Poker's 1%: The One Big Secret That Keeps Elite Players On Top

by Ed Miller

Elite poker players aren't like the rest of us. Sure, they play in huge games where tens of thousands of dollars can move in the blink of an eye. But that's not the only difference. Elite players play and think about the game in a completely different way from everyone else. If you want to raise your game to their level, it's not just a matter of getting a little better at what you already do. The honest truth is that the way 99% of poker players approach the game is fundamentally flawed. You will never be able to crack the top 1% until you know what they know. There's one big secret to the game that nearly every elite player knows, yet almost no one else understands. It's an open secret-no one is hiding it. Elite players talk about it sometimes in videos and articles. Nevertheless, top players have known this secret for years, yet still almost no one else does. Poker's 1% seeks to change that. It bridges that gap between the elite players and everyone else. It promises that as long as you are willing to put in the work, you too have a shot to reach the top. Poker's 1% teaches a way of thinking about how you play, a way to unify every hand you've ever played and ever will play into one single, overarching strategy. The goal is that you will have one big "aha" moment, the moment where you finally "get" this game. After that, it's just fine tuning. The more you fine tune your strategy, the more you win, and the higher you can go. Poker's 1% gives you a unique window into the secrets of the world's best players. It shows you what you've been doing wrong and how to fix it. And, most importantly, it guides you in a straightforward way along the path from average player to elite.

Genres: Nonfiction, Games

234 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2014

Reviews

[Jared McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a new betting frequency based approach poker strategy to no-limit hold em. Maybe new isn't exactly the right word as it was written in 2014, but still it's new to me and based on what I've seen from other players it would be new to them as well. It sets the foundation for an innovative strategy that I believe could be profitable at all levels of play. Reading this book won't be enough on its own as lots of hand analysis homework is required post read to truly improve. I look forward to putting these ideas into practice in the hopes of exploiting the holes in the games of my opponents and improving my own game overall.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, but definitely out of date now. I’ve learned a lot about poker over the last year but I was having trouble understanding a lot of the GTO spots I was looking at. This book is just flat wrong about some of its claims (turns out GTO strategy rarely produces the smooth-sided pyramids Miller advocates in the book), but the explanation of how to think in frequency-based terms and the questions to ask yourself as part of the range construction process were very helpful. Now I feel like I can go back to Play Optimal Poker 2 and not feel completely lost. It really deserves 3.5 stars, because a lot of the examples are WAY off compared to the Pio solves I ran, but I’m feeling generous today.

Good luck on the felt!

[Corwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poker bug, great book to understand GTO, constructing ranges, the math behind developing an optimal strategy. Lots of aggression, betting, calling, raising. 70%, incorporate pot odds, position, board texture, your range and the opponents range. However, deviate from the math, especially in soft games where people call down too much, don’t try stone cold bluffs until the money means something and overbet pot to extract max value. Notice players tendencies and really want it

[Max Lauda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone all too familiar with the microstakes, I was interested in reading Williams’ book and learning how he was able to make so much money. Granted, as a U.S. citizen, I’m no longer able to play online after Black Friday, but I still wanted to know what I was doing wrong all the time.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

terrible title...pretty good book though...an easy to read overview of game-theory-optimal/frequency based approach to no limit holdem

[Drew Michel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holding off giving it five stars untill I've had time to practice/implement some of it's ideas but def a great read and not overly complicated (almost to a fault)