Best Poker Book!!

DJDC

I am looking to purchase a decent reputable poker book to improve my technical game.I am a reasonably advanced player and so am looking for a book aimed at somone who knows there stuff.Stuff like postional play,tells and playing specific styles against players etc.

The book should be based solely on Texas Holdem(not interested in ohama etc) and preferably no limit with a small section on pot limit.
I am looking for a general book that looks at both cash games and tourneys.However a greater emphasis on tourneys is preferred.Also since I am a student anything above €30 will be a bit pricey.

In the bookshop earlier I noticed 2 books that looked good;
1)Dan Harringtion Part 1 and Part 2
2)T.J Coultier Books
Also saw books by helmuth and some other pros
So you lad are the experts,any ideas?

Cheers!

The Snapper

Harrington on holdem 1&2 will pay for themselves in no time. Absolute goldmine.:D

Ste05

Harrington Volume 2 sounds right up your street, not too much Cash Game stuff in there, but alot of the concepts can be transferred to Cash Games

Atlas_IRL

yep harrington 1 and 2 are must reads

dont get Helmuth's play poker like the pros, you wont learn much from it( unless you want to class people as mice and lions lol)

Flipper

Harrington on Hold'em 1 & 2 are fantastic. Other ones I enjoyed are Sklansky's Hold'em for advanced players and McEvoy's Championship Omaha (although I didn't think much of the rest of the championship series). Certain sections are good in super system 2 - I liked harman's Limit section in particular. Hellmuth's book isn't worth buying. Off the topic of theory you can't beat Anthony Holden's Big Deal.

5starpool

Harringtons books are good alright, but if you are a good player already they will more reinforce your ideas if you are playing properly than give you any new techniques. It is all just common sense really.

Rnger

anybody checked out 'Harrington on Hold'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Volume III: The Workbook by Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie' and 'No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice by David Sklansky and Ed Miller' yet?

mewso

Have both on order. Thought I may as well complete Harrington's trilogy and as usual I hate to order just one thing from Amazon so I stuck the new Sklansky in with it. I'll report back when I've read them.

jobless

are there any good books out there specifically for cash games?....

Four of a kind

Cant go wrong with Harrington books. Worth their weight in gold chips!!

Hitman Actual

jobless wrote:

are there any good books out there specifically for cash games?....

Ciaffone and Reuben have the only decent "big bet" book out there (called Pot limit and No-Limit Holdem). Some more informed players will tell you that it's not very thorough, though. But it has decent sections on omaha and 7-card stud as well so it's definatley worth having.

TBH, I think the best place to go for cash game info is the (links from the) stickies on the 2+2 NL/PL sites. Even the small stakes forum has a lot of good advice, especially for the loose (idiot) games around.

Hopefully the Sklansky/Miller book will fill the gap somewhat.

luckylucky

As people have said here Harrington On Hold Em vol 1 & 2 are great for tournament play :- One bit of advice I would give though is be careful when applying concepts you read in any book no matter how good to an actual game - especially in tournaments the correct play can be very situation dependent I'll give you one good example Harrington mentions the value of first in vigourish and has suggested when your chips are getting low but you still have enough to hurt people i.e. about 5 times big blind + small blind about getting em all in with just about any 2 cards, this of course is fine in a tight game, but in typical loose online games you need to be somewhat selective, i.e. when your making your move if it is in early position I would still be thinking I need at least a reasonable hand something like a minimum of Kj, AT, pocket 4s, Qjs and even in some games I may decide to even fold these type of hands - however if you are in position i.e.e in cutoff or button then making moves with lesser hands becomes acceptable - though still I think in most circumstances the bottom 30% of cards should be junked. That is books are good for given you general directions on how to play but you got to be careful about how you apply what you learn.

Phil Gordon's little green book is quite a nice new book on no limit cash games.

A great book for poker attitude is Zen and the art of poker from Larry W. Phillips, at the end of the day the right mental attitude is what seperates the great from the good in this game!

