Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker

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24 Reviews

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Most of the negative reviews below come from LIMIT players who have probably read Sklansky's books and expect a lot of "if A then do B or C" and a lot of specific advice.
Big bet poker is a bit different in that it would be foolish to give such specific advice. You're going to cost yourself a lot of money (profit or just lose money) if you play cookie cutter poker.
Ciaffone and Reuben's book is good in that it teaches you about how to take into consideration your stack size, your opponent's stack size, and the pot size before acting among other important concepts. That alone is worth the cost of the book.

Regarding the review below: They recommending betting a set on the flop more in potlimit than in no-limit. Checking a set (when you have a pocket pair) in potlimit is going to limit your profits because if everyone checks behind you can only bet/raise the size of the pot on the turn. In nolimit, you can bet whatever you want whenever so checking isn't as costly. Also how does flopping a set when you have a pocket pair automatically imply there is a dangerous flop. In anycase, I ramble. Go to the twoplustwo.com forums to find other positive reviews of this book by MANY bigbet poker players.
Mason Malmuth also HIGHLY recommends this book for you sklansky and malmuth fans.

I'd posted this review before but it is no longer available for some reason. I've received MANY thanks via email from people who chose not to buy the bookand agreed with my advice. I've received a few responses saying I'm wrong. Havign played much more since I origianally wrote it, I decided to review it and see if perhaps I was wrong before. Nope. I stand by every word of it. There is of course MUCH more to the game than what I've posted here. This is just a basic response to the bad advice in this book... my actual game functions at a much higher level. I'm making more money than I'm losing, and enjoying playing at the same time. Here's the original review:

I've been playing no limit Texas Hold 'em online and have found a fairly successfull system, by applying what I knew about limit Hold 'em. I thought this book would help to take my no-limit game to the next level. After reading the little bit that it offers on Hold 'em, I am so angry about the type of advise that they give, that I could SPIT! I hate to think how much money this book has cost people who've followed its advise.
For example, they suggest that you shouldn't be afraid to bet or raise J-J-3 when you have no outs. What!? RAISE against a pair you can't beat, let alone the possible trips and full house that are out there? The only time this is advisable is if you are on the button and everyone else ahead of you has checked. Even then, you maybe be getting slow played. Beware the pair!

As for slow playing, this book says if you have a great hand, don't do it! It says your objective is to win as much of the opponents stack as possible, so start betting outright. Wrong! From my experience, Betting even a modest bet at a scary flop in no limit is enough to scare people off and they fold if they've hit nothing or don't have top pair. I say check and let the opponent try to BLUFF YOU out. Just call their bet as if you're waiting for something else. They may bet even bigger on the next street to try to get you out. Call again. If they don't bet there and you're after them, THEN you bet, but make it enough that they'll stay with you. Then on the river, if you're first, go all in. If they bet or check to you, raise them all in. The only time you vary this is if if looks like allowing them to continue will bring a hand that will beat you. It's pretty safe to let them stay if you have a high pocket pair and one on the board to make trips. But if you see a threat of a str8 or a flush out there, then bet big so they can not make their hand. I've found this type of slow play to be VERY lucrative on those hands. Betting out only makes the other players fold. This book assumes people stay and bluff and chase draws more often than they do!

Surprisingly, the book also suggests that you go all in on draws to make the other players think twice about continuing with their hand. It says "At Hold 'em, unless it is some kind of freak hand, the player's money is going to hyave to go in when he is a sustansial underdog" (p. 71). HELLO!?!? In this situation, YOU are the one that needs help. The opponent may already be beating you with even the lowest pair on the board. Granted, they'd probably fold that. But they may have top pair, two pair, pockets for trips, or be one card to a nut flush and they're going to call you! You might get away with going all in like this once or twice. But it doesn't matter. The one time you do it and get called and lose because you hadn't made a hand before doing it, ALL of your money is gone!!!

Here's another bit of BAD advise: "If the opponent chooses to raise you on the flop, you come back over the top and set him all-in. His position would now be worthless and you would have two cards to come if he called, giving you a fine chance to make your draw" (p. 73). He is talking about the action you should take if you're on a draw! If your opponent just RAISED you, he is most often telling you you're beat. LISTEN TO HIM!!! FOLD! He has probably already made a hand. (You can't continue to fold if he does this to you repeatedly, because then he's bluffing. So know your opponent.)

