Best Poker Book

rag2gar

Im sure this has been said before so sorry for the repetitiveness of it if this is the case. Anyway I have a €25 voucher for easons and going to get two good poker books with it.

The two I was thinking of getting were
1) Mike Caro's book ot tells
2) Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold'em

I think they offer two different perspectives and they can both be got for €25 according to the easons site.

What dyou think of these choices? Has anyone read either of them and if so what did they think?

Running Bing

Tbh both those books are pretty crappy imo, and I would only recommend them to someone who loves reading poker books and has already read the 20 or so books that are better than those two. Do a search and youll see plenty of recommendations. For limit lee jones or malmuth,slansky,miller and for nl Harringtons books seem to be rated quite highly. For a more theoretical treatment of the game slanskys theory of pker cant be beaten. The real bible of poker imo.:)

antifuse

Both of Brunson's Super System books are exception as well, but quite, QUITE large.

pokypoky

Those are the two worst poker books I have ever read, I cant believe I actually paid money for that Caro book. It may have been ground breaking at the time but now it seems horribly dated and many of the tells are not as reliable as they were especially against good players partially because of the success of the book itself and the ability of good players to avail of this information to employ reverse tells and rereverse tells and so on.

Dont read hellmuth's book if you have aspirations to becoming an eagle because he will crush your dreams, you will never be an eagle like him.....very patronising but it is written for beginners.

Best book I read was Harrington's first but I find most poker books are poorly written, its impossible to enjoy reading them.

El Stuntman

rag2gar wrote:

Im sure this has been said before so sorry for the repetitiveness of it if this is the case. Anyway I have a €25 voucher for easons and going to get two good poker books with it.

The two I was thinking of getting were
1) Mike Caro's book ot tells
2) Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold'em

Don't know about Caro.
Hellmuth's book is not worthy of propping your door open, it's got about as much value as Jordan's authobiographies..buy Sklansky instead. Drier than a nun's nasty in writing style but if you can get your head around the concepts you are already better equipped than 70% of players out there (at least)

If you want entertainment and a good sense of the lifestyles of the high rollers get Al Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town. Absolute classic! Tony Holden's book is also a superb read about a year trying to make it on the pro circuit....

or just buy some porn instead...what do I know anyway

kincsem

El Stuntman wrote:

Hellmuth's book is not worthy of propping your door open, it's got about as much value as Jordan's authobiographies..buy Sklansky instead.
If you want entertainment and a good sense of the lifestyles of the high rollers get Al Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town. Absolute classic! Tony Holden's book Big Deal is also a superb read about a year trying to make it on the pro circuit....

I agree. Hellmuth might be a good player (good, not great IMO) but his writing is bland.

I read Big Deal twice and I plan to read it again shortly.

The poker instruction book I suggest is Hold 'em Poker by David Sklansky, his first book, only 110 pages. It seems expensive, but the instructions are clear, and comments insightful. There are no wasted words. It's all in there. He could have padded it to 300 pages a la Hellmuth. I can't find my copy, and I wish I could.

I have The Psychology of Poker by Alan N Schoonmaker; Caro's Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro; Killer Poker by John Vorhaus and many others that claim you will be able to get inside the minds of other players. Forget it.

For each subtle play you get right you will get dozens wrong because it is a CARD game. You win by showing the best hand, not by showing a psychology Ph.D. scroll. You can read too much into people's actions. Good players will read that you are trying to read them and throw you a few curve balls.

And don't make assumptions that the woman at the table is a bit timid, the old guy is senile, and the young guy is reckless. Respect everyone. By all means read a lot but not everything you read is correct or useful. Play as much live poker as you can, starting off in freerolls and low entry fee tournaments.

A book I like is Championship Satellite Strategy (how to turn a toothpick into a lumberyard) by Tom McEvoy & Brad Daugherty (two WSOP champions). It tells you how to win satellites (one or two table tourneys). But if you can win your table then you can win anything. It is very good on strategy - when to play, when to stay out.

A slight boast here. I shared the Fitzwilliam €20 tourney last Sunday night. I was 9th of 10 when the final table started. My plan was to let others play and I would try to survive with few chips. I commented before the first hand was dealt that there always is an all-in bet on the first hand at a final table. I can't understand why players risk all immediately. Guess? Yes. Two players went all-in on the first hand.

I didn't need psychology or tells. I just let others take daft risks and knock each other out. Then when I got a few good hands I won some chips and was in the game against fewer players.

rag2gar

I appreciate all the comments, thank you. Its a pity ive managed to pick what seems to be the worst two books for my €25 ah well. So if I was to ask quite simple which two books do you think are the most usefull of all time??

Id particullarly like ones with a psychology based approach like Caro (is that one really not worth buying no?) I mean at the end of the day I've never read any so my standards are zero

sprocket1

yea tony holdens book "big deal " is a great read though not much advice on how to play .................

as far as a books on playing poker,
dan harrington's two books "harrington on holdem part 1 and 2 are a must have for any aspiring tournament player (once u know the basics like hand values, as he assumes u have some experience and dos'nt cover these in the book
brunsons super system is ok most of the advice is geared towards cash games if thats ur thing ,u would want it on ur poker book shelf (mike caro has a chapter in this book where most of the core points from his book of tells are covered.

for me €25 spent on harrington part 1 is the way to go

but if the mind thing is ur bag "The Psychology of Poker
by Alan N. Schoonmaker "Part One " maybe the way to go

i dont have it but its my next buy

available off the shelfs in dublin i believe

eggie

Slanskys are pretty informative, especially if you are beginning. He bases his decisiona a lot on mathmatics - probabilities, etc, and emphasises playing tightly. Very good for beginners, and he also has advanced reading for the more experienced. They can be read quite a few times before everything is absorbed - will probably only get one for €25, hey one good book is better than 2 bad ones!!:D

Lafortezza

Caro's book is pretty crap.
Harrington 1 + 2 are very good if you're new to the game and play alot of STTs and tournaments.
Psychology of Poker is an interesting read, maybe more suited to live play when you can get a look at someone.

Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, Theory of Poker, PL and NL poker (Reuben & Ciaffone) were all reasonably good IMHO.

mewso

Again just an opinion but if you have not got a good grounding in basic concepts then most of the good books out there will be wasted on you. I always strongly suggest everyone read Theory of Poker before anything else because any good concepts discussed in other books will be rooted from that and you'll get nothing out of it without understanding the basics first.
I also agree that reading about tells etc. is pretty pointless. Reading players is about knowing players and knowing players is about playing with them all the time or taking notes on them if you are online. Everything else is a guessing game and almost all tips in these kind of books require the "this tell means he is strong but if he is good he may also be weak" type discussion. Waste of time imo.

shoutman

kincsem wrote:

A book I like is Championship Satellite Strategy (how to turn a toothpick into a lumberyard) by Tom McEvoy & Brad Daugherty (two WSOP champions). It tells you how to win satellites (one or two table tourneys). But if you can win your table then you can win anything. It is very good on strategy - when to play, when to stay out.

Does anyone know if this book is available in Dublin?

I'll drop by easons on my way home but I am not too sure about there level of stocking poker titles.

5starpool

Amazon is your friend.......

Hitman Actual

rag2gar wrote:

Im sure this has been said before so sorry for the repetitiveness of it if this is the case. Anyway I have a €25 voucher for easons and going to get two good poker books with it.

The two I was thinking of getting were
1) Mike Caro's book ot tells
2) Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold'em

I think they offer two different perspectives and they can both be got for €25 according to the easons site.

What dyou think of these choices? Has anyone read either of them and if so what did they think?

It's unclear how much experience you have, but if you're a beginner then I think you should hold off on Theory of Poker for a few months. Get some play in, read Harrington vol I, then get stuck into TOP. It's a class book, but it can be hard going at times.

Psychology of poker by Schoonmaker has limited value, imo. It's the usual "strong is weak, weak is strong" type crap. Same for Caro; if you want to cover all that stuff, just read the articles on Caro's website. It's worth knowing when playing against new players (up to a point).

http://www.poker1.com/mcu/mculib_articles.aspx

Harrington's books and Phil Gordons Little Green Book are written in the best style, imo. Clear and concise, and well worth the money spent.

Glowingmind

ditpoker

i've said it once and i'll say it again... Erik Lindgren's Making the Final Table... easy and useful poker book.
Gary, i'll have a word with Anto in college, he has about 15 poker books from what i can tell (he's still crap tho!) and i'm pretty sure he has both books you mentioned..

Legend_DIT

shoutman wrote:

Does anyone know if this book is available in Dublin?

I'll drop by easons on my way home but I am not too sure about there level of stocking poker titles.

I think Tower Records have this - the one on Wexford St. - They have other books by Tom McEvoy and I think I saw this one...

shoutman

Legend_DIT wrote:

I think Tower Records have this - the one on Wexford St. - They have other books by Tom McEvoy and I think I saw this one...

cheers Steve

ditpoker

shoutman wrote:

cheers Steve

pretty sure Legend's name is brian... aka Shakin' Stevens'

shoutman

ditpoker wrote:

pretty sure Legend's name is brian... aka Shakin' Stevens'

I realise that, but he will always ALWAYS be called steve to me.

Lazare

shoutman wrote:

Does anyone know if this book is available in Dublin?

I'll drop by easons on my way home but I am not too sure about there level of stocking poker titles.

Hodges Figgis on Dawson st has a pretty good selection, maybe a little more expensive than easons but certainly more to choose from.

rag2gar

Yeah it seems my research wasnt up to scratch at all. Although in fairness the two highest rated books were from an american site and what do they know??

So it seems that the theory of poker, slaznsky and harringtons books are the best from what i gather here yes?

ditpoker

i have the theory of poker here beside me, never read it through (its a tough read) and i dont rate it all that highly.. i hear harrington's book is the best one going. if you're willing to part with a few quid on shipping browse amazon.com... i think negreanu has a book out and, AGAIN, Erik Lindgren's making the final table!!!

ecksor

TOP strikes me as the sort of book that needs a few readings to start to become clear and/or useful. Most of Sklansky's stuff has hurt my game on first reading (because it confused the hell out of me and I was confused to begin with) and then helped as I start to understand it on second reading.

kincsem

shoutman wrote:

Does anyone know if this book is available in Dublin?

I'll drop by easons on my way home but I am not too sure about there level of stocking poker titles.

Championship Satellite Strategy (how to turn a toothpick into a lumberyard) by Tom McEvoy & Brad Daugherty.

I bought it in Binions in Las Vegas in 2004 (gee that sounds impressive). It was in Hodges and Figgis about six months ago. A paperback, about 200 pages, with a red/maroon cover. I think it's by two+two publishing. There is a lot of strategy in it, a bit like Harrington II.

Culchie

ditpoker wrote:

i think negreanu has a book out and, AGAIN, Erik Lindgren's making the final table!!!

Negreanu's book is out in May I think.