Customer Reviews

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Most of the negative reviews below come from LIMIT players who have probably read Sklansky's books and expect a lot of "if A then do B or C" and a lot of specific advice.
Big bet poker is a bit different in that it would be foolish to give such specific advice. You're going to cost yourself a lot of money (profit or just lose money) if you play cookie cutter poker.
Ciaffone and Reuben's book is good in that it teaches you about how to take into consideration your stack size, your opponent's stack size, and the pot size before acting among other important concepts. That alone is worth the cost of the book.

Regarding the review below: They recommending betting a set on the flop more in potlimit than in no-limit. Checking a set (when you have a pocket pair) in potlimit is going to limit your profits because if everyone checks behind you can only bet/raise the size of the pot on the turn. In nolimit, you can bet whatever you want whenever so checking isn't as costly. Also how does flopping a set when you have a pocket pair automatically imply there is a dangerous flop. In anycase, I ramble. Go to the twoplustwo.com forums to find other positive reviews of this book by MANY bigbet poker players.
Mason Malmuth also HIGHLY recommends this book for you sklansky and malmuth fans.

I bought this book several years ago, before the no-limit craze, when pot-limit and no-limit were played in tournaments and in Europe, and limit dominated American poker. At the time, I wasn't sure what to make of it since I had little experience with big-bet poker, so I asked the opinions of a few players I have a lot of respect for. I knew it was good, but I was a bit surprised at the superlatives in their praise.

I've gone back and read bits and pieces many times since then, and longer chunks a few times. It really is excellent. Even with just a few minutes, you can get something from it - inspiration for a new play, quick insight into a new game, etc. There's a good discussion of the differences between pot-limit and no-limit, which is very useful for those with experience at one trying to adapt to the other.

A few of the other reviews are misguided, which prompted me to add my own. The long review criticizing specific advice takes both the situations and recommendations out of context. As another reviewer pointed out, the recommendation to play big hands strong on the flop is in a discussion of pot-limit, not no-limit, where you can't just check to the river and then move in if the pot is still small.

Another criticism was the idea of reraising all-in with a big draw on the flop. Obviously, this is a bad idea as a regular play, but that's not what they are recommending. As an occasional move against certain opponents, this can be a very powerful move. The other player may have been bluffing, and fold quickly. Or, he may have a good hand, like top pair/top kicker, and lay it down. Even if you get called, you still have around a 35% chance to win. And after you show down a drawing hand after moving all-in, you'll get more calls on your big made hands in the future.

Another supposed "criticism" is that the book doesn't cover hold'em exclusively. The recent hold'em craze is relatively new, driven by the WPT on television. Before a couple years ago, even most pro poker players didn't play much no-limit hold'em. Then and now, people play lots of other games. That this book covers many games shouldn't be a surprise: it lists six games on the cover in big print, under "COVERING". The people who keep making these complaints (several criticize Super System 2 for the same thing) must be new to the poker world in the past year or two.

The section on "strip deck poker" that another reviewer complained about as obsolete takes up barely over one page. It just talks very briefly about the rules and what proper strategy would be, and then adds a quick story about a hand. In that page, Reuben even says, "I am glad to say this game is little-played now. It is excellent for cheating, as two players can easily communicate to each other what their hole card is." I thought it was interesting.

Ciaffone is an American with decades of experience playing, teaching, and writing about poker, with a fairly conservative playing style. Reuben is English, where pot-limit is just about the only form played, with a super-aggressive style. Both have impressive poker resumes, and their contrasting playing styles provide useful perspective.cover odds, percentages, or have

This is not a book for beginners. It doesn't charts of what starting hands to play, and doesn't make blanket statements about what to do. It assumes you already play fairly well and are looking to improve to a higher level. It serves that purpose well, and is even interesting reading, with a few jokes thrown in - unfortunately, very rare for a good poker book.

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker is currently the best book on big bet pot-limit and no-limit poker. The big bet involves a lot of human elements (intimidation, trickery, bluffing, etc.) that the more technical limit game does not. It's very easy to master the limit game with expert play, but it's much harder to apply the same techniques and expert formulas to the big-bet game. If no-limit or pot-limit is your game, read this book!

