However good TOP and HPFAP are I felt there was something subtle lacking which made the advice more difficult than necessary to put into practice. Not until I stumbled upon a copy of Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Hold'em by chance did I realize what it was: hand examples! Remember learning subjects like math? Very difficult to solidify the concepts by simply reading theorems. Most people require the repetition of doing many examples to use the theorems with any facility.

Poker is no different and the "Test Your Skills" sections at the end of each chapter in this book are worth their weight in gold. The "answers" to the examples are perfectly concise and there is no pretension that they are set in stone. You will be challenged just enough to think about each situation without feeling bogged down. For this reason Hilger's book serves as more than just another book on hold'em theory. It is "workbook" that will help you to start thinking through typical hand situations rather than simply memorizing tables of starting hands and odds. Overall, your ability to recall strategies for common hold'em situations will be much better having thought through the carefully chosen examples Hilger presents up front.

For the beginning/intermediate player (I can't really comment on expert players...yet), Hilger's is the best single book on the subject. Make no mistake, Hilger's books is comprehensive enough to take you into the tougher, higher hold'em limits and I envision coming back to it many times in the future for a refresher. In comparison, Jones' WLLH (the most often recommended introductory low-limit text) feels threadbare: very few examples, loose starting hands, and not nearly enough on post-flop play. Do yourself a favor and substitute Internet Texas Hold'em for WLLH in the trinity. You will have to do much less experimenting at the tables and will be well prepared to integrate the topics covered in HPFAP and TOP.

Most of the poker books I've read have a stream-of-consciousness format. Matthew's book is a revelation. Before I bought this book (two weeks ago, on a whim, because I laughed at the cover's illustration), I had been playing online for about six months. I'd read Sklansky, Malmouth, Krieger, etc., and had some success in $3-$6 online. I figured I knew the game better than most. But wow! I learned more from this book than I had from the other dozen I've studied. The starting hand chart is nothing less than brilliant in its design and research. It automatically adjusts your play for loose and tight games, by loosening your standards as the number of callers rises. It also adjusts your play for raised pots, and for playing in the blinds. The chapters on flop play showed me how much I didn't know about the game. I now find myself folding much more often on the flop than I used to. Matthew identifies several catagories of flops based on their characteristics (two-suited, triple-connected, etc), and cross references these with the hand you hold given your pocket cards (flush-draw, mid-pair, etc). He teaches how to play the hand on the flop given the number of opponents, and the preflop and flop action. I had recently been getting very frustrated by having a good preflop hand, and then almost always losing by the river! Now I understand why that was happening, recognize if a flop fits MY hand or is more likely to fit that of any of the five callers behind me. I now know when the reward will not compensate for the risk, and fold. This alone has saved me a lot of money and irritatation. In fact, it's fun to watch the play-out of the rounds after I fold flop-hands that just weeks ago I would have played, and see how much I'm saving.

I bought Hilger's book because it looked like a good book for a beginner. I learned a lot of basic principles that helped me find direction in my poker oddessy. Now, I've become a more advanced player, and thanks to Matthew's teachings, have risen in limits. Then, I've searched for some more advanced titles, and was dissapointed. Thats where I realized something. Hilger has accomplished writing a "Beginner" poker book thats is deceivingly advanced. His skill of writing seamlessly bridges the gap between simple and more complex topics, that it makes it very easy for a novice player to grasp these concepts.

I'm not saying you'll go from a home game donation machine to a Vegas Millionaire just by reading the book. However, read the book once, pick out the major topics, and you'll improve. Wait a month, read it again, you'll pick up a few more advanced teachings you didn't quite understand the first time around. Hilger's book has become my poker desk reference. While I have 7 poker books around the house, most look like they are fresh out of the Amazon bubble wrap. Except for Hilger's work. It looks like its been used and abused rather frequently, thats because its that good.

So...go ahead and purchase Hilger's "Internet Texas Hold'em." No matter what level player you are, you'll gain some valuable insights that will earn you more than a few Big Bets down the road.