‘Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em’ by Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn

This greatly anticipated book is now available in e-book form and would be a valuable addition to any no limit poker players collection. ‘Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em’ tends to concentrate on the 6 handed cash format up to the $1/$2 level but as the authors explain the concepts discussed are “highly relevant to the vast majority of no-limit players, whether you play live games or online, shorthanded games, full-ring, or even heads-up.”
The book is primarily targeted to more experienced players who are looking to make a living from the game as the “online $1-$2 6-max represents a critical threshold for professional players,” where players are able to earn sufficient to keep on playing on a professional level.
SSNLH explains that basically “there are only two ways of making money in no-limit hold’em, make the best hand or “steal the pot.” and so the concepts of ‘steal equity’ and ‘showdown equity’ are introduced. These concepts are influenced by a number of factors such as position, pot size, etc and states that during a hand when “the combined equity is worth more than what you have to risk to play on, the situation is profitable,” and “when the combined equity is too small to justify the risk, [it is best to] fold.”
The first part of the book introduces the different form of stealing the pot which a player has to be familiar with to play profitably at this level, such as stealing the blinds, taking advantage of position and continuation betting on several streets. Also the concept of the “the 3-Bet, 4-Bet, 5-Bet Game” is introduced.
The next part of the book focuses the players attention being ever mindful of position, pot control betting, adapting to the different players at the table, and making value bets.
The final section of SSNLH “Part 4: Beyond $1-$2” provides more in depth knowledge of the various moves complete with practical examples.
Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em is another fine work from Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn and is likely to make an important and valuable contribution to the readers understanding of some of the more complex elements of the game.