No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice

• #20 in Best Poker Books

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Those of us who have been playing and studying poker for years know what huge contributions David Sklansky has made to poker and this book is no exception.

No limit holdem had all but disappeared(except for tournament play) until about three or four years ago and any one playing today understands the explosion in poker is primarily centered around no limit holdem. Many veteran players like myself have tried to adopt and adapt a solid limit approach to no limit and achieved mixed results. Often the mixed results have left us wondering if were are getting better or just experiencing a good run. This book will help you think about and understand the game better than most of the previously published no limit material.

Many of the "greats" that we have come to know play and teach the game through their own experience and developed "feel" for the game, which is nearly impossible to teach. By learning the underlying theory of no limit holdem as taught by Sklansky, the student comes to understand how "situational" especially no limit is and how to think about the game in numerous situations. Those players willing to study this book will accelerate past the players who are primarily playing an adapted limit game or by trial and error. I have already expanded my approach and thinking process after only one reading and am eager to re-read it after a few more sessions of play. Highly recommended.

In my circle of poker geeks and fanatics, there are few publications whose release was as eagerly anticipated as No Limit Hold `Em Theory and Practice. We've been talking about it since January at my internet discussion forum. Some of the initial responses were not flattering so I wasn't sure what to expect by the time my copy arrived. Frankly, upon completion, I'm astounded the book is as great as it is. Theory and Practice is consistently interesting and pertinent. My guess is that, in a few months time, this one will be as tattered and reread as my copy of Hold `Em Poker for Advanced Players.

Those individuals who were disappointed by these pages are players in the stratospheric limits who are so skilled and talented that most of us average Joes are incapable of relating to them. Perhaps it is too basic for the NL 25,000 gang, but do guys like Taylor Caby and Prahlad Friedman really need books or advice from others at all? As for the rest of us, perhaps 99 percent of active online players, NLHETP will have tremendous worth. The most striking thing about it is its unconventionality. Practically everyone I know says that playing with a short stack is "leaving money on the table," but the authors refuse to endorse this assessment. They illustrate times in which playing with a short stack can actually be optimal. The playing draws and blocking bet sections were quite necessary as they are ideas which most of us recognize but still manage to execute poorly. The Sklansky-Chubukov ratings of hands are for use in specific circumstances only, yet are so valuable I think the edition will lay alongside my computer for a good many months to aid in future decision making. New readers may also want to consider starting from page 244 and reading "The Concepts" section first as their insight and applicability will help you right away.

Some of the clever phrases and descriptions here are as fine as what were shared in Harrington on Hold `Em Part I. I particularly liked the description of the weak tight player as possessing "monsters under the bed thinking" and also their notion of "The Hammer of Future Bets." This is a book that had to be written, and, from here, I'll wager that Two Plus Two will come up with texts more specific that theoretically lie within the territory carved out by NLHE Theory and Practice.

My only reservation is due to a bit of political correctness engaged in by the authors. They purposely used the pronoun "she" in reference to unknown poker players in their examples. That they do this in relation to poker competitors is absurd as most poker players are men (as are a gigantic majority of those who read poker instructional guides). I suppose that next we'll be describing unknown iron workers and pipe fitters with "she" and "her" as well. It came across as quite contrived on these pages. Poker, in my mind, stands outside and above, society. We don't need to embrace whatever mischief devious social engineers happen to concoct; although, such superficial annoyances in no way detract from the book's tremendous substance and merit.

Stick with 2+2's other NL books by Harrington (vol 2 & 3). Ed Miller and David Sklansky show their inexperience in NL in this book. They do mask their No-Limit shortcomings by filling a lot of the book with Limit Holdem analogies (their strength) and a lot of mathematics (another strength).

Sklansky is the son of a mathematician, and Ed Miller is an MIT graduate. Their strength is in mathematics, and they excel in Limit Holdem due to it. However in No-Limit, they have no qualifications. Sklansky isn't known as a good NL player (the next time I see him in a WSOP NL final table will the first time), and Ed Miller doesn't even frequent the middle-stake games. How much stock would you put into someone else's limit holdem advice if they don't play higher than 10/20 holdem? It's like that guy who's playing 3/6 holdem with you, but he acts like everything spewed from his mouth is a blessing for those lucky enough to hear. Except with these authors, they actually do have credentials from another form of poker, so many people will assume, they also are an authority on other forms of poker. Would you take tennis lessons from a good ping pong player?

