By Paul McGuire
Matthew Hilger has been playing poker online successfully for the last few years. He has done well in 🍉 live tournaments, too. He made the money and placed 33rd in the 2004 World Series of Poker and won the 🍉 2002 New Zealand Poker Championship. He started playing poker in college and improved his game while in graduate school.
When he 🍉 took a job with Chiquita Foods in Costa Rica, he began playing in weekly tournaments at the local casino. Little 🍉 did he know he played and even won against some of the best players in the world like Humberto Brenes. 🍉 He started to play online after he transferred to Argentina, where gambling is illegal.
From those experiences to today, he shares 🍉 what he has learned from playing over seven thousand hours online in his book, Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from 🍉 an Internet Pro, which specifically focuses on limit Texas Hold'em. If you are thinking about playing on the internet, this 🍉 is the book for you.
Hilger's book is roughly broken into nine sections. During the first three, "The Introduction," "Poker Concepts," 🍉 and "Starting Hands," he gives a general overview about poker which is beneficial to any new player. He includes a 🍉 few definitions and familiarizes the reader with internet jargon. The charts and graphs he includes are easy to read and 🍉 he suggests printing them out and keeping them next to the computer while playing.
Hilger spends almost 100 pages discussing the 🍉 flop. He breaks down the concept further by discussing flopping the nuts, sets/trips, two pair, top pair/overpair, middle/bottom pairs, flush 🍉 and straight draws, overcards, and my favorite... trash hands.
His strongest section is his thoughts on "The Turn." His discussion on 🍉 raising on the turn to show the strength of one’s hand instead of slowplaying quickly rubbed off on me. I 🍉 won a few more pots in recent games instead of losing to suckouts on the river because I failed to 🍉 properly protect my hand.
Hilger also spends time on "Playing Your Opponent" and "Bankroll Management." He highlights taking advantage of your 🍉 opponents' strengths and weaknesses. He also talks about the fluctuations that might occur in a bankroll and why the player 🍉 needs to stick to a formula of 350 big bets to insure he or she does not go broke at 🍉 that level.
His last chapter is made up of different topics such as site and game selections, online tells, high vs. 🍉 low limits, stack sizes, playing multiple tables, personal record keeping, taking notes on other players, tournaments, promotions, collusion and cheating.
The 🍉 end of each section has a "Chapter Review" and a quiz called "Test Your Skills." Hilger asks questions regarding different 🍉 levels ($3/$6 vs.R$10/$20) and gives clear and concise answers. The best parts of his book were the random "Internet Tips" 🍉 which appear throughout. This one was my favorite:
"On the Internet, players tend to be a little more aggressive than in 🍉 live play... since many opponents can't resist trying to bluff at a pot." (Hilger, Page 212)
Hilger spends most of his 🍉 time giving an overview about poker. Although his "Internet Tips" are helpful, he doesn't reveal anything that has not already 🍉 been discussed in other books of this nature. He only focuses on Limit Texas Hold'em and the reader will not 🍉 find any tips on playing No Limit nor playing tournaments. His book can be helpful for beginners, but it should 🍉 not be the first book one reads about poker. It's a solid addition to any poker library, especially for online 🍉 players looking to improve their games.
