Starting to read poker books
 

So I just bought Super-System 2 and am wondering what I should buy next (won't be reading them till I am done with SS2 tho obv). I can get Phil Gordon's 3-book-set (Green, Blue, and Black) for $38 and I think that's a hella good price...so yeah. Are his books recommended? Also another thought is Theory of Poker by Sklansky.

Oh and I am trying to focus on cash games currently, if that has an effect on what books to read.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

i read sklansky's no "limit hold'em theory and practice" and found it very helpful
he mentions tournament play here and there but it is heavily geared towards cash games. it costs $30 though

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Don't know about others, but gordon's green book is solid.

Getting started in hold'em is ok too, and sklansky's nl t&p also (but I would recommend you'd start with other books, since this is a bit more advanced).

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

You sound like you're trying only for Hold'Em, in which case you don't need Super System one, because the Hold'Em section is exactly the same. The other games are different though so if you ever branch out you may need it. Other good Hold'Em books are Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players (although this is limit poker many of it's ideas are still applicable), The Theory of Poker and No Limit Hold'Em: Theory and Practice. Phil Gordon's Green and Blue Books' are very basic but also very good and very easy to understand. These are the main ones you should be looking at if you're starting off.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

You've got to help us narrow it down.

Are you looking for NL hold'em tournaments or NL hold'em cash game books? Or limit hold'em books?

Little Green is good. Little Blue is OK, but skippable. Little black is just Poker: The Real Deal in a different dust jacket and is mostly crap.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Small Stakes Holdem is a good cash game book for starting out. Also Angel Largay's book has helped me out as well.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Ya sorry I forgot about that. Right now I am focusing on NLHE cash games. I wanna learn MTT strategy too, but for right now my priority is cash game.

Which is recommended after SS2: Little Green Book or ToP? I actually bought ToP the other day but a friend told me I'd be better off reading SS2 first because ToP is a little more for the advanced players.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

OK, now you're given us a direction to go in.

Pick up Little Green Book. Don't get the Gordon 3-volume set, just get LGB. It's a good introduction to NL hold'em overall.

I enjoyed Largay's book, even though it focuses on live play rather than on-line play. Largay really drive home the "it depends" point that all NL homl'em problems boil down to, and he did a really good job of the key points that NL hold'em problems depend on.

Even though they are for tournaments, pick up Harrington on Hold'em vol I&II. The early part of tournaments, when the stacks are large compared to the blinds, play very much like cash games. Dan does a great job of outlining a comprehensive strategy.

Then pick up Professional No Limit. This is the best no limit hold'em book I've ever read. It focuses on play after the flop where mistakes are the most expensive.

Dan Harrington has two more books due this January - Harrington on Cash Games. Professional No Limit vol II will be released soon after that.

All these, plus reading & posting in the forums, should get you on the right track.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Read Helmuth's "Play Poker Like the Pros."

That will confuse the hell out of you.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

[ QUOTE ]
Right now I am focusing on NLHE cash games.

[/ QUOTE ]

-Largay
-Flynn/Mehta/Miller
-Sklansky/Miller

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

If you are going to play online, you should first read a book that opens the anatomy of honest, dishonest, rigged and reduced wins sites, that tells you what sites are rigged and how they are rigged and how you can spot it, telling how many hands you can play there, how much you can win per year, how many hours and/or sessions you can play (per day, week, month, year) before you will be dropped to a reduced or no-wins shuffle. It also tells in what way the cards come out at any sites, like dominated hands getting more hits and what sites use it, and at what sites the fluctuations are double compared to other sites, and finally gives the formula of how to keep inside the unwritten rules by reducing the amount of play at single places, and spreading the action over the net, and helps to notice when the deal has become rigged, also education of odds of things happening in a complete and full way, and gives sites where one should play first to get a feel how the cards run when they run normally, both when winning and losing, so one can compare if things differ from that. And it will also tell how to beat the rigged sites when ever that's possible.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

[ QUOTE ]
...get a feel how the cards run when they run normally, both when winning and losing, so one can compare if things differ from that. And it will also tell how to beat the rigged sites when ever that's possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

sol (snicker out loud)

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you are going to play online, you should first read a book that opens the anatomy of honest, dishonest, rigged and reduced wins sites, that tells you what sites are rigged and how they are rigged and how you can spot it, telling how many hands you can play there, how much you can win per year, how many hours and/or sessions you can play (per day, week, month, year) before you will be dropped to a reduced or no-wins shuffle. It also tells in what way the cards come out at any sites, like dominated hands getting more hits and what sites use it, and at what sites the fluctuations are double compared to other sites, and finally gives the formula of how to keep inside the unwritten rules by reducing the amount of play at single places, and spreading the action over the net, and helps to notice when the deal has become rigged, also education of odds of things happening in a complete and full way, and gives sites where one should play first to get a feel how the cards run when they run normally, both when winning and losing, so one can compare if things differ from that. And it will also tell how to beat the rigged sites when ever that's possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://allsux.com/wp-content/uploads...5/wtf-copy.jpg

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Where can I get the wtf panda on a t-shirt?

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

[ QUOTE ]
Where can I get the wtf panda on a t-shirt?

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're serious, you can make your own. I've used zazzle.com and was happy with the results.

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

As a Zoo regular, I feel I must apologize on the forum's behalf for this recent escape. We seem to have a small collection of poker is rigged conspiracy theorists that like to congregate there despite the fact they are constantly debated, berated, and otherwise made fools of. Unfortunately, once in a while one of them decides to make a break for it and share their "wisdom" with other forums.

If you got a good chuckle out of his intrusion, I recommend you come join us in the zoo (Internet Gambling) once in a while...they usually manage to get at least a couple "poker is rigged" threads going each week, and much hilarity ensues.

Edit to add: Looking through 647's posts, it would appear he's NOT a part of the "tin foil gang". Hopefully he's messing with us...in which case, nh sir!

Re: Starting to read poker books
 

Get Sklansky first..before you read the others. I would also recommend Dr. Shoonmaker's book here on Two Plus Two. Start with the basics of math, theory, psychology.

I love ordering books over the Internet. That is my new high. Johnny Hughes