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Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play
For today's poker players, Texas hold 'em is the game. Every day, tens of thousands of small stakes hold 'em games are played all over the world in homes, card rooms, and on the Internet. These games can be very profitable -- if you play well. But most people don't play well and end up leaving their money on the table. Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play explains everything you need to be a big winner. Unlike many other books about small stakes games, it teaches the aggressive and attacking style used by all professional players. However, it does not simply tell you to play aggressively; it shows you exactly how to make expert decisions through numerous clear and detailed examples. Small Stakes Hold 'em teaches you to think like a professional player. Topics include implied odds, pot equity, speculative hands, position, the importance of being suited, hand categories, counting outs, evaluating the flop, large pots versus small pots, protecting your hand, betting for value on the river, and playing overcards. In addition, after you learn the winning concepts, test your skills with over fifty hand quizzes that present you with common and critical hold 'em decisions. Choose your action, then compare it to the authors' play and reasoning. This text presents cutting-edge ideas in straightforward language. It is the most thorough and accurate discussion of small stakes hold 'em available. Your opponents will read this book; make sure you do, too!
- GenresNonfictionGamesReference
391 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 19, 2019
The best, most detailed analysis of limit hold'em ever
The book is very good. It offers a wealth of information, strategy and "how to" for not just small stakes players but for players at almost any level of limit hold'em. The authors note that some of the strategies wouldn't be right for the big limit games, say, the $100 and $200, and certainly not right for pot limit or no limit hold'em; but I can tell you that most players up to at least the $30 and $60 limits would benefit from reading and studying this excellent book.
But a word of caution: the approach here is very aggressive with the authors recommending leading and raising with second pair in many situations, drawing to inside straights and playing drawing hands like they're already made, calling with third pair with backdoor possibilities, and in general playing a bit looser than might seem reasonable. Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth argue--convincingly most of the time--for some surprisingly loose and aggressive play justified by pot odds. Pot odds, current and implied, are one of their most important fundamental ideas along with "pot equity." They also go into depth about hands that are likely to be "dominated," and they introduce the reader to "reverse domination."
One problem with this approach is that most booked-up players in even games as small at the $3 and $6, especially on the Internet, play a bit tighter than the authors think they play. Miller is the only one of the three who regularly played games that small, and I don't think he was playing anything smaller than the ten and twenty when he wrote this book. This is the book's only real weakness: the authors have, I believe, mistaken the quality of the average small stakes player.
Regardless, the strength of the book is that every single play is illustrated by a concrete example showing exactly how much money is in the pot, who bet, raised and called, what their hands were, and what the board was. There is nothing vague about the recommendations, and many of the hands are analysized to a degree that will delight even the most erudite reader. In addition to the usual "afterthoughts" that are a trademark of Sklansky's books, there are 132 footnotes that work like afterthoughts. No doubt Malmuth, who can worry a subject to death, and Sklansky who likes to be precise, are responsible for many of these little addendums. Personally I find the detailed explanations and counter thoughts valuable. I like them a lot better than what I read in some poker books in which the world class player tells us why he likes AK better than AA, but doesn't fully make his case. Here nothing is left to doubt. Oh, we can doubt the strategy, and prefer a different way to play the hand, but we are not in doubt about why the authors like to play it their way.
Here's an example of a disagreement. On page 123 the authors claim that QQ with the flop, K72 rainbow, is "a strong hand (though it is on the low end of that category)." I beg to differ. If you have pocket queens and a king or an ace flops, you are in trouble. In the example, you can't backdoor a straight or a flush. You have an under pair. As the authors reluctantly allow, "If someone has a king..." you have two outs. Count them. And yet it's tough to release the hand.
Here's another: On page 162 you have AT of diamonds on the button. The flop is T86. The ten and the eight are spades, the six is a diamond. There are ten small bets in the pot from five players. The small blind bets into the field. One player folds. The other two call. What do you do?
The authors conclude that you just call because a raise is not likely to protect your hand since the small blind and the two limpers will most likely call another bet because they are getting good pot odds.
This is correct. But you should raise based on the VALUE of your hand. And if the small blind reraises it, the limpers might fold. One thing fairly clear is that the small blind probably doesn't have a better hand than something like king-ten or a flush draw. Otherwise, he would probably have reraised preflop. ...Of course he could have a set...or even nine-seven... Come to think of it, maybe just a call is correct!
But I'm quibbling. Here are a couple of things I learned that I think are valuable, and I've been playing for decades:
When the flop contains a pair, e.g., JJ4, this is recognized as a fairly good bluffing opportunity against one or two players. Most players know this, but why? Because there is one less card to pair, right? Yes, but it's more significant than that. As the authors put it, "When the flop is paired, only five cards [from your opponents' hands]...connect with the board, instead of...nine..." Check it and see. That's why bluffs into paired boards often work--and why you might want to raise the bettor!
Raising preflop with a fairly strong hand (say, AJs) against a field of players is usually correct even though you will win the pot less than half the time. Why? Because as explained on pages 237-238, you have a "pot equity edge" preflop. I'll leave you to figure that out--or better yet, do yourself a favor and get the book.
One more esoteric quibble: the authors mention "hidden outs" but they don't mention "hidden half outs" or "hidden one-third outs," etc. That would be when you have, e.g., zero, and your opponent(s) have you beat, but the river makes a straight or flush on the board and you split the pot.
Bottom line: the most detailed and most thorough small stakes hold'em book that I have ever read--easily.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
The book is very good. It offers a wealth of information, strategy and "how to" for not just small stakes players but for players at almost any level of limit hold'em. The authors note that some of the strategies wouldn't be right for the big limit games, say, the $100 and $200, and certainly not right for pot limit or no limit hold'em; but I can tell you that most players up to at least the $30 and $60 limits would benefit from reading and studying this excellent book.
But a word of caution: the approach here is very aggressive with the authors recommending leading and raising with second pair in many situations, drawing to inside straights and playing drawing hands like they're already made, calling with third pair with backdoor possibilities, and in general playing a bit looser than might seem reasonable. Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth argue--convincingly most of the time--for some surprisingly loose and aggressive play justified by pot odds. Pot odds, current and implied, are one of their most important fundamental ideas along with "pot equity." They also go into depth about hands that are likely to be "dominated," and they introduce the reader to "reverse domination."
One problem with this approach is that most booked-up players in even games as small at the $3 and $6, especially on the Internet, play a bit tighter than the authors think they play. Miller is the only one of the three who regularly played games that small, and I don't think he was playing anything smaller than the ten and twenty when he wrote this book. This is the book's only real weakness: the authors have, I believe, mistaken the quality of the average small stakes player.
Regardless, the strength of the book is that every single play is illustrated by a concrete example showing exactly how much money is in the pot, who bet, raised and called, what their hands were, and what the board was. There is nothing vague about the recommendations, and many of the hands are analysized to a degree that will delight even the most erudite reader. In addition to the usual "afterthoughts" that are a trademark of Sklansky's books, there are 132 footnotes that work like afterthoughts. No doubt Malmuth, who can worry a subject to death, and Sklansky who likes to be precise, are responsible for many of these little addendums. Personally I find the detailed explanations and counter thoughts valuable. I like them a lot better than what I read in some poker books in which the world class player tells us why he likes AK better than AA, but doesn't fully make his case. Here nothing is left to doubt. Oh, we can doubt the strategy, and prefer a different way to play the hand, but we are not in doubt about why the authors like to play it their way.
Here's an example of a disagreement. On page 123 the authors claim that QQ with the flop, K72 rainbow, is "a strong hand (though it is on the low end of that category)." I beg to differ. If you have pocket queens and a king or an ace flops, you are in trouble. In the example, you can't backdoor a straight or a flush. You have an under pair. As the authors reluctantly allow, "If someone has a king..." you have two outs. Count them. And yet it's tough to release the hand.
Here's another: On page 162 you have AT of diamonds on the button. The flop is T86. The ten and the eight are spades, the six is a diamond. There are ten small bets in the pot from five players. The small blind bets into the field. One player folds. The other two call. What do you do?
The authors conclude that you just call because a raise is not likely to protect your hand since the small blind and the two limpers will most likely call another bet because they are getting good pot odds.
This is correct. But you should raise based on the VALUE of your hand. And if the small blind reraises it, the limpers might fold. One thing fairly clear is that the small blind probably doesn't have a better hand than something like king-ten or a flush draw. Otherwise, he would probably have reraised preflop. ...Of course he could have a set...or even nine-seven... Come to think of it, maybe just a call is correct!
