Showing results by author "Mason Malmuth" in All Categories

This book replaces Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. Limit Texas Hold 'em is not an easy game to play well. To become an expert, you need to be able to balance many concepts, some of which occasionally contradict each other. In 1988, the first edition of this text appeared. Many ideas, which were only known to a small select group of players were now made available to anyone who was striving to achieve expert status,and the hold ’em explosion had begun.In 1999, this book went through a major expansion, called the 21st Century Edition, where an additional 100 pages were added which ...

Is there really such a thing as a professional gambler? The answer is an unequivocal, "Yes!" This book's authors are but two examples. Many thousands of people around the country make a good living exclusively from gambling. It is not easy, but it can be done. The key is to understand which games are beatable and know how to beat them. David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have spent many years writing about the finer points of poker, blackjack, and other beatable games. As you will see in the book, those other "games" are horses, sports, progressive slots and video poker, casino tournaments, ...

For today's poker players, Texas hold 'em is the game. Every day, tens of thousands of small stakes hold 'em games are played all over the world in homes, card rooms, and on the Internet. These games can be very profitable -- if you play well. But most people don't play well and end up leaving their money on the table. Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play explains everything you need to be a big winner. Unlike many other books about small stakes games, it teaches the aggressive and attacking style used by all professional players. However, it does not simply tell you to play ...

This book contains a series of interesting essays addressing subjects that most authors who write about no-limit hold ’em don’t get into. This includes ideas that range from “Game Theoretical Strategies” (GTO) to exploitive play, plus a few concepts applicable to poker tournaments. Most of the material won’t require a sophisticated understanding of mathematics, but there will be a few things that may require a little bit of thinking to be properly understood. Specific topics include “GTO Betting and Bet Sizing,” “What is Game Theory Trying to Accomplish?” “The Power of ...

Small stakes no-limit hold ’em games usually feature several players who play quite poorly. To achieve best possible results in these games it becomes necessary to exploit your opponents to the maximum, which is much different from the Game Theory Optimal (GTO) approach that is advocated by most players and poker instructors. This doesn’t mean that a GTO approach won’t win in today’s small stakes games, but it does mean that a highly exploitive player, providing he follows the right strategies, can do even better. Topics include “Making Them Play Bad,” “Smallish Stacks/Buy-Ins...

During the last few years, there has been much new information produced that comes under the heading of poker psychology. The idea is to cover that area of poker which is less strategic but still important to your overall success at the game, and a new area of poker mental coaching has appeared. But poker, being a game based on probability that can be very counterintuitive and which also has a large short-term luck factor can trick many players into thinking that things are a lot different than they are. Thus, the supposed need for psychological tools to help with ones play. But it turns ...

The poker industry has grown at a phenomenal rate during the past few years. It wasn t that long ago that only a few Nevada casinos had small poker rooms as an accommodation for its casino customers. But times have changed. Today there are many locations throughout the country that offer poker including several giant poker facilities. However, with this explosive growth, there are a few growing pains, and a lack of quality dealers is immediately apparent to anyone who either plays poker or works in the industry. Dealing poker is one of those occupations that look easy when preformed by a ...

The only information you'll ever need for learning to play this exciting fast-paced casino game.

Poker is an extremely complicated game. This is especially true if your form of poker is either Texas Hold 'em or Seven-Card Stud. In addition, the typical opponent that you will face has gotten tougher as the years have gone by. As a result, those of you who just play tight (also known as playing ABC) are unable to win more than just a small amount at the lower limits. As a result, to win at poker in today's modern game requires not only numerous skills, but also a lot of thinking about the game. This text contains many of the author's current ideas on poker and related subjects. Topics ...

Seven-card stud is an extremely complex game. Deciding on exactly the right strategy in any particular situation can be very difficult. Perhaps this is why very few authors have attempted to analyze this game even though it is widely played. In 1989, the first edition of this text appeared. Many ideas, which were only known to a small, select group of players, were now made available to anyone who was striving to become an expert, and a major gap in the poker literature was closed. It is now a new century, and the authors have again moved the state of the art forward by adding over 100 ...

Designed to aid the serious player beat the games in today's modern casino environment. The days when you could simply master a count and expect to be a winner are gone forever. As a result, winning at blackjack requires not only numerous skills, but also a lot of thinking about the game. Unlike most blackjack books, this text assumes that you already know how to count cards, and it introduces techniques that should be useful to the successful player. The topics covered are card domination (more commonly known as shuffle tracking), theoretical concepts, blackjack biases, current blackjack, ...

Poker is a game of many different concepts and ideas, and the relative importance of these ideas has changed over the years as different forms of poker gain and lose popularity. But the underlying theory of how to approach poker, and in particular no-limit hold ’em, still remains the same. Since 2005, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have each been writing four essays a year, covering a variety of topics, for the monthly Two Plus Two Online Poker Strategy Magazine. Some of these essays are easy reading, while some of them address the more challenging aspects of advanced poker theory, but ...

Most people who gamble are attracted by the action and excitement that this form of entertainment offers. But a small number of people are actually quite successful at gambling. How is this so? Why is it that these few can constantly make decisions that devastate their opponents? And what do you need to do to also become successful at this extremely challenging occupation? Gambling Theory and Other Topics: Expanded Edition was written in an attempt to answer these questions. In this book, you will be introduced to the dynamic concept of non-self-weighting strategies and shown how these ...

A guide designed to help you select the right machines and make the correct drawing decisions in the most popular of all slot games.

Gambling is something that many of us participate in, and this can include a trip to a casino or perhaps a home game of poker. But it turns out gambling, or aspects of gambling, will appear in many places, and this, of course, includes history, and that s what this book is about. First, we ll define exactly what gambling is, explain why both luck and skill (or lack of skill) are important, and also define something called non-self-weighting strategies which just happens to be the right way to gamble. Then we ll venture into the world of history looking for those situations where great ...

A hard-hitting guide to the best strategies for the most popular casino poker games--seven-card stud and Texas hold 'em--plus insights into winning at Omaha, Omaha eight-or-better, seven-card stud eight-or-better, razz, and lowball.

Poker is a game which many people play, but in which few excel. To be successful requires a great deal of work and study, and a deep understanding of those concepts that govern winning play. Yet it is fairly easy to win at poker. All you need to do is learn to play tight, and stick to easy games -- usually those prevalent at the low limits. But there is a problem with this. While this is a winning formula, it won t allow you to do much better than minimum wage. But there are a small number of players who do much better than this. These are the experts who have mastered the proper skills and...

Today’s modern poker rooms are certainly run better than many poker rooms were years ago. But there are still a large number of issues that need to be addressed which should help to produce good games that will allow cardrooms to maximize their business, and at the same time will be beneficial to the players. To accomplish this, poker room managers will need to understand certain concepts that will help to produce good games. And good games attract players. This includes regular players, some of whom are highly skilled, and recreational players who still need to win often enough so that ...

Success at poker does not come easy. However, poker can be extremely rewarding since it will allow you a degree of freedom that virtually no other profession can offer. Yet, very few people ever achieve this level of competence even though many try. The reason for this is that very few players are able to master all the skills that a top professional needs. Some are unwilling to make the effort -- "these players usually come to gamble" -- and others who try are not quite able to grasp the debt of sophistication that is required. This text contains those essays that this author wrote from ...

A detailed basic strategy with an easy-to-learn card counting system designed to cut the house edge and turn the odds in your favor.