Hold'em Excellence

Let me start with what this book isn't. This isn't a good first book for beginnning hold'em players. A more appropriate book for a newbie would be Lee Jones' excellent "Winning Low Limit Hold'em" (especially with the new 3rd edition that I haven't had a chance to read yet, but it's almost twice the thickness of my 2nd edition). This isn't a book that gives the reader a fleshed-out system on how to play limit hold'em. It's subtitle, "From Beginner to Winner" really isn't true. I don't think this book would take a complete newcomer and turn them into a winner.
To put it another way, this is a beginner course in poker theory. Many of the more experienced players have probably read (or should read) Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book". Gordon's book helps an advanced player creatively and actively think about no-limit hold'em. Hold-em Excellence helps a beginnner-to-intermediate player creatively think about low-to-mid limit hold'em. This book helps a player to start to think about questions such as when should I raise? How do I start to analyze the other players? How do I change my play based on table conditions? How strong is my hand, really? It helps players to understand why to do what they are supposed to. I should list a few caveats. The writing isn't stellar, and the grammar is at times bad. The book could have used a better editing job, as sometimes the summaries are full of info that wasn't in the preceding chapter. But this is a book about poker from a poker player, so please forgive the nitpicks. Also, this book is by no means complete, but it shouldn't be. A more advanced player could complain that the chapters aren't nearly as complete as they could be, but a new player would be overwhelmed by something more than this. This book isn't trying to be Sklansky's "Theory of Poker." Theory of Poker is post-doc work, and this is undergraduate level.
So, what is this book? This book is a great supplemental book. Don't get it as your first book, but once you have a basic idea as to how to play poker, read this so you can start to think about the whys, the maybes, and the what ifs. In this way, I think this book is excellent for both the beginner and the more advanced player. This is a book for any poker player who needs to move beyond the sheer basics of poker and begin to think about the game from a higher point of view.