Customer Reviews

Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A perfect study for anyone who's SERIOUS about completing their 7-card education. This should NOT be the first or even second book you read on your journey to 7-card mastery. The theories presented are certainly advanced, but nothing beyond what even an "intermediate" player would (and should) understand. In fact, this is the kind of text that, when put into practice, can foster the growth of an intermediate player to a higher level. What made this book stand out among my poker library is its direct approach to SPECIFIC situations. Most poker books fail to provide numerous, exact plays in those all-too-often marginal hands. Yet, it is in these plays where the expert extracts his profits over the long run. The examples are often involved, yet clearly presented. What are you representing? What should you represent? How do your opponents perceive you? Will a raise here put you into a heads-up situation? If so, is that desirable at this point in time? One word of caution: As a player who has experienced up to the 15-30 level, I suggest these techniques are worthless below 10-20, with the exception of a TIGHT game below 10-20 (is that an oxymoron?) In fact, the authors often use a 30-60 game for their examples. Most players below the 10-20 simply aren't sophisticated enough to make "correct" decisions in reaction to your plays. After all, if your opponents don't know what they're doing, how are you supposed to know what they're doing? There is a section on loose games that addresses these issues thoroughly, but I wouldn't suggest a low-limit player buy the book simply because of that text. A better book for those low limit players would be Roy West's "7-Card Stud: The Complete Course in Winning at Medium and Lower Limits." There's one more thing that this advanced course has that I have yet to see in another poker book: A quiz - just to make sure you're getting the key points! I never understood why all of my other poker books, which are in fact tutorials, didn't provide a quiz to make the reader (student) is getting a passing grade. Students in school don't get through a semester without being tested, and the reader of a tutorial style book shouldn't pass through without facing the challenge of a test either. Cheers to Sklansky, Malmuth, and Zee for caring enough about their students to include this critical section so many others seem to lack.

The best advice backed up with easy to understand examples. Contains the least amount of dubious advice of any poker text. This book will make a huge difference to your bankroll. No matter how good a player you are you are a clueless newbie until you read this text. Once caveat: Keep in mind that in general their advice is directed towards your playing in a game with tight aggressive skilled players. These authors no longer play in low limit games and to some extent have lost touch with the type of player the low limit playing reader faces.You should add another title to your shopping basket here to read that addresses games with loose bad players in it so as to obtain a proper strategic approach to all situations. A good poker book teaches you how to think about situations more so than what to do in specific situationAny text by the team of skylansky malmouth is worth it's weight in gold. Look for a revision of some of their classic texts, subtitled- "year 2000 or 20c. update"

Sklansky et. al. have written the definitive book on 7-card stud. It is fairly easy to read and quite complete. It is probably best for middle and higher limit games but the tactics can be adapted to suit lower limit and spread limit games. It is a must for poker players who do not want to loose atll their money when they visit the casinos and poker clubs. You can be sure that if you sit at tables in Atlantic City, Vegas, California, Foxwood etc. the player(s) across the table from you has probably read this book, and you will be at a significant disadvantage if you have not. It is worth a buy, but you must read it carefully and practice.

The best book to date! What other book would you buy? [Ray Zee has a good book. David Sklansky talks of 7-stud in his other great books. But they both help write this very complete book on 7-stud.]

When you know the basics, this is a book for you. I play stud, online and in casinos some. This book confirms and expands my knowlege of when to stay and fold. For instance, great book for third street (your first bet). When will I make money, I have three hearts (9, 10 Queen) and a Ace has already raised. It will tell you what to do. Read this book and play for free online. You will learn fast.

The book has specific examples. It covers all of 7-stud. If you are a beginner, skim this book, it is too compicated for you. Then play for awhile and re-read. If you are intermediate, this is a perfect book for you. It will expand your knowlege fast and as deep as you want or need. If you are already advanced, learn to plug a specific leak in your game and use the index and table of contents for reference. The question and answer sections are good too. This book has it all.

NOTE: Their (Two Plus Two Publishing with David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth) other book is on Hold'em. It is one of the top five books out of the hundreds on this subject. (The best 1st book on low limit hold'em is by Lee Jones).

Sklansky let's the reader know up front that this text is not for the squeemish. The book is for those who are ready to take the game of 7-Card Stud to the next level. It is aimed at players who play 15-30 and up, and certainly not for those beginners who are playing 1-5. This book is meant to be studied over and over, not just read once or twice. Each sentence is packed with very deep, often technical and always insightful information on one of the most difficult games to master. For the serious 7-Stud player, this book is absolutely essential. Just an incredible book!

