Hold'em Excellence (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Lou Krieger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2000

A complete course on learning to play Texas Hold'em poker. Lou writes in a clear and understandable manner and explains everything you need to know to become a successful Hold'em player in a public cardroom. This second edition is revised and expanded including several new chapters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lou Krieger learned poker at the tender age of seven, while standing at his father’s side during the weekly Thursday night game held at the Krieger kitchen table in the blue-collar Brooklyn neighborhood where they resided. Always adept at sports and games, Lou’s natural abilities enabled him to keep his head above water during the high school and college poker games he frequently played in.

But it wasn’t until his first visit to Las Vegas that Lou took poker seriously. “I didn’t like Las Vegas at first. Blackjack was boring, and I knew the odds were against the players shooting dice or playing any of the other table games. Then I discovered a poker table tucked into a small corner of the Desert Inn where we were staying. I bought into a low-limit seven-card stud game and managed — with a good deal of luck — to break even. While playing stud, I noticed out of the corner of my eye another game that looked to be a lot more fun. It was Texas hold’em.

“I left the stud game, watched the hold’em game for about thirty minutes, and sat down to play. One hour and $100 later, I was hooked. I didn’t mind losing. It was the first time I played the game. I expected to lose. But I didn’t like feeling like a dummy, so I bought every book on poker I could find.

“I studied. I played. I studied and played some more. Before long I was playing and winning regularly, and I haven’t had a losing year since I began keeping records.”

In the early ’90s Lou Krieger began writing a column called On Strategy for Card Player. Aimed squarely at hold’em players, the column is chock full of advice for beginners, low-limit, and even experienced mid-limit hold’em players.

Lou is also the author of More Hold'em Excellence (also published by ConJelCo) and the co-Author of Poker for Dummies published by IDG Books.

When not writing about poker, Lou — who resides in Long Beach — can be found playing Texas hold’em in the card casinos of Southern California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Conjelco; 2 edition (September 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886070148
• ISBN-13: 978-1886070141
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read solid game fundamentals, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner (Paperback)

Lou Krieger's analysis of the fundamentals of Hold 'em is rock solid. A great book for the amateur Hold'em player who wishes to add some solid basic strategy to their game. The "Start Chart" presented in the book is a very good (and pretty easy to remember) set of starting standards for Hold'em play, and Krieger does a good job of pointing out the necessity of adjusting your starting standards based on position and the texture of the game. This is a good book for the average low-limit casino player or home player looking to play in a casino. If you don't already play Hold'em, this book will probably be above your head. If you're already playing at mid to high limits and don't know the stuff in this book, don't read it, just keep donating.

You can't control luck, but you can control your money. Discipline!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Supplemental Book for Beginner / Intermediate Hold'em Players, January 8, 2006

By 

Scott R. Dukart (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hold'em Excellence (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Let me start with what this book isn't. This isn't a good first book for beginnning hold'em players. A more appropriate book for a newbie would be Lee Jones' excellent "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" (especially with the new 3rd edition that I haven't had a chance to read yet, but it's almost twice the thickness of my 2nd edition). This isn't a book that gives the reader a fleshed-out system on how to play limit hold'em. It's subtitle, "From Beginner to Winner" really isn't true. I don't think this book would take a complete newcomer and turn them into a winner.

All that being said, now let me say what this book is. This is a book that will help a new to intermediate player to start to think actively about low-to-mid limit hold'em. The above-mentioned Lee Jones book gives a new player a system that helps him or her to play "good" poker. That is the "how" for a beginner. "Hold'em Excellence" gives the reader ideas to think about, and actively debate. This is the "why" and the "what if" for a beginnner.

To put it another way, this is a beginner course in poker theory. Many of the more experienced players have probably read (or should read) Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book". Gordon's book helps an advanced player creatively and actively think about no-limit hold'em. Hold-em Excellence helps a beginnner-to-intermediate player creatively think about low-to-mid limit hold'em. This book helps a player to start to think about questions such as when should I raise? How do I start to analyze the other players? How do I change my play based on table conditions? How strong is my hand, really? It helps players to understand why to do what they are supposed to.

I should list a few caveats. The writing isn't stellar, and the grammar is at times bad. The book could have used a better editing job, as sometimes the summaries are full of info that wasn't in the preceding chapter. But this is a book about poker from a poker player, so please forgive the nitpicks. Also, this book is by no means complete, but it shouldn't be. A more advanced player could complain that the chapters aren't nearly as complete as they could be, but a new player would be overwhelmed by something more than this. This book isn't trying to be Sklansky's "Theory of Poker." Theory of Poker is post-doc work, and this is undergraduate level.

So, what is this book? This book is a great supplemental book. Don't get it as your first book, but once you have a basic idea as to how to play poker, read this so you can start to think about the whys, the maybes, and the what ifs. In this way, I think this book is excellent for both the beginner and the more advanced player. This is a book for any poker player who needs to move beyond the sheer basics of poker and begin to think about the game from a higher point of view.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for starters without a clue! 3 stars for advanced playr, February 4, 2002

By 

"mccormickkjm" (Gunnison, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hold'em Excellence (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is a good book if you are just getting started. Lou will take you from the very basic start to a few common plays that come up often in a holdem game. This book also tells you how to become a great player but one must be devoted and have great discipline. This is a great book for starters. It is also a good book to have in your libaray if you are an advanced player. Like Lou says if you only find one thing useful and it helps you win a pot then your investment was worth it, as you can use it many times over.