First of all, DON'T buy this book for advise on no-limit Hold 'em. If you do, and if you play by the advise contained in its pages, then you come play me! You can find me at Pokerroom.com on most nights playing at the unlimitted Hold 'em tables. My screen name there is 2DollarBets. I'll be happy to let you raise against my trips or full house... and I'll be happy to see your all in on a drawing hand when I have my top pair. And if you want to go all in after I've raised you, thus TELLING you you're beat at this point in the game, then by all means look me up!

If you're starting out, get a different book. Get one that talks about pot odds and what you should to preflop, flop, turn and river. When to bluff, depending on your position and what others have done, when to FOLD. By the way, I've found that FOLDING when you're supposed to is the best way to make money playing no limit. Don't be bullied, but don't be dumb! Slow play those high pockets and especially trips and better, UNLESS no one else is doing the betting for you. And don't bet too much into higher threats on the board because someone is likely to have that hand. And beware the pair!

Anyone who wrote a positive review on this book concerning Hold 'em, was either paid, works for the book or the publisher, or doesn't understand the game.

Have an opinion on what I had to say? You can tell me so at ESW325@aol.com.

I bought this book several years ago, before the no-limit craze, when pot-limit and no-limit were played in tournaments and in Europe, and limit dominated American poker. At the time, I wasn't sure what to make of it since I had little experience with big-bet poker, so I asked the opinions of a few players I have a lot of respect for. I knew it was good, but I was a bit surprised at the superlatives in their praise.

I've gone back and read bits and pieces many times since then, and longer chunks a few times. It really is excellent. Even with just a few minutes, you can get something from it - inspiration for a new play, quick insight into a new game, etc. There's a good discussion of the differences between pot-limit and no-limit, which is very useful for those with experience at one trying to adapt to the other.

A few of the other reviews are misguided, which prompted me to add my own. The long review criticizing specific advice takes both the situations and recommendations out of context. As another reviewer pointed out, the recommendation to play big hands strong on the flop is in a discussion of pot-limit, not no-limit, where you can't just check to the river and then move in if the pot is still small.

Another criticism was the idea of reraising all-in with a big draw on the flop. Obviously, this is a bad idea as a regular play, but that's not what they are recommending. As an occasional move against certain opponents, this can be a very powerful move. The other player may have been bluffing, and fold quickly. Or, he may have a good hand, like top pair/top kicker, and lay it down. Even if you get called, you still have around a 35% chance to win. And after you show down a drawing hand after moving all-in, you'll get more calls on your big made hands in the future.

Another supposed "criticism" is that the book doesn't cover hold'em exclusively. The recent hold'em craze is relatively new, driven by the WPT on television. Before a couple years ago, even most pro poker players didn't play much no-limit hold'em. Then and now, people play lots of other games. That this book covers many games shouldn't be a surprise: it lists six games on the cover in big print, under "COVERING". The people who keep making these complaints (several criticize Super System 2 for the same thing) must be new to the poker world in the past year or two.

The section on "strip deck poker" that another reviewer complained about as obsolete takes up barely over one page. It just talks very briefly about the rules and what proper strategy would be, and then adds a quick story about a hand. In that page, Reuben even says, "I am glad to say this game is little-played now. It is excellent for cheating, as two players can easily communicate to each other what their hole card is." I thought it was interesting.

Ciaffone is an American with decades of experience playing, teaching, and writing about poker, with a fairly conservative playing style. Reuben is English, where pot-limit is just about the only form played, with a super-aggressive style. Both have impressive poker resumes, and their contrasting playing styles provide useful perspective.cover odds, percentages, or have

This is not a book for beginners. It doesn't charts of what starting hands to play, and doesn't make blanket statements about what to do. It assumes you already play fairly well and are looking to improve to a higher level. It serves that purpose well, and is even interesting reading, with a few jokes thrown in - unfortunately, very rare for a good poker book.

I regularly play limit holdem and I decided that I wanted to give no-limit a try so I thought I had better do a little research first. ...

I was very disappointed by the book. I felt like I was reading a collection of random articles put together in a haphazard fashion. While yes, there are certainly a few nuggets of information to be found, the book is poorly organized, doesn't go in-depth enough, and veers off and covers some less well-known forms of poker, e.g., a chapter on "Strip Deck Poker".

I think that I'm being somewhat charitable giving the book a rating of 2 stars,..

The bottom line is that I can't recommend this book.