They make a lot of observations about NL situations with math, but they don't actually give out a game plan of how to logically think through a hand the way a pro does. They fill the book with these types of situations:
Assume he has these hands: 99, AT, T9s, and if the pot has this much money ($500) and you have $1000 left, and opponent has $1000 left, then the following bets will net you X%, depending on how frequently they call Y% or they raise you back Z%. Then they proceed with the math to explain each possibility. Of course, they don't actually go over many hand reading situations to explain which hand the opponent may have and how they would play it. It doesn't help to know which move to make, if I can't deduce what hands he has, and that should be the focus of any quality poker book, which 2+2 claims to produce. This one falls short, and it's due to the authors' lack of NL ability.

This book's strength is that it shows why certain plays are mathetmatically correct. That doesn't mean, you can't take those conclusions, and figure out the correct play to make.

For example: If you have AK and you raise, then if our opponent raises with KK, we can use math to show why it's correct to fold. That doesn't help me if I raise with AK, and my opponent raises me, sometimes I should raise again, sometimes call, sometimes fold. I don't know he has KK or AQ or 87, so how's the math help me now? It doesn't. This is a very simple example for those who play small stakes or are new to poker. But this is the best example in summarizing this book.

I started playing poker 4 years ago. I've read over 40 poker books in order to improve my understanding of the games well enough to become a top player. I've been playing full-time as a pro for almost 2 years now and I have to say that the best poker books on the market are nearly always by Two Plus Two Publishing and this book is no exception!!!

This book is THE DEFINITIVE work on NL Hold'em. Because NL Hold'em strategy can require big adjustments even when the game changes only slightly it makes correct NL strategy very complicated and difficult to write about. This book will teach you about what sort of things you need to think about when certain situations occur. And for those of you who seek solid mathematical evidence for why certain plays are correct and others are not, Sklansky and Miller won't let you down.

As for the other reviews (the two who gave the book 3 stars), I'm not sure what they were thinking. Perhaps they were wanting a simple cookie cutter strategy (do this with this hand, do that with that hand, and you will be a winner!). Sklansky teaches you how to think like a pro. Sklansky's books aren't the most entertaining...in fact, they can sometimes be a difficult read filled with math, theory, and other complicated material. But the truth is that poker strategy books aren't meant to entertain. Poker is complicated and if you really want solid advice and you really want to be a winner then Two Plus Two is what you need. Also, I'm not sure about Poker for Dummies...I hear that it is surprisingly solid and I believe it because Lou gives solid advice in his other books, but as far as Hellmuth's Play Like the Pros...I know many solid players and we all agree that it is the worst piece of garbage that we've ever read. I bought it, read it, read it again later hoping that it would make more sense the second time, then I threw it in the garbage. A friend asked if he could have it and I told him that, "as a friend, I couldn't." It is that bad, and for the reviewer that gave NLH: Theory and Practice 3-stars but said Hellmuth's book was better...well, I think everybody should desregard that review.