Gholimoli

i think the single most important and by far far far the best poker book ever written is "The Theroy of Poker" by Dave Sklansky.
it teaches you the fundamentals of poker and how to think and what to think of.if you actually get all of it you can then very easily adapt to different types of poker and different situations and cash games and tourney etc.
this is a must read .

MrPillowTalk

Gholimoli wrote:

i think the single most important and by far far far the best poker book ever written is "The Theroy of Poker" by Dave Sklansky.
it teaches you the fundamentals of poker and how to think and what to think of.if you actually get all of it you can then very easily adapt to different types of poker and different situations and cash games and tourney etc.
this is a must read .

I have a degree in financial maths and I found theory of poker tough going, not for the faint hearted.

Hitman Actual

luckylucky wrote:

Phil Gordon's little green book is quite a nice new book on no limit cash games.

I really thought that was more geared towards tournament play, especially the proper deep-stacked tournaments that he plays in. But then again I just skim-read it, as is always the case.

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I have a degree in financial maths and I found theory of poker tough going, not for the faint hearted.

I agree, this is definately not a book for a beginner, but it's still an important read.

luckylucky

DJDC wrote:

I am looking to purchase a decent reputable poker book to improve my technical game.I am a reasonably advanced player and so am looking for a book aimed at somone who knows there stuff.Stuff like postional play,tells and playing specific styles against players etc.

The book should be based solely on Texas Holdem(not interested in ohama etc) and preferably no limit with a small section on pot limit.
I am looking for a general book that looks at both cash games and tourneys.However a greater emphasis on tourneys is preferred.Also since I am a student anything above €30 will be a bit pricey.

In the bookshop earlier I noticed 2 books that looked good;
1)Dan Harringtion Part 1 and Part 2
2)T.J Coultier Books
Also saw books by helmuth and some other pros
So you lad are the experts,any ideas?

Cheers!

Just noticed you mentioned T.J Coultier's books - though he is one of the all time poker greats! - the general concensus and one i agree with is that his writing sucks.

Brunson's Super system 1 and 2 aren't bad but he takes the piss a bit with all the filling in of family pictures and other irrelevant BS.

Harrington, Slanksy and Ciaffone are the 3 main men that come to mind, there are other decent books out there too of course.... jeez it reminds me I really need to update my website and do some decent book reviews.

lenny_leonard wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by luckylucky

Phil Gordon's little green book is quite a nice new book on no limit cash games.



I really thought that was more geared towards tournament play, especially the proper deep-stacked tournaments that he plays in. But then again I just skim-read it, as is always the case.!

LOL, to tell the truth I kinda skim read this one 'n all - I think it covers both the tournament and cash game side of things!

One last thing i'll say I have about 30 different poker books and even the worst of them I don't regret having, the key is to correct apply the concepts and hopefully to build up the knowledge to recognise the bits of incorrect advice, having all these books can act like a cross reference if you like.

Washout

Gholimoli wrote:

i think the single most important and by far far far the best poker book ever written is "The Theroy of Poker" by Dave Sklansky.
it teaches you the fundamentals of poker and how to think and what to think of.if you actually get all of it you can then very easily adapt to different types of poker and different situations and cash games and tourney etc.
this is a must read .

I think this is the book containing a chapter on his notion of "The Gap Concept". completely changed my game. but you cant base your game on books...youll be dubbed an ABC player

Gholimoli

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I have a degree in financial maths and I found theory of poker tough going, not for the faint hearted.

degree in financial maths oooooooooh
so what .
i use to know a guy who had a friend who was a math genius .
i bet he would kick you *** no problem you fish.:D

Hitman Actual

Washout wrote:

I think this is the book containing a chapter on his notion of "The Gap Concept". completely changed my game. but you cant base your game on books...youll be dubbed an ABC player

That was Sklansky alright, but it was in his book "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players". And the "Advanced" tag is a load of nonsense, but it is a decent book for tournaments. It's also a much easier read than TOP.