This book is comprised mainly of short, 2 to 3 page articles that read as short snippets of advice or comment from the author. The information is not very detailed and felt more like reading a succession of magazine articles versus a thought out book of strategy. The organization of the book was too piecemeal for my taste. I would have preferred to have the book broken up by preflop play, flop play, turn, river, etc. By contrast, Ciaffone's book on "Middle Limit Holdem" is organized this way and is an excellent read. Here's a breakdown of the contents:

Part 1: BIG-BET POKER CONCEPTS
1 WHY PLAY POT-LIMIT? page 1
2)COMPARING POT-LIMIT TO LIMIT page 4
3)POKER'S TEN COMMANDMENTS page 7
4)YOUR PLAYING STYLE page 13
5)HOW DEEP ARE YOU? page 15
6)HOW MUCH TO BET page 20
7)TAKING THE INITIATIVE page 24
8)DRAWING HANDS page 27
9)PSYCHOLOGY page 31
10)READING THE OPPONENT page 36
11)THE ART OF BLUFFING page 42
12 BEATING THE BULLY page 45
13)NO-LIMIT PLAY page 50
14)ALL-IN COUPS page 55

As you can see, the "chapters" are very short snippets. Also, keep in mind that most of the advice is geared towards ring games---not tournaments. And as you'll see in the next part of the book, this book is about "big bet poker" whether it be hold 'em, stud, or omaha. But I think most people these days are interested in Texas Hold 'Em.

Part 2: SPECIFIC POKER FORMS
15) USING THE MATERIAL page 58
16) POT-LIMIT & NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM page 59
17) BIG-BET HOLD'EM QUIZ page 75
18) POT-LIMIT OMAHA page 84
19) POT-LIMIT OMAHA QUIZ page 97
20) SEVEN-CARD STUD page 105
21) SEVEN-CARD STUD QUIZ page 119
22) LOWBALL DRAW page 123
23) LOWBALL DRAW QUIZ page 129
24) LONDON LOWBALL page 135
25) KEY POT-LIMIT CONCEPTS page 145
26) LONDON LOWBALL QUIZ page 149
27) HIGH-LOW SPLIT page 152
28) HIGH-LOW SPLIT QUIZ page 155
29) STRIP DECK POKER page 160

Okay, how many of us are playing pot-limit or no-limit lowball, or high-low split? There's one more part to the book but to me it delves even further into obscure and unuseful information for today's player. What I was looking for (and I think most people are looking for) is for a book full of material related to no-limit Texas hold 'em.

You have to question why one reviewer would say "ignore this review". What were his motives? I found that there was too much information in here that I didn't want and didn't apply to no-limit hold 'em. What was there was too short and not nearly as in-depth as I would have liked. And the tournament information is very, very small. If these are things you are expecting than I cannot recommend this book.

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker is currently the best book on big bet pot-limit and no-limit poker. The big bet involves a lot of human elements (intimidation, trickery, bluffing, etc.) that the more technical limit game does not. It's very easy to master the limit game with expert play, but it's much harder to apply the same techniques and expert formulas to the big-bet game. If no-limit or pot-limit is your game, read this book!

Ignore the person who gave this book 1 star. Ciaffone and Rueben offer excellent poker advice for both money and tournament players. They cover all the major money games, including Holdem, Omaha, and 7stud. The writing is clear and the examples are excellent. If I had to have only 1 poker book, this might be it. (I'd be tempted by Cloutier's book on Pot and No Limit Holdem; it'd be a hard choice.)

Also, these guys are just fun to read. Not the dry (...) you get in some poker books.

i'm an experienced limit hold'em player and this book did a great job of laying out the principles of big bet poker and helping with examples in different games that i've played and havent played sharing a lot of principles i couldn't quite quantify. winners thinks in a very verbose mannerism and books like this help train the mind to look at the proper factors. Good Read, Best No Limit Pot Limit book out there so far.

Thise is a great book for any one who wants to win money. I keep reading and reveiwing their book over and over. I have read many poker books and this one is easaly the best. Stewart and Bob's book has enable me to make thousands of dollors from the table by studing thier book.

I have read alot of poker books and this is in the bottom (of the ones I have read). It is to shallow and doesn't give you much of the practical information that other books do better. My two favorite authors on limit hold'em are Bob Ciaffone and David Sklansky (You should read the most of their material if you want to improve your limit poker, especially Ciaffones "Middle limit holdem poker" and Sklanskys "Theory of poker", "Hold'em for advanced players".). In the No Limit area I would rather recommend Doyle Brunson "Super system" and Dan Harrington books on tournaments. In the end Bob Ciaffones book "Improve your poker" is better then this one (cover the same thing but deeper), atleast if your intressted in Holdem only.

