Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players - Poker Book Review

Hold’em for Advanced Players was written by David Sklansky with some help by Mason Malmuth. Since the book is geared towards players who are more advanced in hold’em you would need to know the basic strategy of Texas hold’em before you would read it. This compilation of information is a great collection of thoughts from one of the greatest poker legends of all time.

Hold’em for Advanced Players was originally written in 1988, but has now been revised and had over 100 pages of new content for the reader to enjoy. There was a section added about short-handed play and another section about playing in loose games.

In the beginning of the book Sklansky talks about different opening hands. He breaks these hands down into eight different parts. This book is the first time that poker starting hands have been broken down. By explaining this he goes over each group of hands and how to play them in specific situations.

Sklansky goes over some of the different reasons not to slow play your big hands preflop. He goes into detail about how more players in the pot makes it harder for your great hand to hold up. Regardless the strength of your hand preflop it can still lose on a later street. Also when you are slow playing a hand you are losing value in the pot that you could have built and made more off of.

Throughout the book Sklansky talks about how raising is almost always better than just calling. He emphasizes being the aggressor as much as possible so that you can maximize your fold equity against your opponents. This is very helpful for any players new to the game or already into it.

Sklansky has a section where he talks about playing in the blinds. Every day players give away much more money in the blinds than any player ever should. Sklansky talks about how some players view completing in the small blind as though it isn’t a problem when in all actuality players give away hundreds of dollars for completing when they should not.

In the section about short-handed play Sklansky talks about the benefits of playing short-handed. He explains how you can open up your game more when you are short-handed. He also talks about how players will win more money in the short-handed games because they are in more action than normal.

In another section of the literature Sklansky goes over some bluffs and semi-bluffs that can be run on your opponents. He explains a few situations where these will work better and when they will be the completely incorrect play.

At the end of the book Sklansky talks about some of the psychology that goes on at the tables when you are a more advanced player. He talks about playing against other regulars and how to adapt. He also talks about the different levels of thinking for players which is extremely helpful to know and apply to your game.

Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players is a must read for anyone who is true to the game. David Sklansky is a great poker author and his book should be in everyone’s library of great poker books.