TheDuck32

Best poker book ever writen is "Education of a Poker Player" by Herbert O. Yardley.

Contains absolutely nothing about texas or omaha but it is a must read for all players, after reading it you will wonder why you ever thought poker was a difficult game, the fundamentals of the game in a nut shell.

Also a good read, as Yardley is a regular James Bond.

MrPillowTalk

Gholimoli wrote:

degree in financial maths oooooooooh
so what .
i use to know a guy who had a friend who was a math genius .
i bet he would kick you *** no problem you fish.:D

tis true I am but a big haddock.

Lucky you have 30 poker books? wtf buy 1 or 2 read them, read them again and then play a load, the best and only way to learn poker.

luckylucky

MrPillowTalk wrote:

tis true I am but a big haddock.

Lucky you have 30 poker books? wtf buy 1 or 2 read them, read them again and then play a load, the best and only way to learn poker.

totally agree the best way of learning is through experience... but I part of the reason for me buying them is for doing book reviews on my website ... though I have still reviewed less than half of the books I own, also I enjoy reading them and relative to the amount i have gambled over the last 4 years the cost is meaningless but yeah just play loads of poker, browse the poker forums and websites and chat about it with top players is the best way no doubt.

Hitman Actual

MrPillowTalk wrote:

wtf buy 1 or 2 read them, read them again and then play a load, the best and only way to learn poker.

I have about 20+ books, but the reason is that when I started playing I couldn't get enough of the game. Bloody addiction! These days it's a struggle to sit down and read through a book properly.

DJDC

Cheers for the advice lads.I have gone ahead and purchased Harrington part 1and 2 for €45 over amazon which is cheaper than if I had of bought them in a bookshop.
Next stop...final table of the WSOP main event.

luckylucky

DJDC wrote:

Cheers for the advice lads.I have gone ahead and purchased Harrington part 1and 2 for €45 over amazon which is cheaper than if I had of bought them in a bookshop.
Next stop...final table of the WSOP main event.

lol, hey calm down lad - poker books tend to fcuk up ur game initially more than anything else...can take a while for da lessons 2 sink in... proper application is what it's all about and mrpillowtalk is dead right plenty practice is what it's all about - a good site online 4 poker advice is www.playwinningpoker.com

and of course my own site www.firbolg.com

nah seriously play winning poker is a site by steve badger a seasoned poker pro and it beats the hell out of a lot of books.

Good luck anyways - hope it's a good investment 4 u

Rnger

TheDuck32 wrote:

Best poker book ever writen is "Education of a Poker Player" by Herbert O. Yardley.

Contains absolutely nothing about texas or omaha but it is a must read for all players, after reading it you will wonder why you ever thought poker was a difficult game, the fundamentals of the game in a nut shell.

Also a good read, as Yardley is a regular James Bond.

I hate to be a ass but this is straight up not true! I thought the book was poor and not even the novel parts were good. Just because it was the first poker manual dosent make it good... this is my opinion anyway

ianmc38

Apparently Harington on holdem 4 is on the way, dedicated solely to cash game play...

jtsuited

2+2 will teach you so much, but it is probably necessary to read TOP by sklansky for the reasons gholi outlined.
Don't worry about all the maths-y stuff in it. It's understandable, even to me (and my degree is in Anthropology and Sociology!!!).

Hectorjelly

lenny_leonard wrote:

That was Sklansky alright, but it was in his book "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players". And the "Advanced" tag is a load of nonsense, but it is a decent book for tournaments. It's also a much easier read than TOP.

The advanced tag doesnt refer to the advice inside, ie its not a book of advanced techniques for tournaments, rather a book geared towards advanced poker players who dont know anything about tournaments.

DeVore

Sklansky's Theory Of Poker. Its not as mathematical as is being made out here, the ideas are complex but then so is the game

Its a definite read for anyone serious about poker imho.

DeV.

nesf

MrPillowTalk wrote:

I have a degree in financial maths and I found theory of poker tough going, not for the faint hearted.

