Is small stakes hold em all that different?

[spurgeon]

You know, I was looking through small stakes hold em tonight. Is the book really all that different? There are seven sections to the book. The first part is gambling concepts. There is a lot of new material here. Such things as expectation, pot odds etc. Part two deals with preflop play. This section is not really anything new. Mr. Miller says that you are to play tight before the flop and not to call raises when you are dominated. This is what all the other book authors such as Ciaffone, Jones, Krieger etc say you should do. Miller does say that you should raise with such hands as K-J suited. The other authors do not say to raise. Part three deals with postflop play. Here he is different. The size of the pot has a lot to do with what your play is going to be. So he does not fit or fold like Krieger. Part 4 deals with the river, he says to call if the pot is large. However, so does Lee Jones. So, in some ways the book is not all that different except for some chapters in the postflop play section.

[Niediam]

But isn't postflop play 90% of what poker is? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[FishHooks]

This book is God compared to all other books realated to Small Stakes, teaches you much more agression to maximize your edges.

[MicroBob]

you're right.
also, Shakespeare is very similar to Hemingway in that they were both written on paper, are read from left to right (and in english) and the same teacher made me read both in high school.


Seriously....the major difference is that Krieger's advice is mostly bad...Jones advice is kinda mediocre (but not that unreasonable for a new player) and Miller's advice is correct.

Try reading both Miller and Jones again and see if you can't detect the differences (and if you can't you probably shouldn't be playing poker with real money).

[benfranklin]

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Try reading both Miller and Jones again

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My read of the original post is that he hasn't actually read Miller:

[ QUOTE ]
I was looking through small stakes hold em tonight.

[/ QUOTE ]

That sounds like a book store drive-by to me.

To the OP: if you haven't read at least Jones and Miller, you need to do so. Start with Jones, mixed in with a lot of actual play. Then read Miller, also mixed in with a lot of play.

If in fact you did read Jones and Miller and couldn't see the difference, then you aren't ready for Miller. In that case, you need to start over and read Jones, mixed in with a lot of actual play. Then read Miller, also mixed in with a lot of play.

[Zygote]

Not everything in the books is new, but the old material is from Sklansky and Malmuth's work (look at all the footnotes). Regardless, the book has a wealth of information on exploiting loose, low stakes opponents while reinforcing proper gambling concepts and strategy.

[OrianasDaad]

I've always had a problem with Mr. Miller saying that "fit or fold" was bad.

He just defines what a "fit" is better, and how to see how your hand might "fit" where another author might not.