Illustrated Guide to No-Limit Texas Hold'em [Paperback]

This book was given to me as a gift by my sister and my brother-in-law. It's best for players who have 4 months or fewer experience, or players who don't get the opportunity to discuss or read strategy often.

The meat-and-potatoes of this book are the 150 scenarios it gives you. The author takes you through his logic of the given scenarios, and often explains what the actions of the other players in the hand indicate. I think this is a very practical way of teaching beginning players what they should be looking for, instead of just droning on about probabilities, courtesies, and personal tics for pages on end.

There are several different scenarios, and admittedly, a few of them are extremely rare ones. The point the author is making on these rare scenarios is that there are consequences for mistakes, often drastic ones.

One of the scenarios is four-of-a-kind, which I have achieved only once, last week against my brother-in-law actually. Another scenario is a royal-flush draw that the opponent is bluffing on. So yes, while a royal flush draw is rare indeed, the lesson being taught is that the betting behavior of the opponent earlier in the hand indicates that he is trying to pull a fast one. That's certainly a valuable lesson to learn, and the magnitude of the hand lends itself well to hammering in the message.

The book also has a respectable glossary that most beginning players will use from time to time, as well as an odds chart that will be of interest. Most poker books for beginners have these, though.

However, there are problems with this book. For instance, from page 144 to 151, the scenarios include you starting with a pair of sevens, one of which is a club. The table ends up showing another seven and two clubs... except that seven IS one of the clubs! If this scenario actually did happen, the lesson to learn wouldn't be about a flush draw, it would be about kicking the dealer's butt because there are two of the same card (a seven of clubs) in the deck! The scenarios on these pages are therefor completely invalid because there is an extra club and an extra seven in the deck, which completely screws up the odds. I'm sure it's just a mis-print, but it's a fatal one for the respective pages.

I've also noted that in several scenarios the author tells the reader that the pot-odds are something that they are not (page 187, the pot-odds are 5.4 to 1, not 4.4 to 1). Another typical problem is on page 149, again involving pot-odds, where the author should have written something along the lines of "The pot is too big with respect to the current bet..." instead of just "The pot is too big to fold." A new player could easily be lead to believe that it's always justifiable to stay in a hand, no matter what the odds, simply because of the size of the pot. Since the idea of pot-odds is such an important concept for players to understand, and this occurs in the section of the book where the concept is being firmly introduced, this is a bit of a problem.

And on another page (I can't remember which, I forgot to mark it), we're told a player has folded but the illustration indicates that they are still playing the hand.

Overall, if you're a beginning player, you're probably attracted to the idea of an illustrated guide, and this does a pretty decent job overall. It does have it's faults, but it's perfectly fine about 90 percent of the time and the average person will probably learn to ignore the other 10 percent, or at least not let it get in the way of their learning. The size of the book is a bit deceiving, but the format lends itself well to instruction - certainly better that some of the long-winded, jargon-filled snooze-fest books written on poker. I have to imagine that a poker-savvy editor would have made this a better book. If you've got enough games under your belt to realize that you need some help, this book is a pretty book place to start. Don't forget to play, though.

There are lots of books out there that are just too much work for the beginner. Sklansky is brilliant but I can't wade through his books or most of the 2+2 library just yet. That's a criticism of me not them.

Lots of other books attempt to describe hands in prose or through some kind of diagram. These books by Purdy provide a very clear way of illustrating and narrating a poker scenario so that it has the feel of being at the table. The situations can be read one at a time. Each stuation and analysis taking perhaps five minutes or so to read through.

Since 95% of the book consists of the 150 situations, don't buy this book unless you are willing to actively engage in thinking them through as presented. This is not a book to just sit back and read on autopilot. You have to "play" the hands. You might think of it as 5 hours of play at the casino poker room.

The books by Purdy have helped me the most in starting out. And who knows, after reading them, I may just be ready for some Sklansky.

Following the success of the limit version of this book the author has moved into the arena of the very popular no limit Hold'em game. Unlike most of the books out there this one breaks everything down into illustrated scenarios which include the important factors of position, pot size, action, and other useful information upon which decisions should be based. The reader can visualize the exact scenario and then read the correct course of action. By providing over 150 scenarios some of which are multiple parts of the same hand the reader is guided through a number of thought processes that are essential for any winning poker player.

A beginner is exposed to ideas they may never have considered such as the importance of position, how to figure pot odds, the consideration of prior action in the hand, theoretical hand strength, maximizing profit from a winning hand, and much more.

Some of the concepts will be old news to an advanced player, but to new and intermediate players it drives home some very important advice covering real life and internet games. By using illustrations with every hand the concepts are easy to grasp and remember. It is a book that can be read a little at a time and is very easily absorbed.

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