After Harrington

HH81 · #1 08-10-2007, 05:52 PM

I've been meaning to get a new poker book to read. I've now only read HOH. I'm mostly interested in NL and tournaments, any suggestions/recommendations? The PNL book looks interesting as it is discussing subjects not covered by HOH...

Doyan · #2 08-10-2007, 06:33 PM

If you play live poker tournaments/cash games etc then Read'em and Reap is a really quick read and has alot of useful information regarding tells. Should only take you a day or 2 to finish it, reads easy alot more fluid than Caro's book.

If you play sit n gos then Sit 'n Go Strategy is pretty good, just finished reading it last night.

Also if you haven't read all of the HoH Books, then u should do that first, HoH 2/3 have a wealth of information that is required for succesful tournament play.

HH81 · #3 08-10-2007, 09:53 PM

Ive read all 3 Harrington books. Good stuff. I just want to delve deeper into the theory. Ppl on here seem to be talking much about TOP NLTAP and the new PNL books. Was just wondering which of these are most essential... Thanks for the reply - I'll look into the books you mentioned.

No Fizzle · #4 08-12-2007, 12:47 PM

If you mainly play tournaments, Full Tilt has a new book out that is supposed to be pretty good.

Jzo19 · #5 08-12-2007, 01:10 PM

for tournies ive heard nothing but good things about poker tournament formula by arnold snyder (

for cash games PNL is pretty good ...

levAA · #6 08-13-2007, 10:21 AM

I'd recommend 3 books:

1.) No limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice from Sklansky - very good book, but math-intensive. I suppose you have already read Sklansky's Theory of Poker - if not do it first.

2.) Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em - one of the best books around from an aggressive player - but you should be very firm with the basics from HoH.

3.) The Poker Tournament Formula from Arnold Snyder - but for another reason you might think. basically i don't like snyder's style, further he is not a very good poker player in real life. some of his concepts on position play are good though. the problem with this book is that it teaches a very mechanic approach to position play. and there you can gain a huge bonus against all the folks that play with these guidelines, cause they are quite easy to identify, and afterwards outplaying them is not a big problem.

HH81 · #7 08-14-2007, 09:49 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I'd recommend 3 books:

1.) No limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice from Sklansky - very good book, but math-intensive. I suppose you have already read Sklansky's Theory of Poker - if not do it first.

2.) Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em - one of the best books around from an aggressive player - but you should be very firm with the basics from HoH.

3.) The Poker Tournament Formula from Arnold Snyder - but for another reason you might think. basically i don't like snyder's style, further he is not a very good poker player in real life. some of his concepts on position play are good though. the problem with this book is that it teaches a very mechanic approach to position play. and there you can gain a huge bonus against all the folks that play with these guidelines, cause they are quite easy to identify, and afterwards outplaying them is not a big problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very helpful. Many thanks.

BigAlK · #8 08-15-2007, 01:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
3.) The Poker Tournament Formula from Arnold Snyder - but for another reason you might think. basically i don't like snyder's style, further he is not a very good poker player in real life. some of his concepts on position play are good though. the problem with this book is that it teaches a very mechanic approach to position play. and there you can gain a huge bonus against all the folks that play with these guidelines, cause they are quite easy to identify, and afterwards outplaying them is not a big problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd also recommend the Full Tilt book as well as the Poker Tournament Formula.

Also I wanted to comment on the quote above regarding the PTF. IMO some of what he says is true. Some is misleading. And some, unless the poster has some inside knowledge is probably total BS.

I'll start with the part I think is probably BS first. As I understand it Arnold Snyder is a pen name. This is because Snyder got his start as a professional blackjack player. He has written a few books on advantage blackjack play that as I understand it are considered classic's in the field. I've also heard (although I can't say for sure) that the pictures of him on his books are actually him in a disguise. I don't think this poster can form an opinion of Snyder as a poker player without having played with or observed his play. I seriously doubt he has done this or would even be able to identify Snyder to be able to unless he's in a select group of people who know who Snyder really is. In any case this has no bearing on the book, only on the posters credibility.

One of the biggest benefits I got from the PTF was a much clearer and deeper understanding of the power of position. Snyder's approach to explaining what tools you can bring to bear to win a hand other than the obvious (your cards) was eye opening for me.

Regarding the style as a whole, the poster doesn't like the playing "style" advocated in the PTF and says it is easily exploitable. I agree that is true if someone plays the style mechanically and never deviates from it. The same goes for playing any "style" that way. In fact the PTF was written specifically to exploit mechanical Harrington style players in tournaments with fast blind structures. I use the term "mechanical" in describing Harrington style (even though I don't really think it's intended that way) because any style can be played mechanically. When it is it becomes exploitable. The word "formula" in the book title could lead people to believe that you're intended to play mechanically with no judgement or variation. But this isn't reality. Snyder is no more mechanical than Harrington. In fact Snyder devotes an entire chapter (titled "Break the Mold") where he discusses this very thing. "Kill Phil" might be a mechanical formula. Neither Snyder or Harrington are.

jeffnc · #9 08-15-2007, 02:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
3.) The Poker Tournament Formula from Arnold Snyder - but for another reason you might think. basically i don't like snyder's style, further he is not a very good poker player in real life.

[/ QUOTE ]

And you know this.... how?

jeffnc · #10 08-15-2007, 03:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[The word "formula" in the book title could lead people to believe that you're intended to play mechanically with no judgement or variation. But this isn't reality. Snyder is no more mechanical than Harrington.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right. Harrington could have written a Poker Tournament Formula based on his M "formula". But it doesn't mean you play formulaically (sp?). In fact, the faster the tournament, the more "erratically" Snyder thinks you should play.