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321 of 328 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Valuable and dangerous, October 4, 2004
This review is from: Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play (Paperback)
I've read most of the poker lit and really like the Lee Jones low-limit book. It is accessible and provides pretty good advice on how to play the lower limit tables. Since most of the books out there assume you are playing good (read tight / aggressive) players, it was an important book for me. If you use the 'good play' paradigm at many loose tables, you play hardly any hands, and get bad beat too often -- so frustrating. Still profitable, but it always felt like I wasn't winning as much as I should given the (I believed) clear difference in game knowledge and good play practices.
I bought and read this book last week and was skeptical about much of its advice. It is not an easy read -- has the typical mathematic slant of a Sklansky book -- not in itself bad, but don't expect to breeze through this is an afternoon if you are not already familiar with calculating odds, etc. In my opinion the book often suggests raising on the assumption someone may be bluffing in a big pot situation and doesn't stress enough about factoring in your table read where you know you are beat (and therefore maybe just call or even fold). It also is short of detailed advice on turn and river play. The quizes in the back are good, but are light on a theoretically foundation of guiding play other than counting outs and a brief section on how to discount outs that may not really be there (get Ciaffone's Middle-limit Poker for this) I felt it was recommending WAY too loose guidelines and advice around staying in big pots when you KNOW you are beat (KNOW as in 'I've been at the table four hours and that guy only raises when he has the nuts -- I am beat).
Anyway, this weekend I went to the local Harrah's and played their 5/10 game (5/10 is the lowest limit), used the guidelines from Small Stakes Hold-em and proceeded to win 100 big bets in eleven hours. Wow. Of course, this is a sample set of one. And things generally went really well -- good cards, not too many river beats, etc. And the table makeup most of the evening fit the profile this book addresses to a tee. I didn't ignore my own reads at the table, etc. and played a bit tighter than the book recommended, but definitely the book influenced my approach to the game.
I still have mixed emotions about many of the suggestions in this book. I think that if you are an experience player used to playing tougher competition, this book should be viewed as filling out your knowledge in a poker niche of the highly-loose / somewhat-passive-hold'em variety. If you read this book as your first book because you are going to play low-limit and then run into a tight or aggressive table (whatever the limit), you are going to get killed. In other words this is a book for advanced players who understand 'correct' play. This book helps you optimize play for a certain specialty situation.
The book basically puts you on notice about this, but it is easy to lose track of while you read. Individually poor players when encountered as a group present certain challenges. The inmates are running the asylum and you have to get a little crazy yourself to a certain extent when you likely have the best of it. You do this knowing full well you are going to win fewer pots, but the size of the pots compensate. Judging the right and wrong time to join in (and stay in) is basically the specialty knowledge this book provides. It requires some sophistication and experience to understand these discussions.
I'm pretty sure a good many people are going to lose a good deal of money using this book as their bible. That's why I say this book is really valuable, but dangerous medicine. Don't make it the anchor point of your poker knowledge. Once you have that core down, this will help you win more when you play loose / passive small-stakes games.
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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Sound Investment., August 10, 2005
This review is from: Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play (Paperback)
There's no question that when it comes to Texas Hold'em, the lowermost limits are extremely bewildering places in which to play. It's a Vietnam full of kids who think that the meaning of poker is to pretend that betting two fours for value means treating them as if they were a straight flush. There's what I call, "All in Disease," where every chance a guy gets, he tries to emulate his highly paid heroes on television and go all in. The only problem is that they usually believe that they can win when they do so. These clowns go after 15 dollars worth of blinds with their entire stake. It's demoralizing when you lose to them.
For this reason, I bought this book by Miller and company to see if there were a way in which to improve my game. The first helpful thing the narrative does is to put things in perspective. Any maniac or tomfool can win Hold'em in the short-term, as a player, my job is follow the percentages and maintain discipline. Even if I take a beating during one session, eventually, the numbers will rectify the situation in the end. Somewhat surprisingly, Miller's advice is that if you find yourself amid very loose tablemates, it's okay to lessen your hand selection values as they're calling with practically anything.
The idea of, "don't be tricky," definitely benefited me immediately. With so many callers, slowplaying is not a sound idea unless you possess the nuts. They're liable to come back from huge deficits to pummel you on the river. Don't let them linger. Bet them to death. If they want to see your set, make them pay for it--big time. Again, we learn what we already know, that aggressiveness is rewarded again and again in Hold'em, but it remains just as true in limit as it does in no limit. If you don't raise, you will be raised so its important to lead out after strong flops. The idea that many beginners spend too much time worrying about "good laydowns" is a great point. Miller thinks that it's more tilt-promoting to laydown a winner than it is to lose at the river; so calculate your odds of calling and how many times it has to be a winner in order for questionable calls to be income producers. Many times, that last call only has to succeed 1 in 10 times for you to make money on aggregate, so a call is mandated.
Overall, I was very pleased with this book. If you've ever wondered how you can be losing to the idiots you've been losing to, buy it. It returned me to profitability.
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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The new Gold Standard for beating loose games at all levels, July 14, 2004
This review is from: Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play (Paperback)
I have now read an advance copy of the book twice, and some sections more than that. I can safely say that those of you who are so looking forward to this book will not be disappointed. The book is excellent. Indeed, it addresses some topics so well that I wonder at the title. Calling it "Small Stakes Holdem" is really too limiting. The book targets loose games more than small stakes games per se. With loose games and poor playing opponents permeating B&M cardroom games from $3-6 through $40-80, this book really has something for everybody. Yes, newer players will get more from it than mid-limit veterans, but even the mid-limit players will find some critical ideas spelled out in a way that helps them improve their game. It is an excellent blend that helps the newer players take the next big step to being significant winners, while at the same time it expounds upon and extends HPFAP in a way that addresses the super-loose games that permeate today's cardrooms. In short, it's the book that many have really been waiting for 2+2 to publish for quite some time. I expect this book to quickly move alongside Theory of Poker and HPFAP as a definitive 2+2 work. I recommend it highly.
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