hand strategy to good effect on single table tournaments. The book is well wrtiten, the best of the three I have purchased. The book does not cover mathematical threory, because it does not want to encourage the reader to chase hands. Maybe you will make money in the long run playing pot odds, but you may go broke first too.
Rating:
Summary: Intsructions on getting killed!!!!!!
Review: The information in this book will get you killed in a real game. It is horrible advise for the low-limit player/game where almost nobody folds. Phil has been playing tournamtent poker for so long, he seems to have forgotten how to play a ring game. There are much better books out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes a decent read, but worthless
Review: While this book is a decent read, it will not improve your play. I find it hard to recommend this to a player of any level, as his advices are dangerous and often plain wrong for beginners and useless for other players. This book barely touches math side of poker at all, offers nothing new and all the information is available in other books in bigger amounts and better presentation. There are far better books out there that i could actually recommend to people.
Bottom line : by books by Sklansky instead.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Starter with a Bio
Review: This is a very solid starter book for beginners. It goes through many situations and different types of players. Phil always has a good personal story to add in. With any book, the reader must be conscious of the author, Phil does have a bias in play, but he also has won the World Series of Poker. Not to mention countless tournaments. I always find myself going back to chapters to read up.
Rating:
Summary: Don't pad Phil's bankroll.
Review: If you've got the credits that Phil Helmuth has, then you've every right to write a book. I just figured it should be good. Great player, horrible teacher. The one thing i learned from Phil is to be a total jerk at the table. Ask how many chips a player has, feint at huge bets by grabbing larger stacks of chips then betting less, and take your time. I learned all that from watching him on ESPN, and nothing from this book.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting but dangerous book...
Review: I feel sorry for the poker novice that buys this book and sits in a low limit game using the "theories" presented here. The style of play illustrated is much too aggressive for the average player especially at a low-limit table where many players will stay to see the flop regardless of what they're holding. It does, however, contain some interesting stories about Phil's own exploits. If you want to learn more about Phil Hellmuth, this is a good book. If you want to learn to play poker, there are many better reads.
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