Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller

One of the best books you can read, if you're interested in learning how to play low stakes limit Texas hold'em online, is Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller, David Sklansky, and Mason Malmuth. The subtitle of this book is Winning Big with Expert Play, and I don't think that's hyperbole. If you study and apply the information in this book, you can make a nice little bit of money playing lower and middle stakes Texas hold'em games, especially if you're playing online. The insights in this book sometimes apply to no limit hold'em too, but not all of them, but Ed Miller has written another book about no limit hold'em that's well worth reading, so check it out too.

Small Stakes Hold'em is organized very logically. The first section of the book covers some of the mathematical concepts that should matter to gamblers in general and poker players in particular. If you want to know how the winners and losers are decided, and where the money comes from, then this section explains it in detail.

The book then covers preflop concepts and hand categories. The discussion of each category of hand is intelligent, and even though a few charts are included, a smart player can learn enough from what's written in each section that she shouldn't need to consult or memorize the charts.

The next section of the book deals with postflop concepts like counting outs and determining pot odds. Advice for how to play the flop, the turn, and the river is all discussed. The various stages are explained in enough detail to make sense, but not in such excruciating detail that you'd ever be bored. (Unless you just think poker is boring, and if that's the case, what are you doing here anyway?)

The best part of the book is the section with the hand quizzes. This section gives you an opportunity to see if the lessons from earlier in the book have made sense, and whether or not you're ready to make the correct decisions in various situations. Limit hold'em is very much a game of math, and most situations have a correct play. It's not as imaginative game as no limit hold'em is. Small Stakes Hold'em is excellent reading for the beginner poker player.