Poker Forums

I read a lot of poker books and for the past few months I have been writing little "mini reviews" on them. Hopefully these will give you a broad idea of what each book has to offer and can help you choose which book to buy.
I have also created a little ratings system to simplify things as between this site and others I have many many mini reviews floating around.

The level is the level of player I believe will get the most out of the book. The Reading Difficulty suggests wether a particular writing style was an easy read for me or if I felt that I was constantly reading thing 2 or more times to fully grasp the concept. Organization has to do with how the book is organized, mainly will the book be easy to reference or will you have to re-read it to find what you are looking for. Usefullness is pretty obvious but there are a few factors. Mainly: is the information right and can it be applied at the table or in simulation and make an impact on your game.
--------------------
Level: Beginner to Pro
Reading Difficulty: 3
Organization: 8
Usefullness: 9 (great for the new player to build solid foundations for limit hold em, great for old players to brush up)
--------------------



I read this book years ago but figured that since I enjoyed it so much, it deserved a good review. This book is meant to cover medium stakes limit hold em and does so very well. This book is very specific and includes a ton of information. Kreiger goes hand by hand explaining how to play all of the big hands in every position before, on, and after the flop. He also goes into other topics important to the begining player such as the lifestyle, the math and other important topics. This is one of the most complete poker books I have ever read.

For the beginners (and old pros that might need to brush up) Lou goes hand for hand descibing how to play all of the big hands in all of the different positions. This section is great for the beginner and great for the old player doing a refresher. Other than hand by hand analasys Lou also includes an easy to read colorful chart inside the back cover on which hands are playable in which position. It is great for quick refrence for the new player! Once you combine all of the hand by hand advice included in the book with the chart inside the back cover this book really becomes a great tool to learn to play hold em right!* Lou also goes onto such topics as simple math, tilt, and wether or not to "go pro" with his go pro or not test. There is much more to this book than what hand to play in what position.

I highly reccomend this book to the begining limit hold em player. I believe in solid foundations for new poker players and this book has it all covered. I think even the seasoned veteran could read this book and get back to the roots of their strong play as Kreiger writes a great book on how to play hold em right. Understand that this book is not a super quick read. It can be tedious at times but espescially for the beginner the information contained in this book is priceless.

I have refrenced this book for years and will continue to refrence it for years, and I am sure you will too!


* Lou Kreiger is also co-author of the "Hold em for Dummies" books and I once bought a pocket sized version as a joke for a poker playing buddy. He ended up not thinking the gag gift was that funny so I kept it. The package included the pocket sized book (which has been years of fun breaking it out at the table) and a deck of cards that corrosponds with the advice in the book, much like Kreigers chart in this book. A simple "can play this hand in this position and can't play it in this position" chart on every card to help the beginner learn to play. Very clever. Lou might be the author of "Hold em for Dummies" but I assure you his books are spot on with great advice!

Thanks for another great review. I bought the Poker for Dummies book for my wife and it was surprisingly good, excellent book for beginners.

I'll take a look at this book.

Jason

__________________
I'm Not Lucky, I Have Good Karma !

Yeah I havn't read the full version of poker for dummies but the pocket sized book was actually pretty good. It came with a deck of cards each with a little guide on it. It was pretty clever. First it does count on you playing with that deck but it was only for practice. Say you had the 9 of hearts. On the card it said "early position, middle position, late position" and next to each position it said what you could play with that card like next to early it might say "play with any other 9" and next to late it might say "play with any 9 or A". If you had an ace it might say "early pos, play with any other ace, K, Q, Js". Pretty clever. Lou also has written quite a few columns for Cardplayer. He might have written the Poker for Dummies books but he is no dummy!