might be the best book for low limit players.
591404
playing a decent amount of poker and reading 10 of the top books available I would have to say for cost, time, ease of understanding if you have been playing regular for a few months or more, might be the best book out there for live low limit cash game players. There are so many better more detailed reviews here, if you do not want to read them all don't worry about it. The book in 1 way or another will help your thinking and decisions at the table.
4086164
This book is easy to read,and is filled with plenty of information to advance your games. Joe Andrews takes you through the basics,intermediate, and advanced play in a unique way which can not help but improve your game. This book is well worth the read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
282016
This is a great book. I have read the "Secrets of no limit holdem" books and been waiting for a rewrite (because poker keeps changing), or a book like like this - as a poker review for me - but as a great book for people who haven't read many other books yet.

One thing I liked is that Jonathan took time in several places to discuss how to play against the "maniacs". We do run into people like this, and the general advice in the past has been to wait until you have the nuts and then take them down. In this book Jonathan explains for many, many different situations how to play against both tight and loose opponents and also often includes how to play against the maniacs.

This book shows lots of ranges for your own play, and lots of ranges for what to expect your opponents to have. Everyone advises that thinking about ranges of hands, rather than just specific hands, is very important, but few books take the time to actually explain and visualize these ranges. By the use of charts for ranges we are better able to visualize them.

This book covers many, many situations and I find the repetition of the same good advice for various situations to be helpful.

The book is long, and you probably won't read it at one sitting, but it is worth the effort. And the organization makes it easy to return to sections you want to review.
4797459
This is a TEXTBOOK. Like when preparing for important exam, I underlined a lot of things I find helpful.  Unfortunately, I feel I'm not good enough in limit hold'em since I learned the game playing no limit, sometimes even thinking that limit hold'em is not as interesting. So, the best thing this book has given me was that it changed my perspective (which is always a good thing) and it has shown me how to see the game from different angles. Before, I thought that limit hold'em players don't have many weapons when playing (like, you can re-raise all you want with your pocket aces but you know you'll have a bunch of people calling you because of the incredible pot odds you're giving to them) and that no limit players have a lot more arsenal under their belt (the biggest being sizing  their bets or moving all in) but, again, proven I was wrong. Actually, people do let you steal their blinds even at low limit, and they can and do fold (occasionally) to a re-raise (which I thought impossible). After spending few days playing limit hold'em I was amazed to see some of the advices applied by myself (and seeing them work) and even more amazing, exactly knowing who at the table did read the book and who, on the other hand clicks on "call" or "raise" button with not much logic to it. I'm no way near being consistent enough in playing limit hold'em (bad beats can be so frustrating and happen more often, but at the same time, you're the one giving them to other a lot more often) and for now, it can be hard for me to sustain from limping EP with T9 of hearts but not brave enough to raise it. But, as I said, this book is a textbook example of a TEXTBOOK so there are a lot of pages to be re-read over and over again.
1684334
Let me clear the basic facts about what kind of book this (and the rest of the series) is; it is a game colection, very resonably anotated, with critical points arising somewhere at the end of opening phase or at the begining of middlegame. (It is not a bambambum tactics which resolve a game in instant.) At that point thematic tactical move arises which usually changes the evaluation of position by (dissa)prooving the way to handle it as black or white. Since the whole game is covered, we can see the ultimate logic of playing that position to win, but in number of games inferior side is giving its best to stay in the game. Although cover of this book is focusing on french defence, out of its 236 pages the french is having around 1/4 of it having 68 pages. The rest of the book comprises of 50 pages of Caro-Kann, 22 pages of Scandinavian, 40 pages of Pirc, 12 pages of Kings fianchetto and 26 pages of Alekhine, to be precise. What I like the most in this book is that authors managed to find a good balance between descriptive and analytic in annotating the games from the book. Also, the most of the games in here are very new, which is nice from the teoretical point, but I like that authors also included some of the great clasic games from those openings, which can be very instructive.

