New Hold'em and Omaha Books Fill Gaps in Poker Literature By Rod Allison

When a poker book fills a gap that exists in poker's growing library of educational literature, its value to students of poker increases tremendously. Until now, one of those gaps has been instructional material on the new skills that a player needs to learn when he wants to move up the money ladder from low-limit to middle-limit poker. Middle Limit Holdem Poker does an admirable job of gap-filling by presenting fresh, new material designed to help upwardly mobile players attain a higher level of poker profit.

Bob Ciaffone, noted Card Player columnist and author of three other top-notch poker books, enlisted the writing talents of fellow Card Player columnist (and former Ciaffone student) Jim Brier to produce Middle Limit Holdem Poker, a strong addition to the cadre of hold'em books on the market. Subtitled "How to be a big winner at America's most popular form of poker in the 21st century," this meticulously written book delivers on its how-to promise by presenting theory and concepts, followed by numerous hand-play examples that specifically illustrate and support the authors' general principles.

"To beat a middle-limit game for decent money, you will need to take a different approach in your play, and learn some new tricks," Ciaffone writes in his introduction. What's so different about playing $2-$4 and $4-$8 hold'em as opposed to $10-$20 up to $40-$80 limits? "Low-limit play features a large number of players seeing the flop, and thus hamstrings the amount of tricky moves you can make," the authors note. "A lot of pots in bigger games are heads-up or threehanded … so your game must transform, because you have so few opponents between you and the money." Further noting that "the threehanded pot is the dividing line between aggressive and solid play," the authors add that you cannot play "the same stodgy and solid poker" that you played against larger fields at the lower limits and expect to get the money. In other words, you must "gear your play to the number of opponents you have." That said, Ciaffone and Brier proceed to teach the skills of shorthanded play, showing you how to change gears to speed up or slow down the action in the middle-limit milieu. In fact, learning to play shorthanded poker correctly can be profitable at any level.

Chapters include preflop play (seasoned advice on how to play from early, middle, late, and blind positions); play on the flop, the turn, and the river; special topics (expert commentary on bluffing, check-calling, check-raising, reraising, slow-playing, and staying out of trouble); and nonstandard games (those with a small blind that's two-thirds of the big blind, big river bets, and extra money in the pot). The authors illustrate the general principles in each section with numerous play-of-the-hand models documented from actual games, along with their advice on how to play in each situation (more than 400 examples are included). With 332 tightly packed pages (including useful hold'em odds charts), Middle Limit Holdem Poker is a bargain at $25 plus shipping and handling.

Another book that has filled an important instructional gap is Omaha High-Low: Play to Win With the Odds, by Bill Boston, a successful middle-limit player (and entrepreneur) with degrees in accounting and business administration. Noting the lack of reliable statistics on the performance expectations of particular Omaha high-low hands, Boston decided "to run a few hands through the hand analysis function in Wilson Software's Turbo Omaha High-low Split." He started his tedious work a year ago by running 10,000 simulations on some of the stronger hands, but being a numbers perfectionist, wound up running between 100,000 and a million simulations on 5,277 possible Omaha high-low hands. The result is a 167-page, spiral-bound book that includes about 50 pages of how-to instruction and 110-plus pages of statistical charts.

Rather than throw the numbers at you in random fashion, the author has organized them in a logical presentation designed to help you use them rather than get confused by them. The charts list each hand's "hand rank" (its place among the 5,277 hands); its high, low, and scoop percentages when it is suited, single-suited, and double-suited; and its cash value in a $10-$20 game. Boston uses the statistics to illustrate how a hand's rank changes when a card within it is exchanged for a better card. For example, he notes that K-Q-J-10 unsuited ranks 2,457th, but when an ace is substituted for the 10 (A-K-Q-J), the hand's rank increases to 900th. Further, if a deuce is substituted for the jack (A-K-Q-2), the hand's rank climbs to 198th. And what happens when the queen is removed and replaced by a 3? See Page 39 in the book.

"In no other flop game is proper hand selection as key to winning as it is in Omaha high-low," Boston asserts. "My intent is to furnish you with enough stats to give you the tools needed to master the art/science of hand selection." He fulfills his intent to the max, throwing in other juicy morsels such as "The 100 Best Hands Based on Win Percentage," "The 50 Worst Hands," A-2-X-X hands that are losers, trap hands to avoid, and "The Three Bandits" that will rob you blind. At $19.95, here's another bargain for your bucks.

If you've been thirsting for reliable statistics for Omaha high-low, or hungering for knowledge on how to move up the limit hold'em money ladder, Omaha High-low: Play to Win With the Odds and Middle Limit Holdem Poker will satiate your appetite – and build your bankroll, to boot.

Note: These books are available through Card Player. For more information, visit www.pokerbooks.com.