Hold’em Poker For Advanced Players

1 hold em Poker For Advanced Players By David Skalinsky and Mason Malmuth Check our site to find more books on Poker . Please support pokerpiraten to bring you more books by clicking on our sponsors: Table of Contents .. Foreword by Ray Zee v .. About David Sklansky vii .. About Mason Malmuth ix Introduction .. 1 .. Using This Book 5 .. Why Play Texas hold 'em? 7 .. A Note on the English 9 .. Part One: The First Two Cards 11 .. Introduction 12 HandRankings .. 14 .. The First Two Cards: Early Position 18 .. The First Two Cards: Middle Position 27 .. The First Two Cards: Late Position 32.

2 The First Two Cards: Live Blinds 40 .. The First Two Cards: Late-Position Blind 48 Afterthought .. 49 .. Part Two: Strategic Concepts 51 .. Introduction 52 Semi-Bluffing .. 53 .. The Free Card 62 Slowplaying .. 73 .. Check-Raising 76 .. Odds and Implied Odds 80 ii Table of Contents Bluffing .. 84 .. Inducing Bluffs 87 .. Folding When the Pot is Big 90 .. Heads-Up Versus Multiway 92 Raising .. 95 .. Heads-Up on Fifth Street 101 Afterthought .. 108 .. Part Three: Miscellaneous Topics 109 .. Introduction 110 .. Being Beat on the River 111 .. More on the Semi-Bluff 114 .. Getting a Free Card 116.

3 Staying With a Draw 117 Playing When There Is No Raise Before the Flop .. 119 .. Playing When Two Suited Cards Flop 121 .. Playing When a Pair Flops 123 .. Playing Pairs in the Hole 125 .. Playing Trash Hands 128 .. Playing Against a Maniac 130 Playing Good Hands When It Is Three Bets Before the Flop .. 133 .. Playing When the Flop Is All the Same Suit 136 .. Important Fourth Street Concepts 139 .. Other Fourth Street Concepts 144 .. Desperation Bets 146 .. Waiting to Raise 147 Afterthought .. 149 .. Part Four: Playing in Loose Games 151 .. Introduction 152 .. An Important Point 153 .. An Important Concept (Borrowed from Razz) 157.

4 Returning to hold 'em 159 .. Two Examples 161 .. Looking at Some Odds 165 .. ' .- ..- .. 'rn ..m..&.. a,..X.. cd . - 'a : ::..- , 0 . 2 :a : a, .$. 0 :? : + + 'G ' C 'a,+ gq$t a so~, .f: - XQ 5 cd :G kZQQ .. a,.. a:::::: .. V)."." .. i:::::: G:::::: .. a,.. WWW - 0 0 WW4 Foreword by Ray Zee Texas hold 'em is hard. There is probably no other form of Poker as difficult. Yet, the game appears deceptively simple. Many Players , even after much experience at the Poker tables, still play as though any two cards can win. Of course, those who play in this fashion quickly lose their money.

5 The book you are holding, written by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, has had far-reaching effects on the Poker world. Simply put, since the original edition of this book, hold 'em has become, on average, a much tougher game to beat. If you have aspirations of being a serious player you will have to study the strategies and techniques in this text or you will be left behind. If you are new to the game, but are willing to put in the requisite time and effort, you soon will be more proficient at this form of Poker than many of today's professional Players . However, don't expect to become an expert overnight.

6 In hold 'em Poker For Advanced Players , the authors provide not only numerous sophisticated concepts, but lots of examples as well. Many of these Advanced strategies never appeared correctly in print until the first edition was originally released in 1988. With the twenty-first century edition, they have done it again. Much ofthe material that follows will be brand new to even successful pr~fessional Players . Put another way, I stated in 1988 that "Numerous concepts contained in this book are well- understood only by a very small group of Players - extremely successful Players , I might add.

7 " Again, this statement is true today. This brings up another point. This is one of the very few Poker books actually written by winning Players , and the authors thoroughly explain the techniques that have made them so successful at the tables. In addition, I know both authors quite well, and I know that no winning information was held back. vi Foreword by Ray Zee I have mixed feelings about seeing this book published, as I did when the original edition came out. As a professional Poker player I'm not in favor of anything that will make the Poker games tougher to beat. On the other hand, this new and expanded version of hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players should help to spread this extremely interesting game just as the original edition did, and to make it even more popular.

8 Thus there will be more games to choose from and there will still be plenty ofgood games. Consequently, I guess it is for the best that this twenty-first century edition is now available. Finally, let me repeat that the techniques and ideas offered in this text should make any disciplined and studious player a significant winner. However, as already stated, it won't happen overnight. Most Players will have to reread the book and study the concepts many times. In fact, I suspect that some of you will literally wear the covers off your copies of hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players .

9 But I know that those of you who do will be very happy with your results. Special note: The authors would like to thank world class Poker player Ray Zee for sharing many of his concepts and ideas with us. Because of Ray, this text is a better work. About David Sklansky David Sklansky is generally considered the number one authority on gambling in the world today. Besides his nine books on the subject, David also has produced two videos and numerous writings for various gaming publications. His occasional Poker seminars always receive an enthusiastic reception including those given at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

10 More recently David has been doing consulting work for casinos, Internet gaming sites, and gaming device companies. He has recently invented a new game called Poker Challenge, soon to appear in casinos. David attributes his standing in the gambling community to three things: 1. The fact that he presents his ideas as simply as possible (sometimes with Mason Malmuth) even though these ideas frequently involve concepts that are deep, subtle, and not to be found elsewhere. 2. The fact that the things he says and writes can be counted on to be accurate. 3. The fact that to this day a large portion of his income is still derived from gambling (usually Poker but occasionally blackjack, sports betting, horses, video games, casino promotions, or casino tournaments).