David Sklansky is a very well known mathematically oriented poker player. He has written such icons as The Theory of Poker, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, and 7 Card Stud for Advanced Players. He also wrote Hold 'em Poker and co-authored the sequel with Mason Malmuth. These books have laid the foundation for how many players play these forms of poker. Ed Miller wrote the book Small Stakes Hold 'em, which again is an gem. However, most all of their previous work has dealt with fixed betting limits and expectation formulae.
No Limit Hold 'em is as beautiful and complex a game as can be found nowadays. No surprise that given its popularity the masses are hungry for a comprehensive book dealing explicitly with the subject. Doyle Brunson's priceless section in Super Systems has for a long time quenched this desire, but as of late people seem to be craving more. So what better way to satisfy this need than to crank out a book with one of the most popular authors with one of the biggest authorities on poker (two plus two) to publish it?
Admittedly, the authors give a "disclaimer" in the introduction about how they were skeptical about writing a book solely dealing with the subject because of the complexity. So it's no surprise they forwarn the audience that the book will take a mathematical approach to its situations. It is full of examples filled with percentages and the mathematical rigor we've come to expect from a book written by Sklansky.
However, it is possible to get too carried away with the mathematics, as the rigor not only seems to draw some very strange conclusions, but sometimes it flat out contradicts what Sklansky advises in some of his other books. (For example, in Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, he advises folding a small favorite hand on the bubble to avoid taking unnecessary gambles, but here he says sometimes you should make calls as an underdog in the same situation).
Another problem is how the mathematically derived advice seems to completely circumvent the fact that the game is No Limit Texas Hold 'em in the first place. The section on the Sklansky-Chubukov rankings gives interesting information, but is not very useful because not only are there many ways to play AK other than moving all-in or folding preflop, but also assumes your opponent is a computer who knows your hand and plays perfectly every time. I don't know about anybody else, but I can't remember the last time I sat at a table with one of those.
It frequently takes best and worst case scenarios and sets them as the standard for the advice they give. For example, they advise that buying into a game short stacked is a very good strategy, because it will often force your opponent to play incorrectly against you in multiway pots. The reason is because, as they assume, you are in the best case scenario: in the pot with close to the nuts, and your opponents are big dogs hoping to get lucky on somebody else with a bigger stack who's also in the hand.
This kind of approach is understandable, since pure mathematics leaves little room for human creativity. But in a game where creativity is more important than the cards that are dealt, there is ultimately little use of it.

Others have been reviewing this as Sklansky's book. Of course he is one of the authors, but let's not forget his co-author, Ed Miller, who, like Sklansky, is a great poker thinker, and a very eloquent and lucid poker teacher.

I would say to the reviewer who prefers Phil Hellmuth's book: My only complaint about the Hellmuth book (which is a great book, granted) is that it is difficult for Hellmuth to teach us how he thinks. We are left with suggestions on how to play, based on instinct and reading your opponents, which will be difficult for some readers to use.

Miller and Sklansky, on the contrary, do not teach you how to play in a particular situation -- they teach you how to think so you can make your own intelligent decisions. Hellmuth is no doubt the better player; Sklansky and Miller are the better teachers.

This book fills a great gap in NLHE literature - my only complaint is that now my opponents will be tougher to beat because they will read this, too.

This is highly recommended, but note that the authors assume you have a fundamental understanding of the basics of NLHE already - this is not a beginner's book.

Read it once, so here's my temporary first review (I'll update after reading it again and digesting some of the info a bit more).

It's fairly thorough in content, and a little bit unfocused (as is typical of Sklansky books in general), but loaded with good information. Much of the content here is derivative of other publications, including his own, but that's no biggie.

I'm a little skeptical of some of his applications, particularly because he isn't known for being much of a No Limit player.

It's an interesting book.

But a lot of the examples assume:

* Your opponents have their heads firmly implanted up their butts.
* You can never fold your big pair.

To a certain extent, these are just simplifying assumptions to make the math easier. They lead us down some silly paths, though, in my opinion.

I think Miller and Sklansky have played predominately in strip casinos at a level where they don't play the same people that often. I think that's why they're not too worried about leaking information with their bet sizing. I've been playing a lot with the same people for a long time now, and we're exploiting patterns we discovered in hands played years ago. (Maybe the hidden lesson is that with good game selection you can play against opponents who aren't paying attention.)

On the whole, the book goes against the conventional wisdom. It makes for a more interesting book because of it, but I think they're wrong sometimes. Don't make it your first NLHE book.

No limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice is not for begginers. You must have more then a basic knowledge of poker to get anything out of this book. This is not a cookie cutter book of when to play what hand, but more a book of situations. The math in the book can also can a bit cunfusing if you dont know what your doing. I think this book is best for good low limit and middle limit players looking to move up in limits.

This book can take a good player and take him to the next level. However if you are not that good of a player I believe this book could accutually hurt your game. I took awile for all the concepts took sink in. I suggest reading the book then playing for about a week, then rereading the book and playing for about a week. Repeat the process untill things start to sink in.

