Texas Hold’em for Advanced Users

David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, authors of the classic book ‘The Theory of Poker’, have again combined their efforts to produce ‘Texas Hold’em for Advanced Users’, which may be seen as their follow up to the first book. It assumes that the reader is well versed in the concepts covered in the first book. This book presents the concept of Sklansky Groups.

‘The Theory of Poker’ is divided into different sections, Part 1 dealing with starting hands and positions.

All the possible starting hands are divided into groups numbered 1 to 8: Group 1 being the best hands and Group 8 the most inferior hands.

The table is divided into positions, under the gun, early, mid, late, button, small blind and big blind.

Part 1 goes on to address the different positions and groups of hands that could be played and then how they should be played. Some hands in the groups are addressed individually and some are referenced as a group. Although Sklansky groups themselves don’t contain any actions, Part 1 of the book runs through different playing situations such as raised, called or uncalled pots and suggests playing actions.

The following sections in the book address the following issues:

• Part 2; Strategic concepts Semi Bluffing, Free Card, Odds etc.
• Part 3; Miscellaneous Topics Playing Special Flops, Special Opponents and other situations.
• Part 4; Playing in a loose games Big pots, odds etc.
• Part 5; Playing Short Handed Differences when there are few players at the table.
• Part 6; Playing other non standard Games Extremely Tight or loose games.
• Part 7; Other Skills Psychology, Reading Hands etc.
• Part 8; Questions and Answers From all the previous sections.

It is important to remember that concepts and strategies in poker are not general, they have to be adapted to the situation. If you are playing low limit Texas Hold’em online, it may be that some of the playing recommendations in the book are not so applicable and players who have read the book can tend to “over-analyse” the game. For players who have read and understood the concepts in ‘Theory of Poker’ and want to advance their poker strategy, ‘Texas Holdem for Advanced Players’ is a must buy for your poker skills library.