Product Description: For today’s poker players, Texas hold ’em is the game. Every day, tens of thousands of small stakes hold ’em games are played all over the world in homes, card rooms, and on the Internet. These games can be very profitable — if you play well. But most people don’t play well and end up leaving their money on the table.
Small Stakes Hold ’em: Winning Big with Expert Play explains everything you need to be a big winner. Unlike many other books about small stakes games, it teaches the aggressive and attacking style used by all professional players. However, it does not simply tell you to play aggressively; it shows you exactly how to make expert decisions through numerous clear and detailed examples.
Small Stakes Hold ’em teaches you to think like a professional player. Topics include implied odds, pot equity, speculative hands, position, the importance of being suited, hand categories, counting outs, evaluating the flop, large pots versus small pots, protecting your hand, betting for value on the river, and playing overcards. In addition, after you learn the winning concepts, test your skills with over fifty hand quizzes that present you with common and critical hold ’em decisions. Choose your action, then compare it to the authors’ play and reasoning.
This text presents cutting-edge ideas in straightforward language. It is the most thorough and accurate discussion of small stakes hold ’em available. Your opponents will read this book; make sure you do, too!
A very educational and comprehensive (Limit) hold 'em book I have been very satisfied with the breadth and quality of instruction in this book. When I purchased it, I (like some of the other reviewers here) did not know that it was written for fixed-limit games, as there is nothing in the title to indicate this. I play no-limit sit-n-gos almost exclusively and was a little disappointed when I found out this was a limit book. However, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. As someone who has only been playing for 16 months, the sections on hand rankings (monster, very strong, strong, good speculative, marginal, trash), hidden outs and redraws, slowplaying, and post-flop play have been very helpful in getting my game up to speed. I'm only about 2/3 done with the book but have already learned a lot, and some of it has applied to no-limit as well. Each section has at least 2 good examples to help reinforce the material. The only reason I give it 4/5 stars is because it's very dry reading (as most Sklansky books are). If you are an intermediate player who wants to learn poker concepts the right way, I strongly recommend this book, even if you don't play fixed-limit. Long-time players and grinders probably know this material already, so if you want to get to their level, you should too.
LOVE THIS BOOK Loved this book. It gives you tables of starting hands based on position, which greatly improved my game - I lost my money alot slower - then eventually i started winning more. If you play small stakes (under 10/20) this is a great book.
Only for new players If you know anything at all about hold-em this is not the book for you. It does help with learning how to figure odds but everything else it covers can be picked up with a few hands at the table. The book assumes that you are playing with less than mediocre players, and its advice varies greatly depending on how talented your competition is. It is not an easy read.
Now my favorite book on this topic I think I've found my "bible" for low limit Hold'em. I'd read Lee Jones "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" quite a while before I ordered this one, so I basically decided to try this on the basis of the high Sklansky and Malmuth name recognition factor. Sometimes I find Sklansky's work almost impenetrable since it often requires lots of study and review time which I don't have. But I bought "Small Stakes" anyway. I'm certainly glad I did. I believe it is definitely much better than the Lee Jones book. It's clear. Straightforward. And it's already paying off in higher winnings rate (or at least less leakage) for me.
So who should buy it? Non expert low or micro limit players. Even if you've already invested in the Jone's book, you'll find a different spin that's worth the time.
Who shouldn't buy it? Expert players or those who easily comprehend Sklansky's other works.
Highly recommended.
Great book I wouldn't have written a review until I noticed the trashing of the book. It is a superb text, the best out there for beginning limit players.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
