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Getting Started in Hold 'em
Recently, countless people have started playing poker, hoping to quit their jobs and strike it rich. Sadly, most of these "professional" players will wind up broke. While many people play, few win consistently.In Getting Started in Hold 'em, noted poker authority Ed Miller guides you onto the winning path. As someone who made the leap from beginner to professional in less than a year and a half, Ed is uniquely qualified to show new players the quickest route to hold 'em success.This book presents the critical principles that expert players preflop hand valuation, domination, betting for value, protecting your hand, semi-bluffing, pot equity, pot odds, implied odds, free card plays, the importance of stack size, why chips change value in tournaments, and much more.Whether you want to play limit, no limit, or tournament hold 'em, this book provides you a solid foundation. It's perfect, not just for the would-be pro, but for anyone who wants a serious edge on the competition. Getting Started in Hold 'em teaches you more than just how to play; it teaches you to win.
- GenresNonfictionGames
203 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 2005
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102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 17, 2016
I picked up Ed Miller's Getting Started in Hold'em at a gorgeous secondhand bookstore in Harrisburg. Pros: It was dirt cheap. Cons: It was published in 2005, very shortly after the poker boom really kicked off, when everyone was throwing money around and few people had figured out what they were doing yet, so it's possibly kind of dated, and if I knew enough about poker strategy to really be able to evaluate what's still applicable and what's not, I wouldn't be reading books with "getting started" in the title.
But I bought it anyway, for a few reasons. One is that I seem to be doing an entire literature review of poker writing this year, so I figured it'd be interesting to compare/contrast to Phil Gordon's books and to the articles that cross my feeds and to whatever else I'm reading. Also I know Miller has written many more recent books, so I figured if I liked the approach/style in this books that should give me a better idea of if it would be worth my time to seek out and read the more recent ones.
The book starts off with an assurance that "Don't worry! Most of the people you play against will be bad!" which is basically the opposite of what you hear now, which is lamentations that even people who have never sat down in a cardroom before will have read all the books already (can confirm: Have never sat down in a cardroom; plan on reading all the books first. Why wouldn't I?). It also assures the reader that anyone who is "reasonably intelligent" can become a breakeven player pretty quickly, a statement I believe is designed to be soothing but which his basically going to just make me judge myself when I don't pick up stuff as fast as I'd like to, a thing that is already happening (probably at least partly because I am reading 10-year-old books instead of noodling around with Flopzilla like you're apparently supposed to in 2016). I'm also not an enormous fan of the setup (apparently pretty common in more general, beginner-level poker books) of teaching limit strategy and then teaching how to adjust it for no-limit; I've only ever played no-limit so information on limit is probably just going to confuse me and take up precious brainspace that I need for learning to play the games I'm actually in.
On the upside, the book is quite short, clocking in just shy of 200 pages; is written in a clear, concise, and very easy-to-follow manner; suggests concrete, actionable strategies complete with refreshingly simple charts and text callout boxes; and does contain a lot of less stressfully optimistic expectation-setting advice about dealing with variance, developing hand-reading ability (short version: you'll be bad at this for quite a while), and common psychological traps players fall into. There are some places where it diverged pretty sharply from the advice I've been reading elsewhere -- mainly in its suggestion that beginner no-limit players deliberately play short-stacked -- but overall I think it makes sense considering the focus of the book, which is not to teach about what the pros are doing to win the World Series, but instead to get a beginner onto a more-or-less functional TAG strategy as soon as possible so that they don't go broke while learning the game in more complexity.
The big question in any instructional reading is: Did it work? Was it helpful? Poker being poker, by the time I review something I feel like it's always too soon to tell. Getting multiple perspectives and strategy advice from different authors I feel can only help me, since it forces me to think about the material in different ways, and sometimes having concepts explained differently can make them easier for me to grasp. I did reread the no-limit cash game section in the park on Friday shortly before my women's game, and I did make money that night, but this is probably more due to my running decently well and not starting the evening off massively on tilt like I have for some of the past few weeks than it is to remembering anything much of what I'd read that afternoon. But I liked the style, and I'll probably try to scrounge up copies of the more recent and/or advanced books by this author sometime this year.
Originally posted at http://bloodygranuaile.livejournal.co....
But I bought it anyway, for a few reasons. One is that I seem to be doing an entire literature review of poker writing this year, so I figured it'd be interesting to compare/contrast to Phil Gordon's books and to the articles that cross my feeds and to whatever else I'm reading. Also I know Miller has written many more recent books, so I figured if I liked the approach/style in this books that should give me a better idea of if it would be worth my time to seek out and read the more recent ones.
The book starts off with an assurance that "Don't worry! Most of the people you play against will be bad!" which is basically the opposite of what you hear now, which is lamentations that even people who have never sat down in a cardroom before will have read all the books already (can confirm: Have never sat down in a cardroom; plan on reading all the books first. Why wouldn't I?). It also assures the reader that anyone who is "reasonably intelligent" can become a breakeven player pretty quickly, a statement I believe is designed to be soothing but which his basically going to just make me judge myself when I don't pick up stuff as fast as I'd like to, a thing that is already happening (probably at least partly because I am reading 10-year-old books instead of noodling around with Flopzilla like you're apparently supposed to in 2016). I'm also not an enormous fan of the setup (apparently pretty common in more general, beginner-level poker books) of teaching limit strategy and then teaching how to adjust it for no-limit; I've only ever played no-limit so information on limit is probably just going to confuse me and take up precious brainspace that I need for learning to play the games I'm actually in.