Much better than the Cloutier/McEvoy book. Really introduces you to the basic concepts of big bet poker. Teaches you what to think about when playing big bet. Clearly written. Definitely recommend it. Either beginner or advanced.

This book is good, but it's not for beginners. It used to be that it was very hard to find a NL holdem game anywhere, even in Vegas, and thus when the authors wrote this book the target audience was experienced limit players venturing into the NL waters for the first time. This book isn't going to give you a long list of starting hands and a checklist of actions for every conceivable situation. If you want something like that, TJ Cloutier's NL book or even Super/System are better choices. This book is more about learning to change your mindset from rigid and rote limit play to creative and strategic NL play. It may be a little bit outdated in that regard since I now know many people who have never played anything BUT no limit, but unless you have been playing poker for a long time it might be a little bit over your head.

This is the second offering by Stewart Reuben I've read. Previously, I finished How Good is Your Pot Limit which I found surprisingly good. Stewart is an old school pro whose prime was far before the current poker boom. You won't see him on ESPN or the Travel Channel, and many of the examples he cites are from the eighties. However, he is just as insightful as those in the limelight today. As a writer, he is charming and interesting. With Bob Ciaffone, I am less familiar, but his reputation is well known. He certainly does not disappoint here.

This title of the book is slightly misleading. It could most accurately be described as "Selected Topics in Pot-Limit & No Limit Poker." Unlike, Advanced Hold `Em and the 2005 Harrington books, there is not a tight or consistent narrative here. Forty-three mini chapters concerning various issues in No Limit and Pot Limit Poker are offered. Notice that I said, as does the title, poker as opposed to hold `em. The authors, in this edition, added three pages of hold `em specific material to make the work more current, but that still might not be enough for some who have absolutely no interest in razz, stud, or Omaha. That's a shame though as being aware of other forms of poker undoubtedly makes one a better player.

Overall, Pot-Limit & No Limit, despite its bare-bones approach, extensively enlightens readers concerning the intricacies of expert level play. At its best, these discussions are extremely technical and situation specific. It's hard not to profit from surgeon like advice like the 5/10 rule for calling raises. I've heard that one cited by players many times. Although, Stewart's brief psychology chapter was my personal favorite. I consider myself fortunate for never having to have played against him. I also admired the fact that he concedes that much of poker simply cannot be verbally explained to beginners. There is an intuitiveness within the successful rounder which no manual can instill.

This book is a good book. The biggest problem with the book is how the information is laid out, because the authors are poker players and not teachers. Not unlike super/system, there is alot of assumptions that the material is being understood without need for further explanation (although I think super/system does a better job here). Many of the issues addressed in the book are touched on with a very quick overview, and then on to the next topic. Obviously much experience is needed, but with a very limited understanding of the text, this book could hurt. Luckily the quiz after each section of games will let the reader know with brutal honesty that the reader either will be stupid or not, but the quizzes do not necessarily cover enough info either (as well as covering some info not already covered by the text). Read this book 8 times and combine it's lesson with the other books.

With 2 authors with admittedly different styles, it was interesting that the No limit holdem section only offered one style of approach to the game.

This book gives great information on big bet poker and will need to be read and re-read in order for it all to sink in. Though the tournament discussion is limited, the big bet ring game information is plentiful. Reuben and Ciaffone are old school but they definitely know big bet poker.

This is the finest book written on pot limit and no limit poker. Written more for experienced players than beginners, it holds a wealth of information.

Don't try big bet poker without reading this!

Good book if you are already experienced with poker. It gives you tips to use when holding different hands and against different types of players. Solid book. You WILL LEARN SOMETHING AFTER READING THIS BOOK! You obviously don't know enough about poker, or *you* would have a book for sale on Amazon!

I recommend that you buy this book if you want a significatly strong edge against players that understand poker. You must understand it yourself before reading this book. It doesn't contain tips on starting hands, but it provides many useful exercises and examples covering many situations. Enjoy!!!

I thought this book was pretty good. The strategies in no limit and pot limit differ greatly between those employed by limit poker players. Therefore, if you want to play big bet poker..you need to break away from all of the mainstream stuff. Thisone is as good as any.

