In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

Hello. I've been playing NLHE for a few years, and recently started dabbling in Omaha, Stud, and Razz. I hold my own at 3/6, 4/8, and 6/12 limit holdem at Canterbury, but that isn't saying much. My online game is full of leaks, from cash games, MTTs, bankroll management, and of course tilt. In an effort to educate myself and further myself as a student of the game, I purchased a nice lot of used books on ebay for a great price (14 books/$90 shipped). Can you guys suggest an order in which it would be best for me to read these, keeping in mind I've already read Super System and SS2? Here are the books:

Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1, 2 and 3: Dan Harrington
Professional No-Limit Hold'em Volume One: Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, Ed Miller
Farha On Omaha: Raisy Daisy himself
No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice: David Sklansky, Ed Miller
Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players: David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: David Sklansky
Small Stakes Hold'em: Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth
Caro's Book of Poker Tells: Mike Caro
The Psychology of Poker: Alan Schoonmaker
The Theory of Poker: David Sklansky
Zen and the Art of Poker: Larry Phillips
The Tao of Poker: Larry Phillips

Also, are there any must-read titles missing from that list, and if so where should they be incorporated in the reading list? Thanks for the help guys, cheers.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

There should really be a sticky in this forum on..

1. Highly recommended books
2. Order of reading

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

Probably follow whatever you enjoy. This isn't school.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

No one can answer this question better than you can. Read book reviews and discussions here and on other sites. Read the strategy forums, especially the FAQs. Determine what book is best for you at your current level of skill and play. If you know that you have leaks, you should study (not read) the most appropriate book or books for that subject.

You should not "dabble" in other games. If you want to learn a game, study it and play it exclusively for at least 2-4 weeks. then take a break and go back to your main game.

Do not sit down and read all these books. Find the best one for you now, and study it. Read it, play a bunch, concentrating on what you got out of the book, and then reread it. Play some more, and go back and reread the parts that you now think you need to study some more. When you think that you have seen noticeable improvement in your game, go on to the next book.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

dont read Zen and the Art of Poker: Larry Phillips
it's a waste of time....

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

What game do you play mostly on-line - NLH MTTs, NLH SnGs, NLH cash games or limit/Omaha/Stud/Razz?

Tell us what game you want to focus on, and we'll give you a study plan.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

A reply for the hard to respond to question:

I have read over half of these books. Study is more important than reading. I didn't understand SSHE until I had been through it three times. It might be useful to do a quick read of many of the technical books so you know what is in them and then refer back as needed, when you want to concentrate on a particular area.

You received a very diverse group. The non-technical ones are Zen, Tao and POP. They will help you with Tilt, if you can disciplin yourself to follow the advice.

I'd start with SSHE, probably the best limit book around, because of the information on flop texture reading and counting outs. HAP is much older, harder to read and a bit dated. Postpone that one until later.

For No Limit, NLHT&P is great, keep it high on the list followed by Vol. 1 HOH which is also somewhat applicable to cash NL games. Haven't read PNLHE but I hear it is good.

TOP is classic, and contains concepts applicable to all forms of poker believe it or not. Take some time reading this one.

TPAP is tournament advice for people proficient at cash games and expounds on the additional concepts applicable to tournaments.

HOH has tons of problems to work through, take a while to learn this material.

I can't comment on Sammy's Omaha book as I have not read it, but I intend to.

As for bankroll management, there should be some threads here, but I can't remember where exactly. The formulas are pretty simple.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tell us what game you want to focus on, and we'll give you a study plan.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would your study plan be for NLH, MTT's
Thanks

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Tell us what game you want to focus on, and we'll give you a study plan.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would your study plan be for NLH, MTT's
Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]
My study plan for NLH MTTs is NLH MTT HHs.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The non-technical ones are Zen, Tao and POP. They will help you with Tilt, if you can disciplin yourself to follow the advice.


[/ QUOTE ]

POP is mostly about the different types of players (i.e. LAG, TAG, etc) and what makes them tick...it's an excellent (and underrated) introductory guide to profiling your opponents and exploiting their weaknesses.