This book is good, but it's not for beginners. It used to be that it was very hard to find a NL holdem game anywhere, even in Vegas, and thus when the authors wrote this book the target audience was experienced limit players venturing into the NL waters for the first time. This book isn't going to give you a long list of starting hands and a checklist of actions for every conceivable situation. If you want something like that, TJ Cloutier's NL book or even Super/System are better choices. This book is more about learning to change your mindset from rigid and rote limit play to creative and strategic NL play. It may be a little bit outdated in that regard since I now know many people who have never played anything BUT no limit, but unless you have been playing poker for a long time it might be a little bit over your head.

This book is comprised mainly of short, 2 to 3 page articles that read as short snippets of advice or comment from the author. The information is not very detailed and felt more like reading a succession of magazine articles versus a thought out book of strategy. The organization of the book was too piecemeal for my taste. I would have preferred to have the book broken up by preflop play, flop play, turn, river, etc. By contrast, Ciaffone's book on "Middle Limit Holdem" is organized this way and is an excellent read. Here's a breakdown of the contents:

Part 1: BIG-BET POKER CONCEPTS
1 WHY PLAY POT-LIMIT? page 1
2)COMPARING POT-LIMIT TO LIMIT page 4
3)POKER'S TEN COMMANDMENTS page 7
4)YOUR PLAYING STYLE page 13
5)HOW DEEP ARE YOU? page 15
6)HOW MUCH TO BET page 20
7)TAKING THE INITIATIVE page 24
8)DRAWING HANDS page 27
9)PSYCHOLOGY page 31
10)READING THE OPPONENT page 36
11)THE ART OF BLUFFING page 42
12 BEATING THE BULLY page 45
13)NO-LIMIT PLAY page 50
14)ALL-IN COUPS page 55

As you can see, the "chapters" are very short snippets. Also, keep in mind that most of the advice is geared towards ring games---not tournaments. And as you'll see in the next part of the book, this book is about "big bet poker" whether it be hold 'em, stud, or omaha. But I think most people these days are interested in Texas Hold 'Em.

Part 2: SPECIFIC POKER FORMS
15) USING THE MATERIAL page 58
16) POT-LIMIT & NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM page 59
17) BIG-BET HOLD'EM QUIZ page 75
18) POT-LIMIT OMAHA page 84
19) POT-LIMIT OMAHA QUIZ page 97
20) SEVEN-CARD STUD page 105
21) SEVEN-CARD STUD QUIZ page 119
22) LOWBALL DRAW page 123
23) LOWBALL DRAW QUIZ page 129
24) LONDON LOWBALL page 135
25) KEY POT-LIMIT CONCEPTS page 145
26) LONDON LOWBALL QUIZ page 149
27) HIGH-LOW SPLIT page 152
28) HIGH-LOW SPLIT QUIZ page 155
29) STRIP DECK POKER page 160

Okay, how many of us are playing pot-limit or no-limit lowball, or high-low split? There's one more part to the book but to me it delves even further into obscure and unuseful information for today's player. What I was looking for (and I think most people are looking for) is for a book full of material related to no-limit Texas hold 'em.

You have to question why one reviewer would say "ignore this review". What were his motives? I found that there was too much information in here that I didn't want and didn't apply to no-limit hold 'em. What was there was too short and not nearly as in-depth as I would have liked. And the tournament information is very, very small. If these are things you are expecting than I cannot recommend this book.

This is the second offering by Stewart Reuben I've read. Previously, I finished How Good is Your Pot Limit which I found surprisingly good. Stewart is an old school pro whose prime was far before the current poker boom. You won't see him on ESPN or the Travel Channel, and many of the examples he cites are from the eighties. However, he is just as insightful as those in the limelight today. As a writer, he is charming and interesting. With Bob Ciaffone, I am less familiar, but his reputation is well known. He certainly does not disappoint here.

This title of the book is slightly misleading. It could most accurately be described as "Selected Topics in Pot-Limit & No Limit Poker." Unlike, Advanced Hold `Em and the 2005 Harrington books, there is not a tight or consistent narrative here. Forty-three mini chapters concerning various issues in No Limit and Pot Limit Poker are offered. Notice that I said, as does the title, poker as opposed to hold `em. The authors, in this edition, added three pages of hold `em specific material to make the work more current, but that still might not be enough for some who have absolutely no interest in razz, stud, or Omaha. That's a shame though as being aware of other forms of poker undoubtedly makes one a better player.

