Going from the home game to the casino
This book showed me how to play serious hold'em -- I've still got a long way to go, but at least now I know what I don't know. Like most Idiot's guides, it's great at giving you the nuts and bolts basics on the topic. I'm sure more experienced players have the odds nailed and know what "outs" are, but I didn't before I read this book. It's also useful for learning where to play, whether on the Internet and even for types of players to look out for. I've already reread it twice, and I'm sure I'll refer back lots more times.
OTTIMO LIBRO
scrivo in italiano cosi' mi capite ITALIANI.
Onestamente posso dire che e' un OTTIMO libro,tutte le tattiche del gioco PRE FLOP,FLOP,TURN,RIVER e molto altro.
Molto facile da capire(linguaggio semplice).
CONSIGLIATO per i principianti e NON
The best bar none
After watching hold'em on TV and holding my own in games with friends, I decided to give playing online a try. I found the games alot harder and was frustrated that I not only couldn't win, but I was actually losing. I picked up this book, thinking I wouldn't learn much and found out that I knew almost nothing about how to win -- and some of what I did know was wrong.
From starting hands to odds, counting pots to understanding other players this book got me to break even within a week of finishing it. Since then (in about 4 months), I've won over $750 playing .50 - $1 and have just moved up to playing $1-2 online.
Strongly recommended.
Won me much more than the price
Before I read this I just tried to wait for good cards and hope for the best. The strategies in this book have finally made me a winning player -- and helped me understand exactly what it takes to make money in this game and move up from the low limits I currently play. As long as you aren't at my table, I recommend it!
Not for Beginners, Certainly Not for Idiots
The Idiot's Guide to Texas Hold 'Em, while thoughtfully written and chock full of very useful information is certainly NOT for the novice player. While I've been a fan of the "Idiot" series and their chief competitor, this particular pocket guide is, unfortunately, written well over the Idiot's head. Although it covers a weath of topics, it is unfortunately brief on far too many of them and tried to cover too much territory in too short a span. As a result the passages are often overly complicated, tangential and confusing. If this was the first book I had read on Texas Hold 'Em, I'd be more confused than before I started it!
I would recommend this short work for anyone who is a fairly experienced amature player with a few hundred online hands under their belt and another book or two prior to this one. In that event, Randy Burgess' thoughts and strategies - although as with any single author's opinion are to be taken with a grain of salt and not gospal - are useful and insightful.