[Poker Clif]

[ QUOTE ]
if you plan on surviving, plan on saving your money for poker books.. i have 14 of them.. and they were worth every penny
also, you will be learning and improving so quickly you will think you were crazy for not reading a good poker book sooner!

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Agreed, but until he can afford them, libraries are a good idea.

I've been grinding my way up, first through three play sites, and when I thought I was ready, for real money. I went through a couple $50 bankrolls before I became a winner at $1 sit-n-goes, built my bankroll, and now I'm becoming a winning player at $5 SNG. I did most of that before I owned a single poker book.

I have read about 15 poker books so far. I bought two of them, two were gifts, and the rest I either got from libraries, or sat in the library and read them (if I was in a city where I didn't have a library card, and had some time to kill).

It can be very discouraging for a new player to hear about all the things that he "must" have: Here are just some of the necessities, according to posts on this site:

Poker Tracker, PAHUD, Cardrunners, a certain type/size of monitor, books, Wilson Turbo software, Pokerstove, and others I can't recall at the moment.

I told a player on another site to look at it this way. Poker players are supposed to manage their bankroll, and if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

I will buy many of the things on that list when I can afford to, and not before.