Poker books (1 Viewer)

[shawn15p]

I consider myself a average to good player but lately I have been in a rut at the table and I find myself second guessing myself far too often. I am not that much of a reader but just finished super system and tried applying concepts that I have read in the book at the last couple games. Some have worked and some didn't, I know it is a little too early to cast judgment. I am looking for some book suggestions that you guys have read that have improved your game, as there are too many to list out there.

Couple books I am considering

Phil Gordon's Green Book of Poker
Gus Hansen: Every Hand Revealed
Harrington on Hold em

Thoughts and/or suggestions ?????

 

[Shaggy]

cash or tourney? NLHE? or other games?

For NLHE cash games:
No Limit Hold'Em Theory and Practice: Ed Miller
Professional No Limit Hold'Em: Sunny Mehta, Matt Flynn, Miller
Small Stakes Hold'Em: Sunny Mehta, Matt Flynn, Miller

 

[shawn15p]

cash or tourney? NLHE? or other games?

For NLHE cash games:
No Limit Hold'Em Theory and Practice: Ed Miller
Professional No Limit Hold'Em: Sunny Mehta, Matt Flynn, Miller
Small Stakes Hold'Em: Sunny Mehta, Matt Flynn, Miller

NLHE cash and tournaments

 

[Jimulacrum]

First of all, Super System is not a great choice for strategy ideas unless you are in a game full of nits. The whole NLHE section is a big-stick LAG approach that seldom works unless your opponents don't know how to respond to over-aggression. Otherwise, it's called being spewy. Not very effective for today's games, where you'll tend to run into experienced/educated players. It's a good book to have under your belt, but not a well-rounded approach to winning poker.

One tournament book I always recommend is an old one: Tournament Poker for Advanced Players. It is about tournament poker in general, with a focus on limit poker. You'd think that would be no good for NLHE tournaments, but it addresses many concepts that are important regardless of the type of game or betting structure. It was a groundbreaking book for me when I first starting playing tournament poker (early 2000s).

For cash games, I like both volumes of Harrington on Cash Games and have read them a couple times each. They're a good overview of two different approaches that you'd do well to have in your arsenal, plus some randomization techniques that help you think about easy ways to employ game theory at the table.

No-Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice is good too, but if I remember correctly, it may be a bit heavy if you're relatively new to poker literature and concepts.

Finally, The Theory of Poker. It's practically an antiquarian tome at this point, but every serious player should read it.

 

[Pinball]

tournament:

kill everyone
raisers edge
j. little's tournament books (1-3)

 

[TheJestyr]

My .02...

I've read tons of books, articles, forums, watched videos, etc...they all get pretty repetitive, but help me stay centered when I need to plug some holes in my game...

But the biggest thing I do that helps is...

Take some time off. Like a month or two. Or even longer. If you play, play to lose. Play new games you aren't comfortable with to learn new strategies. Play hands blind just to see if you can push people out or if you can pick up on their tendencies. I have to get out of the game every so often when I find myself overthinking spots or getting too cute. ABC poker is a great place to start over from, and throwing in some XYZ antics (such as playing hands blind, betting the flop dark, going all in for like 20 times the pot, etc) is enough to get you out of a rut and trying some new angles. If you wanna grab coffee or a drink or something we can chat...could definitely be beneficial to both of us! (not to mention I have a crap ton of books you could borrow I'd you want)

 

[manamongkids]

books are stupid, go on two+two, search youtube, or sign up for a poker coaching site

 

[detroitdad]

I consider myself a average to good player but lately I have been in a rut at the table and I find myself second guessing myself far too often

So...........interested in coming to my game on the 20th?

Gus Hansen: Every Hand Revealed

I loved this book. It was educational and entertaining.

Mind if I ask how long your "rut" has been? three months? 5 years? ect.....

 

[shawn15p]

books are stupid, go on two+two, search youtube, or sign up for a poker coaching site

Im on you tube countless hours a day trying to pick up new ideas and ways to play

 

[shawn15p]

So...........interested in coming to my game on the 20th?



I loved this book. It was educational and entertaining.

Mind if I ask how long your "rut" has been? three months? 5 years? ect.....

I would say 2 months.

I usually win most cash games I play, except when I catch a cooler. I am not the best at tourneys but usually make deeper runs.

