Are these 2 proper beginner books?

Hi guys,

I have a couple of pokerbooks, however, I am wondering if they are good books for beginners.

The little green book by Phil Gordon
Small stakes Hold' em by Ed miller (Mason Malmuth and David Slanksy)

I am playing 0.01 - 0.02 NL Hold'em.

Phil's book is def. beginner level stuff.

SSH is a limit book with a little bit on short stacking nl games. Probably not what you're looking for.

Alright, thanks for the quick reply.
Well, I hope I have got my basis a little bit covered, I also have a book from M. Hilger, about odds and probabilities etc. Do you have any other recommendations perhaps?

Also you can try Dan Harrington's books.
And always (although it is BIG) Brunson's Super System

It really depends on what you want to play. For micro limit nl games probably your best starting point is actually the Strategy Articles right here at Cardschat. http://www.cardschat.com/poker-strategy.php

Phil Gordon little book series (Green/Blue/Black) are all decent starter books although a little more tournament focused.

Just reading a ton here and posting a little bit will probably be more helpful than any book you can get though.

If you want some other recommendations check out AlienGenius' Library thread. Library v.4

Wouldn't recommend Harrington to a micro cash player (it's entirely MTT focused).

Wouldn't recommend Super System to anyone (outside of as a historical read) only because it doesn't even begin to relate to today's online game and following some of the advice it contains is a good way to lose money.

100% agreed with that WV. Super System is a great read if you're wanting to find out the absolute basics of some of the other variations of poker(omaha, triple draw, believe there is razz, stud, etc.) but it isn't a book that a beginner is going to pick up and read and automatically know how to play poker now. The advice the book gives on holdem is the complete opposite of how it's played today when it comes to aggression, and if you followed the book's advice strictly, you would be eaten alive.

Also with Harrington's tournament books, they obviously aren't going to help the cash game player, but his cash game books could help a little bit, although they are definitely not geared for the micros. For the low micros, the best thing to do is just play ABC poker. Play your good hands aggressively and get rid of your bad ones. There are a couple of good eBook's that I have regarding micro limits, if you want to PM me maybe I can send one of em to you.

Small Stakes Hold Em as said is Limit based, but the early part contains good chapters on pre flop hand ranges, what you should be playing, and explains everything in good ole plain english, a lot of it is transferable to NL and there are some decent hand examples, I for one would recommend it.

Alright, I will take a look at it.

Wow, that guy has some library! Thanks for the pointers, I will take it into consideration.

Point taken! Thanks.

You have PM.

Alright, perhaps taking a look into those examples will help my game. Thanks!

Did no one recommend Sklansky's NLH: Theory & Practice? That can be complimented with Phil Gordon's Final Table DVD (I know all the criticisms of the video) as a way for a beginning player to read about and then see in action the way players think through hands and situations.

He is asking for cash games natsteel. Gordon's DVD is tournament based. On top of that, most of the stuff by Sklansky is very advanced for the beginner. Don't get me wrong, his books are the icing on the cake when it comes to poker, but it's going to look like a lot of nothing to someoen who hasn't played that many hands to relate a lot of the theories and concepts to.

I liked the Phil Gordon book. Do not have the other one.

Gotta say as a beginner I agree with WVHillbilly. I read a load of books before I started playing micro stakes, some of them helped more than others. But it wasn't till I came here (that was only a couple weeks ago) and started reading that I began to see a difference in my game. Most books are going to be based on one persons ideas, here there are loads of threads with focused discussions giving you a chance to understand practical knowledge more thoroughly. And if you have a question, as I am sure you have noticed, everyone seems more than gracious to answer. When it is weighed in terms of knowledge vs time spent, Cardschat is invaluable. Best of luck

Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is an excellent first read for someone picking up the game (although it is geared towards tournament-style play.. but am certain it wouldn't hurt for someone starting out playing 2nl).
For microstakes cash.... yah, probably better off reading stuff in forum.
For MTT & SNG, there are ALOT of 'excellent' books out there these days (& anyone suggesting that there isn't, or that they're not 'invaluable' imo hasn't read them). btw.. most poker books written these days, aren't solely written from the author's viewpoint on how one should play, but instead are written to evoke thinking by the reader.

It appears that my last post was misunderstood so I will clarify. In no way was my intention to deter from the validity of books. There are many good books out there that are well worth putting on the "must read" list. I was simply stating that as a beginner like myself (who has read many of the aforementioned books) that the forum is a good place to start. It was intended not only to pay tribute to all those here at the Cardschat, but to share a bit of information that has helped someone (me) in a similar position as the person who started the thread.
And it is a near impossibility to write on any topic with a completely unbiased point of view. In order to provoke thought a "seed" has to be planted, that "seed" comes from a book, which comes from the authors thoughts. Even when two "seeds" are planted with no elaboration the simple order in which they are written can imply a preference. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the only way to get a generally well rounded view is to either a) read a lot of books, or b) read something that has many different thoughts in one place. As a fast reader it would take significantly longer for me to read enough books to get a well rounded view on a topic than it would to go someplace that already had it there.
To summarize, read books, lots of books, but in order to get as much information as possible in as little time as possible the forums are a good place to start.

Ryan Fee has a free ebook to download. Its 6 max tho. The more books you read, the better you get at being able to tell which ones are for you. If you dont know whether a book will be right for you, CC is a great place to get peoples thoughts on any particular book (although, except in the case of a few books that just are not very good, you cant really go wrong anyway) I think that many books available are good. Once you get a couple under your belt, The Theory of Poker is a good read for general mindset. Its not game specific tho.

Ahhh!!! Very true, absoluthamm. I have the Harrington cash game books but haven't really gone through them as I've been trying to grind SnGs. Though I am constantly tempted to try to make the switch. If I did, I think I would start with the Harrington volumes.

For cash games, especially micros, the best stuff I have seen is not books but the videos on Cardrunners and PokerVT. If someone was serious about making a go of it in cash games and starting at the micros, I would recommend a subscription to Cardrunners. FT has a deal with them where you can earn weekly subscriptions simply by accumulating FTPs and they don't take the points or affect your rakeback.

A lot of it has been said above: Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is an excellent beginner's starting point.

I'd follow it up with his Little Blue Book.

I'd skip Harrington's books. Harrington on Hold 'em is fantastic for tournament players but you're playing cash games. Harrington on Cash Games (and I haven't read them cover to cover yet, just browsed them) is very much aimed at higher stakes players and there will be dozens of better resources for $2NL players.

Skip Super System (both versions) as well because the only section you'll be interested in is the NLHE one and the advice contained therein will be terrible for a $2NL player. It may also be terrible for higher stakes players these days, but that's another matter.

So personally, I'd start with Phil Gordon's books then just play a whole lot of hands and try to apply what you've learned. Post questions you've got here in the cash game / hand analysis threads and then take it from there. There's only so much theoretical learning you can do with books anyway before you need to go to the table and put the practice hours in.