2Is must reading for anyone planning to play hold 'em. It was the first definitive work on hold'em poker and was originally published in 1976. Yet it is still one of the best-selling poker books available, and in 1997 it was expanded and updated to account for today's modern double blind structure. The text is designed for someone relatively new to the game, but it still contains much sophisticated material which all players should find beneficial. It is probably best known for the Sklansky Hand Rankings, which made the game much simpler to quantify and understand. Some of the topics include how Texas hold'em is played, the importance of position, the first two cards, the key flops, strategy before the flop, semibluffing, the free card, slowplaying, check raising, heads-up on fifth street, and how to read hands.