Lately I have been either breaking even or down a little. But more importantly to me is my instincts have been off more often than not which is what worries me. Either calling someone down with middle pair because I think he has air and being wrong. Or in my game the other night, I called peoples EXACT hands 3 times in an hour, which everyone said what, are you Daniel Negreanu? My response was "nope, he would of layed the hand down",

 

[Anthony Martino]

For tournaments my ah-ha moment was reading the Harrington on Hold Em series. I found them easy to digest (i.e. not overly complex to decipher) while also providing a strong foundation for playing TAG (with experience and time coming into play to develop the LAG aspects of my game)

You won't be beating world class pro's, but you'll do well against the common man in poker.

 

[detroitdad]

I would say 2 months.

silly shawn..........that isn't a rut That's maybe a couple of bad decisions, lol. Some people say the rut I went through wasn't even really a rut. I was a losing player for about 20 months. It decimated my BR. Went from 3700 to 500+. Initially I blamed it on everyone else. I was running bad, losing the races, ect.....In reality I was playing like shit and using the "running bad" as an excuse as to why I was consistently losing. Once I figured out that I sucked as a player I made some changes. I read a few books. I literally reset my poker play. Zero bluffs. Played top 20 hands. Hell, only top 10 out of position. I focused on the basics and nothing else. Slowly I started running deeper in our 20 player tourney's and it eventually turned into one of the best tourney runs I have ever had. I won three league games in a row. One was our 9 player championship game. Then our first two 20 player league games of the next season. I eventually went on to cash in 7 of 9 league games.

 

[shawn15p]

silly shawn..........that isn't a rut That's maybe a couple of bad decisions, lol. Some people say the rut I went through wasn't even really a rut. I was a losing player for about 20 months. It decimated my BR. Went from 3700 to 500+. Initially I blamed it on everyone else. I was running bad, losing the races, ect.....In reality I was playing like shit and using the "running bad" as an excuse as to why I was consistently losing. Once I figured out that I sucked as a player I made some changes. I read a few books. I literally reset my poker play. Zero bluffs. Played top 20 hands. Hell, only top 10 out of position. I focused on the basics and nothing else. Slowly I started running deeper in our 20 player tourney's and it eventually turned into one of the best tourney runs I have ever had. I won three league games in a row. One was our 9 player championship game. Then our first two 20 player league games of the next season. I eventually went on to cash in 7 of 9 league games.

Yeah I know its not that long of a time, but I just don't like my judgement at the table and I don't want this to last a long time. I generally am a TAG player and it has been hurting me because when I do catch hand I get no value out of it. I need to start mixing it up a little bit which I have been trying to do, but I think in turn it has made me feel uncomfortable.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Yeah I know its not that long of a time, but I just don't like my judgement at the table and I don't want this to last a long time. I generally am a TAG player and it has been hurting me because when I do catch hand I get no value out of it. I need to start mixing it up a little bit which I have been trying to do, but I think in turn it has made me feel uncomfortable.

Step I: Play stakes you don't care about

Step II: Play some or all your hands completely blind, and base your actions on your observations of your opponents. When you aren't thinking about your hand you can laser focus on your opponents, their reactions, their patterns, etc.

 

[detroitdad]

Step I: Play stakes you don't care about

I disagree with this statement. When I play stakes that I don't care about I play @Ronoh style (every damn flop) lol.

 

[shawn15p]

Step I: Play stakes you don't care about

Step II: Play some or all your hands completely blind, and base your actions on your observations of your opponents. When you aren't thinking about your hand you can laser focus on your opponents, their reactions, their patterns, etc.

Good advice thanks

 

[shawn15p]

I think the problem is if i play stakes I don't care about i.e .25/.50, then the players I get in those games are social type players who aren't really there to play cards, more to bullshit and drink.

 

[detroitdad]

I think the problem is if i play stakes I don't care about i.e .25/.50, then the players I get in those games are social type players who aren't really there to play cards, more to bullshit and drink.

Then you take their money while their bullshitting and drinking

We play .25/.50 at my house. I noticed more "Poker" being played when I upped the buy in from 60 to 100 fwiw.

