Customer Reviews

Illustrated Guide To Texas Hold'em: Making Winners Out Of Beginners and Advanced Players

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a big fan of this book, as it has helped me make the jump from beginner to skilled player. Therefore I was surprised to see a negative review of Purdy's odds calculation. As I use his system when I play, I of course went back to the book to see look at it closely. And guess what? It turns out that the reviewer was actually wrong, and this book is correct. The confusion lies in the difference between odds and probability, and understanding the difference is crucial if you attempt to use either at the poker table.

Let's go back to the example the review used. You have pocket cards of 6-8, and the flop is 2-3-8. What are the odds that an 8 will come on the turn? Purdy claims 45 to 2, and the reviewer claims 2 in 47. Who's right? Purdy is. You see, Purdy is calculating the odds, whereas the reviewer is calculating the probability.

Let's make this much simpler. Pretend you have a situation where there are fifteen cards left, out of which 5 cards will give you the result you desire. (I know you'll never have this few cards left in Hold 'Em, but it's easier to understand this way). Your instinct would be to say that your odds are 15 to 5, and then reduce that to 3 to 1. But that's not calculating odds, it's calculating probability. Odds are formed by this setup: [Number of cards that are not what you desire] to [number of cards that give you the desired results]. So out of 15 cards left, 10 give you the undesired result, whereas 5 give you the desired result. Therefore, the odds are 10 to 5, or 2 to 1. Much different, right? If you want to get more complicated, you can use this formula, which translates probability to odds: where x = probability, 0.x/(1−0.x) = odds. Try it yourself. If something has a 20% chance of happening, the odds of it happening are .25, or 4 to 1. Weird, but true.

So why all this high-level discussion for what's supposed to be a beginner book? It's about learning to use odds quickly. The whole point is: compare the odds of getting the card you want to how much money you're going to get back for the bet. You can get the same answer by calculating the probability, but that's much harder to do while sitting a poker table. Using odds, if you're playing against 9 other people, after the flop there will always be 47 unseen cards. All you need to do is subtract the number of out cards you have, then put the result on the left, the number of out cards on the right, and you have your odds. Do the same with the amount in the pot vs. what bet you need to call, and you have your pot odds. If you try to use probability, you're going to be doing a lot of division in your head, and under pressure you risk messing it up. The math wizards can do this, most of us can't.

So, overall this is a fantastic book for beginners, and one that I highly recommend. Trust that the author has this right. And if you're still unsure, check it out yourself.

I just picked up this book today and have no regrets about the 15 bucks i dropped on it (hey it's even cheaper on amazon). What makes this a better poker book than others is that it set up as a tutorial, walking you through 150 actual situations at a poker table. You have to decide what play to make and then the author tells you the correct answer. If your new to hold'em these exercises will save you money fast. There's so many stupid plays us beginners make, this book will help you eliminate these weaknesses from your game. I read brunson's super system and sklanskys theory of poker before I started playing on line a few months ago, they helped me a lot but I still lacked real game experience. This book will jump start your experience and help you make those tough decisions at poker table. You should be aware that the book deals with limit games and not no limit. Even if you play no limit I think these exercises will help strengthen your game if you haven't been playing for that long. It's a quick fun read that won't blow up your brain trying to figure out what the author is talking about. I'm sure you'll make your 10 bucks back!

Read Sklansky and Harrington last month. Very good books and a must read for anyone interested in playing poker well. Have been playing dealer's choice poker variations for about fifteen years. Have been playing Hold'em, specifically, for about four months now.

The Sklansky and Harrington books give you a lot of theory. They teach you how to think about poker. This book gives you all practicum, which is especially great for the beginner and intermediate player. The author provides very straight forward explanations for his decisions, and in the process reinforces proper play, while also discouraging improper play.

This book is a great complement to the other two books mentioned. Will help reinforce the basics -- plays that we take for granted, forget about, and therefore get wrong under pressure. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning solid basic game play, or for reinforcing the basics as well.

If you have been playing poker for less than a year and are looking to improve your game (or if you have been playing for longer and still lose!) then this is the book for you.

