Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em (2010) by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta [Dr.Soc]

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One of the more anticipated poker strategy texts of the year has finally arrived with Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em, the latest offering from collaborators Ed Miller, Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn. Expectations are high thanks largely to the trio’s earlier Professional No-Limit Hold’em, Volume 1 (2007), a book that received much acclaim for its introduction of several influential ideas and concepts relevant to no-limit hold’em. Though not a sequel per se, SSNLH provides a valuable continuation of the discussion begun in trio’s earlier work, with the authors once more providing many useful and innovative strategies for those looking to push their no-limit hold’em games to the highest levels.

Although the authors’ earlier book received much praise, there were those who observed at the time of its publication that some (or most) its advice did not necessarily apply to online games as they were being played at the time the book first appeared. The authors readily admit that Professional No-Limit Hold’em, Volume 1 did not specifically address online play, and thus with Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em their attention has been redirected toward preparing players for the particular variety of no-limit hold’em one finds at the $1/$2 six-handed NLHE tables online.

At first glance, such a focus may appear to give SSNLH an inordinately narrow scope, thus making for a book targeted at a highly-specialized audience. However, as the authors explain, the concepts discussed with regard to the game they’ve chosen apply to all no-limit hold’em games, making the book “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.”

That said, the book is most certainly not for beginners. As the authors point out, “online $1-$2 6-max represents a critical threshold for professional players,” with many players currently making their living solely playing at those stakes. Thus does the book primarily offer instruction not to the recreational player or part-timer, but to those looking to play no-limit hold’em at a professional level. It should be additionally noted that while the authors do reintroduce certain concepts from Professional No-Limit Hold’em, Volume 1 – e.g., the “commitment threshold,” “Stack-to-Pot Ratios” (SPR), and the “REM Process” (Range, Equity, Maximize) – those concepts are accompanied by explanations that do not assume the reader’s familiarity with the earlier book.

The premise with which SSNLH begins, and upon which much of its advice rests, is the observation that every no-limit hold’em hand can be characterized as having both “steal equity” and “showdown equity.” “When you really get down to it,” as the authors put it, “there are only two ways of making money in no-limit hold’em,” namely, “make the best hand” or “steal the pot.”

Indeed, every hold’em hand has both some degree of “showdown equity” and “steal equity,” and those equities can change dramatically with the many other variables that affect how a hand is played (e.g., position, opponents’ styles, stack sizes, pot sizes, one’s cards, the community cards, the action from street to street, etc.). It is crucial, argue the authors, always to be mindful of both the chance of showing down the best hand as well as the chance of winning without a showdown, and thus remain cognizant of the fact that 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.”

Reflecting a burgeoning trend in the publication of poker strategy texts, SSNLH has been published as an “eBook” and is currently only available as a downloadable, password-protected .pdf file. The book can either be read on one’s computer, or printed as a hard copy. The eBook format has certain obvious limitations, although there are benefits as well, such as the ability to search the text by word or phrase.

Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em is a well written, high-level discussion of no-limit hold’em that does a masterful job of explaining difficult, complex concepts with clarity and precision. It is a book that requires – and rewards – multiple readings, and will likely join the trio’s earlier volume as one of the more significant contributions to strategy books on no-limit hold’em cash games.





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