I am looking for feedback on my Limit Hold'em book

[King Yao]

I am writing a book on Limit Hold'em which will be published by Pi Yee Press. Currently, I have the entire book available online at my site www.HoldemBrain.com There are no ads on the site, the entire purpose for the site is for me to get feedback from readers about my book. I am specifically looking for constructive criticsm, suggestions, problems, anything that can help me make the book better. I suspect the contents of the book will be up on the site for two to three weeks. After that I will take it offline and submit the final manuscript. Mason and Mat Sklansky gave me the go-ahead to make one post on 2+2 regarding my book. I appreciate that and want to say thanks.

[Ed Miller]

I haven't read it, but I should ask you these questions:

1. Who SPECIFICALLY is your audience?
2. What SPECIFICALLY is your scope?

[King Yao]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Who SPECIFICALLY is your audience?

[/ QUOTE ]

The wide-ranging answer is: the thinking poker player.
The more realistic answer is: for experienced players who are interested in thinking about the game from an analytical view.

[ QUOTE ]
2. What SPECIFICALLY is your scope?

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The scope is on limit Hold'em, looking at aspects of the game analytically. I use expected value a lot throughout the book to analyze when a certain play may be good or bad. There is also a couple of chapters on Shorthanded Hold'em.

I hope that answers your question. Feel free to fire away with more!

[Ed Miller]

The more realistic answer is: for experienced players who are interested in thinking about the game from an analytical view.

If your book is for experienced players, then why do you have a big long chapter explaining the rules, betting action, nuts, etc.? Experienced players know this stuff.

This is a very common mistake that poker books make (see my rant in the B&S forum about what's wrong with poker books). You need a SPECIFIC audience, and everything you write needs to be SPEAKING TO THAT AUDIENCE. If your audience knows poker jargon, then don't spend time defining terms. If your audience doesn't know poker jargon, then you absolutely need to define terms, and you should assiduously avoid using potentially confusing terms at all points.

If your book is for beginners, then do not introduce advanced concepts. Et cetera. I didn't read your whole thing, but you almost certainly need to define your audience more strictly and direct your content and language DIRECTLY to that audience.

The scope is on limit Hold'em, looking at aspects of the game analytically. I use expected value a lot throughout the book to analyze when a certain play may be good or bad. There is also a couple of chapters on Shorthanded Hold'em.

"Limit hold 'em" isn't a focused enough scope. What SPECIFICALLY do you want to teach people? After they read your book, what SPECIFIC CHANGES do you want people to make to their games. People aren't reading your book to hear you wax philosophical on the math of poker... they are reading it because they think that doing so will improve their poker decisions and help them make more money.

After reading your book, what SPECIFIC CHANGES will your readers make to their games to improve their results?

A book without a clearly-defined audience will end up "speaking" to nobody. A book without a clearly-defined scope will end up teaching nobody.

(Again, I didn't actually read much of your book. Maybe you don't make these mistakes... these are just very common problems that lots of writers miss out on.)

[King Yao]

Even though you haven't read it, I think I can still take your advice to heart. I'll probably move the Rules portion to an appendix and introduce the book in a more focused manner. Thanks Ed...hope you do find some time to take a look. Your feedback, even without reading the book, is already useful!

[Ed Miller]

For our book that is coming out next month:

Audience: Intermediate to Advanced hold 'em players who commonly play in loose games (defined as those games with several players who play too many hands and go too far with them). Our reader is already familiar with some of the "beginners" hold 'em literature (WLLH, Fundamentals of Poker, Poker for Dummies, etc.), and he is already a "decent" player (defined as a small loser, break-even, or small winner). He has learned to fold a lot of his hands before the flop, but his postflop game needs a lot of work.

He is already familiar with all standard poker jargon, but he has not necessarily thought about the game from a structured, mathematical perspective before.

Many of the posters in the Small Stakes and Microlimit forums were models for our audience.

Scope:

We want to turn break-even or modestly winning players into big winners at the small stakes level. Goals are teaching people the skills necessary to win $50,000 per year or more at $3-$6 playing a full schedule online. Specific concepts that we are trying to teach:

1. Avoiding calling before the flop with weak hands
2. Playing more aggressively in large pots, including protecting weak hands and draws when necessary.
3. Discussing the concept of "pot equity" and how it affects the way you play after the flop (e.g., sometimes jamming draws for value, and sometimes playing more passively with vulnerable made hands... waiting for the turn with those)
etc.

After our targetted audience reads the book, he should play MUCH more aggressively in large pots, particularly with one pair hands, and particularly on the turn. He should also be able to recognize situations where he should wait for the turn rather than jamming on the flop. He should also learn to value bet the river extensively against loose opponents, and he will learn the correct adjustments to make on the river in multiway situations.

Almost everything in the book is directed SPECIFICALLY toward our audience, and the concepts presented are SPECIFICALLY designed to help the reader make the stated adjustments to his game.

Our scope is broader than what I just listed, but that should give you an idea about what I'm talking about...

[Lost Wages]

OK I was just looking forward to it, now I'm drooling.

Lost Wages

[Mason Malmuth]

[ QUOTE ]
We want to turn break-even or modestly winning players into big winners at the small stakes level. Goals are teaching people the skills necessary to win $50,000 per year or more at $3-$6 playing a full schedule online. Specific concepts that we are trying to teach:


[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Everyone:

before anyone jumps on this we are thinking of the Internet where you can play multiple games and perhaps get as many as 150 hands per hour.

Best wishes,
Mason

[chief444]

Sounds like a very good recommendation Ed. If I picked the book up and saw that the first part of it was explaining the basic rules of the game and terminology, I would probably put it back assuming it isn't really worthwhile for a relatively knowledgable player.

By the way Ed, I'm looking forward to reading your book. I'm sure it will turn out to be a must read for any low limit player.

[Randy Burgess]

Ed is right not only from an author/reader perspective, but from a marketing perspective.

I gather (correct me if I'm wrong) that Pi Yee press is Stanford Wong's imprint. I don't know what acceptance process Pi Yee has for manuscripts, but the first thing most publishers will ask you for is a proposal that includes a market analysis.

A market analysis looks at these things: What readership are you hoping to serve? What competing titles already exist in this space? And how will your book be better/different than these competing titles? There are so many books out now on hold'em that unless you are a revolutionary genius, you are likely going to have to define your audience in very specific, relatively narrow terms. If you're just repeating the same old stuff about expected value, that's not enough. People can already get that in existing books.

I'd also suggest that once you know your intended reader as completely as possible, all the way down to which shoe he puts on first in the morning, think how you're going to convey to him that he IS your intended reader - starting with the title and subtitle of the book. Again, think specific, not general.