Ed Miller is unlikely to be a familiar name to most readers of this review. He is not a big name pro and he does not have any significant tournament results to his name. Instead, his career as a poker author arose from his contributions to the 2+2 forums, where he had developed a reputation as one of the site's most respected members. Getting Started In Hold 'Em ("GSIH") is his second book and, as the title suggests, is squarely aimed at the beginners' market.
The format of the book will come as no surprise to anyone with a 2+2 title in their collection. The layout is generally clear and concise and does not give the impression of being overwhelming, a crucial point for any newcomer to the game wishing to learn the basics. Naturally enough, the book begins with a section entitled 'Nuts And Bolts' which explains the hand rankings and basic rules of Texas Hold 'Em. Many readers may feel tempted to skip this section but it is an essential element of any beginner-level book and the section soon develops into exercises into hand reading, identifying 'the nuts' and assessing hand strength when all cards are out.
Part 2 of the book, the section on Limit Hold 'Em, runs for just under 80 pages and is the largest section of the book. The beauty of the section is the way it has been organized, essentially sitting a complete beginner down in a 9-handed, live $1/2 ring game and playing a single orbit from their perspective. This allows concepts such as position to be introduced to the reader in a logical order as they become relevant. However, as the discussion only relates to a single hand at a time, the concepts are not overwhelming to the newcomer.
The recommendations in the first hand sets the tone for the tight, aggressive style to be taught throughout the book. The player is dealt pocket Jacks in the big blind and is encouraged to raise facing two limpers and a call from the small blind. The section goes into some detail as to why a raise here is a good thing and immediately starts work on overcoming the newcomer's natural instinct to call. This is further reinforced as the hand develops and is repeated throughout the book. One good feature of the narrative is that key points are summarised in shaded sections as they arise, reinforcing them to the reader.
prove overwhelming, even to a complete novice. At the end of the section there is a summary which pulls together all the concepts discussed and provides some pre-flop starting hand requirements although, to be fair, the layout of this is not the best I've seen.
Many beginner books would be content to stop there, but GSIH then goes on to introduce No-limit Hold 'Em in the next section. Whilst some might query the wisdom of a new player leaping into a No-limit cash game the fact is that NLHE is the variant most likely to have been seen on TV by a new player, and will undoubtedly be of interest to them.
The section is broken down relatively simply into playing a short stack and playing a big stack and it ultimately recommends a relatively straightforward strategy of short buy-in poker which is designed to reduce the amount of decisions faced by a new player starting out in NLHE cash games. At the very least this should hopefully restrict their potential downside while they learn the fundamentals of the game.
The last major section of the book is an introduction to NLHE tournaments of various formats, covering satellites, Sit 'n' Go's and Multi-table tournaments. There are useful basic strategy discussions for each format although clearly these do not go much beyond a basic starting guide.
Each of the major sections ends with recommendations for further reading which, in general, picks out high quality books which should set a player on a good course for the game they're interested in.
As an entry-level book, GSIH scores highly in terms of clarity and breadth of coverage across the 3 main forms of poker likely to be of interest to a new player. Clearly the book will be of less benefit to a more experienced player but it make no pretence about its target audience and, with regard to that particular cross-section, I consider it to be the best source of information available.
Score: 7 out of 10
Excellent entry-level book covering the 3 most popular poker formats. Experienced players will find it of less use but it's a solid start point for a new player's poker library.
