Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players Book Review

A must read for any serious hold’em player

In 1988 the seminal text on Texas Hold’em strategy was written. Although it would be another twelve years before the poker explosion hit the United States, by that time this book would be referred to as “The Bible” of Texas Hold’em strategy. Written by two of the best gambling and poker strategists in the world, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have some of the best credentials in the poker world. David Sklansky is a well known author, consultant and professional gambler himself. Malmuth on the other hand is owner of Two Plus Two Publishing, a skilled mathematician and also a professional gambler. Their combined skill and knowledge in the gambling field is the obvious reason why this book has become so popular. The other reason of course is that the strategies and tactics this book presents are correct in every sense of the word.

Some things to consider before reading

With a book of this caliber there are some things readers will want to know before they dive in. First of all, this book is a difficult read. It is a difficult read for a few reasons in that it covers some very advanced topics and in general sometimes these topics are just hard to grasp. Needless to say, this is not a book you will read once and store on the bookshelf. The players who get the best use out of it are those who use it as their guide and have it as a constant companion to their poker strategy and game play. Another thing to consider is that this book is for advanced players and beginners will probably be in for a pretty intense read if they try to tackle this one before some more basic texts about hold’em. With that said, a beginner who can jump into this book, study it and become familiar with the concepts will be a step ahead of the competition. Just remember though, reading books will not win you money, applying the concepts and strategies at the tables is what will make you a profitable player. There is no replacement for experience and time at the poker table.

Who should read this book?

The ideal reader of this book is someone who has some experience playing Hold’em but has not yet latched onto the winning concepts and strategies that will take them to the next level. This book provides the most advanced concepts in the game, so it certainly provides the tools necessary to become profitable. The casual player who is just interested in Hold’em for fun may not find this book very useful. Some people have years of experience at the tables, but if they are only interested in the game for its social purposes, then this book will be of little value. The book is intended for serious players who are looking to be profitable and win money session after session. Casual players simply won’t benefit from whats inside.

The book and the strategies within

Hold’em Poker For Advanced Players covers many topics about the game ranging from starting hand groupings to playing in just about every situation possible. The book has seven different sections on various aspects of the game along with proper strategy plus a very helpful eight section that offers questions and answers. The eighth section is a very good indicator as to whether or not you have mastered the concepts within the book. Listed below is a short summary of the eight sections and what they offer:

• Starting hands: In this section, Sklansky and Malmuth offer up a thoughtful and complex grouping of the various starting hands. You won’t find “premium hands”, “good hands”, and “marginal hands” rather you will find eight different groups that various starting hands are categorized into. This approach allows a more flexible and game specific strategy for the game. After introducing the card groups, readers are taken through a breakdown of play with the first two cards for all positions. Specific strategy and considerations are explained for each position along with a breakdown of which hand groupings work best. Although complex, this book offers one of the best starting hand strategies in the game.
• Strategic concepts: Perhaps the heart and soul of this book, the second section dives right into some of the most important concepts of the game and provides the necessary instruction to execute them properly. This section covers the critical subjects like semi bluffing, check raising and getting free cards. This section is particularly helpful for players looking to get more value out of their hands. Semi-bluffing is betting or raising with the idea of either winning the pot now even though you probably don’t have the best hand, or hoping to improve on later rounds and still have a fair chance at winning. The section on semi-bluffing is particularly helpful and provides many good examples. Another important issue addressed in this section is slowplaying. Many players will be disappointed to find that slowplaying shouldn’t be used that often, the authors however do offer excellent advice on when it should be used and how.
• Miscellaneous topics: Exactly as the title suggests, this section covers a variety of topics that are important to your overall Hold’em success but my not fit into any specific category. The most important lessons from this section are the situation specific instructions the authors provide. Topics like playing when a pair flops or playing when two suited cards flop are just a few examples. The flop has many different faces in Hold’em so it is critical that you are familiar with the different kinds you will encounter and what the best strategies are to deal with them. Other topics in this section cover things like staying with a draw, many fourth street concepts and desperation bets. Here is an excerpt from the desperation bets section that characterizes the excellent strategy that is taught in this book:
  • Sometimes you will be in a situation where there is some chance that you have the best hand (on the flop) and that everyone will fold if you bet. However, if you don’t have the best hand, you have little chance of improvement. You should frequently go ahead and bet.