This book is amazing. I believe it belongs in every serious poker players library. The concepts wont sink in immediatly but when they do its like a light going off in your head. Dont be upset if your start to lose when first trying out the things you read in the book, it will take awile to learn when the right times are to use them.

This is the best No-Limit Hold'Em book ever written, and I mean that without any exception (and I've read everything - see my many other reviews of poker lit). Harrington's books are excellent, Super System is a classic, and several other publications qualify as mandatory reading. But THIS book is the new standard for NLHE, period.

First off, it's written and organized better than anything written by Sklansky in the past - and I attribute this to co-writer Ed Miller.

Second, we're talking seriously advanced concepts here, there's no "three of a kind beats two pair" beginner nonsense. Still, he goes through the effort of designing "default" hand play suggestions to assist intermediate players in getting their bearings.

Third, many of his Theory of Poker concepts are better illustrated in the No Limit game, and he demonstrates that here. Implied odds and other familiar topics are revisited in a No Limit setting, as is game theory, stop and go's (etc.).

Last - it's No Limit, which everyone and their mom is playing right now. Sklansky, of course, is much better know for his limit books, but he delivers here big time.

This book is probably most useful to serious intermediate players. Experts might find a few things in here that could help fine-tune their play a bit as well. Beginners could probably make their way through it if they're reasonably intelligent.

I suspect in years to come this will be regarded as the new bible for NLHE.

I guess I expected more from this book. It covers a lot of material others have covered, as well. The few items I found useful were reinforcements of my own experience. Lots of expected value calculations based on useless assumptions, particularly if you primarily play tournaments. Harrington's books were MUCH more useful.

I have been playing NL for several years now, and read all the big titles on the subject. Nonetheless, I don't think I fit the pieces together into a "dangerous" game very well. I posed little risk to other players, although I would win my small share of the money.

This book makes a huge difference. Theory and Practice takes all those concepts that I've picked up over the years and shows how they fit together. Actions that formerly may have been confusing now make perfect sense in the context of a more complete understanding of the game.

This book is a bit dense and certainly on the theoretical side. I have little concern that high school dropouts will read this and suddenly become poker sharks - it may even require a college education. One must be ready to learn and have a decent imagination and some experience to draw upon, because there are not many practical examples in the text.

Combine this book with Harrington Vols 1-3 (for tournament strategy and many hand examples), Power Poker by Scott Gallant (for information about playing online), and a good learning attitude and you'll be a poker force in due time.

This book gets a three star rating because it does some things very well whilst omitting some critical details. The first portion of the book talks about bet sizing. It gives some very practical advice about how much to bet to encourage your opponents to make mistakes, how much to bet when bluffing, how to size your "blocking bets", how much to bet preflop and so forth. This section is excellent.

Some of the other topics are covered in a rather haphazard manner. In the check raising chapter, he covers the very specific case of check raising heads up on the river. For other situations, the book says "Only expert players recognize the best opportunities for the play...A book really can't do the subject justice". Sometimes the calculations are based on figures that in real life are simply prohibitively difficult to obtain. One example begins "So if you have one chance in three of stacking your opponent if you catch a straight...". How exactly one deduces the probability of stacking an opponent when you river your straight is never quite explained, perhaps because it falls into the "A book can't really do the subject justice" category. The second section of the book is titled "Concepts and Weapons" and it does provide useful and practical tips that should improve anyone's game.

The main shortcomings of the book revolve around the topics it doesn't cover. The book does not mention concepts such as pot equity and hand ranges, two ingredients that I believe are critical to today's game. Sure it's important to know how to price your opponent out of a flush draw if you're sure that is his exact holding. However, real life scenarios are rarely that simple. What happens if there is a flush draw on the board and an opponent bets into you and you suspect he's holding a flush draw half the time but will be holding top pair top kicker the other half of the time? This book does not provide the tools for dealing with this type of problem and others like it that no limit players face repeatedly on a daily basis.

To wrap up my review I will use a medieval analogy. If you're already well equipped to deal with the battle that is no limit hold em, this book will certain give you some extra weapons and patch up some holes in your defence. However, if you're looking for your sword, shield, helmet and body armour I would recommend starting with other resources.

