Illustrated Guide To Texas Hold’em: Making Winners Out Of Beginners and Advanced Players
Product Description
Texas Hold’em is the fastest growing, most popular game in America. The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold’em focuses on the type of poker that beginners play, at a level beginners can easily understand. The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold’em is a heavily illustrated Texas Hold’em poker book for beginners. Focusing on low-limit play, author Dennis Purdy gives basic instruction on how to play the game and strategies that work. On each spread, the author s… More >>
Illustrated Guide To Texas Hold’em: Making Winners Out Of Beginners and Advanced Players
Tags: Advanced, Beginners, Guide, holdem, Illustrated, Making, Players, Texas, Winners
July 29th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
I’m a big fan of this book, as it has helped me make the jump from beginner to skilled player. Therefore I was surprised to see a negative review of Purdy’s odds calculation. As I use his system when I play, I of course went back to the book to see look at it closely. And guess what? It turns out that the reviewer was actually wrong, and this book is correct. The confusion lies in the difference between odds and probability, and understanding the difference is crucial if you attempt to use either at the poker table.
Let’s go back to the example the review used. You have pocket cards of 6-8, and the flop is 2-3-8. What are the odds that an 8 will come on the turn? Purdy claims 45 to 2, and the reviewer claims 2 in 47. Who’s right? Purdy is. You see, Purdy is calculating the odds, whereas the reviewer is calculating the probability.
Let’s make this much simpler. Pretend you have a situation where there are fifteen cards left, out of which 5 cards will give you the result you desire. (I know you’ll never have this few cards left in Hold ‘Em, but it’s easier to understand this way). Your instinct would be to say that your odds are 15 to 5, and then reduce that to 3 to 1. But that’s not calculating odds, it’s calculating probability. Odds are formed by this setup: [Number of cards that are not what you desire] to [number of cards that give you the desired results]. So out of 15 cards left, 10 give you the undesired result, whereas 5 give you the desired result. Therefore, the odds are 10 to 5, or 2 to 1. Much different, right? If you want to get more complicated, you can use this formula, which translates probability to odds: where x = probability, 0.x/(1−0.x) = odds. Try it yourself. If something has a 20% chance of happening, the odds of it happening are .25, or 4 to 1. Weird, but true.
So why all this high-level discussion for what’s supposed to be a beginner book? It’s about learning to use odds quickly. The whole point is: compare the odds of getting the card you want to how much money you’re going to get back for the bet. You can get the same answer by calculating the probability, but that’s much harder to do while sitting a poker table. Using odds, if you’re playing against 9 other people, after the flop there will always be 47 unseen cards. All you need to do is subtract the number of out cards you have, then put the result on the left, the number of out cards on the right, and you have your odds. Do the same with the amount in the pot vs. what bet you need to call, and you have your pot odds. If you try to use probability, you’re going to be doing a lot of division in your head, and under pressure you risk messing it up. The math wizards can do this, most of us can’t.
So, overall this is a fantastic book for beginners, and one that I highly recommend. Trust that the author has this right. And if you’re still unsure, check it out yourself.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 29th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Read Sklansky and Harrington last month. Very good books and a must read for anyone interested in playing poker well. Have been playing dealer’s choice poker variations for about fifteen years. Have been playing Hold’em, specifically, for about four months now.
The Sklansky and Harrington books give you a lot of theory. They teach you how to think about poker. This book gives you all practicum, which is especially great for the beginner and intermediate player. The author provides very straight forward explanations for his decisions, and in the process reinforces proper play, while also discouraging improper play.
This book is a great complement to the other two books mentioned. Will help reinforce the basics — plays that we take for granted, forget about, and therefore get wrong under pressure. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning solid basic game play, or for reinforcing the basics as well.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 29th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I just picked up this book today and have no regrets about the 15 bucks i dropped on it (hey it’s even cheaper on amazon). What makes this a better poker book than others is that it set up as a tutorial, walking you through 150 actual situations at a poker table. You have to decide what play to make and then the author tells you the correct answer. If your new to hold’em these exercises will save you money fast. There’s so many stupid plays us beginners make, this book will help you eliminate these weaknesses from your game. I read brunson’s super system and sklanskys theory of poker before I started playing on line a few months ago, they helped me a lot but I still lacked real game experience. This book will jump start your experience and help you make those tough decisions at poker table. You should be aware that the book deals with limit games and not no limit. Even if you play no limit I think these exercises will help strengthen your game if you haven’t been playing for that long. It’s a quick fun read that won’t blow up your brain trying to figure out what the author is talking about. I’m sure you’ll make your 10 bucks back!
Rating: 5 / 5
July 29th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
If you have been playing poker for less than a year and are looking to improve your game (or if you have been playing for longer and still lose!) then this is the book for you.
Taking an entirely different approach to teaching the game than most books this is an illustrated guide. Each page graphically presents a scenario including table position, pot size, cards held, board cards already out (if any), and action prior to your turn. Based on this information the reader is asked, check, fold, call or raise: The fundamental decision for every player at every betting round. After you have answered the question in your head the next page then details what you should have said and why. The book then walks you through the thought process that you should have based on the facts and explains in simple and clear terms what the correct course of action is and why.
This unique method of teaching the game shows the importance of correct starting hands, pot odds, implied odds, position, pot size, and many other factors. In many other books these fairly advanced concepts are pretty difficult to grasp, however the illustrated format of this book makes learning a breeze.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 29th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I started playing poker seriously about 8 months ago, after just dabbling with friends and family. I’d read 4 other books and skimmed through a few others in preparation for my trips to Foxwoods and also on some online poker rooms. This is the only illustrated poker book I found, that is clear and concise and tells you what to do if you have certain hands!!! Many of the other poker books on Hold’em, are bogged down and not very easy to follow or learn from – or so was my opinion. The tips and advice in this book are already paying off for me – literally! I read it as soon as I got it a few weeks ago and Presto!! One thing is for sure, I’m more confident at a poker table than I was before I read Mr. Purdy’s book! I recommend it to all. Thanks!! And Happy Winnings!
Rating: 5 / 5