Poker Books

#1 28-08-2007, 4:26 PM

I'd be interested to hear some opinions or brief reviews of books on poker. There are many out there, and I've only read a few...one by Helmuth, "Play Poker Like the Pros" which I thought was VERY "beginnerish", and a couple by David Sklansky, "Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players" that I would rate as a very good read if you want to really drill down on LIMIT Hold 'em. The other I've read by Sklansky, "Tournament Poker for Advanced Players" is excellent. So, that's about the extent of my poker reading to this point.

#2 28-08-2007, 4:28 PM

Poker is a very simple game

Only so much you can pick up from a book. try useing your reading time playing.

#3 28-08-2007, 4:41 PM

I agree with strongbower, practice and experience is the best way to learn the game, but as for books i have only read the fist super system which is very long, but still good.

#4 28-08-2007, 5:14 PM

I am 59 years old and have been playing poker for at least 40 of those years. I am not a pro, but consistently make at least a little money playing online as well as brick and mortar games. I still think there's something to be said about the benefit of sharpening one's skills through good reading as well as by experience.

#5 28-08-2007, 5:24 PM

There are book reviews in the articles section. Might find something there.

And agree completely. Reading is our friend :-)

#6 28-08-2007, 5:30 PM

We have a good amount of book reviews in our Articles section. Check it out.

#7 28-08-2007, 5:42 PM

Insert link. What will they think of next? Technology is leaping forward so fast I can't keep up! Thanks juiceeq. I must have a touch of 'doh' today :-)

#8 28-08-2007, 6:40 PM

Phil Gordon's Little Green and Little Blue books are excekkebt, and Harrington on Hold'Em(3 volumes) essential. If you like Sklansky, Theory of Poker us a nust read too..

#9 28-08-2007, 6:49 PM

excekkebt = excellent? lol

#10 28-08-2007, 7:09 PM

It wouldn't hurt to read some of the good poker books that are out there. It may provide insight on different styles or aspects of the game you might not encounter yourself or it may give you some extra ideas of some plays that you can use or to watch out for.

Admittedly, that can be said for the reverse that you can pick up some stuff through experience that isn't covered in a book. I just think that the more knowledge that you can take in and digest, the better. So why not get some quality info from some of the people who play for a living...and do a pretty good job of it at that!

- Theory of Poker as mentioned earlier is a great start
- I've only read the NLHE section in Super System and it's a classic...I hear it's not all that different in the 2nd version
- Sklansky's book on Hold'em for Advanced Players is great as mentioned for attacking the limit game
- If you like playing in B&M's, check out Caro's Book of Tells as well. The images and some references are dated, but people still have those tells nowadays
- Definitely read Harrington's stuff...I'm in the middle of the 2nd volume right now and I can't wait to play in my next tournament when I finish the whole set
- And as a complete aside...if you want to learn how to play with your chips, find a book on that or some online videos so that you can "look" like a pro as well!

It must be said though, that a lot of these books by pros are usually tagged with something with a line in the beginning like these are for higher limit games, because the smaller limit games tend to play a little bit differently. It's kind of true, especially if someone is willing to chase even if you're not offering them the right odds, because it's only worth $50 as opposed to $500 or even more.

If you like to mix it up with a Limit Game, i recommend Miller's Small Stakes Hold'Em just to get info in a lower-level game as well.

#11 29-08-2007, 2:42 AM

I'm working my way through Harrington On Hold'em Vol II and Mike Caro's book on tells - both are proving to be good reads and I think I'm learning a lot

#12 29-08-2007, 3:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monoxide

excekkebt = excellent? lol

DOH! My Spekk checler is borken again.

#13 29-08-2007, 5:43 AM

From this link:

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliengenius

Not let us address the issue of "books" vs. "experience".
In the beginning of his book, 'Your Worst Poker Enemy', Alan Schoonmaker address the question 'How should we learn? By intuition or by logic?'
His arguments can essentially be applied to the book vs. experience question as well [the below argument is mostly a paraphrase of Schoonmaker's].

Let me first be VERY clear that I am NOT advocating book learning as a substitute for playing, only that playing alone can not possibly be as advantageous as structured study combined with table experience.

Why? As Schoonmaker notes, the advantage of a logical/structured/book approach over an intuitive/experience/playing approach are:

1. It is correctable.
Since the process is visible, you can see exactly where your error(s) was, and therefore correct it. With an intuitive approach you might feel something is not right, but not be able to
accurately make the necessary adjustments due to an inexact methodology or thought process.

2. It is easily teachable. Since a logical process can be broken down into clearly defined steps, others will be able to duplicate it. While you might not be able to write 'The Theory of Poker' you are more than capable of reading it and
understanding its tenets and principals and applying them to your game.

And, here is the one I think that translates best to our arugment that experience alone is necessary but not sufficient:

3. Additive. "If I have seen further than other men, it was by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Issac Newton. Schoonmaker gives another example: it took a genius in Euclid to develop geometry, but we learn it easliy and quickly in high school.

Surely you don't think that highly of yourself to claim that you can "figure out" poker simply through your own (necessarily) limited experience, do you?
You can't reasonably claim that leaning something like the basic math of odds is easier to do on your own, or to do individually everytime you run into a situation, rather than memorizing the more commen ones from a chart, can you?
You don't think that you are smarter than someone like Mason Malmuth, and that he and his statistical background can't teach you anyting, do you?
You didn't come up with tournament concepts like "M" and "Inflection Points" on your own, did you?

Thinking that you are "just fine" with your own personal playing experience is utterly ridiculous:

1. You are not smarter than everyone who has ever played the game. You wont figure all this stuff out on your own.

2. Even if you are you will learn much faster and take advanced concepts much father if you do read previous thinkers' works (see the Newton quote above).

3. The human mind is prone to recall bias and self delusion. Even the most brilliant of minds will be hindered by these human flaws, which will, at the very least, slow down your learning and/or understanding of
the game if you are simply attempting to master poker on your own.

So, as you can plainly see, anyone who is serious about their poker game needs to study the works of those who understand the game.

Is experience necessary for mastery of the game of poker? Absolutely. Is it sufficient for mastery of the game of poker? Defiantly NOT.


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