This book is excellent. I should note that it is highly conceptual. Rather than offering "starting hand charts" or a detailed analysis of how to play different hands, it discusses the things a player should think about at a no-limit table. That being said, I do think the "Concepts" portion of the book offer an excellent bridge from the theory to the practical. As another reviewer wrote, some people may want to start with the Concepts portion and then later read the more theoretical portions of the book. It depends upon your own learning style. Of particular interest... the book again and again highlights the differences between limit vs. no-limit play. As an example, blind stealing is very important in limit play, but not as important in no limit when there are deep stacks still uncommitted. For anyone making a transistion from limit to no-limit, you absolutely must read this book to understand the subtle differences between the two games.

As long as you have a basic understanding of the underlying concepts of poker (see: Sklansky's 'The Theory of Poker') this book will improve your no limit game. It teaches concepts above and beyond the basic "tight and aggressive" formula that most every other book advocates (rather simplistically, I might add.) If you want to consistently make money playing no limit hold 'em, reading this book is a great start. The most important thing for beginners to learn is written on page 124:

"In deep stack no limit, preflop hands derive most of their value from how well they extract money after the flop from your opponents. Comparing hands based on how often they win a showdown or on their poker "hand rank" is worse than worthless."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The strength of this book is that it encourages the intermediate, good, and excellent player to think about the complexity of No Limit Hold'em. The good player is taught to expand his horizons, and make some creative and daring moves to vary his game and keep his opponents off balance. Mathematical models are used to help the player identify situations in which to take calculated risks and exploit opponents psychological weaknesses. Much of the text is appropriate for middle and high limit games, and for players with very deep stacks. Sklansky masterfully explains that the player should think exactly one level deeper than his opponents, and should not plan elaborate moves against weak players. Some of the strategies discussed should only be used against very good, thinking players.

As Sklansky states in the beginning of the book, he doesn't try to instruct players how to play specific hands in specific situations. A much more theoretical approach is utilized than in his popular Limit Hold'em books. This excellent guide is not meant to be an instruction manual to no limit Hold'em ring games, and should be used in conjunction with other poker books and articles, and actual game practice in order to determine how to respond to specific situations. I would suggest that interested players might first experiment with some of the authors' ideas in lower stakes on-line games.

This book covers so many key adjustments from making the transition from limit to no-limit it blew my mind away. I really learned a lot of new ideas from this book. I still have trouble acting on the information at the table as I get quite nervous and the higher thinking aspects of my brain shut-down. Clearly, if you are able to think on your feet you can suceed by applying the different strategies outlined. The take home message of the book is NLH can't be taught as a formula (do this here, fold here) as it requires several layers of thought to analyze what a $200 bet means. I am sure to need to re-read this one many times, but it is far better than P. Gordon's first effort.

Let me start by repeating what the reviewer said about Phil Hellmuth book, you should read Hellmuth if you are going to be playing 1-2 or 5-10 NL on partypoker network. This book is way to complicated. If you want to learn how to play, please, do not read this book. You do not need to concentrate on complex problems while playing poker. If you really want to read this book- and then learn how to implement the theories- it will take you to many hours or weeks! Take the easy way out and read Poker for Dummies.

this title's terrible; there are almost no examples in the book; it's all theoretical stuff not explained well

Clear writing style. Equations are easy to follow (if you are not math challenged). The most important lesson I got from this book is that I am not ready for no limit games. On TV when they take a long time to raise I thought it was all just posturing. There is a lot of thought that goes into giving your opponent the right impled odds. Other books try to make poker easy. He presents no limit for what it is - complex. Required reading.

This may be the best Sklansky yet. Can be challenging to read as they include more math than his other books, but the pearls in here rock. The chapters on position strength and implied odds are excellent. If you play no limit, you need this book.

Ok, if you're trying to learn how to play no-limit Texas Holdem this book will not be much help to you. It is intended for experienced players who want to bring their game up a notch or two. I don't know that Phil Helmuth's book will help you much either, but it will teach more of the basics than this book will. That is if you can put up with Phil telling you over and over how great he is.

