Learn How to Win at Texas Hold 'Em Poker for 5 Bucks

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste even ONE of 5 bucks!
Review: Ditto the other two reviews on this book. I thank my lucky stars that I kept my $5 in my wallet and borrowed this from the library. I give my co-reviewers A LOT of credit for sticking with this book - I quit reading after about page 15. I found no less than FOUR typos/incorrect statements on ONE page. My favorite botched advice is, early in the book, that: when holding a low pair [3's] and hitting a set [trip 3's] on the flop, one should be very wary of a pair of overcards on the board (in this case, a Q on the flop, and then another on the turn), because even one Q buried in an opponents hands will cause his trips to beat yours. Oh yeah? Last I checked, when holding a set and having the board pair-up, I've now got a FULL HOUSE! I think that beats 3 Q's!! Sheesh!

This book is god awful. The typos are brutal, and the flat-out wrong advice is even worse. Don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Not Worth Your 5 Bucks
Review: I agree with the previous reviewer, and pricing this book a few bucks higher to get a proof-reader would have been well worth the money.

This book is littered with typos.

Every few pages, I have to stop and try to figure out what the author meant to say. An example would be:

Page 24
"...Say you have J and 10 facing one opponent on the turn. You have an outside straight draw with a board of 2 5 8 Q and only the river card left to make it. Any 8 or king will finish this straight for you..."

I may be new at poker, but even I know you'll need a 9 to finish that straight, and a king will be worthless. Of course, he had typo'ed the board cards with an "8" instead of a "9", but this is just one of the many examples of the confusing and annoying mistakes you're sure to discover in this book. I would encourage you to search further throughout amazon, and deeper into your pocket book, for -- simply put -- a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Good short primer in need of a proofreader!
Review: This is a 60-page overview of Texas Hold'em that surveys all aspects of the game from starting hands to postflop play and when to bluff. It discusses pot odds, bet odds and implied odds. There's a table in the back with the odds for your hand improving based on the outs you need. There's even a few pages about tournament play.

It's standard stuff, but distilled down to essentials and graphically well-presented.

So why only 3 stars?

The book is filled with typos. Cards are described in the same sentence as spade [the symbol] and "s" -- but both things refer to the spade suit. (And "s" could well mean two starting cards of any one suit.)

On page 32, he explains that you _should_ call when you do not make your queen-high flush. Huh? I've been folding my missed flushes.

As Straham proclaims on the cover, the book is only "5 bucks." Maybe he should price the book higher and employ a proofreader.

P.S. After seeing that the glossary --incredibly -- is not alphabetized, I wish I had given the book only two stars.