• Playing in loose games: Much of your profit in Texas Hold’em will come when you are playing in loose games with poor players, making this a very important section. One important highlight of this section is an interesting section on playing AQ is loose games, what you learn might surprise you! Other important subjects covered are things like playing in large pots and an in depth look at odds in loose multi-way pots. Sklansky and Malmuth also borrow important concepts from other poker games in this section to make their teachings more clear and concise. A brick and mortar casino player looking for a quick way to beef up their winnings at loose live games will want to consult this section right away for some quick ways to up their profit.
• Playing short handed: When this book was first written, this section definitely was to address those situations that occurred in casinos when the table had dried up or their simply weren’t a lot of players to keep the tables full. Nowadays this section is important for that and another reason: Short handed play has become extremely popular at online poker rooms. Short handed poker can be very difficult and the authors do a good job of outlining the concerns and strategies a player faced with a short handed situation needs to address. This section outlines the important considerations of short handed play and illustrates the importance of looser starting hand requirements and why leading on the flop is more necessary in short handed games.
• Playing in other non-standard games: This is a relatively short section that is probably tailored more for the live casino player. It addresses subjects like the live straddle (something not possible in online games) and playing in spread limit games, another game type that is just not seen online. It does however address the idea of playing in wild games which certainly does happen all the time online. There are some interesting concepts addressed in the wild games section that will certainly get you thinking the next time you find the betting capped with six players every round!
• Other skills: This section addresses some of the more popular poker concepts that most people think are the most important, but really are afterthoughts that add to your game after you have mastered all things before. The subjects addressed in this section are also the topics that cannot simply be read then applied. These are the skills that take years of experience and practice to master. The two main subjects addressed here are psychology and reading hands. Being able to put a player on a hand and be right is a real gift in poker and if you can come close you are light years ahead of the competition. The psychology of poker is a very large beast. The idea here is to know your opponent well enough that you can predict what he or she may do in a given situation. Or even further you know why he or she has made a certain move. This section addresses the very important concept of trying to analyze the thoughts and plays of a skilled player as opposed to that of a weak player.
• Questions and answers: A final “test” if you will for the readers of this book, section eight offers readers well over four hundred questions and answers relating to all the subjects covered in the book. Below are a few examples of the questions you’ll face:
  • When does making what seems to be an irrational check work best?
  • If the bettor is to your right and there are other players who might raise behind you, what must you do?
  • What criteria must be met for a slowplay to be correct?

Summary and final thoughts on Hold’em Poker For Advanced Players

The bottom line for this book is that it addresses some of the most advanced techniques and strategies in the game. For a long time, these strategies were known largely to only an elite few Vegas professionals. The popularity of poker and the huge influx of fresh players is probably the only reason this information was every released to a public audience. Any player serious about learning the skills and strategies necessary to become a winning player needs to read this book. Again, reading it once is not enough, this is a book that will need to be read and re-read. Some of the concepts and examples are incredibly complex and a one time read through will be of little help. If however, you take this book and see it as a guide to your hold’em play you will see the importance of constantly reading it and working the teachings into your game. In closing we offer a list of pros and cons for this book to make your purchase decision that much easier:

Pros

• Excellent starting hand strategy presented.
• The most in depth look at slowplaying, check raising and semi bluffing available.
• Question and answer section ties book together and provides a learning tool that can be used time and again.
• Sections are generally short and easy to re-read quickly.
• The book is full of useful examples to help illustrate the strategies taught.
• Instruction for nearly every situation you might encounter while playing.

Cons

• The book is strangely organized.
• The book can be a very difficult read; sometimes poker players are just good at poker, not at English, so it can be a challenge for some people.
• There is a lot of material to digest; readers can get overwhelmed quite easily.
• Although the authors are excellent writers, sometime the book is simply hard to understand.