Applications of No-Limit Hold 'em: A Guide to Understanding Theoretically Sound Poker (No-Limit Hold 'em Books)

I've read over 20 books on poker over the years. I've been quite impressed with the quality of poker books recently, compared to several years ago.This book would be in my top two favorite and most useful poker books, with the other one being Will Tipton's "Expert Heads Up No-Limit Holdem".His discussion on how to reason balancing has been vital to me. Also, I've found a major leak in my game when playing out-of-position. I'm generally a very aggressive player and almost always prefer betting out monster hands instead of trapping, since it grows the pot. I think a common rookie mistake is to get too sneaky-trappy, resulting in smaller pots than monster hands deserve. In general, my choice of aggression vs. trappy has worked out to my advantage.But he makes some very compelling arguments where trapping is clearly superior. My major leak is that my aggressive "play big hands big" results in my checks universally being weak. The out-of-position disadvantage clearly needs to be balanced by properly trapping in the right spots.Also, he turns the calling decision of pot-odds on its head. He concludes that you should defend (i.e. call) 60% of bets on the flop (when heads-up). This should surprise most players, I think, since generally we only call if we hit, and fold if we miss. You only hit 33%, so how to call the other 27% successfully, especially dry flops? Well, it only works if your opponent is "properly aggressive", like GTO. Against straightforward players, 60% is clearly a loser. But if you fold more than 60%, then opponent's "bluff 3/4 pot always" strategy simply has +EV against you. So pot-odds thinking must be compared to "don't give bluff-always any +EV".Starting with the triple-barrel value play (balanced with some triple barrel bluffs) as a backbone of his analysis, you can understand the game much deeper. This triple-barrel play is really central to deep-stack poker. Once you've worked this out, you can reason how to shallow your strategy as stacks get shorter (like 30 Big-Blind tourneys).

Very advanced book for the few who think beyond the typical 3/5 and 5/10 reg and want to get beyond that. It supports Ed Millers 1% book with more detail. Many players understand in general through experience or a little testing when to float certain boards, when to bluff, and when to call. But the puzzle in incomplete with specific spots and common situations. This book gives a pallet of colors in which you can use math to understand what you need to continue on in any situation, when to fold, when to raise, when to bluff. It filled in many things I thought were right and put in many missing puzzle pieces in other spots.For this year I have to say this book is the book to read. But it is not for beginners. This book is for those who have the discipline and do better than the typical winning players @ 3/5 and 5/10. Many think level 2 in a 1 dimensional form - "he bet weak on the AAx flop, he must be weak, I can bluff him" and not "why did he beat weak on the AAx board and with what part of his range" There is a distinct difference between the two statements. If you understand the latter you are ready for the book. If you don't understand the difference between the two you are not ready.Angy's husband.

This is an intense read but full of excellent theory and well worth the time to study. My only negative comment is the writing style and editing could have been much better. In many places it is hard to follow the line of thought of the author and I have to re-read page after page to follow what the author is trying to explain. But in fairness he does supply alot of examples to support his rationale. Janda's materials and math support Millers 1% Poker frequency and value distributions. To bad they did not collaborate and write a 1 or 2 vol series on this subject.R. Seckinger

Book is not for beginners. I say have a good foundation in poker before you get this book. Book is a tough read, hard to understand at first, really take your time if you don't like math. Overall the book has good concepts and ideas backed by math. This book is a good starting point for learning GTO

But easily five.This is imo the other most wanted book on NLHE (esp heads-up). Buy it if you want a solid, easy to read and/but advanced poker book. The concept is based on balanced / game theoretical optimal. Most applications are explained by equations but it is totally readable without any mathematical skills. Thus the book is probably best suited for the players who are serious about improving their game.The material is outstanding and knowingly based for years work and experience. It is actually a bit to be too practical for my taste. Some of the concept are left without rigorous proof which is understandable and probably a pro for the most readers.

