[Ed Miller]

What exactly do you mean when you say "small stakes"?

The book concentrates on tactics for loose games. Specifically, we focus on games where your opponents play far too many hands preflop and play them poorly after the flop.

These games are ubiquitous at small limits: Essentially every game $4-$8 and below fits this description. But often games at higher limits also fit quite well... many $10-$20 to $20-$40 games in Las Vegas, those limits (and sometimes even higher) in California, and (I'm told, though I have never played it) the Party $15-$30 game.

The book focuses on exploiting the mistakes of a specific class of player. The tactics are extremely effective against that player type, but they can leave you vulnerable if you try to apply them against strong players.

For instance, we emphasize betting mediocre hands, such as (perhaps) ace-eight on a K842T board, for value. These bets show solid profit against loose and passive players who will often be at the river with a pair smaller than your eights, and who will tend not to raise you with a better pair or small two pair.

But betting in all these situations tends to turn you into what some strong players refer to as a "betting station," and it will get you into trouble against those players. That is, it is a not a game-theoretically optimal strategy, and so it can be exploited by a counter strategy.

But the ideas in the book are very powerful for getting the most out of acutal limit hold 'em games as they are played today at small limits and also often well up through the mid-limits.