Taking an entirely different approach to teaching the game than most books this is an illustrated guide. Each page graphically presents a scenario including table position, pot size, cards held, board cards already out (if any), and action prior to your turn. Based on this information the reader is asked, check, fold, call or raise: The fundamental decision for every player at every betting round. After you have answered the question in your head the next page then details what you should have said and why. The book then walks you through the thought process that you should have based on the facts and explains in simple and clear terms what the correct course of action is and why.

This unique method of teaching the game shows the importance of correct starting hands, pot odds, implied odds, position, pot size, and many other factors. In many other books these fairly advanced concepts are pretty difficult to grasp, however the illustrated format of this book makes learning a breeze.

Highly recommended.

I started playing poker seriously about 8 months ago, after just dabbling with friends and family. I'd read 4 other books and skimmed through a few others in preparation for my trips to Foxwoods and also on some online poker rooms. This is the only illustrated poker book I found, that is clear and concise and tells you what to do if you have certain hands!!! Many of the other poker books on Hold'em, are bogged down and not very easy to follow or learn from - or so was my opinion. The tips and advice in this book are already paying off for me - literally! I read it as soon as I got it a few weeks ago and Presto!! One thing is for sure, I'm more confident at a poker table than I was before I read Mr. Purdy's book! I recommend it to all. Thanks!! And Happy Winnings!

As a beginner at Texas Hold 'em I flipped through many books at Barnes & Noble in an effort to find one that appealed to me. I chose this book because of the ease of reading the situations. The pictorial nature of the book made it so much more easier to understand and grasp. I must say, I found the way the information was presented made it much easier for me to learn. I since bought two other books that I thought would help me, but neither were as easy to grasp. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially new players.

I agree with most of the other reviewers and won't bother going into details that they have already covered but I want to make one new point. This book is geared to LIMIT hold em games, not pot limit or no limit. If you play limit, this book will probably improve your game. It did mine. If you play pot limit or no limit, the book may improve your starting hand play but there are better books out there for those types of hold em. When I bought the book I figured if it kept me from playing one bad hand, the book would pay for itself and I think it has.

It's one thing to read all the poker strategy and statistical charts and it is another to actually try to apply all of the learning. This book can help you to apply the strategies

In an actual game you don't really get feedback on how you played a hand. However, with this book you are put on the spot and asked what you would do? Do you fold, check, or raise? After you figure out how you would have played in the situation, you can read how you should have played and why. This feedback helps you learn. Also, it's easy and fun so you can go through the situations over and over.

This book is great and fun for a newbie who understands how to play but wants to learn some techniques or for someone who wants a chance to apply some techniques before a game.

This book covers the positional aspect of Hold'em; which is nice. However, this book does not cover No-Limit Hold'em or small group (<6) Hold'em.

I agree with most posters here, it is a very helpful book, if this is your learning style. It is quite visual, and the thinking is thorough and clear.

I am still wondering if his 2-card hand value table at the beginning could have been done mathematically rather than by running a simulation against 1 million hands, but that's a minor issue.

I also disagree with Situation #25, on page 78. A flop with two sixes of hearts would cause me to stand up, yell "Dead Hand!" and call the floor over to fire the dealer.

My only other nit would be that he should have printed the situation presentations on odd pages and the solutions on even, so that you have to turn the page to see his views and not be tempted to sneak a peek at the "solution" too early.

The illustrated concept is a good one, and makes the book a lot easier to read and use than most text-only books. However, there are two very important facts to know about this book.

First, it covers ONLY limit hold 'em. This is not evident from the title of the book, and if this is intentional, it's rather shameful.

Second, the content is extremely basic. The sub-title of the book: "Making Winners out of Beginners and Advanced Players" is completely untrue. I am an Intermediate player and I didn't find one single new idea, concept or thought in this book. Everything in here is of the most elemental nature.

Having said all that, if you've never played Hold 'Em before and are looking for a nice picture book to help you get started, then this is it. Keep in mind, though, that the negative side to the illustrated format is that there is little organization to the book and even slight variances to each of the 150 situations discussed are not shown.