Rating: 
Summary: Great guide, using it to win online
Review: Pretty good guide to hold 'em. There were a few things I was able to pick up and use online. By the way, if you are thinking of joining Partypoker.com, email me at kauffmanbrad@hotmail.com for the best bonus code (free money to start with).
Rating: 
Summary: Very difficult to read and a serious lack of content
Review: The author's writing style is very difficult to follow. This book takes you in circles telling you one thing and then another. The charts printed in the book are pretty much useless. There is a lot of filler in this book to make it seem worthy, but it's not. I recommend avoiding this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great resource, so-so read...
Review: The information in the book is invaluable. If you're a poker player, the advice within it will surely make you a winning player. If you're already a winning player, you'll become a better one.A few other people mentioned how poorly the book flows. It's true, but this book isn't meant to be a fun or light read. Think of it as a textbook. You will work on small sections at a time. Eventually, you'll learn the skills that Gary Carson thoroughly covers. If you've watched the WSOP or WPT on TV and are thinking about venturing into the poker world, this isn't a bad book to get you over the hump of becoming a player who wins consistently over the long haul.
Rating:
Summary: needed more work
Review: The writer is obviously a serious poker player, but the book is not well-organized. The result isn't very reader-friendly. I'd be very eager to see a reworked second edition, though.
Rating:
Summary: Worth your time no matter who you are
Review: This book has several advantages over other hold'em books: readability, price, and usefulness for online poker. It is not, however, a book with loads of new info for the expert, and it does suffer from a few flaws. Many of the best hold'em books in terms of juicy info are terribly written. Not only is the writing often amateurish, it is just as likely to be convoluted and poorly organized. Important concepts will be buried in the middle of paragraphs in the middle of long sections, while the lead of the section will give no hint that the jewel is buried within. This book is well written and accentuates its important points. While it doesn't contain the wealth of info of say Sklansky/Malmuth, it also doesn't have to be reread five times line by line to absorb. The price part is obvious. This one's $10.50, its competitors are all over $20. If price matters, buy this one. None of the other books are twice as good if you are only going to read one. That said, if I win one extra pot because of a book I read, it has more than paid for itself, and the investment in hours spent reading is a greater cost than the purchase price. Why is this so great for online poker? Tons of tables recommending starting hands in a variety of situations (loose, aggressive, early position, late, etc.). Other books provide similar info but there is usually only one table and then the text explains how to deviate (play more suited connectors in this situation, etc.). This one is gloriously redundant, often providing a table that crystallizes those conceptual recommendations. So you can just sit there on the computer with a couple of the tables tabbed and do what the chart tells you to. Do I agree 100% with these tables? No. But they are much closer to "right" than 95% of people would play without them, and keeping them in front of you while you play online will eventually help you learn to understand the theory behind them and deviate as conditions warrant. As for whether this book is for beginners, intermediates, experts, I think it offers something for each group. For the reasons above, it's great for the first two groups. For experts (I'm not one, but I'm smart enough to know what they want), I found that it did not have as many useful concepts as other books. But it was littered with a few simple observations (that should have been obvious but that I've never seen elsewhere) that made me rethink several areas of my game. So buy it for the small ideas you've missed, not the next-level concepts. As for the reviews that say he's wrong or contradictory, there is some truth to that. I'm pretty much always going to play AK, I don't care what his tables say. Another example (stated or implied more than once) is he says you shouldn't bet the probable best hand in a loose game when a great draw benefits more from the other loose callers than you do (say you have top pair but you think an opponent has both a flush draw and a straight draw, making him a favorite to beat you eventually). Just because one super draw wins 40% of the time, you only 30%, and the other two players only 10% each doesn't mean you shouldn't bet/raise. Yes the super draw is benefiting from your raises, but he is benefiting at the expense of the other two callers, not you. Don't let your envy of his 60% profit on bets keep you from sucking up your 20% profit. Only if the combined draws are so good that your odds are below the number of callers (here, 1 in 4) should you decline to bet/raise, and the truth is this is rare and you'll rarely know when this happens even if it does. (The one exception, which he did not note in support of his theory but should have, is if the player with the likely-great draw is also the best player at the table. In that case, you may want to begrudge him his profits because they are hard to get back from him. But if you think the worst player has the best draw, then by all means help him get more money to lose.) Briefly, most of his seemingly contradictory statements are actually both true but he does a poor job of explaining the nuance of how that's possible. But overall I'd say this book is good enough to be worthwhile for everyone and is a definite bargain for beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: This book intelligently discusses limit hold'em in ring (cash) games. It
is not about no-limit or pot-limit. It is not about tournaments.
Instead of telling you exactly how to play, this book shows that there
is no single correct way to play. Which cards you play and how you
play them depends on many factors. This book discusses those factors
and why they should influence your play. It has important insights for
some game conditions, especially loose/aggressive games often seen
in low-limit.
The emphasis is on straightforward play, not deception. It is an
excellent book on tactics and strategy. It does not offer a single,
simple formula for play because that advise would be right sometimes
and wrong sometimes.
If this is the only book you'll ever get on poker, it's a good choice.
If you've read plenty of books on hold'em, this has excellent material
to digest.
Rating:
Summary: The Thinking Man's Holdem Book
Review: This book offers more insights into the way you should approach the game of Holdem Poker than any other I have seen. And I have seen many !! The key concept stressed again and again is that you must constantly be evaluating the current style of the table, its players, your hand and your position. Holdem poker is a very dynamic game and people who play by rote are doomed to fail. I highly recommend this book to all serious players.
Rating:
Summary: Very good enjoyable book ¿ Now Get to Playin
Review: This was a very Enjoyable Book. It provided important and useful concepts about the game of Poker. I learned new concepts, which identified some leaks in my game. Leaks in your game can come from anywhere!!! Leaks can originate from lack of aggression, overcalling raises, misreading opponents and any other number of ways. So this book helps. Many people look at poker the wrong way. They think to win they need to do all of this super fancy plays and mindblowing stunts. Well folks...there are not that many options in poker...you fold, call or raise. So its really hard to do thinks that will just fool your opponents all the time. To win at poker it is mostly limiting your mistakes and getting all that you can from winning hands and minimizing losses on losing hands...that's it Ive been playing for about 5 years now and love the game. Ive read many poker books and found this one to be very good. So I would suggest you buy this book and maybe a couple others and get to playing. There's really no excuse anymore - since anyone can access the internet. If you are a new poker player and would like to start playing poker online at www.partypoker.com - make sure you use the bonus code: "AMAZON25" and you will receive $25 free on your first purchase at www.PartyPoker.com. You can also use the Bonus Code "AMAZON100" and you will receive a 20% bonus up to $100! If you already play at PartyPoker, you can also play at www.Pokerroom.com. Use the promotion code "100BONUS" and you will receive 20% up to $100
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!
Review: Well written and easy to understand narrative to understanding the easy to learn but hard to master game of Hold-em. Thanks to the author's explanations, I'm able to see the game alot more clearly. Recommend the book highly to any beginner or as a good brush up to any Thursday night gamer.
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