REVIEW
Over
the last year, gambling authors have worked
to provide books specific to the needs
of Internet poker players. So far, each
of these books has occupied it's own niche
within the book. One of these is Internet
Texas Hold'em, written by online poker
professional Matthew Hilger.
Hilger's
book is structured in a familiar manner.
The book begins with some introductory
remarks and then proceeds to discuss starting
hands. The recommendations in this book
don't stray too far from the consensus
of many other authors. Some would say
that Hilger's recommendations too often
have a player entering the pot by calling
rather than raising, and depending on
the texture of the game, I might agree.
The
author moves on to cover play on the flop,
turn, and river. At each stage, the reader
is presented with the author's advice
on how a player should proceed. The advice
includes several examples, and most chapters
end with a quiz over its concepts. More
often than not I find myself at least
mildly in agreement with the author regarding
his recommendations. Sometimes, though,
I find the quiz answers are different
than I'd expect. Of course, I haven't
made six figures in a year playing online
poker (nor have I tried), so the reader
of this column should feel free to prefer
the advice of whomever they'd like.
The
book concludes with some more general
information, including some advice specific
to playing Internet poker. Note, though,
that other advice specific to the online
game is sprinkled throughout the text.
Generally, I think Hilger's recommendations
are good, although he's a little sketchy
on some points and his focus seems to
wane a little toward the end of the book.
For example, while he advises keeping
good records about sessions and players,
he doesn't follow through as much as I'd
like on details about the range of information
that can be usefully accumulated.
The
book is written in a straightforward manner,
but there are a few rough sentences and
sentence fragments that I expect would
have been caught by a good copy editor.
For a self-published book, though, it's
not bad. The author writes in a straightforward
style and is adept at communicating his
ideas to the reader. I have to admit,
though, that for some reason I cannot
fully articulate, I found reading this
book to be slower going than I expected.
Maybe reading roughly the same "how to
play Hold'em" advice from the umpteenth
different author has finally caught up
with me.
Overall,
this book aims to be a complete reference
for someone who wants to play Texas Hold'em
online, and I would say that it basically
achieves its goals. I would expect a thoughtful
player who understands this book, heeds
its advice, and keeps good records to
do well in the online game, although I
believe there are many useful concepts
that this book doesn't cover. For those
who are winning live game players, and
for those who don't wish to play Hold'em,
this book contains much that doesn't doesn't
need to be learned from scratch, but overall
I'd recommend this book, especially to
those who want to take a one-stop-shopping
approach to winning Hold'em online.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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