With that said... No Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice is a very good book. It will not try to teach you how to play pocket jacks from middle position. Instead it teaches you what you should be thinking about in that situation. Anyone who is already playing texas hold'em at any level of seriousness should read this book.

As with any Sklansky book it jumps around quite a bit and is very heavy on the math equations. Those are the only reasons I give it 4 stars instead of 5.

See Wookborm's review for a more complete discussion of what is wrong here. I don't mind beginner's books, but they should be marketed as such. I think you'll be hard pressed to find anything new in this book, if you have spent any time reading up on no-limit on any of the popular online forums. Mastery of the material in this book does not look sufficient to beat the 25 cent big blind game online. I could only recommend it if you have no other no-limit book at all; but then, why not buy Harrington volume 1 or something else? This book is superfluous. I felt ripped off.

It contains a few great pieces of information. I was flabbergasted to say the least. If you study hard enough and take notes, I'm sure you'll be able to beat these kinds of games: home games against your very drunk friends, and party poker .25-.50 NL. Anything higher and you'll have to stick to Poker for Dummies by Lou Krueger.

i think he pretty much talk about basic concept and not much there to be learned
i would buy phil hellmuth's how to play poker like pro instead

Overall, I would suggest any NLH player to get this book since it treats the subject exclusively. Most of the book is full of complicated ideas about NLH; most are helpful, but it gets convoluted at times. The Sklansky-Chubokov numbers threw me off. It's worth a look though.

David Sklansky comes out with another great book! This book is great because it applies to all No Limit Hold 'em, not just tournaments. Although I like Harringotn on Hold 'em a lot, this book seems to accomplish more for the Cash game player. There really weren't any great books out there for No Limit Hold 'em until now, as this one finally accomplishes what other books have failed to do.

Sklansky has been perhaps the premiere poker theorist for years - and this book is an embodiment of that experience. Not a quick "how to play what hands" lesson, this book takes a much more holistic approach to the theory and application of key concepts. Presentation is clear and well paced - a little patience is needed to get through it all. All in all, well worth it!

Very good information and useful for very experienced players. As with most books by Sklansky, its very complicated and requires multiple readings to really digest the material. Although it is reportedly geared for both tournament play and cash games, it seems to me that it is much more focused on no limit cash games with less emphasis on tournament play.

This book will make smoke start coming out of your ears it makes your brain work so hard. There is alot of formulas and such, that you would have to learn and go over and over and over to use at a table. I don't think that its possible to do complex math like, if i bet x he will fold y% of the time, or if I bet g he will call q% of the time. So alot of that is stuff you just need to practice and know going in, depending on the style of opponent your up against.

Aside from that, there is great advice in adapting to different games, different bankrolls, and so on. It gives you plenty to think about, great stuff you should constantly ask yourself every time your peer down and see what your pocket cards are.

I have read it once, and skimmed differen parts over a few times, and am definetly planning on rereading the whole thing over

As a long time no-limit hold'em player in competition for the general public's poker dollar, I really hope no one reads this book. You see, this is a very good book.

If your game does not improve after reading this, either you are already a successful player, or you should shift from no-limit hold'em to "Hearts", "Go Fish" or limit hold'em poker. Concepts are clearly presented and arguments are well supported. You may have to take some of the "poker math" with a grain of salt. Most computations are far beyond what you can reasonably do at a table. However, just understanding the math logic behind the ideas presented in the book gives you a good sense of the potential effectiveness of suggested moves or strategies in real life situations.

Stay away from this book.

i've bought plenty of poker books and by far this is my favorite one. Beginners can read it and develope their game, while intermediate to advance players can learn these concepts and apply them to their game. If you read this book over and over and fully realize the concepts and the insight sklansky has on no limit play, you should be able to sit down at a poker table whether it be at the casino or at home game and become a confident solid player.

This is the first No Limit Hold'Em book that I have read that applies to cash games as much as, and probably more than, tournaments. It seems that most books follow the popularity of television (which is reasonable if you are trying to sell a book) but I strongly prefer a regular old cash game.

