Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller: the book every limit player should read

Last week I gave a short review and recommendation for Getting Started in Hold'em by Ed Miller. If you’ve read it, you’re on your way to becoming a winning player. Assuming you’ve decided that limit hold’em is your game, there’s one more book every beginning player should read. Assuming you didn’t ride the short bus to grade school, if you read this book, and make some attempt to apply the principles laid out by the author, you WILL become a winning player. The book is Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller.

If you’re a relatively new limit player looking at all the poker books out there and trying to decide, which book do I read first, look no further. There is absolutely no question that Small Stakes Hold 'em is the one correct answer.

Theory of Poker by David Sklansky is the single most important book ever written on poker. It is a seminal work in the field of poker literature. Every serious poker player should read it. But it is a book on theory, and where it leaves off, Small Stakes Hold 'em, picks up. Small Stakes Hold 'em essentially takes Sklansky’s book and puts it into practice for the small stakes hold’em player, in an easy, step-by-step manner.

Essentially, Ed assumes that small stakes players are mostly very loose, that is that play too many pots with sub-par hands. Ed uses the principles laid out in Sklansky’s book and uses them to extract as much money as possible from those players, and he does it in a way that is extremely readable and understandable for the average beginning player.

Because the book assumes loose play, its primary goal is to teach you to give yourself the best possible chance to win big pots, while generally avoiding throwing money away to stay in small pots. One difference between Small Stakes Hold 'em and most other beginner books is that while they seek to teach a beginning player to tighten up his game, Small Stakes Hold 'em instead teaches them to tighten up somewhat pre-flop, but use focused aggression post-flop.

While I’m calling this a beginner’s book, Ed points out that it is not really. The book is for small stakes players that know how to play the game, but don’t necessarily understand what it takes to consistently beat the game. If you’ve digested Getting Started in Hold'em and are looking for a next book, Small Stakes Hold 'em is perfect for you. If you’ve been playing awhile, understand the rules but aren’t winning consistently, Small Stakes Hold 'em is perfect for you. The reason I refer to it as a beginners book is not because it teaches beginner concepts. Small Stakes Hold 'em takes advanced concepts and makes them accessible to the novice player. However, if you’re a somewhat accomplished player, this is still a great book and one that will earn you money if you can apply its principles. Although the book teaches a way to apply the principles to a small stakes game, the concepts of implied and pot odds, pot equity, position, evaluating the board, etc. are equally important in higher games.

As I stated in a previous blog entry, my progression as a player during my first couple of years ran from tournaments to no-limit cash games to limit games. The adjustment from no-limit to limit was difficult for me. First I played too loose. I tightened up, and made money, but not much. This was the book that really made me a winning limit player. It can do the same for you.

If you’re a limit hold’em player and looking for something to take your game to the next level, Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play by Ed Miller is the one book you have to read.