There's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Sklansky should be a rocket scientist and not a poker player/writer. This book is deep , way beyond the comprehension of the average stud player. I've read, reread , studied , restudied this book over and over again and only now am I beginning to see the light . I see S&M students out there night after night losing their shirts making these plays , blaming their losses on bad luck. The title of the book "seven card stud for ADVANCED PLAYERS " is very revealing. After all , most poker players consider themselves advanced players , especially if they've been playing for a couple of years . Let's face it , an advanced player is probably already a significant winner at the game , it's the average player who needs help. To sum it up.. Great stuff for the ADVANCED PLAYER. Dangerous for the AVERAGE PLAYER. Suicide for the BEGINNER.

I initially did not feel I played at the levels that would make purchasing this book helpful to my game. I bought some lower limit stud books and they helped, but not a lot. This book is for advanced players, but if you have played for a little while and are looking for a book on stud, I trust you will be okay with these concepts. The authors explain that if you play lower limits, you should tone down some of the ideas in the book, but overall, knowledge of the tricks of the game is quite helpful.

A great deal of the book covers play on 3rd street. After reading it a couple of times, I am a lot more confident in my decisions as to whether I wish to enter the pot or fold my hand. There is also a chapter on playing in loose games. When people are entering a lot of pots with crap hands, this chapter really helps you take full advantage of these situations. These situations are common in the lower limits and I found it helped my game a great deal.

Overall, I think the book was easy to read and the coverage of the game was very well done. While there are tons of situations in stud that make explaining it complicated, the authors have done a nice job of preparing the reader for any situation they may find themselves in. If you are familiar with the game and want a book to learn a bit more, I think most people can be brought up to speed with this book without first getting a beginner's level book.

UPDATE: Three years after initially writing this review, I must say this book has been the best source of poker information I have ever purchased. If you want to sit at the tables and play with the confidence of knowing that you have solid information on your side and you know your decisions are correct, this is the place to get it.

This is the most comprehensive book on Standard Seven Card Stud in print. The book's language is straight forward and understandable in my opinion. It is also my opinion that anyone capable playing Seven Card and with a basic command of English should be able to understand this book.

The Advance part comes from the fact that many of the plays in this book do not work in lower limit games. The games where the strategies in this book are geared toward no longer exist. At least I don't know where to find them. This is also stated within the text of the book by the authors. There is a chapter on loose games that can guide on how to adjust to lower limit stud.

Still it is a good book to read. It will get you thinking and that is the real value of these books. Like Doyle Brunson's writing on No Limit Hold Em in the original Super System, I would never play like that. That style doesn't work for me. But Doyle was right! A chance of 4 hitting on the flop is just as good as the chance of an Ace hitting on the flop given the two cards are equally live. ( The difference has to do with if neither hit the flop which has stronger value....but hey I am not going to argue with Doyle Brunson). The point is Super System got me thinking about strategy in different ways and I took what work for me and ditched what didn't. This book does the same. It makes you think deeply about stud.......In my opinion.

One thing this book did for me was explain why I make some of the plays I make. After a while there were certain ways of playing that developed in my game. I do things because they seem to work. What this book did was help me understand in many cases why I play the way I do. Also, in some cases how to reevaluate some of my play. So in this regard I guess it is more of an advanced text. You will need some frame of reference to get most you can out of it.

After a 2 year layoff from medium stakes poker(10-20, 15-30, 20-40), I decided to take a trip to Vegas. About 2 months before the trip I figured that I better brush up on my poker skills so I purchased 3 books. This was the last one and by far the most helpful. The book educated me on correct plays and more aggressive moves without risking all that much. I wish I had read the book 2 years ago when I lived up north and often frequented Atlantic City. Upon my departure from Vegas I had won over $.... playing poker. I only wish I didn't play craps.

This book provides the soundest advice on seven-card stud available in print. It is intended for serious poker players with a strong desire to beat the high-stakes poker games played in the casinos of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and elsewhere, and it could even provide the foundation for a career as a professional poker player. The book is so jam-packed with concepts that it doesn't read very smoothly the first time through. It should be considered more of a reference work than a tutorial -- and it's certainly not for beginners. If this book is studied by a disciplined player, it will pay for itself many times over.