Get the Edge At Low-Limit Texas Hold'em (Scoblete Get-the-Edge Guide) (Paperback)

by Bill Burton (Author)
Key Phrases: solid starting hands, best hand after the flop, getting correct odds, Get the Edge, Low-Limit Texas Hold'em, Atlantic City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Low-Limit Texas Hold’em is the fastest-growing casino poker game. But new player often come to the poker rooms completely unprepared to play a winning game. Even so-called "veteran" players are often long-term losers at the game because they have never taken the time to study how to play or analyze their own individual games. As author Bill Burton clearly shows in Get the Edge at Low-Limit Texas Hold’em, a savvy low-limit player can turn a profit at this game by exploiting the weaknesses of his or her opponents, and developing his or her own strengths. In Get the Edge at Low-Limit Texas Hold’em, you will learn:

The basics of proper play; the rules; the protocols

What starting hands play – and what starting hands to throw away The concept of "table position," and how that affects what hands to play The proper times to check, raise, fold, and check raise When to bluff and to semi-bluff How to win in Low-Limit Hold’em tournaments The proper bankroll requirements for the type of games you play in How to size up your opponents and their playing styles The most common mistakes made by novice or unskilled players How to "read" your opponents’ tells to gain the advantage Money-management techniques to handle your bankroll In addition, Bill Burton explains his own fascinating journey from the kitchen to the cardroom and how, in just a few short months of intensive study and practice, he became a winning player.

About the Author
Bill Burton is the casino gambling guide for About.com and writes for several magazines, including Midwest Gaming and Travel and Southern Gaming and Destinations. He is also the gaming consultant for Fodoor’s Travel Guide to Las Vegas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (January 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566251893
• ISBN-13: 978-1566251891
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #207,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An OK introduction to Low Limit Hold'em - there are better, June 15, 2003

By	UncleTrick (Las Vegas, NV.) - See all my reviews

This book may be good for a player with absolutely no poker experience, or a player who wants to be able to keep his/her head above water a little longer at the tables while on a yearly trip to Vegas or Atlantic City. However, if you already know how to play Texas Hold'em and are looking to improve your game, there are a few books that are better than this one.

This book is very dry and flat. It is an interminable list of, "do this, don't do this, except what that happens". It reads like a buddy giving you advice on how to play.

However, there is really no logical way to digest all of this information. The information is useless if you can't recall it, and the way this is written it would be difficult for anyone to be able to use the advice without the book next to them to look it up whenever a particular situation comes up.

In my opinion, this occurs because Mr. Burton never really never goes into depth about why you should or shouldn't make a particular play. He does to a point, but never in a way that makes you think for yourself. He is just like a buddy that spoon feeds you advice without telling you the underlying how or why of a decision.

To be able to use any kind of advice, you need to be able to understand the underlying theory of the advice so you can make your own, well informed and educated decisions, not play like a robot. If you want to play systematically and unimaginatively, you'd be better off learning the basic strategy of blackjack and stick to that instead of poker. If you want a book that teaches you AND makes you think for yourself, check out Lee Jones' book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent book, but not my favorite low limit title, June 22, 2005

By	Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a decent book on low limit Hold Em. Note that Low Limit is a 2/4 or 3/6 game, not the $30 blind games in Vegas or the big CA tournaments. The psychology and right moves in low limit are very different from no-limit or tournament style play, and it is important to read a book directed at where your play is.

Burton gives you very little of the theory behind poker, the odds, the "whys" of the best move. Now, for a beginner low limit book, you don't want to get too bogged down in that stuff, but personally I find it easier to remember, "I should do XX because the odd of getting YY are so much better than the odds of ZZ." Figuring out the basic odds isn't too hard, but it is treated only briefly in this book, and Burton doesn't really drive the point home.

Frankly, this book has a lot of info, but it doesn't boil it down into strategies that you are going to remember when you are at the table. You might get frustrated because you be paranoid about remembering everything that is laid out in a very verbose format.

Personally, I didn't find this book as useful as the one by Lee Jones (Winning Low Limit Hold Em). If you only buy one book, go for Jones's, because he really breaks down the hows plus the whys of each move, and every chapter concludes with a cheat sheet for you to remember your new Hold Em "rules."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stick with Lee Jones, December 11, 2005

By	Robert I. Mccaw (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are a a lot of books available to the beginning student of poker. If you are just taking up limit poker, I'd advise buying Lee Jones' book instead of this one. At best, I'd buy this one as a supplement.

I absolutely agree with Uncle Trick's analysis of the book -- especially regarding its lack of depth. The problem can be highlighted by comparing Burton's treatment of Ace-Jack offsuit in early postion with that of Jones.

Burton simply says "(AJo)is playable in early position, but if you're raised you may be in trouble. You have to consider who's doing the raising." In fairness, these statements are basically true, but I find them pretty superficial.

In contrast, Jones devotes a lengthy and thoughtful paragraph to AJo, concluding that inexperienced players should probably fold it in early position. I took up poker about three months ago, and did not fully appreciate all of Jones's thinking when I first read his book. But I have found myself rereading paragraphs like the one in Jones on AJo and gaining understanding on second and third readings. It's a very valuable resource.

Burton's book is relatively inexpensive and does provide some useful information for the beginner. The tables of starting hands are about as good as any, and there are tables of odds stating, for example, the probability of hitting a flush given two suited cards. If you find this kind of thing useful, you may want to have the book in your library. But you won't find yourself rereading this one often!