Hold 'Em Poker or Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em?

[lunchmeat]

My father has asked me to get him a hold 'em book for Christmas and I'm not sure which book I should get him. He wants some clearly written, basic instruction that will let him hold his own in low-limit games without requiring too much study. What do you guys recommend? The only hold 'em book I've read is HEPFAP, and I know that's not what he's looking for. I'm thinking either Sklansky's "Hold 'Em Poker," or Lee Jones's "Winning Low-Limit Hold 'Em" is the way to go.

[pudley4]

IMHO, the Jones book is easier for a new player to read/comprehend.

[AliasMrJones]

I found Jones' book much easier to comprehend and put into immediate use. His post-flop strategy is much more detailed and definitely easier for the beginner. I recently re-read HEP and by golly there is a lot of useful info in that small volume, but for an absolute beginner, I'd suggest Jones first.

[Justaloser]

Winning Low Limit Holdem is a great book. It has sections on preflop and all situations on the flop. It has helped me recoup easily over 20x the cost of the book in the two months I have owned it.

And as a point of reference, I have now moved on to HEFAP.

[JTrout]

I agree with this; however, it's important that a new player understand that this book is not the gospel. It has some disputable advise. I think it should be viewed as an intro to lo-limit hold'em.

[AliasMrJones]

I absolutely agree with this. Since moving on from WLLHE, I have modified my play with advice from HEP and HEPFAP. But, it was the WLLE foundation that allowed me to understand HEPFAP, which would have been incomprehensible without first understanding WLLE. While I don't now agree with all the advice in WLLHE, I still believe it is the best way for a beginner to get introduced to winning low limit hold 'em concepts and strategy.

[dcg]

I've just begun reading books on poker myself, and have read both of the above choices. I voted for WLLHE, though I thought both books were excellent. I personally preferred the writing style of Jones to that of Sklansky.

BTW, if your dad is new to the terminology of poker, WLLHE definitely has a superior glossary. I read HEP first and was unsure of a couple of things. HEFAP actually has a much better glossary than HEP.

[TimTimSalabim]

I'm holding up the lone vote for "something else" (so far anyway). I like Lou Krieger for an absolute beginner, because I like his writing style. It's very friendly and non-intimidating. And I like his colored starting chart, I think a novice would like that ( I know I did way back when). Once you move past rank beginner though, then I think you go to Sklansky as quickly as possible when you want to actually learn how to play well. Although at that point I think I'd just skip right to HPFAP. Jones' book has too many contradictions in it for my taste (e.g. hands that you can play middle position but not late).

[Poker blog]

The question isn't what is easiest. If you can't understand Sklansky, I doubt you're going to be a winning poker player.

Sklansky gives a solid foundation for the game. It teaches the fundamentals necessary to eventually move up into more serious games.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Ingo4:

I couldn't agree with your post more.

When I'm in the poker room I'm constantly being asked questions by relatively new poker players. Much of what I'm asked relates to what's in our books, and these questions are being asked by players who are clerly winning in the games (usually between $8-$16 and $15-$30).

In these conversations, no other books are ever mentioned, only our stuff. This says to me that while a book like Winning Low Limit Hold 'em may be helpful to someone starting out, if you're want to be successful at poker fairly quickly, you read and study the stuff that our company puts out.

Best wishes,
Mason

[James Boston]

I don't consider a winning player at 8-16 and 15-30 to be a low limit player. 2+2 books are definately the best in print for these games. But, I have experienced first hand that some of these tactics and theories don't work as well in 2-4 to 4-8 games. Lee Jones' book provided a good foundation to play in these games. I don't think the information in his book is as useful as you move up in limits, but neither does he. In the bibliography he states that no player should attempt to take on higher limits without virtually memorizing HPFAP. Again, don't misunderstand me. I love 2+2 books. They've helped my game more than anything else, but sometimes when advanced play isn't called for Lee Jones' advice is the best thing I can fall back on.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi james:

I believe the Jones book helps people because it tells them to play much thighter than they would have otherwise. At very low limits that's often enough to beat the game for a little bit. And it also gives them guidelines, although I disagree with some of it, on how to play on the flop and beyond.

My point is that those players who are begining to beat hold 'em for significant money don't seem to be concerned with this book one way or the other. Furthermore, our purpose is not to help people beat poker games for "minimum wage." We intend to do much better than that, and I think virtually all readers here have that as their goal as well.

However, if you are new to hold 'em (and poker in general) then the Jones book should prove helpful. I'm not saying that it won't.

best wishes,
mason

[Moyer]

Personally, if I had only one book it would be Hold'em Poker, because I can't stand some of the preflop advice in WLLHE. The post flop advice in WLLHE though is easy to understand and seems good to me. Interesting to see that Mason feels the opposite.

[CCass]

Let me preface by saying that I grew up around card games in general, and I have been playing variations of poker for more than half of my life (I am 36).

The first book I ever read on Poker was HPFAP, and I had no trouble understanding the concepts put forth. My next Poker book is going to be TOP, but I probably should have read it first...lol

If your father has a working knowledge of Hold-em, I would recommend going to HPFAP first.

Chris