Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 best book for hold'em August 12, 2007
Yoon Yeo Woong
i am not poor at hold'em.
but i am a master of hold'em after i read this book.
 poker book July 13, 2007
C. Yokum (Bonsall, CA USA)
This is a great poker book. I did have to return it since it was a duplicate of a book my husband already had but it is a good book to learn about Texas Hold'em.
Great book for beginners September 22, 2006
J. Nehring
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a beginner and would like to learn how to play texas hold em. The author does a good job of explaining all the basic principles of the game and by utilizing this information, anyone can walk into a cardroom and play profitable poker. This book is not for advanced players.
 Stick with Lee Jones December 11, 2005
Robert I. Mccaw (Boston, MA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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!
Decent book, but not my favorite low limit title June 23, 2005
Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
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."
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