I give this book a strong four stars, and can recommend it to the practitioners of theese openings as a useful reminder and refreshment.
4588152
If you read this book thouroghly it will improve your game tremendously. The bidding in it is antiquated and it is written as a very dense textbook, but the declarer play is incredible. Love describes in detail all the different kinds of squeezes and how to execute them. He has detailed examples for you to work through, and then problems for you to try on your own before looking at the answers. His coverage of strip squeezes was a bit confusing, but he covers simple, double, and compound squeezes wonderfully (he covers more exotic squeezes, too). However, I wish he had discussed defending against squeeze plays more (it was only mentioned briefly). This book is not for the beginner or casual player, but it's fantastic if you're serious about bridge.
4835706
I should give this book 5 full stars as it really is one of the best endgame book available.  At our local chess club the Masters give lectures on Thursday nights.  During their endgame series of lectures I was able to find every example they used in this book. The master's lecture concept was that rather than building up an opening repetiore, the beginning player would do better to build up an ending repetiore. By studying the endgame you learn how to attack and you learn the purpose of the middle game.  And, since the end game occurs when you're usually in time trouble, the ability to play the endgame like a machine while your opponent must calculate every move is a great advantage.
However, I do have a few small gripes about this book.
1. I have found perhaps half a dozen endgames where I've come up with alternative lines where a win is not forced.  Chernev does give variations on how to win many variations, but there are times when it appears that the opponent is not playing the best possible line.
2. Endgames often center around a theme or technique.  Chernev gives you several endgames which demonstrate a technique, but he never specifically says "This position contains these key points which will lead us to use this particular technique".  It is left up to the reader to figure out what the actual techniques used in the examples are.  More importantly, it's left up to the reader to determine what factors require which techniques.
3. Occasionaly a term is used without explaination.  For example: "1. K-B6 and the white king is said to have the opposition".  But what is "opposition?"  It is not explained.  As in point #2 this is left for the reader to figure out.  (By the way, there is an excellent description of Opposition in Jeremy Silman's book "How To Reassess Your Chess")
However, even with these faults, this is still one of the best endgame books available.  Study the pawn endings until you can do them in your sleep, and then study the Rook endings.  Then follow up with the rest of the book.  This is the book you use to build up your "endgame repetiore".
4772635
There are thousands of chess books to choose from, and this holds especially true for an established chess player. Narrowing down which books are the best to get isn't easy. I will therefore try and point out why I feel that "More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors" should be placed high on your consideration list.

"More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors" will greatly increase your depth of understanding of many very important concepts in chess. The author uses his extensive knowledge, based on many years of teaching, to create lessons that implant ideas and the techniques needed to use them. Pure genius is an understatement. Knowing just what the mind of a 1000 to 1600 rated player needs to be fed makes is one major factor that makes this book superior to all others that use a move by move comment.

"More Unbeatable Chess for Juniors" is an expansion on this author's "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" (one of the most popular chess books written). If you are an average tournament player or above then having read the author's previous book(s) is not necessary to use this one.

Whereas, there is a heavy focus on opening concepts and lines, and important middlegame strategies there are several excellent endgames. Understandably, if you want to learn endgame technique, get an endgame specialty book. However, this book is packed with important opening lines not found in other books (some of the variations after 1. e4 c5 2. b3 - Sicilian, 1.e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Bc4, plus variations in the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's-Indian, Caro-Kann, Pirc, Modern, Scandinavian,  Petrof's, Goring Gambit, Scotch, Ruy Lopez lines with the Marshall, Exchange, Keres, Birds and Steinitz variations, Benoni and Bird's Openings).

This book will also help you learn to plan ahead. Once again the words I will use to describe what you will find here - "pure genius".
2533586
I've read several Hold'em books, but they all were describing Limit Hold'em ring games rather than the type of game I usually play: No-Limit Hold'em tournaments.  This book was exactly what I was needing.  Many of the points I already knew, but didn't know the logic behind them and there were dozens of new ideas that I had never grasped before.  This book helped me recognize the leaks in my game as well as the moves I was doing 'right' but couldn't reproduce consistently because I didn't understand them well enough.  He describes how to play different styles as well as how to play against them, tricks and traps, pot odds and betting amounts (finally a realistic pot odds section) plus great information on reading the table and how to use the information you gather.  The only problems that I had with the book was a few typos and the fact that Vol. 2 isn't out yet.  I can't recommend this book highly enough.  Just look at the ratings on this site.  It isn't a fluke that 45+ people have all (except one) given this book 5 stars.
4726118
I will keep this short and to the point.  I have read just about every  Hold em book out there.  This is the best book ever written for those who  play the low limits.  It took me from a break even player to a consistent  winner.  If you are looking for a similar improvement in your game, buy  this book!
4430131
I highly recommend this book. It presents the most detailed charts and tables to date for Limit Texas Holdem. Data was obtained through simulation.

Charts and tables are given for both loose and tight games. Great pains have been taken to explain every detail presented in these charts and tables. Special charts are provided for stealing blinds, and for defending blinds against stealers.

Several appendices are included that will help guide play after the first round of betting is completed, but the most valuable gems are the easy to understand color-coded starting hand charts themselves.