Really? I find that hard to believe tbh, there isn't anything in there that should confuse someone who's studied a lot of math. It's perfectly readable by people with only a leaving cert maths background tbh (I'd almost go as far as to say junior). Not that it's simple "read once and grasp it all" kind of book or anything.

Wombatman

Hope I'm not too far off subject but is "The Man Behind the Shades: The Rise and Fall of Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar, Poker's Greatest Player" any good? (Just for story not strategy).

carrigeen

I've just finished reading Stuey Ungers book, Very good read - quite sad really a flawed genius - . He makes one call in a heads up match which if I ever make I know I will have arrived :rolleyes: it was unreal.

5starpool

It is a very good read Wombatman. I highly recommend it.

jobless

Wombatman wrote:

Hope I'm not too far off subject but is "The Man Behind the Shades: The Rise and Fall of Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar, Poker's Greatest Player" any good? (Just for story not strategy).

yeah i just finished this book yesterday....an excellent read.....i'm starting on the book about Amarillo Slim now which i hear is another good read

ecksor

nesf wrote:

Really? I find that hard to believe tbh, there isn't anything in there that should confuse someone who's studied a lot of math. It's perfectly readable by people with only a leaving cert maths background tbh (I'd almost go as far as to say junior). Not that it's simple "read once and grasp it all" kind of book or anything.

I found it hard going first time around, but the maths itself certainly isn't hard going. It's more the "If X do Y but not if Z happens (but I'm not going to explain that in detail)" style of advice that I find in many of Sklansky's books that is hard to comprehend at first. Each one of those books has totally screwed up my game upon first reading as I dismantle my game in a totally confused manner, but after a couple of readings those sentences make sense and become useful.

carrigeen

jobless wrote:

yeah i just finished this book yesterday....an excellent read.....i'm starting on the book about Amarillo Slim now which i hear is another good read

Amerillos slims book is the best laugh ever I know he is prone to exagerration but for this book it is perfect , he will literally bet on anything super read

nesf

ecksor wrote:

I found it hard going first time around, but the maths itself certainly isn't hard going. It's more the "If X do Y but not if Z happens (but I'm not going to explain that in detail)" style of advice that I find in many of Sklansky's books that is hard to comprehend at first. Each one of those books has totally screwed up my game upon first reading as I dismantle my game in a totally confused manner, but after a couple of readings those sentences make sense and become useful.

Yeah, similar for me. I found that everytime I reread it I picked up something new, mostly down to what I'd noticed playing since I'd read it the time before. Any good poker book should be like that though. If you get everything from it from your first read then either it's not that good a book or you've peaked in your knowledge of the game, which is either a very good or very bad thing.

Bozzer

carrigeen wrote:

Amerillos slims book is the best laugh ever I know he is prone to exagerration but for this book it is perfect , he will literally bet on anything super read

http://www.americanpoker.com/managearticle.asp?C=10&A=198&S=22
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Aug-12-Tue-2003/news/21921214.html

carrigeen

Bozzer wrote:

http://www.americanpoker.com/managearticle.asp?C=10&A=198&S=22
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Aug-12-Tue-2003/news/21921214.html

Never heard that amazing how that can be kept relatively quite

The_Chopper

I highly recommend a book called "The book of bluffs" by Matt Lessinger. I've found this book extremely useful in tournament situations. I rate this book along with super system, harrington and Sklansky's books

Gholimoli

The_Chopper wrote:

I highly recommend a book called "The book of bluffs" by Matt Lessinger. I've found this book extremely useful in tournament situations. I rate this book along with super system, harrington and Sklansky's books

ive read this book and i dont think its no where near as good as anything Sklansky has written nor Harrington for that matter.
most of this book teaches you about standard bluffing situations which are well known to ppl.
the book is not rubish dont get me wrong but i dont think it has much to offer to a semidecent/decent player.
its worth a read but your not missing much at all if you dont read it.