best "hand reading"/"tough decisions" books

[smbruin22]

i don't know if these two categories are highly related or not.

but what do people think are the best "hand reading" and "tough hand - second pair, overcard or two to good pocket pair"

i was love to see books just based on hand reading. although i'd probably want them to be a little cheaper (of course, they're probably more work than more theoretical books)

could be limit or no-limit?.. i'm thinking in limit, reading current hand is most vital, whereas in no-limit reading the opponent's past play (raising and calling ranges) is most vital... who knows? maybe that's wrong..

thanks in advance!!

[Knockwurst]

I'm sure you already know about these but I'll throw them out there anyway:

Real Poker II: Play Of The Hands -- Cooke (Limit book detailed analysis that walks you through the thought process of an expert). See here

HOH I, II and III -- Harrington (gives examples of actual NLHE tournie hands, III is all practice hands in workbook format). See Here

How Good is Your Limit Hold'em -- Jacobs (hand quizes). See Here

[avatar77]

Check out David Apostolico's books: Lessons from the Felt, and Lessons from the Poker tour. Both books cover No Limit hands.
Roy Cooke's Real Poker 2 is probably the best book for limit poker when it comes to reading plays and going into a mind of a successful poker pro

[smbruin22]

thanks guys!! much appreciated [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Cactus Jack]

Cooke. Excellent for any player.

[fungaimike56]

Knockwurst is right on. You can't go wrong with Roy Cooke on limit and Harrington for no-limit. Especially if you have read your Sklansky/Malmuth. You will find that Cooke/Harrington have been influenced by them to the extent that their own well-written points of play will explain things you may not have absorbed from the originals (Cooke goes so far as to say you must 'study' poker books and not just read them.)
Take Harrington's hilarious discussion with a tournament beginner of a 'hand'. In his eagerness to discuss 'the hand' the beginner completely misses the point of the expert's questions about 'trivial stuff' like position, stack sizes, the blinds, etc. "Who cares ... I want to talk about the hand". Harrington's point: the beginner doesn't even know what a 'hand' is.
Cooke is the same way, even subtitling one of his books 'The Play of the Hand". Description of a hand is full of context--the raiser's position, no. of callers, type of players in the blinds, pot size, no. of possible combinations of pairs vs. non-pairs in the raisers hand-- possibilities determined by Cooke's assessment of that hand range in context of the factors listed. A lot of things to evaluate before you can put a player on a hand. As I said, the thought processes are out of Sklansky/Malmuth who say in various writings (if you are not an 'instinct' player) that the way to prepare for difficult decisions at the table is to think about the game away from the table. Think hard. Cooke and Harrington show you how to think this way with hands presented for study. Then, when these situations come up, you will have prepared yourself for them. Good luck.