Limit Hold 'Em Hand by Hand: The Quick and Easy Way to Advanced Poker Play w/DVD (Paperback)

by Neil Myers (Author)
Key Phrases: big blind, flop play, suited hand, Limit Hold'em Hand, Number of Players, Ten Game Conditions (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Lyle Stuart; Pap/DVD edition (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0818407115
• ISBN-13: 978-0818407116
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #388,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book every poker player should write, June 10, 2007

By	Herman Jackson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

6-14-07 Apparently 2 of 3 readers "don't get it" so I'll try to be more explicit and succinct.

You'll benefit from reading - no studying - this book if:
(1a) You sometimes find yourself holding a hand that you have no idea how to play.
(2a) You frequently figure out how you should have played the hand after it is over.
(3a) You are a losing or marginal player.
(4a) Your game would benefit from some careful analysis and thought about how to play hands.

You'll hate the book if:
(1b) You are a "hands-on" type of person and think the best way to learn is "by doing" because experience is the best teacher.
(2b) You are looking for a formula that will magically turn you into a winner.
(3b) You would rather be "at the table" than to spend part of your poker time thinking about and learning from your experiences.
(4b) You think it would be a waste of time to record key hands in a journal along with notes on both how they were played and how, after careful analysis, you think they should have been played.


My observations indicate that the majority of new players are probably doomed to forever remain weak because of 3b.


--- Original Review ---
I wanted to give this book 4 1/5 stars but half stars aren't allowed. My reason for wanting to give less than the maximum is that I disagree with some of the analysis. The reason I gave the maximum is that the book does for the reader what the reader should be doing for himself/herself.

Under pressure at the table a player should have a ready plan for any hand that comes up. Most of us are far too lazy or too addicted to the action at the table to think through and write up our own analysis of key hands. But Myers has done it for us with 52 hands chosen from Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, River, and Shorthanded play.

The reader who approaches each of these 52 example hands thoughtfully and analytically cannot help but emerge a better player.

Today it is often said that Internet players learn more quickly than the old pros because they can see so many hands in such a short time. I think this thinking is horribly wrong. In the "good old days" players such as the trio of Doyle Brunson, Sailor Roberts, and Amarillo Slim saw many fewer hands. But they THOUGHT about those hands, and on the long drive from one game to the next they discussed how hands should be played. One can hardly imagine the benefit of those discussions on Brunson's career. The thing missing in too many players today is precisely that thought and discussion. Myers does some of that for us.

It is apparent that too many players - primarily young players who "learned" on the Internet - have spent far too little time THINKING about how/why to play a particular hand. If this book were required reading before setting down at the table poker might again become a game of knowledge and strategy rather than the game of luck it so often becomes.

A reader who desires to improve his/her play will certainly benefit from reading Myers' analysis of these hands. Players who aspire to greatness might use Myers' work as a takeoff point for thinking through hand play themselves and actually writing up their own analysis.

Myers also has planned books featuring hand analysis from No-Limit and Tournament Hold'em.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre limit book, June 11, 2008

By	Daniel (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

I'm glad to have had it and read it, but if I were picking an initial book on limit poker, I would look elsewhere. There are a few sloppy mistakes, and the level of sophistication is fairly simple. However, it is an excellent choice for someone who wants to play limit at a casino or at certain on-line sites, that wants a fairly quick easy read.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Beginning-Internediate Limit Hold'em Players, July 10, 2007

By	Anthony Guerrera - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're a beginning to intermediate limit hold'em limit hold'em player, then this book will get you thinking about the poker playing process. It'll teach you how to think through a hand of limit hold'em, and it stresses the importance of taking time to think about the game intelligently away from the table.

Some might complain because this book doesn't contain a lot of theory, but a few great theory books already exist. The poker literature has needed a book that strips the hand playing process in limit hold'em down to its fundamentals, and this book does just that. During the process, some important theoretical concepts do come out from under the woodworks, like evaluating when to raise draws for value or free cards versus calling with draws. By using lots of example hands and talking through each of them, Neil Myers shows readers how to think when they're at the tables. Others might raise concerns about some of the analysis. I don't wholeheartedly agree with 100% of the analysis that Myers does. However, the differences in opinion I have regarding some of the analysis is the result of Myers's attempt to keep things simple. The decisions in poker can be extremely complicated, but the audience Myers addresses isn't ready for overwhelmingly complicated analysis. The level of analysis is quite appropriate for the target audience, and this book will be a huge help for that audience.

As an example of Myers's attempts to keep things simple, on p. 56, Myers talks about a hand in which you have 78 on the button in an unraised pot against four opponents and the pot comes 467. Action checks to you, you bet, and an early position opponent raises you. Myers strongly advocates folding, but depending on the check-raiser, calling might be the correct play given the 8:1 pot odds you're getting and the possibilities of either being ahead or having a 6-outer (gutshot straight draw and 2 sevens). The decision to be made here is borderline and highly opponent-dependent. I disagree with Myers for strongly advocating folding, but I would also disagree with anyone who would strongly advocate calling.

This book isn't targeting advanced players, but as a poker coach and the author of a few poker books, I found it really interesting because it's quite educational to consider such points of analytical departure. Though this book is targeted at beginning-intermediate players, it's really a rewarding read for anyone who is an active, inquisitive reader. The point of reading is to achieve mental growth; therefore, I give Limit Hold'em Hand By Hand five stars.

May Your EV Always Be Positive!

Tony Guerrera
Author of Killer Poker By The Numbers