HOLD'EM POKER

'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.