Overall, Pot-Limit & No Limit, despite its bare-bones approach, extensively enlightens readers concerning the intricacies of expert level play. At its best, these discussions are extremely technical and situation specific. It's hard not to profit from surgeon like advice like the 5/10 rule for calling raises. I've heard that one cited by players many times. Although, Stewart's brief psychology chapter was my personal favorite. I consider myself fortunate for never having to have played against him. I also admired the fact that he concedes that much of poker simply cannot be verbally explained to beginners. There is an intuitiveness within the successful rounder which no manual can instill.

i'm an experienced limit hold'em player and this book did a great job of laying out the principles of big bet poker and helping with examples in different games that i've played and havent played sharing a lot of principles i couldn't quite quantify. winners thinks in a very verbose mannerism and books like this help train the mind to look at the proper factors. Good Read, Best No Limit Pot Limit book out there so far.

This book is a good book. The biggest problem with the book is how the information is laid out, because the authors are poker players and not teachers. Not unlike super/system, there is alot of assumptions that the material is being understood without need for further explanation (although I think super/system does a better job here). Many of the issues addressed in the book are touched on with a very quick overview, and then on to the next topic. Obviously much experience is needed, but with a very limited understanding of the text, this book could hurt. Luckily the quiz after each section of games will let the reader know with brutal honesty that the reader either will be stupid or not, but the quizzes do not necessarily cover enough info either (as well as covering some info not already covered by the text). Read this book 8 times and combine it's lesson with the other books.

With 2 authors with admittedly different styles, it was interesting that the No limit holdem section only offered one style of approach to the game.

Good book if you are already experienced with poker. It gives you tips to use when holding different hands and against different types of players. Solid book. You WILL LEARN SOMETHING AFTER READING THIS BOOK! You obviously don't know enough about poker, or *you* would have a book for sale on Amazon!

I recommend that you buy this book if you want a significatly strong edge against players that understand poker. You must understand it yourself before reading this book. It doesn't contain tips on starting hands, but it provides many useful exercises and examples covering many situations. Enjoy!!!

Since I am giving this book such a high rating, I will start out with the criticisms that I think are somewhat justified. After each criticism, I will explain why I think the book is still extremely worthwhile.

1: The book does not concentrate on NLHE. This is very true and it would seem to be a cogent criticism. When I started to play in casinos, the only big-bet game at Foxwoods was an occasional five-dollar blnds pot-limit HE game. Now the lists are long for NLHE at four different levels and there is no pot-limit anything. So the sections of the book on other games and on pot-limit would seem to be wasted.

The bare fact here cannot be denied but there are good reasons to understand the other games and the other betting structures. Poker games have continually gone in and out of fashion. While I think NLHE will be a very important game for a long time, I don't think people are well-advised to be so narrow in focus that they cannot adapt. Pot-limit Holdem is a useful game to understand but you probably won't get much opportunity to play it. Pot-Limit Omaha is an extremely popular game. Some think it is the wave of the future. Even if you don't agree, and I don't, there will probably BE a wave of the future and it is good to be adaptable. The sections on NL Draw and Lowball, PL stud and, shudder, London Lowball all have worthwhile analysis of poker situations that can come up in any game. I won a lot of money in NL Draw and Lowball at one time and any reader of this book will have a major advantage if someone decides to call one of these variations in a dealer's choice game. In fact, given the massive dealer advantage of draw games, there is no reason to call anything else when you deal.

And it is fun to read about London Lowball, even if you would never want to play it. For the same reason that horror movies can be fun, even if you never want to be IN one.

2:The sections on NL are somewhat dated. This is mainly true because Reuben and Ciaffone have probably never played in game where there was a one hundred big-blind limit on the buyin. Such games are very common on the internet and were very common in casinos until recently. The do require somewhat different strategies. In fact, they require very restricted and unimaginative play.

Fortunately, most casinos have raised the buy-in limits somewhat.In deep buy-in games or in games where you and some of the other players have won enough to play deep-stack all streets poker, the advice from this book will aid you well.

3: They advise getting all your chips in on a draw.

Well, they do, under certain conditions. In fact, this is going to be right under those conditions and profitable in two ways. If you push your twelve out (flush and a gutshot or similar) draws very hard, you will win about half the time when there is a showdown. Because your opponent will fold sometimes under the pressure, you make money playing this hand that way. When you have fifteen outs or more, you are a favorite when it goes to a showdown.

Also, once you have been seen to play a hand this way, you never have to slowplay a flopped set or even a straight or flush. You get paid every time.

4: Some peole don't like the style and organization.

This one I can't refute. I don't agree with it but that is a matter of taste and of what helps you learn. I even agree that it is not laid out in the style of a textbook. I just don't find it that important.