Easily the best poker book I've read. Definitely geared toward learning how to beat today's tougher online cash games.If I had to make any criticism, I'd say that the content definitely has a limited audience it will benefit. It's a pretty tough read, and I honestly couldn't recommend it to anyone who is remotely new to poker. The information given in this book would almost certainly be both overwhelming and misapplied.However, for already competitive players, this is easily the best money you could spend to improve your game.

Very informative but the formulas and math used throughout book are very advanced. I did not understand a lot of the detailed explanations.

This isn't a book that just tells you what to do in any situation. This is a book that challenges you to think through the strategy of every hand.Getting through this book takes a lot of work. Each situation in the book takes you through the math and the strategy. He discusses the optimal play based on minimizing the expectation of your opponent.This is great training for playing better poker. I recommend it if you are a strategic, mathematical player who wants to up their game.

Having now finished this book, I can honestly recommend it to anyone who loves poker and wants to improve their knowledge and game play.1 – This is not a “How to improve your game” type of book. You won’t come away with ideas on how to play pocket 55s from the SB in a better way, that is not what this book is about.However, it will teach you the theory and math behind checking, betting, raising and folding on every street both in position and out of position based on certain bet sizes. Whilst there are other GTO books out there that teach you the math, this one most certainly doesn’t over complicate it. Nor do you really need much education in math to understand it. The author does a fantastic job of keeping the math very simple for the most part, whilst also relaying the information and showing you how to use it in certain spots.Unless you’re already a high-level winning playing, you will certainly get lot’s of take aways from this book. I’m a micro stakes wining player and have certainly learned a lot from it. One thing I will say though, is that the theory and math is more applicable to higher stakes than I’m currently playing. So, whilst I won’t be able to apply what I’ve learned 100% of the time (for now) I certainly can use somethings from it for now.As an example, the bluff ratios and percentages it suggests on each street is fantastic and very interesting to learn. As well as the calling percentages it gives you. But for micro stakes these are not applicable 100% of the time. Put simply people don’t bluff nearly as much at the micros making the calling ratios a little off. Nor do people fold nearly enough to bluffs with top pair no kicker or even 2nd pair tbh.2 – This book is very well structured and thought out. It takes you seamlessly from preflop play to river play, both in and out of position. Because it does it in a well-structured manner, the chapters later in the book on turn / river play become very short. As the theory and math behind the decisions has already been discussed and the author doesn’t repeat himself.The author also gives great hand examples for everything he is teaching you. Bringing home, the points he is making in an easy-to-understand way.I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to learn about poker. It is certainly not a one time read either, but with it being so well written and thought out. Reading it the second time would not be a bore or chore tbh.

This is an excellent book by all means, but just one piece of advice, if you are a beginner don't buy or read this book yet.Because you are going to fell overwhelm and you are probable going to think that poker is a super complex game and that you need a degree in computer science to play it well, when it's not the case.My advices for new players is that you start with a book who explain the basics and the maths behind the game of poker in simple terms, I recommend the books "Essential Poker Math" and "Master Micro Stakes" by Alton Hardin.And then once you have mastered the basic, you can buy this book and read it without any problem, because this is a book that is more oriented for advanced/pro players.Plus don't get discourage by the first 100 pages, I know they can get very confusing and weird but once you have passed this milestones, the book become much more enjoyable.

A lot of good information is found in this book. Now i don't read as often as i should but i'm proud to have this book in my collection as I've started slowly learning tricks from the book to improve my game. Despite the fact that I've always had difficulty in math as a subject in school and visualising/memorizing abstract concepts, this book is very informative and I feel like someone who has a knack for math and is good at understanding abstract concepts would be able to absorb the information better, faster and stronger but all in all, i approve this book and will continue reading it at my own pace.

eines der besten Pokerbücher überhaupt, weil es ein von vorne bis hinten ein solides Konzept bietet. Jedoch muss man aufpassen, welche Dinge man für die Praxis übernehmen kann und vor allem wie man das tut. Für Anfänger ungeeignet.

Más no se puede pedir a una compra. El libro llegó en perfecto estado y en el tiempo estimado, incluso algo antes. No pido más a una compra.