The Complete Book of Texas Hold 'em Poker

by Matt Maroon

All you need to play is a chip and a chair--and this straight from the start guide to the hottest, most popular form of poker around. Ben Affleck plays it, Allision Janney plays it, even Jason... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402729626
• ISBN13: 9781402729621
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Sterling Publishing (NY)
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great book. Highly recommended!

This is an extremely underrated book. I concede there may have been some errors in the hand ranking chart, odds charts and some pretty bad typos throughout the earlier printings of this book but in the edition I purchased these errors have been corrected. Anyway, if you can get past those (I know I don't need to be re-taught the hand rankings etc) then you will discover that this really is a gem of a book. Maroon is a very articulate thinker and covers a lot of ground in this book. He explains some complex and subtle ideas in very clear, simple language. The section on short handed play is EXCELLENT and is worth the price of the book alone- especially for someone like me who only plays 6 max tables on the internet. His sections on expectation, pot odds, standard deviation, bankroll requirements, playing after the flop, moving up in limits, playing for a living, plugging leaks etc are all excellent as well and all this information is communicated in a very conversational, easily understandable way. The book is also presented in a unique way with colored diagrams and an aesthetically pleasant layout. There are very few hand examples in this book but I think that's a good thing. I find sample hands really boring to read and would much rather get to work on understanding the conceptual ideas and considerations behind a given play than read hand examples. Maroon seems to me to be a great poker strategist and his recommendations seem well thought out and I imagine they would be very effective. I'm not surprised he has enjoyed the level of success that he has given that he obviously possesses such a deep understanding of the game of limit hold 'em. This is probably not the ideal choice for a beginning poker player (although they would be far better off reading something like this than say, Phil Hellmuth's lunacy), I would say intermediate and advanced players will benefit more from this book. I highly recommend it and consider it a shame that the publishers were so careless in the printing of this book because in doing so they have really tarnished a great piece of work. If this book didn't contain the mistakes it does I suspect it would be on the "must read" list of most players.

Don't jump on Matt for the publisher's errors

I have only gotten to page 26 and like the other reviews have noticed many errors in the hand rankings. The hands are in order but the cards shown as an example are completely off and do not even match the text. A quick visit to mattmaroon.com will clear up the problem as the first thing you will see on the website is a link to "Book Errata" where he adresses all the errors mentioned by myself and the other posters. He cites publisher's errors as the reason and it is understandable as the pictures (put in by the publisher) do not correspond to what Matt actually wrote. He corrects the errors including the lack of formatting in the odds chart on page 245. You would expect thigns like this to be noticed prior to printing, but mistakes do happen. Other than that, everything has been excellent. His introdcutions have been clear and his examples completely illustrate what he is talking about. One thing I have particularly liked thus far is the table of contents. He is appropriately divided up the book into Poker Conepts, Limit Hold'Em Concepts and Advanced Concepts. He also touches on aspects which I have found underrepresented in other books such as psychology, deception, slowplaying and even things such as guidlines to play poker for a living. Furthermore, it is not dry reading. Some books of this genre tend to be really hard to get into/not count cracks in the wall while you are reading it, this book is holding my impatient attention well. (Aesthetically, the book looks great. It's sleek, modern and just nice to look at.) I will post final review when I finish the book, I just wanted to comment on some of the errors.

Worth it just for the shorthand info

While alot of this book is about the basics it still have alot of good information. The Short-Handed section is worth the $10 all by itself.

Dont judge a book by its cover

I feel I have to write as I was astounded at the first review this book got. I couldnt help but think the guy who wrote it has some kind of personal grudge against the author. I did not buy this book to learn how to spell, and I know the poker hand rankings. To write off a book as it fails to deliver on these two fronts is laughable. I think this book is right up there with any I have read, and perhaps brings poker literature into the 21st century. The game has changed since the likes of Brunson and Sklansky and though their offerings are excellent, I find this book much easier to read and relate to as the author has vast internet experience. As has been mentioned by other reviewers, the shorthand section is second to none and I could see improvements in my game within minutes. I buy a poker book purely to improve my poker game. I strongly recommend you buy this one and reap the benefits.

Good Value

I don't normally give reviews, but the the first review is so ridiculous I had to chime in. I bought the book after reading the author's poker blogs and thought it might be good. For clarification, this really is a LIMIT HOLD'EM strategy book. ---The Cons: *I do agree that the book was sloppily edited. *The book's subtitle is "Cash Game Poker Strategies for Players of All Skill Levels". I feel it should have been more focused; it attempted to cover to broad a range like a lot of other poker books. A lot of the remedial stuff (a good chunk) just bore me to death. ---The Pros: *I would particularly recommend this book to players who are interested in deriving a large portion of their income from poker and moving up the limits. He covers standard deviation, fluctuations and luck, hourly rate, bankroll requirements, proper money management, avoiding tilt, moving up in limits. You can tell he is a winning player and has an understanding for the game and what it takes to win in the long run. There is an underlying theme throughout the book on working on your game, analyzing your play, and how to get better. The author himself has worked his way through Party's $5/10 up to currently beating the $30/60 game. I think a lot of internet players will be able to relate to the book. *The shorthanded games is the best I've seen in a poker book thus far. *The analysis on limit bluffing and inducing bluffs was also very good. In my opinion, Ed Miller's Small Stakes Hold'em and King Yao's Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker are better written and describe some of the concepts better overall. However, there is definetely value in this book and contains concepts not covered in either of those books. It certainly is making me think about my game and that's great, and For 8$ it was a great buy. Overall, I recommend it.