Customer Reviews

The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Texas Hold'em, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've watched some hold'em and played some with friends. But never had a clue what would be a good strategy -- so when I saw there was an Idiot's Guide, I thought it would be perfect. The chapter about odds gave me the math without making my eyes glaze over (a major plus, since I'm not a math guy). I'm gearing up to use some of the strategies here on my friends the next time we play.

Super book - better in some ways than the Lee Jones classic, because it's so much more up to date. You'll get the latest concepts in play - stuff you find elsewhere in books by Sklansky, Malmuth, Ed Miller, etc. - but adapted to the level of a newbie. Plus very clearly written.

As for the nasty little review posted by the anonymous fellow who loves Ken Warren so much - two points. First, a friend of mine picked up the first edition a few months ago (he's the one who turned me on to the book, by the way), and yes, there were a few howling typos. However I picked up the second edition, and these have largely been corrected.

Second, the Ken Warren books belonged to an earlier era of hold'em education - and not a very good one. Beginners like the Warren books because they seem easy to understand, but what they don't realize is the tremendous amount of misinformation they're being given. Mason Malmuth, in his review of "Ken Warren Teaches Hold'em," puts it this way: "Even though this is a big book that covers many topics, much of it is quite confused once you get past the filler material.

In summary, for the new player, I'd recommend this book as number one, the Lee Jones book as number two. Once you get beyond beginner stage, try the Ed Miller book - absolute dynamite. An advantage to start with the "Pocket Idiot's Guide to Hold'em" is that many of the key concepts are the same as those further refined in the Miller book.

This book showed me how to play serious hold'em -- I've still got a long way to go, but at least now I know what I don't know. Like most Idiot's guides, it's great at giving you the nuts and bolts basics on the topic. I'm sure more experienced players have the odds nailed and know what "outs" are, but I didn't before I read this book. It's also useful for learning where to play, whether on the Internet and even for types of players to look out for. I've already reread it twice, and I'm sure I'll refer back lots more times.

The drawback about texas hold'em is that people think they can watch the pros play on tv and then go out and play themselves. But of course that's the road to ruin. The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Texas Hold'em is a great book for the beginner. Very concise ideas, very well written, it's THE book to lay the basics for hold'em.

After watching hold'em on TV and holding my own in games with friends, I decided to give playing online a try. I found the games alot harder and was frustrated that I not only couldn't win, but I was actually losing. I picked up this book, thinking I wouldn't learn much and found out that I knew almost nothing about how to win -- and some of what I did know was wrong.

From starting hands to odds, counting pots to understanding other players this book got me to break even within a week of finishing it. Since then (in about 4 months), I've won over $750 playing .50 - $1 and have just moved up to playing $1-2 online.

Strongly recommended.

It seems someone had spilled something on the book making it brittle and you can see the brown outline throughout the pages. But it's readable and that's all I needed.

Besides that, the book came quick and I appreciate that.

Thank you.

I knew quite a bit about this game, even before I picked up this book. I was hoping to improve my strategy. And it definitely helped me do that (to say the least). It's easy to understand and very clear. Not overly long either, which is a plus. If you're looking to learn, this is your ticket.

Before I read this I just tried to wait for good cards and hope for the best. The strategies in this book have finally made me a winning player -- and helped me understand exactly what it takes to make money in this game and move up from the low limits I currently play. As long as you aren't at my table, I recommend it!

The Idiot's Guide to Texas Hold 'Em, while thoughtfully written and chock full of very useful information is certainly NOT for the novice player. While I've been a fan of the "Idiot" series and their chief competitor, this particular pocket guide is, unfortunately, written well over the Idiot's head. Although it covers a weath of topics, it is unfortunately brief on far too many of them and tried to cover too much territory in too short a span. As a result the passages are often overly complicated, tangential and confusing. If this was the first book I had read on Texas Hold 'Em, I'd be more confused than before I started it!

I would recommend this short work for anyone who is a fairly experienced amature player with a few hundred online hands under their belt and another book or two prior to this one. In that event, Randy Burgess' thoughts and strategies - although as with any single author's opinion are to be taken with a grain of salt and not gospal - are useful and insightful.

The authors of this guide seem to be more concerned with showing off their knowledge of holdem rather than teaching the basics to novices. They use poker slang that is not contained in the glossary right from the beginning. They go off on tangents that will completely confuse a beginner, and there are several misprints in the book giving wrong information that will confuse him/her even more and LOSE YOU MONEY. The description about how to compare pot odds is the first one and their explanation is completely backwards. I sat there saying to myself "this can't be right" over and over again.

Then I bought two of Ken Warrens teaching books and he explained everything in a straight forward manner and I started nodding my head over and over throughout the books, needless to say I trashed The Pocket Idiots Guide. It has some great little odds charts in the back but with the amount of faulty info in the book I could never trust those charts.

If you want to DELAY your understanding of the game buy this book.