A clear guide to the differences in situational strategies between Pot Limit and No Limit. A definate must for the serious poker player.

And that's saying something. Currently, this is the best text on big bet cash game poker available. Highly recommended.

Since I am giving this book such a high rating, I will start out with the criticisms that I think are somewhat justified. After each criticism, I will explain why I think the book is still extremely worthwhile.

1: The book does not concentrate on NLHE. This is very true and it would seem to be a cogent criticism. When I started to play in casinos, the only big-bet game at Foxwoods was an occasional five-dollar blnds pot-limit HE game. Now the lists are long for NLHE at four different levels and there is no pot-limit anything. So the sections of the book on other games and on pot-limit would seem to be wasted.

The bare fact here cannot be denied but there are good reasons to understand the other games and the other betting structures. Poker games have continually gone in and out of fashion. While I think NLHE will be a very important game for a long time, I don't think people are well-advised to be so narrow in focus that they cannot adapt. Pot-limit Holdem is a useful game to understand but you probably won't get much opportunity to play it. Pot-Limit Omaha is an extremely popular game. Some think it is the wave of the future. Even if you don't agree, and I don't, there will probably BE a wave of the future and it is good to be adaptable. The sections on NL Draw and Lowball, PL stud and, shudder, London Lowball all have worthwhile analysis of poker situations that can come up in any game. I won a lot of money in NL Draw and Lowball at one time and any reader of this book will have a major advantage if someone decides to call one of these variations in a dealer's choice game. In fact, given the massive dealer advantage of draw games, there is no reason to call anything else when you deal.

And it is fun to read about London Lowball, even if you would never want to play it. For the same reason that horror movies can be fun, even if you never want to be IN one.

2:The sections on NL are somewhat dated. This is mainly true because Reuben and Ciaffone have probably never played in game where there was a one hundred big-blind limit on the buyin. Such games are very common on the internet and were very common in casinos until recently. The do require somewhat different strategies. In fact, they require very restricted and unimaginative play.

Fortunately, most casinos have raised the buy-in limits somewhat.In deep buy-in games or in games where you and some of the other players have won enough to play deep-stack all streets poker, the advice from this book will aid you well.

3: They advise getting all your chips in on a draw.

Well, they do, under certain conditions. In fact, this is going to be right under those conditions and profitable in two ways. If you push your twelve out (flush and a gutshot or similar) draws very hard, you will win about half the time when there is a showdown. Because your opponent will fold sometimes under the pressure, you make money playing this hand that way. When you have fifteen outs or more, you are a favorite when it goes to a showdown.

Also, once you have been seen to play a hand this way, you never have to slowplay a flopped set or even a straight or flush. You get paid every time.

4: Some peole don't like the style and organization.

This one I can't refute. I don't agree with it but that is a matter of taste and of what helps you learn. I even agree that it is not laid out in the style of a textbook. I just don't find it that important.

There's a lot of good, practical advice in this book. It's true that some of the sections cover games that you're unlikely to play today, but there's still solid thinking that you can apply to other poker formats. Moreover, the information density of this book is very high. If they expanded it with graphical depictions of cards and tables and repetitive bits of algebra (e.g., No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice), then the no-limit hold'em section would easily fill two volumes.

The discussion of position (absolute and relative to the raiser) is top notch. They introduce the 5/10 rule for implied odds decisions, which again is excellent, practical stuff.

This is the book to take an intermediate player to the next level.

Stewart Reuben presents an expert's analysis of a series of about 50 omaha hands that he was involved over the past few years mostly in London poker rooms. He is clearly an expert's expert and I got much useful information. The author is clearly very aggressive in terms of his starting hands and players new to the game might do well not to emulate this tendency and just rely on better starting hands. My only qualm about the book is the layout of the problems/answers as I had to page back and forth more than I would have liked. All in all, I liked the book and found it somewhat more useful the McEvoy/Cloutier book which basically teaches, 'Only play great starting hands and wait for the nuts'.

Whoops, even though I have the Reuben/Ciaffone book on Omaha , the above review applies to Stewart Reuben's, 'How Good is Your Pot Limit Omaha ?" Sorry

If you are even considering playing big bet poker, you must read this book. If for no other reason than almost all of your opponents will have read this book.

Bob Ciaffone has played professional level poker for many years. He has also written for 'Card Player' magazine for many years. I own all of his books and can honestly say that his writings have improved my game. And, to top it all off, he is a gentleman.