 

[Anthony Martino]

We play 0.25/0.50 NL and PL games at the meat-ups but you wouldn't know it by the size of the pots

 

[detroitdad]

We play 0.25/0.50 NL and PL games at the meat-ups but you wouldn't know it by the size of the pots

400 BB buy ins changes a few things imo, lol. That and those damn circus games.

 

[trever]

Every Hand Revealed is a fantastic look into how and why Hansen played in one specific tournament, but it isn't a typical strategy book.

If you want to know if you should fold 77 when the button shoves, this book won't help. But if you want to see how a pro approaches the game, nothing is better.

FWIW, I like to reread this book when I'm running bad, I find it to be very stabilizing when I'm tilty. The Zen of Poker is another non-strategy book to check out too.

Anything by Miller is a good place to go for NLHE help

 

[shawn15p]

.50/1 is the norm for my cash game with max buy in of $120. We usually have about 1600-1800 on the table

 

[detroitdad]

1600

that's what we had on the table at my last .25/.50, 10 player game

 

[Ronoh]

I disagree with this statement. When I play stakes that I don't care about I play @Ronoh style (every damn flop) lol.

I'm missing your point.....

 

[derekdd23]

Every Hand Revealed is a fantastic look into how and why Hansen played in one specific tournament, but it isn't a typical strategy book.

If you want to know if you should fold 77 when the button shoves, this book won't help. But if you want to see how a pro approaches the game, nothing is better.

FWIW, I like to reread this book when I'm running bad, I find it to be very stabilizing when I'm tilty. The Zen of Poker is another non-strategy book to check out too.

Anything by Miller is a good place to go for NLHE help

This is an insane book, basically it shows why he has lost so much money in poker over the years and why he hasn't made any deep runs either. Unless you get super lucky, you are not winning playing like this. This book is basically the diary of a maniac.

 

[detroitdad]

I'm missing your point.....

I should have added "because I'm not very good when I'm playing every flop". Some guys can kick ass doing this. I'm not one of them.

 

[tripleflatbarrel]

Books are overrated.

When I got back into poker and set my sights on focusing on cash, Harrington on Cash Games was a great read. It gives a solid, albeit basic and somewhat exploitable, foundation for a good cash game. If you're in a funk, I could see it fixing some small holes or fundamental huge holes you may be missing. It's nothing earth shattering, though.

I'd suggest all of these (for an experienced player) over a book:

Crush Live Poker- Monthly subscription training site. Bart Hanson is an LA live cash game pro who does weekly video and podcast sessions. I only subscribed to the podcasts ($10ish/ mo) and listened to then on my commute, doing yard work etc. He focuses on low to medium stakes cash games. Can't speak to the video subscription (~$30/ mo?) but I'm sure it's worth it's weight in gold if you have time to watch 2 hour videos. Listening to the way he thinks through a hand and some of the concepts hes always considering opened up a lot of doors for my game. The forums are also great for posting hands you had trouble with and getting feedback. There's usually a free month trial code floating around somewhere.

Live At The Bike- Live streaming low to mid stakes cash game from the Bicycle Casino in LA. Streams live Tues and Thurs nights at 7pm pt on Twitch with replays running the other 24/7. Watching a game not too dissimilar from the one you play in is valuable. Commentary is getting even better now that they have a rotating cast in the booth. Limon is wildly entertaining and I'm a big fan, but he doesnt like to talk much strat. Doug Hull of Red Chip poker is commentating from time to time as well as some lesser known pros. They all give great insight into the game. Watch the game intently, looking for mistakes, thinking through hands, etc. Way more valuable than watching High Stakes Poker and PAD and trying to apply those to your own game, IMO.

Poker Snowie- Download the software and play around with it for the 1 month free trial. Won't get much more into detail because I could go on forever, but very helpful to identify leaks or for post hand analysis you can plug your scenario in and get a rough estimation of your most +EV line.

PLAY ONLINE- and get Pokertracker4. Racking up hands at a ~10x clip over live, tracking every decision you made over tens of thousands of hands, being able to run Leak Tracker, etc. Some people are turned off by online, and while it does play like a different game, if you can beat even low stakes online in today's pool you will crush most lives games up to 2/5 and probably the softer 5/10 games. Our minds are pretty bad about assessing our own skill and placing accurate weights on how often we choose option A over option B, etc. Playing online is truth serum for your game.

2p2- Find the subgroups for whatever stakes/ formats you play and dive in.

As for tournaments, not really my thing, but I'll try; run better >>> bink>>> profit?