Starting to read poker books

[chawla2890]

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.

[Dankie]

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

[lucksack]

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).

[Caesar88]

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.

[phydaux]

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.

[kcbadbeat]

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

[chawla2890]

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.

[phydaux]

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.

[Brooklyn Fats]

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

That will confuse the hell out of you.

[jeffnc]

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Right now I am focusing on NLHE cash games.

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