On the upside, the book is quite short, clocking in just shy of 200 pages; is written in a clear, concise, and very easy-to-follow manner; suggests concrete, actionable strategies complete with refreshingly simple charts and text callout boxes; and does contain a lot of less stressfully optimistic expectation-setting advice about dealing with variance, developing hand-reading ability (short version: you'll be bad at this for quite a while), and common psychological traps players fall into. There are some places where it diverged pretty sharply from the advice I've been reading elsewhere -- mainly in its suggestion that beginner no-limit players deliberately play short-stacked -- but overall I think it makes sense considering the focus of the book, which is not to teach about what the pros are doing to win the World Series, but instead to get a beginner onto a more-or-less functional TAG strategy as soon as possible so that they don't go broke while learning the game in more complexity.
The big question in any instructional reading is: Did it work? Was it helpful? Poker being poker, by the time I review something I feel like it's always too soon to tell. Getting multiple perspectives and strategy advice from different authors I feel can only help me, since it forces me to think about the material in different ways, and sometimes having concepts explained differently can make them easier for me to grasp. I did reread the no-limit cash game section in the park on Friday shortly before my women's game, and I did make money that night, but this is probably more due to my running decently well and not starting the evening off massively on tilt like I have for some of the past few weeks than it is to remembering anything much of what I'd read that afternoon. But I liked the style, and I'll probably try to scrounge up copies of the more recent and/or advanced books by this author sometime this year.
Originally posted at http://bloodygranuaile.livejournal.co....
September 5, 2008
Ed Miller is such a great teacher. The concepts in this book are easy to understand and are presented in such a way that you can take them to the table immediately. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn the game. The short stack NL strategy outlined in this book is GOLD don't miss it.
January 27, 2019
great introductory book, walks through specific hands to explain the thought process and clearly articulates the concepts that lead to better poker play. Wish there was more detail on mathematics and strategy.
May 7, 2020
This is one of the best poker books anyone can read. I'm currently going through it for a third time and still seeing things it that are helpful. Yes this book may be basic but that's exactly what some people need. Ed Miller is probably the best poker writer and teacher in the business.
July 15, 2021
Really good, thorough and informative read. I wish it went into a little more detail in some areas but I guess that's not really the point of a beginners book. The recommended reading is a really useful way to compensate for that though. 100% read if you're new to poker.
July 8, 2013
good basic intro,with some fresh insights.
February 17, 2022
I'm a total Poker novice. So, I'm the target audience of this book! I must say that I learned a great deal. However! After reading the book, I started wondering whether Poker is the game for me.
In this book, you learn you need to play tight. Very tight. Only play hands you have an equity or strategic advantage to win. And for NL that means: fold a lot. Like really a lot. When I read how the author enjoyed a 3-hour poker night at the Mirage, only playing 2 hands and folding the rest, I wonder where the fun part of the game is. I’d say “enjoyed” is not really the proper word.
Sure, he won $275. And that's nice. But where's the fun in folding hand after hand after hand? Sounds more like a job than a game to me. And even more, when applying this strategy, isn't it very easy for your opponents to just leave you with the blinds those rare occasions you do bet?
So, is this strategy still valid these days? Is it fun? Does it work on PokerStars or GGPoker? How to play online? Is poker the game for me? I still have a lot of questions...
In this book, you learn you need to play tight. Very tight. Only play hands you have an equity or strategic advantage to win. And for NL that means: fold a lot. Like really a lot. When I read how the author enjoyed a 3-hour poker night at the Mirage, only playing 2 hands and folding the rest, I wonder where the fun part of the game is. I’d say “enjoyed” is not really the proper word.
Sure, he won $275. And that's nice. But where's the fun in folding hand after hand after hand? Sounds more like a job than a game to me. And even more, when applying this strategy, isn't it very easy for your opponents to just leave you with the blinds those rare occasions you do bet?
So, is this strategy still valid these days? Is it fun? Does it work on PokerStars or GGPoker? How to play online? Is poker the game for me? I still have a lot of questions...
May 29, 2024
Very basic but still useful for learning the simplest concepts. Discusses both limit and no limit, and the limit isn't really relevant anymore. I don't regret reading but not as useful as I was hoping.
February 5, 2019
I think this is a pretty good book but way too basic. I know that is the goal of the author, but the book could have been included inside of a bigger book that goes a little further.
November 27, 2024
it does what it says and it does it well but you're going to have to read this more than once.
October 12, 2023
The year of counting every genre I read so I can halfway meet the totally unreasonable goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. Honestly, this book was super helpful though and definitely improved my game. I really liked when he laid out the math for me. The limit chapters are especially helpful even if no-limit is much more popular these days. The rest of the book was just okay.
January 6, 2008
i only read the chapter on no-limit hold 'em, but seems like a great reference/beginner book.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews