Playing The Player: Moving Beyond ABC Poker To Dominate Your Opponents

by Ed Miller

Ask any poker player with a little bit of experience, and they’ll tell you poker is a game of people, not of cards. They’re absolutely right. But nine times out of ten, these same players get the people part all wrong. They look for the wrong things. They make the wrong adjustments. And they end up paying for it. In Playing the Player , best-selling author Ed Miller shows you how to make the right reads and the devastating adjustments that top pros use to crush their opponents, Playing The Player will have you thinking about and playing poker in a whole new way. You always knew poker was a people game. Now learn exactly how to play it.

Genres: Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2012

Reviews

[Corwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great deep dive into player types, moving beyond the cards in poker. In advanced poker theory, straying from GTO, looking for holes, doing tons of analysis, reading body language, hands, history, and staying ahead of your opponents makes the game so rich and enjoyable to think about. The game theory is so simple yet so complex, and you can always give an answer “it depends.” Pick up every bit of detail like Ivey and Hellmuth, battle, find optimal ways to play against different players, adjust. Use and exploit weaknesses and mistakes to the maximum. Position matters, a lot. Bet sizing, bet frequency, range construction, psychological reads, these all become so important and the cards actually become less and less what you need to consider in a poker game. Fascinating stuff, lots of great tips in this book.

[Camilo Colorado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a book. If you take the time to work through this book and apply it to the tables, you are sure to crush the lower stakes. This game is all about exploiting your opponent.

[Tatiana Petkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book!

[Theo Kaubisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, easy to read, and helpful book. Nothing crazy but slowing hands/spots down and going through the correct thinking process is very helpful

[Dane LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of the dozen poker books I've read in my life, this has definitely been the best and most helpful to my game, and the only one that I've read cover-to-cover twice. Great for players who understand the fundamentals of Texas Hold'Em, but want to elevate their game to the next level. Ed Miller's style of writing keeps you engaged and does not feel "heavy" or boring like many other books.

[David Jimenez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great book from classic author Ed Miller. Focused to every player who has manage to play according to a hand start chart and has cover all of the basics. It's more for live player than online players but online player could definetly benefit from it (i'm an online player myself). It's well written and has a great part on how to exploit TAG and LOOSE players and some quizes at the end to prove what you've learned. I would definetly read again.

[Nayolcé Nacambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great poker book. It gets you thinking about other aspects of the game. I feel like it's gonna help me switch from a player who is playing his good hands to a player who is playing his opponents well.
The reason why I didn't give it 5 stars, is because it is two to three more expensive than most poker books, something it would be well worth if the book was thicker, and filled with far more examples, like a Hanrington book.

[Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poker book! Very informative to anyone who plays poker, recreational or professional. It will help you on profiling your opponents at the tables, whether it's online or live cash games and tournaments. It will help you maximize your winrate by applying proper strategies and adjustments depending on your opponent's tendencies and playing style.

[Cheryl Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book.

[P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical, actionable advice.

[Mark Donovan]

Advanced poker book. I can't wait to try out the techniques in this book. I didn't realize poker should be played with so much variance