I am in no way affiliated with the authors or the publisher of this book.
3934013
While my rating is over 2000, my play suffers from what a GM friend calls "approximate tactics."  Yeah, I may already recognize the mating patterns at a glance, but there's often only one precise path. So one has to follow intuition with calculation, then expand the search if the first candidate moves fail.  This book is probably not for players under 1400...but it's a brilliantly-organized book in that the combinations are not too hard.
2689679
My comments relate to the Limit Hold'em content of the book, although I suspect it is fairly consistent with the book in its entirety.
I make no pretences about the fact that I am an average Hold'em player.  I play limit anywhere from 3/6 to 10/20 and make a nice profit over time, but I am definately not the kind of player that walks from a table to a round of applause :)
Phil on the other hand needs no introduction.  His reputation (great at cards, shocking at manners!) is known to anyone who takes an interest in the game.
Like many players though, I rushed out and bought his book when it hit the shelves, and like most I was hugely disappointed...  It's a story of "I'm Phil Hellmuth, I'm great, and I'm gonna keep telling you I'm great, and now I have your money for a book full of rubbish!"  I threw it the corner with the same feeling you get when another player draws to an inside straight and hits - bad beat!
Let's face it.  What seperates Mr Hellmuth and other big name players from the rest of us is an instinctive ability to accurately read a player, to the extent that they can almost read the suit of your cards, let alone the value.  From there they pressure you when you're weak and back off when you're strong.
For us mere mortals we need to rely more on the technical aspects of poker that make the foundation of any good player's game.  Play Poker like the Pros is extremely light-on here.  In fact more information can be found for free in an hour searching a few online forums.
If you want to actually improve your game, any books by Sklansky, Malmuth or "Middle Limit Holdem" by Ciaffone & Brier and the like are the way to go.  If your new to the game and need a solid introduction, you can't go past "Winning Low-Limit Hold'em" by Lee Jones.  Just don't waste your money with Hellmuth.
So how am I making a killing?
Well, there seems to now be a wave of new players,  "Phil Hellmuth's Pheasants" I call them - the sixth animal not discussed in his book - and they're just waiting to be plucked.
Invariably there seems to be at least 1 at every table.  You'll see them three betting pocket 5's pre-flop and raising on the flop with second and middle pair "to see where their at".  These players are the ones that were never good enough to begin with, hence they actually believe the diatribe, and have not improved with their latest book purchase.
Once identified these muppets can be targeted so easily, because they become so predictable pre and post flop and almost all of them have zero talent on the turn and river play.  (Interestingly, areas that are hardly touched by Phil's book.)
In the 12 months prior to the release of "Play Poker like the Pro's" I averaged a profit of $57 per hour. Like I said at the start, fairly average for the stakes I play.  Since his book and the adjustments to my game to target the Pheasants that average has risen to $74ph.
All I can say is "Hurry up and release your next book Phil, so we can both get rich!"
438555
I agree with the other reader who said that this is a must read for anyone under 1800 USCF.
This is a nice, neat concise book (104 pages) that covers everything you need to know about the endings to become a very strong club player.
It covers basic mates, as well as rule of the square, rook endings, philidor and lucena positions, triangulation, pawn endings, etc. etc.
This book has nice diagrams, and the explainations are excellent. This book does not weight one down with a lot of extra verbage.
Many endgame books are a real drudge to work through. This one is just the right blend of material to keep it interesting. Also, the book's petite size means that you will be able to finish it in a reasonable period of time.
344162
The sections on no limit holdem are great.  Since not many cardrooms play the other games, a large part of the book isn't really that applicable today unless you are in Vegas and have access to the other games.
3608558
The thing that really impresses me about this book is that is a great book for players of all levels.  I know that sounds impossible but it is true. While not being a beginners book, I highly recommend it for beginners. The beginning chapters will be invaluable as you learn to play your instrument. For advanced level players, this book is excellent if you have not concentrated on notation and analysis of melodic rhythms. I have gone through the whole book and there are chapters I have no interest in studying. Other chapters are extremely useful for my particular needs. When I first starting with the beginning chapters, I thought this book might be too easy for me and show me nothing new. As I preceded, I found that different aspects of rhythm and time were approached and extremely valuable for my playing. Later chapters, while well presented, had aspects suited to players seeking to delve into aspects of time I am not interested in, such as polyrhythms, but even those chapters are interesting, if for nothing else, to understand what they are and how they work. I would not take the time to actually learn them however. It also had some interesting pages in the appendix section dedicated to scales, arpeggios, and modes. It is a very well written book with excellent audio examples. The one criticism is that sometimes the CD might say 37b, but the book says 37 cont'd. I had no problem with this small inconsistency and I am sure nobody else will either. I really well written book in an area that is not often covered.
1639316
I can't understand the negative reviews. Silman has used his many years of coaching experience to teach players the essential endgame knowledge for their level up to mastery.  He then provides a reading list which includes Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and Fundamental Chess Endings by Muller & Lamprecht.  He does not overwhelm improving players with esoteric and boring endgames,  He does, however, treat some rather rare endings because knowledge of the properties and powers of the pieces involved is necessary for players at that level to progress further.  The book is not designed for masters nor does it overwhelm the 1400 player with 100+ "positions you must know."  Truth be told, at that level most of us rarely survived to an endgame, but if we did we could win by not butchering a basic king & pawn or rook ending, or accindentally stalemating our opponent when a queen ahead.

Many years ago, I started with Capablanca's A Primer of Chess.  The great Cuban is correct in his assertion that simple endings are a great tool for learning the properties of pieces.  It is strange how often I have been able to beat higher ranking players in an endgame. Basically, my understanding of the powers of the king is better than theirs.  I am not a whiz at bishop and knight endings, but they rarely occur and few players at the local club and tournaments are.  Those guys are better at tactics and openings, too.

I have seen Grandmasters disparage endgame knowledge.  First, Fischer and now Carlsen rose to the top by proving that even strong GMs are weak in the ending and can be outplayed in the middlegame because of that weakness. Silman is right, a relatively small amount of study can pay big dividends.

I have forced myself to wade through several books on the ending and abandoned several others part way through.  I wish this book had been available 40 years ago.  It could have saved me a lot of time and frustration.