Hold’em Poker For Advanced Players By David Skalinsky and Mason Malmuth Check our site www.pokerpiraten.com to find more books on poker. Please support pokerpiraten to bring you more books by clicking on our sponsors: www.partypoker.com www.pacificpoker.com www.interpoker.com Table of Contents Foreword by Ray Zee .............................. v About David Sklansky .............................vii About Mason Malmuth ............................ ix Introduction ......................................1 Using This Book ................................... 5 Why Play Texas Hold 'em? ..........................7 A Note on the English ..............................9 Part One: The First Two Cards ..................... 11 Introduction .................................. 12 HandRankings ................................14 The First Two Cards: Early Position ............... 18 The First Two Cards: Middle Position .............. 27 The First Two Cards: Late Position ................ 32 The First Two Cards: Live Blinds ................. 40 The First Two Cards: Late-Position Blind ...........48 Afterthought .................................. 49 Part Two: Strategic Concepts ....................... 51 Introduction .................................. 52 Semi-Bluffing ................................. 53 The Free Card ................................. 62 Slowplaying .................................. 73 Check-Raising ................................ 76 Odds and Implied Odds ......................... 80 ii Table of Contents Bluffing .....................................84 Inducing Bluffs ................................87 Folding When the Pot is Big .....................90 Heads-Up Versus Multiway ......................92 Raising ......................................95 Heads-Up on Fifth Street .......................101 Afterthought .................................108 Part Three: Miscellaneous Topics .................. 109 Introduction ................................. 110 Being Beat on the River ........................111 More on the Semi-Bluff .......................... 114 Getting a Free Card ........................... 116 Staying With a Draw .......................... 117 Playing When There Is No Raise Before the Flop .... 119 Playing When Two Suited Cards Flop ............. 121 Playing When a Pair Flops ...................... 123 Playing Pairs in the Hole ....................... 125 Playing Trash Hands .......................... 128 Playing Against a Maniac ...................... 130 Playing Good Hands When It Is Three Bets Before the Flop .................................... 133 Playing When the Flop Is All the Same Suit ........ 136 Important Fourth Street Concepts ................ 139 Other Fourth Street Concepts .................... 144 Desperation Bets .............................. 146 Waiting to Raise ..............................147 Afterthought ................................. 149 Part Four: Playing in Loose Games ................. 151 Introduction .................................152 An Important Point ............................ 153 An Important Concept (Borrowed from Razz) ...... 157 Returning to Hold 'em ......................... 159 Two Examples ............................... 161 Looking at Some Odds ......................... 165 .... ....... ....... .... ....... ....... .... ....... ....... .... ....... ....... .... ....... ....... .... ....... ....... .... ....... .... V)."."...... .... ....... .... ............. .... a...... i:::::: .... c...... G:::::: ' .- . 0.. ...... .- . X...... a,..... .... a,.. .... .'rn a:::::: . .m. .&. a,. .X. cd . 'a- : ::. .- , 0 . 2 :a : a, .$. 0 + :? : + 'G ' gq$tC 'a,+ a so~, € .f: - XQ 5 cd :G kZQQ WWW - 0 0 WW4 Foreword by Ray Zee Texas hold 'em is hard. There is probably no other form of poker as difficult. Yet, the game appears deceptively simple. Many players, even after much experience at the poker tables, still play as though any two cards can win. Of course, those who play in this fashion quickly lose their money. The book you are holding, written by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, has had far-reaching effects on the poker world. Simply put, since the original edition of this book, hold 'em has become, on average, a much tougher game to beat. If you have aspirations of being a serious player you will have to study the strategies and techniques in this text or you will be left behind. If you are new to the game, but are willing to put in the requisite time and effort, you soon will be more proficient at this form of poker than many of today's professional players. However, don't expect to become an expert overnight. In Hold 'em Poker For Advanced Players, the authors provide not only numerous sophisticated concepts, but lots of examples as well. Many of these advanced strategies never appeared correctly in print until the first edition was originally released in 1988. With the twenty-first century edition, they have done it again. Much ofthe material that follows will be brand new to even successful pr~fessionalplayers. Put another way, I stated in 1988 that "Numerous concepts contained in this book are well- understood only by a very small group of players - extremely successful players, I might add." Again, this statement is true today. This brings up another point. This is one of the very few poker books actually written by winning players, and the authors thoroughly explain the techniques that have made them so successful at the tables. In addition, I know both authors quite well, and I know that no winning information was held back. vi Foreword by Ray Zee I have mixed feelings about seeing this book published, as I did when the original edition came out. As a professional poker player I'm not in favor of anything that will make the poker games tougher to beat. On the other hand, this new and expanded version of Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players should help to spread this extremely interesting game just as the original edition did, and to make it even more popular. Thus there will be more games to choose from and there will still be plenty ofgood games. Consequently, I guess it is for the best that this twenty-first century edition is now available. Finally, let me repeat that the techniques and ideas offered in this text should make any disciplined and studious player a significant winner. However, as already stated, it won't happen overnight. Most players will have to reread the book and study the concepts many times. In fact, I suspect that some of you will literally wear the covers off your copies of Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. But I know that those of you who do will be very happy with your results. Special note: The authors would like to thank world class poker player Ray Zee for sharing many of his concepts and ideas with us. Because of Ray, this text is a better work. About David Sklansky David Sklansky is generally considered the number one authority on gambling in the world today. Besides his nine books on the subject, David also has produced two videos and numerous writings for various gaming publications. His occasional poker seminars always receive an enthusiastic reception including those given at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. More recently David has been doing consulting work for casinos, Internet gaming sites, and gaming device companies. He has recently invented a new game called Poker Challenge, soon to appear in casinos. David attributes his standing in the gambling community to three things: 1. The fact that he presents his ideas as simply as possible (sometimes with Mason Malmuth) even though these ideas frequently involve concepts that are deep, subtle, and not to be found elsewhere. 2. The fact that the things he says and writes can be counted on to be accurate. 3. The fact that to this day a large portion of his income is still derived from gambling (usually poker but occasionally blackjack, sports betting, horses, video games, casino promotions, or casino tournaments). Thus, those who depend on David's advice know that he still depends on it himself. Other Books by David Sklansky Hold 'em Poker The Theory of Poker Getting The Best of It vii About Mason Malmuth Mason Malmuth was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1973 he received his BS in Mathematics from Virginia Tech, and completed their Masters' program in 1975. While working for the United States Census Bureau in 1978, Mason stopped overnight in Las Vegas while driving to his new assignment in California. He was immediately fascinated by the games, and gambling became his major interest. After arriving in California he discovered that poker was legal and began playing in some of the public cardrooms as well as taking periodic trips to Las Vegas where he would play both poker and blackjack. In 198 1 he went to work for the Northrop Corporation as a mathematician and moved to Los Angeles where he could conviently pursue his interest in poker in the large public cardrooms in Gardena, Bell Gardens, and Commerce. In 1983 his first article "Card Domination - The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon" was published in Gambling Times magazine. In 1987 he left his job with the Northrop Corporation to begin a career as both a full-time gambler and a gambling writer. He has had over 500 articles published in various magazines and is the author or co-author of 12 books. These include Gambling Theory ancl Other Topics, where he tries to demonstrate why only a small number of people are highly successful at gambling. In this book he introduces the