Right book for beating amateurs at home game?

I am looking for a book geared toward:
Winning at home games with your typical neighborhood players
Does anyone have any suggestions? As many of you know, advanced player theory does not always apply at these types of games, lol.
What is comes down to is I play in about 2 games a week with people I know and I want to beat their As*%$.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
TheDukeVA

I am also interested to see if someone has written such a book.

Advanced poker theory usually not needed. Basic will do. Just everyday solid play.

Tournament structure? Phil Gordon followed by Dan Harrington

Ring game? Ed Miller

Playing with the same bunch all the time? Caro's Book of tells

STUDY STUDY STUDY

There is no shortcut book on how to take advantage of donks - just solid play. Focus and awareness. It might take a little time, but it is time invested, not wasted. How badly do you want to crush them? Enough to pay the price?

I have a group I play with that I can now almost count on coming home with money. It didn't start that way. Was talking to one of the guys last time and I copped the plea that everyone there had tons more experience at the table than I did (and they do). I was trying to boost their confidence and generate in their minds I was not a threat. I was exposed when the other guy replied, "Yeah, that might true, but no one here spends more time studying than you." Er, uh.... DAMN That was the first week in a while I didn't come home with more than I started.

Good Luck Duke

No book needed. Take advantage of their mistakes. Typically they call too much preflop and fold too much postflop. So raise lots of pots in position and cbet 100% of the time. If you actually make a hand just keep betting.

If you absolutely positively have to read a book something simple like Phil Gordon's Little Green Book should do the trick.

I was going to recommend the Little Green Book also and just take advantage of their mistakes.

Most of the time it's just adjusting to how they play.

To give you an insane example:

When my wife's family comes over to play, they almost always just call the blind pre-flop. I know I can pretty much play any two cards 90% of the time. I usually will get them to call all the way down after i've flopped something great. I also know to get out when they start betting. It's pretty basic but I know that's the best way to get money out of them.

Now I know you wouldn't do this with a better group of players but for them it works very effectively. And it's fun to watch my brother-in-law just fume the whole night because he never adjusts.

super systems are always good for a starter

Phil Helmuth's: Play Poker Like the Pro's. The only reason a suggest this book is because we have a home game. And one of my buddies wife played and was terrible. She decided to read this book and she started beat us. So it helps.

Skidmark said:

super systems are always good for a starter

Click to expand...

Sorry but no, they're not.

Super System (doesn't matter which one since the NLHE section is essentially the same in both) was written for high stakes games populated with tight players. Big chunks of it will actually hurt you in a typical loose-passive low stakes home game.

JediQuest said:

Phil Helmuth's: Play Poker Like the Pro's. The only reason a suggest this book is because we have a home game. And one of my buddies wife played and was terrible. She decided to read this book and she started beat us. So it helps.

Click to expand...

Just read this book. Assuming you play NLHE, there is not much info you can get out of the book. He talks about how to play hands like A-x and how Huck Seed plays suited connectors. Only "advanced" strategy in the book for NL. If your playing Limit HE, or maybe PLO or Stud, I can see how it helps. He goes through beginning, intermediate, and advanced strategies. Maybe she just hit a luck streak? Or maybe she read something else but I doubt it could be from this book

Personally I think the best book you could read would be 'Phil Gordon's Little Green Book' (< this book is a million times better than Helmuth's book). It covers the basics & is just a well-written book (ez read) & think it'd help anyone out who's getting started (& even alot who've played for awhile... ie. the majority of CC members, lol).

Best book for a homegame that's full of loose calling stations (I'm assuming?).... might just be the thickest, heaviest book you could smack them with (I've got a huge dictionary that works pretty well)

sheesho said:

Just read this book. Assuming you play NLHE, there is not much info you can get out of the book. He talks about how to play hands like A-x and how Huck Seed plays suited connectors. Only "advanced" strategy in the book for NL. If your playing Limit HE, or maybe PLO or Stud, I can see how it helps. He goes through beginning, intermediate, and advanced strategies. Maybe she just hit a luck streak? Or maybe she read something else but I doubt it could be from this book

Click to expand...

Oh sure - just following his "super tight is super right", top ten hands, would be enough to crack a loose home game.

But the favorite is definitely Gordon's Little Green Book

I would read anything by Charles Bukowski, then take WVHillbillys advice.....


(Well the Bukowski wont help your poker strategy at home games, but if they drink it WILL get you familiar with their mindset)

If you have a good basic understanding of poker, you dont need a book as much as you need to pay attention to how they play and use that info to crush.............. Although I second and third the Little green book.......

Poker Orifice said:

Personally I think the best book you could read would be 'Phil Gordon's Little Green Book' (< this book is a million times better than Helmuth's book). It covers the basics & is just a well-written book (ez read) & think it'd help anyone out who's getting started (& even alot who've played for awhile... ie. the majority of CC members, lol).

Best book for a homegame that's full of loose calling stations (I'm assuming?).... might just be the thickest, heaviest book you could smack them with (I've got a huge dictionary that works pretty well)

Click to expand...

+1 on Phil Gordon's Little Green Book.

And to the person who suggested Super System: Thats not for beginner's and not really for low stakes games with loose call stations....

Very good. THANKS! I am officially going with the Ed Miller's book on low stakes Hold em and Phil Gordons Little Green Book.
The whole "Home Game" thing is actually very interesting now. With the amount of knowledge that can be gained from TV coverage as opposed to 10 years ago and the number of free poker sites online, it is like they all have a "little" bit of knowledge.
It really seems like there would be a "predictable" style of play associated with a person who's knowledge of poker is strictly from watching wsop, WPT, or HSP on TV. Then throw in the factors of:
-Loose play from low stakes and lack of patience
-lack of concentration from the distractions of playing with friends or the TV on or whatever
-the addition of the alcohol
-the one or two players with NO expierience
-the ultra loose player who is not worried about losing their $40 buy in

Seems like there would be a real predictability to this game (and for the author of this book, a huge market, lol)

FWIW you'll find opponents pretty well fitting that description in most casino cash games (definitely games around the $1/$2 level). Bad players are bad players no matter how much they bought in for.

