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Rating: 
Summary: awesome - changed my game around
Review: i hadn't heard of this guy before so was a little skeptical. he's not exaclty a famous author. but it has made a 100 percent difference in how i apporach my favorite game, hold'em. differences between this and other poker books: first, the writing is ten times as good so everything is extremely clear, second, you learn not just what to do but why. the chapters on reading hands and players are sensational and i say this eveno though i own 4 or 5 hold'em books alone. also the odds chapters are very clear. the only reason i don't give it five stars is you
do need other poker books besides this one, for hold'em maybe the lee jones or kreiger books. like roy west says in the intro this is a thinking man's poker book to improve your overall game. i would say try it out and see what you think but if you are like me, a low-limit player trying to get good and move up, it's well worth it. it's better than pokertracker for helping, and that's saying a lot!
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome book that covers the game inside the game.
Review: I liken this book to a common thing people find out in high school: you usually learn more outside of the classroom than in it. Now, I'm not saying that you should read this book instead of the other great, strategic books on Stud and Hold'em that are out there, but I think you'll be missing a lot of information if you don't read this book as a compliment.
This book covers the game within the game of poker. There isn't too much strategy in this book. Any talk of specific hand strategy is a byproduct of some other lesson. So why is this book important? Because it discusses topics in depth that other poker books rarely mention or only mention on a superficial level. These include: reading hands, reading tells, being "situationally tight", the psychology of low-limit poker, and how to correct your strategic and mental mistakes.
This book is certainly more geared at lower limit games than it is at high limit or tournaments. Because of this, I would recommend buying this book as a compliment to Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em" or Roy West's "Seven Card Stud". For instance, Jones' book discusses in-depth, specific strategy for a wide variety of situations in Hold'em, but really doesn't go much into detail about reading hands or keeping stats, etc. Burgess dicusses this and more, and he does it in a very readable way. Plus, he is empathetic to his reader: he understands that most people find the theory behind poker to be very dry, and he keeps the math to a minimum and instead brings it down into plain English that everyone can understand.
Burgess is very blunt about everything. If he doesn't like a book, he says so. He tells you why. If he doesn't like the advice some people give, he says so. He tells you flat-out that, while learning and understanding odds is extremely important, there are lots of situations where the odds are either really obvious or don't matter because psychology and instinct are playing a stronger role.
If you've read Jones' book, a lot of the odds and implied odds, etc will seem like nothing but a rehashing of information, but this isn't true. Jones seems to speed through these concepts a bit at first and then brings them up again when applying them to game situations. Burgess, on the other hand, explains from the outset WHY these things are important. Everyone knows they're important, but this book tells you why, and tells you when they're important. Burgess also gets into the concept of "Tainted Outs", which most people don't even think about at the table or ever.
Overall, the book is just plain awesome. Once you've memorized the concepts in Jones' or West's books, you really should read this book as a compliment for some of the less factual and mathematical aspects of poker. I think some people read a strategy book and forget how important psychology and reading hands can be, and how dangerous mistakes and tilt can be. This book covers all of these topics and will really refine your game. There's nothing better than a down-to-earth, easy to read book with great information.
Rating:
Summary: Great beginner to intermediate guide for online play!
Review: This book takes a different approach then your typical beginner to intermediate level guide that teaches you how to play (memorizing starting hand requirements, basic and intermediate strategies like raising for a free card, raising for value, isolating loose raisers, blind stealing, etc.). What this book does do is focus on the factors that you need to master, especially for online play where you are isolated from other players physically. The psychological aspects... the game within-the-game, etc. are factors that are magnified for online play. You are your own worst enemy (and since the same applies to your opponents), understanding theae nuances are key to a successful transition from live to online play. Good read and recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Unique Beginner Book
Review: While there are excellent beginner books on playing tactics, this is the first I've seen that focuses on the other aspects of poker. Concepts like tailoring your play to specific types of opponents and types of games, reading hands, odds and outs, tells and tilt and even addiction to poker are generally dealt with in more advanced books and at a level that assumes you already know something about them. This book introduces these concepts, which are critical to winning and includes some excellent hand-reading examples. It also recommends the best basic strategy books, Web sites and other resources. I don't think a very advanced player would get much from this book, but for anyone who's played mostly in home games or who has played for fun in casinos a few times, it's a winner.
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