How to Read Hands at No-Limit Hold'em

This book is written for the $1 - $2 and $2 - $5 no limit players who understand the math behind poker but long to improve their hand reading skills. Although Miller doesn't say it, he assumes you know the power of position, can calculate outs and know how to figure out EV. If you have not mastered those concepts, pick up a copy of No Limit Hold `em Theory and Practice by the same author and David Skylansky or pretty much anything by Daniel Harrington.Also, if you are serious about mastering the concepts in the book, you will need a pen and paper to write down the exercises. It's in working through the exercises Miller scatters throughout the book that your game will improve. You have to put in the work away from the table to get good at the game.For Miller, a lot of hand reading comes down to using his range of starting hands for the three types of players you will find at an average small stakes game:- The Nit: conservative in nature is mostly worried about losing big pots- The Regular: the standard player who fills out small stakes live action hold'em and usually does well in her home games- The Fish: a loose player who likes to gamble too much to be worried about pot odds and plays a wide variety of starting hands.Miller avoids the traditional descriptions of tight, passive, loose, and aggressive. Although he doesn't say it, I think is the general point regardless of how players play, they stick to a range of starting hands. How they act on the flop, turn and river narrows the range of their hands, regardless of their style of play.Three key concepts govern hand reading:1) Players play a certain way for a reason. It's up to you to divine that reason.2) Most players don't bluff at the correct frequency; usually they don't bluff enough though a few players bluff too much. It's easy to pick out the latter.3) Big bets mean more than small bets, a concept carried over from a whole range of books.Like most good poker books, Miller summarizes the key concepts towards the end of the book. In fact, like most poker books, if you skip to the key concepts and find that you know them all, you don't need the book.He ends the book with eight examples of hand reading in action. Again, you don't need Miller's book if you read the final hand reading examples and say, "Yeah, well I knew that."My bet, if you are playing $2 - $5 games and not making a living at it, you need the book. Consider it a reliable tell.

I have played poker full time for over ten years at mid-levels both live and online. I wanted to improve my hand reading skills and have been impressed with Mr. Miller's other books. Soon into studying this book I began to wonder if he was deliberately trying to constipate our thinking process. Of course, the math and the logic in the book seem flawless. The problem is that the methods taught are essentially unworkable as presented. I'll provide specifics, including his own words.In his very first example of how to read hands he estimates an opponent's range AFTER THE TURN as being 31 different hands comprised of 176 combos. Is that actually helpful? Remember, this is after the turn. You are in trouble if that's the best you can do.In example after example I found myself thinking, "Nobody, except maybe Rain Man, actually does this. It takes too long." Ed Miller himself provides a surprising confirmation. Consider this quote from page 167: "Throughout this book I've talked about the process of hand reading. I started by defining hand ranges. I introduced notation for hand ranges. And then I enumerated range after range in excruciating detail. If you try to do this at the table, you'll get mixed up, your opponents will call time on you, and ultimately your brain will melt....It's too much work." Then he says he'll now, in the last few pages of the book, tell us how he actually reads hands that won't make my brain melt. I thought, "Finally!"Unfortunately, all his examples of how he supposedly thinks we're just like all the preceding examples. I decided to check my perception. I timed how long it took to fast read, without trying for comprehension, a typical example of how Mr. Miller thinks during a hand. Three and a half minutes!Working through the material at home and getting intimately familiar with typical ranges will be valuable to most players. Grasping that playing your range against his/her range is a better way to think about it is also valuable. I was just disappointed that nowhere in the book does he actually share how he really does it in a live situation where one doesn't have all the time in the world and often doesn't want to be seen thinking laboriously about a hand decision.Further, his examples assume a level of familiarity with other player's hand choices that I think most people will find rarely occurs. Perhaps in a small room of regulars or a home game. Or online where you can rely on stats.While the math and logic material is very good, I really feel the author failed to deliver the most vital thing: how to convert all this to a true process player's can use at the table. Given the high price for a slim book, this gap is especially glaring. If you buy this book just know that you'll have to create your own methods to use in real situations.

It's a great, great book. It is extremely technical, and it is also a book you will have to consistently read over and over and over again unless it is already second nature to you. It is not a book for casual players or players who do not want to take poker to a semi-pro or professional level. It teaches you essential hand reading probabilities as well as helps you narrow hands down. Although I think that the initial ranges are a bit off for some players, I can understand that most of the ranges he has (default ranges for certain players) are extremely accurate. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who wants to take Poker extremely serious. It is a MUST HAVE. Like I said, it will take you quite a bit of time to develop your approach to poker as well as you will have to let go of the whole 'playing for fun' mentality and actually treat it as a war of attrition whenever you are on a poker table. I would also highly suggest getting ABC: Beyond the Player, written by the same author. That is also a fairly good book that will compliment your play style at the 1/2-5/10 NL tables. Great read, but extremely difficult to get into the force of habit. However, if Ed Miller actually reads this, FYI: I am having a hard time finding shortcuts within the system :/

Obviously reading this book wont make you instantly good at reading hands but Ed Miller is definitely the go-to guy if you want to learn how you could go about doing it. Concise, to the point and a rather quick read, as it is not a very thick book. Obviously the pointers inside need some serious practice which you should be willing to put into your game development anyway.

I wish I'd read this 3 years ago. Really informative and straightforward, a must read for all serious gamblers.

Jeder Pokerspieler sollte es in seiner Bibliothek haben. Pünktlich in ausgezeichnetem Zustand geliefert. Ed Miller ist einer der am meisten unterschätzten Autoren, aber seine Bücher sind sehr lehrreich.

I have largely improved my understanding on hands reading through this book. I would like to recommend this book to all serious beginners at this game.