This books covers traditional Sklansky theory of poker material, nicely taylored to a No-Limit game. One of the most important concepts is the fact that in Limit Hold'Em, you play for pots, but in No-Limit Hold'Em you play for stacks. This means that you try to win your opponent's entire stack when you are well ahead and try to avoid traps and mistakes that cost you your entire stack when you are behind. Implied odds become very important and often even more important than your immediate pot odds.

This title covers topics such as bet sizing, considerations for keeping the pot small, when and how to get your stack into the middle, playing the short stack vs playing a deep stack and much more.

This is a dense volume and well worth every penny, but it is a Sklansky book and delves heavily into theoretical points and mathematics, meanwhile it lacks a thourough discussion of the psychology of the game, which is why it is only 4 stars.

The thing I like most about Sklanky's books is that they help you see the game in a different way. This book really showed me the value of playing so many different starting hands in NLH. There were many thoughts and ideas that he reviewed in this book that you just won't find in many other books. Pick this book up now if you are looking to improve your game. Thumbs up.

A good book to understand advanced theory and practice in playing No Limit Texas Hold'em. It's good for reference, but don't think you'll be some Hold'Em genius after reading it. Gives you a good foundation for advanced play.

I think this book gives a solid primer on no limit holdem, especially to the neophyte (like myself). I feel like there is some very useful information, such as when to call an all in from a short stack based on how you would profile the opponent (loose, tight, very tight, etc).

The Sklansky Chubukov ratings are nice to know (even though the numbers can only be used for one small situation in the small blind)

When I buy a poker book I am primarily looking to glean one or two important concepts and I think this book has done that.

Read this book only if you are serious about improving your game. Sklansky did a good job in capturing into words the intuitive nuances that I have come to recognize after so many hands of playings, and take them even further to horizons I have yet to explore (and can't wait to try). It is not a book for beginner and you are expected to be somewhat a good player already to even start reading this. A "fish" would most certainly get lost within a few pages. A lot of the math in the book is probably not going to be too applicable while you're at the table, but rather just as his way of showing that the decisions are mathematically correct. There is a list of tips at the end of the book that sums up everything quite nicely. To me, the Sklansky-Chubukov rating is unheard of before and it will take me a while to digest its significance and importance in improving my play.

Very useful book to improve the way of thinking in no limit poker.

A must read to improve your game
a real PLUS EV BUY

Will probably be heavy going for the beginner but for someone who has been playing a year or two and wants to take their game to the next level it is a must read.

This book is the book your looking for on no limit strategy. It explains many concepts that may not be clear to the starter player who wants to get deeper in knowledge. Many holdem books apply to limit poker but this book goes further into concepts that are started in supersystem and why doyle can makes certain plays.

Excellent book for the beginner to intermediate player to learn more about poker concepts. Well written and will definitely help your game.

This book is great. Well written, it clearly explains how now limit works. It is not for a beginner. I keep stopping and trying out the concepts before going on to the next. I am using implied odds and bet sizing to maximize my expectations. There is not as much math as some of his other books which is better for me.

A very good book on poker. Be prepared to learn!

Good read that looks into the mathmatical side of poker. The equations may seem cumbersome, but they aren't really important in my opinion. I find that they also make som every big assumptions which invalidates them. Even so, they make you take a look at poker in a different way, which is the entire point, at least to me.

I find the author the best at what he does. His original book on holdem turned me into a far better poker player, a winning poker player. The new book on no limit holdem provides an awesome way of looking at the thought processes a winning NL holdem player needs to use when playing the most popular poker game in casinos today. It is not a recipe book like the previous holdem book, but is designed to challenge your thought process at how to play NL holdem. Im still digesting everything, but few books on the subject make me think poker 24/7 like his do and this one is no different.

This one is a bit of a tough read with a lot of math but provides a large amount of information that can be directly used to improve your game. To be clear, the math is not mind boggling or extremely difficult, it can just be difficult to get into a good reading groove for those that do stop and review the way in which things are calculated.

I think players new to the game should avoid this one but for any serious player this is just one of those books that you probably have to read at some stage.

I bought this book for my boyfriend who has been playing poker for 5 years and he loves it!!!