But I'm quibbling. Here are a couple of things I learned that I think are valuable, and I've been playing for decades:
When the flop contains a pair, e.g., JJ4, this is recognized as a fairly good bluffing opportunity against one or two players. Most players know this, but why? Because there is one less card to pair, right? Yes, but it's more significant than that. As the authors put it, "When the flop is paired, only five cards [from your opponents' hands]...connect with the board, instead of...nine..." Check it and see. That's why bluffs into paired boards often work--and why you might want to raise the bettor!
Raising preflop with a fairly strong hand (say, AJs) against a field of players is usually correct even though you will win the pot less than half the time. Why? Because as explained on pages 237-238, you have a "pot equity edge" preflop. I'll leave you to figure that out--or better yet, do yourself a favor and get the book.
One more esoteric quibble: the authors mention "hidden outs" but they don't mention "hidden half outs" or "hidden one-third outs," etc. That would be when you have, e.g., zero, and your opponent(s) have you beat, but the river makes a straight or flush on the board and you split the pot.
Bottom line: the most detailed and most thorough small stakes hold'em book that I have ever read--easily.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
April 10, 2016
Made quite a lot of money from reading that one.
May 1, 2023
Excellent read on hold em poker and the mathematics behind the correct or incorrect plays.
I thoroughly enjoyed the hand quizzes at the end to see if the information was retained.
The only reason I took off a star for this book is because nowhere in the title or on the covers (front or back) of the book does it specify that this is for LIMIT hold em. A lot of the times the author will recommend a call basing it entirely on there being a cap, or basing it on knowing how much the bet will be (as can be predicted with limit play). Which is fine, I just wish I knew it was a LIMIT hold em book before reading it.
So overall, 9/10 would recommend for all poker players
I thoroughly enjoyed the hand quizzes at the end to see if the information was retained.
The only reason I took off a star for this book is because nowhere in the title or on the covers (front or back) of the book does it specify that this is for LIMIT hold em. A lot of the times the author will recommend a call basing it entirely on there being a cap, or basing it on knowing how much the bet will be (as can be predicted with limit play). Which is fine, I just wish I knew it was a LIMIT hold em book before reading it.
So overall, 9/10 would recommend for all poker players
November 9, 2023
Very good overview of the concepts of poker against weaker opponents with lots of advice that applies to more experienced players as well. The examples are well-done and the overall book is easy to read and uses as little jargon as possible. I only wish the book was written for no limit holdem rather than limit holdem.
February 5, 2019
Another book that completely changed my thinking about poker. This one was specifically about Limit Hold'em and how to approach the game. A breakthrough book that is continually hailed as the best book on Limit. Must read!
June 26, 2022
Poker bug, much more applicable to 8-10 rings vs friendly smaller ring cash games but still good to get a lot of good information in, aggressive playstyle is the way + psychology developed by hundreds of hours of play
June 6, 2017
Aggressive game. Good against fishes.
April 15, 2020
Great for thin river value bets.
October 2, 2022
Great book, although it focuses on limit poker (you can't really tell that from the cover) the book covers and explores many advanced poker ideas.
Read
March 19, 2017Great book for intermediate to advanced players. Introduce important concepts like pot odds and long run expectation of profit/loss.
February 19, 2017
The "Good to great" in Hold'em!
April 11, 2012
This is a pretty solid poker book. As the name implies, the strategy contained within is ideal for small stakes NLHE games, where you are most likely to encounter amateur players who don't really play very well. It's a bit heavy on the numbers and math, so it's not the most accessible book, but there's nothing really more complicated than basic probability so it's not too bad. It does a great job of covering basic concepts, and also gives you more specific details on the ideal starting range of hands to play, strategies for playing certain hands, etc. Although it's not the best poker book, it's still a very good book that I'd recommend. Not for amateurs though: you should have a decent familiarity with the game and its basic concepts before you try to tackle this one. However, you also don't have to be an expert or seasoned poker veteran to understand it. Overall I'd say it's worth the time and money if you can find a copy, but I've read better poker books.