I would put it in the middle (or higher) of your overall list as it would be one of the first steps towards going beyond the basics and playing your opponents rather than just your hand.

FB

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

[ QUOTE ]
dont read Zen and the Art of Poker: Larry Phillips
it's a waste of time....

[/ QUOTE ]

Posts like these are a waste of time when they don't include your reasoning for making such a statement.

Order and other books.
 

1. 3 Times read: Small Stakes Hold'em: Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth
2. 2 Times read: The Theory of Poker: David Sklansky
3. Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players: David Sklansky, Mason Malmut
4. Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1, 2 and 3: Dan Harrington
5. Books that you are missing (see below).

the rest:
Professional No-Limit Hold'em Volume One: Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, Ed Miller
No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice: David Sklansky, Ed Miller
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: David Sklansky
Caro's Book of Poker Tells: Mike Caro
The Psychology of Poker: Alan Schoonmaker
Caro's Book of Poker Tells: Mike Caro
Zen and the Art of Poker: Larry Phillips
The Tao of Poker: Larry Phillips


below is a list of the poker books that i consider to be the most important for my development. there is no order.

The Theory of Poker
Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players
Small Stakes Hold 'em
Harrington on Hold 'em Volume I
Harrington on Hold'em Volume II
Harrington on Hold'em Volume III
Seven Card Stud for Advanced Player
High-Low Split Poker, Seven Card Stud and Omaha Eight or Better for Advanced Players
Sklansky on Poker
Gambling Theory and Other Topics
Getting the Best of It
Inside the Poker Mind
Poker Esasys I
Poker Esasys II
Poker Eassys III
Poker, Gaming, & Life



also good:

Weighing the Odds
Middle Limit Hold 'Em
No Limit Hold 'em theory & Practice
Professional No Limit Hold 'em
How Good is your Limit Poker
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

@OP
If you play cashgames:
"No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice" and "Professional No-Limit Hold'em Volume One" are jewels. Anyway ... where is Theory of Poker (sklansky)?

I'd recommend reading in this order:
ToP
NLT&P
PNL

Just skip through the books and read whatever you like.

Caro's Book of Poker Tells is great too ... but not as usefull as the others.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

I will forever recommend "Hold'em On The Come" to anyone who asks. And if you want to get into PLO "Professional Pot Limit Omaha" is a must-buy.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

Zen and the Art of Poker is a horrible horrible book. It contains a very low amount of poker content and the content it does contain SUCKS HARD.

The advice in that book in blatantly and insultingly wrong. Much of the advice goes against statistics and the other advice is useless. I mistakenly purchased a copy and couldn't fight my way through more than 10 pages. This book will make you worse at poker and is likely the worst poker book I've ever read. (I own about 25)

Just thinking about it is making me angry. NEVER READ Zen and the Art of Poker.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

If tilt is an issue for you, I believe there is some value in reading "Zen and the art of Poker" obviously you don't read it for strategy advice, but it does have good advice to get your head in the right place. It seemed to work pretty good for Steve Dannenmann.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

OP,

I'll tell you right now you're being unrealistic and going to overwhelm yourself if you try to set up a plan to read and absorb all of that. Pick a game you want to develop and start there, put the rest of them on that shelf for another time. My easy recommendations:

LHE: Small Stakes Hold'em, Hold'em for Advanced Players

NLHE cash: Harrington 1, Professional No Limit 1

NLHE tourneys/SNGs: Harrington 1 & 2

and in all cases, follow up with Theory of Poker (some say read this first, but I personally don't like it as a first book because some people lose interest).

As far as poker Zen, Tao, Psychology... these are better for a rainy day when you have nothing to do.

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

Skip over Farha on Omaha. I posted a review of it on this B&P board.

Pick up the Full Tilt Tournament Book and the Poker Tournament Formula

Re: In what order should I read these books? Any must-reads missing?
 

Read Phil Gordon's books they're actually good reads even though everyone hates him. Mathematics of Poker is also good to broaden your understanding.

Does anyone really read Caro? I did but I found the tells only added up to about $73.4332454564/hr.