My point is that you don't need a special book just for home games. All you need is to play a solid, probably quite boring game. Any book dedicated to strategies for beating these players wouldn't need to be longer than maybe a dozen pages.

TheDukeVA said:

Very good. THANKS! I am officially going with the Ed Miller's book on low stakes Hold em and Phil Gordons Little Green Book.
The whole "Home Game" thing is actually very interesting now. With the amount of knowledge that can be gained from TV coverage as opposed to 10 years ago and the number of free poker sites online, it is like they all have a "little" bit of knowledge.
It really seems like there would be a "predictable" style of play associated with a person who's knowledge of poker is strictly from watching WSOP, WPT, or HSP on TV. Then throw in the factors of:
-Loose play from low stakes and lack of patience
-lack of concentration from the distractions of playing with friends or the TV on or whatever
-the addition of the alcohol
-the one or two players with NO expierience
-the ultra loose player who is not worried about losing their $40 buy in

Seems like there would be a real predictability to this game (and for the author of this book, a huge market, lol)

Click to expand...

Okay, professionally I am a TV producer so listen up -

The WSOP, WPT, HPT - any large field tournament coverage - is edited down (obviously) but you need to be aware that what it is edited down to is not the best poker play but the most exciting and biggest pot hands. That means you will see this kind of hand:
UTG - AA bets 4x
BTN - 67o calls
Flop - A9K rainbow
UTG - Checks
BTN - Shoves
UTG - Calls
Turn - 5
River - 8

So the little bit of knowledge that was gained is it is profitable to shove a backdoor gut shot straight.

You won't see this hand.
UTG - 66 bets 2.5x
BTN - 67o calls
Flop - A9K rainbow
UTG - Checks
BTN - Bets Out
UTG - Folds

Then HSP (well used to be) is filled with mind games since these guys usually know each others play so well. Absolutely fascinating to the serious player but a disaster in the hands of others.

Probably horrible examples but my point is poker is mostly simple and boring decisions and an exercise in patience. Well that's a recipe for horrible TV.
So pray for guys at the table who have learned how to play by watching TV and just lay in wait for them. yes pretty predictable play will come out - they will be taking shots and gambling, not playing poker. They will be swinging for home runs, not trying to get men on base.

And the books are already written. Yeah somebody could market a "Beat Your Buddy's Home Game" (in fact I thought I saw one a time ago), but it would be the same rehash of playing solid poker and right now no one is doing that better than Gordon and Harrington and Miller.

I am a bit biased towards two of my own books that I have written, but I will say that if I were to recommend other books that helped me when I was starting it was Small Stakes Holdem by Ed Miller. This really helped me develop a great foundation for my thought process.

Leatherass said:

I am a bit biased towards two of my own books that I have written, but I will say that if I were to recommend other books that helped me when I was starting it was Small Stakes Holdem by Ed Miller. This really helped me develop a great foundation for my thought process.

Click to expand...

So does that mean in about 5 years "Treat Your Poker Like A Business" will be retitled and remarketed as "How to Crack Your Friend's Home poker games and Make Them Whine and Snivel Like Phil Hellmuth"?
arty: arty:

"So does that mean in about 5 years "Treat Your Poker Like A Business" will be retitled and remarketed as "How to Crack Your Friend's Home Poker Games and Make Them Whine and Snivel Like Phil Hellmuth"?"

That's what I am looking for!!!! lol

OzExorcist said:

If you absolutely positively have to read a book something simple like Phil Gordon's Little Green Book should do the trick.

Click to expand...

TOTALLY agree!

YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT OF MOST LOCAL LIBRARIES

Wally

try the bible

amateurs in home games can be more problematic, since home games tend to be very TURBOriffic ... you play very few hands between the blinds going up and you have to speed up your play accordingly

and calling stations and big pots and you quickly get out of a comfort zone

i tend to play disturbingly tight in the worse case scenario ... if they are going to call my bets than i want to have a big hand when they do it

also, at the first few levels, i tend to try to get away with limping into pots and getting lucky knowing, at least, one of the amateurs will pay me off nicely for any big hand

TheDukeVA said:

"So does that mean in about 5 years "Treat Your Poker Like A Business" will be retitled and remarketed as "How to Crack Your Friend's Home Poker Games and Make Them Whine and Snivel Like Phil Hellmuth"?"

That's what I am looking for!!!! lol

Click to expand...

Actually that should be "How to Crack Your Friend's Home Poker Games and Make Them Whine and Snivel Like Phil Hellmuth, Whom You Should Not Listen To"

UPDATE:
Thanks for all of the advise. Got Phil's Little Green book and it has been a huge help so far. I was better than most at our home games before the book. Mainly though because I am naturally tight and I was strong with hand selection and odds.
What I was NOT DOING WELL at ALL, was position play. You hear about how important position is and it always seemed like a part of it, but wow, Phil stresses that in a BIG way, and since I have started to apply that, it has made a HUGE difference. In fact, I find now that I am so focused on position that I probably get a little TOO loose on the button and cutoff. I need to start finding that happy medium, but the upside has been big.

Being loose in the CO/BTN is the nuts when stealing blinds but you need to be able to fold those marginal hands(like low pairs, dominated broadway cards like KJ/JT etc) to reraises.

Glad you like Phil's book, I was going to suggest it to. It's a good book that covers the basics and a very easy read, I usually bring it up to anyone wanting to learn NLHE