November 19, 2012
When it was first published in 2004, this book was *the* definitive guide to annihilating limit hold 'em games. The poker scene has drastically changed since then: limit is almost impossible to find in Vegas card rooms now, and the average caliber of play is much better at all stakes than it ever was before. The loose, passive, six-players-to-every-flop games that Miller describes seem like a dream. Be that as it may, this book is still an indispensable part of any poker player's library. Read and reread it. And then, after you lose all your money at the tables playing like an aggressive maniac, read it again and marvel at how little you understood the first trip through. With time, the results will speak for themselves.
May 8, 2009
An excellent book for learning limit hold-em. It discusses advanced limit concepts and explains how to use them to develop an exploitive strategy targeted specifically at weak (preferably loose) players. Its play recommendations are supplemented by math, numerous sample scenarios, and quizzes and provide great insight into how to exploit weaknesses in other player's play. In more general terms, it focuses on thinking about how to maximize profit rather than minimize losses. This is an important distinction at sub-expert play since a strategy that minimizes losses by being unexploitable will [probably:] not produce the maximum possible profit against sub-optimal players.
April 3, 2007
I never really was able to crush low limit garbage games (I got the NL garbage games down, though), which is what this book is supposed to teach you to do, however, it was where I learned about basic ideas like expected value, pot size relative to bets, and how they apply in actual hands.
The advice is good, but sometimes, the writing isn't so clear.
The advice is good, but sometimes, the writing isn't so clear.
September 6, 2008
This is not a beginning book of poker. If you don't know the rules or/and have never played before, you would be better getting a different book. If you usually play poker at the $100-$200 tables, but want to play on the $5-$10 table for fun (and to make/earn some cash), then this book is for you.
This book uses advanced concepts and explains how to apply these to small stakes play.
This book uses advanced concepts and explains how to apply these to small stakes play.
January 27, 2008
I'm certain that, as simplistic as it is, i'll never master this game. Reading books such as this one make it clear to me how far from mastery i am and how seemingly insurmountable the learning curve appears to my mental mountain climber (i.e., he gives up pretty easily).
If you want to learn about the game (low stakes, LIMIT hold'em), no matter how much you've played, i recommend this book.
If you want to learn about the game (low stakes, LIMIT hold'em), no matter how much you've played, i recommend this book.
January 31, 2009
The best book to read when first approaching Limit HE. Although the authors assume a looser table then you're apt to find online, even at the lower limits, the discussion on implied odds, pot sizes, and so forth are worth the price alone. Just make sure you actually understand what you've read before trying to make serious changes to your game.
July 4, 2009
This work so comprehensively covers the art of NL Texas Hold'Em Poker that you'd have to be regularly playing 10/20 tables in Vegas or playing the 100/200 tables in tourist traps to need advanced tutoring in order to succeed. I found this book hit the nail on the head so soundly I recommended it to my Poker Protege Bill Tucker. :)
September 24, 2009
This is the perfect book for learning and applying winning strategies for low-limit hold'em games. Those games are filled with soft players making mistakes and learning how to exploit those weaknesses is a very specific skill set. There is no doubt that this book will increase your rate of return at the table.
September 18, 2007
Even if you have never played Texas Hold 'Em Poker before, this is a great book for beginners who want to learn the best tactics for winning at the table based on the actual odds and mathematics of the game. It takes a while to get through but includes really good examples for actual play.
January 11, 2010
This book is a must for anyone playing limit Hold 'Em at the $2-4, $3-6, or $5-10 levels. For that matter, all books from 2+2 Publishing are essential for any poker player.
September 5, 2008
This book has without question made me over a thousand dollars if poker profits. I think it was wise 30 dollar investment. This book is a MUST read for any limit hold em player.
January 12, 2019
The bible for all limit hold'em players. It doesn't not always apply to every game, but it's the bridge from becoming an average limit player to being a good, consistent winning player.
May 29, 2009
An amazing resource for the modern game of poker, where everyone calls to the river without ever understanding their hand.
February 21, 2011
Tons of well explained theory, strategy, and moves to make in limit hold 'em. If you have any interest in poker this will change your perception of the game for the better.
December 23, 2010
Tough read, but very educational if you like poker.
March 6, 2011
It's not clear from the title, but this is a book on Limit Hold'em. If you're a no-limit player there's still a lot to be learned from limit though. Overall an interesting read.
April 18, 2012
The *most* fantastic learning book for poker. (Among other uses, such as: makeshift weaponry, world domination literature, and puppy migration philosophy.)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews