Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky is must reading for anyone planning
to play in Nevada, California, or any place else where hold 'em is
offered including a home game. This was the first definitive work
on hold 'em poker and was originally published in 1976. Yet, it is
still one of the best-selling poker books available, and in 1997 was
expanded and updated to account for today's modern double blind structure.
The text is designed for someone relatively new to the game, but
it still contains much sophisticated material which all players should
find beneficial. It is probably best known for the Sklansky Hand Rankings,
which made the game much simpler to quantify and understand. Some
of the topics include how Texas hold 'em is played, the importance
of position, the first two cards, the key "flops," strategy
before the flop, semibluffing, the free card, slowplaying, check raising,
head-up on fifth street, and how to read hands. Not only was this
text, which is Sklansky's first work, a major contribution to the
explosive growth of this game, it is also a book that should be read
by all serious players.
