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Axiomos

Rising Star
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Hi there!

My name is Arno, 19 years old and from Belgium, where they've raised the required age for online poker from 18 to 21 since a couple of months. Suck my ****

I've been fascinated by poker and other games ever since I was a kid and I immediately made an account on Pokerstars when I just became 18. Unfortunately they've taken this all away from me now and so I will have to wait a little more than a year before I can hit the tables again. So I decided to do some studying in the meanwhile.

Speaking about hitting the tables, I must confess that playing poker really isn't that easy. I deposited $50 a couple of times and it was very hard for me -playing the lowest stakes- to move up. Caught up in frustration and impatience I would lose my bankroll in the long run, deposit after deposit. I know: for anyone who ever wants to be a professional player, self-control is one the most important things to have. But who says I want to be a professional player someday? I like the game more because of it's elegance, this ever occuring complexity by just playing the same simple rules over and over again, and if I can win a little: hey fine! I just can't keep losing like this because that ain't fun either :D

So:

Given all this, what books do you suppose to be the best preparation for a very beginning player on the very lowest limits in the very game called no-limit hold'em?

I'd be delighted to hear from you,

Greetings,

Arno
 
PokerDoctor

PokerDoctor

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Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta -
Beginner book - but I assume that whats you need and are looking for.
He discusses buying in for a small stake with the idea of either trying to get all your money in preflop or on the flop to negate the skill advantages that the better players will have on you on later streets. The idea is to get your feet wet
and eventually with more experience to buy in with a bigger buyin at the same stakes.
 
MediaBLITZ

MediaBLITZ

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For a very beginning player Ed Miller has another book called "Getting Started in Hold Em"

This book presents the critical principles that expert players use: preflop hand valuation, domination, betting for value, protecting your hand, semi-bluffing, pot equity, pot odds, implied odds, free card plays, the importance of stack size, why chips change value in tournaments, and much more.


But here is the usual progression I recommend:

Beginner - Phil Gordon's Black and Green books

Moving up to Intermediate - Dan Harrington books (pick tourney of cash series)

Intermediate - Ed Miller's material, Lee Nelson
 
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Axiomos

Rising Star
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Okay thanks people, that's kind of what I wanted to hear. It's nice to have access to all these books but for sure some of them must be better for beginners.
 
MediaBLITZ

MediaBLITZ

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Definitely for a beginner would be Gordon's two books -

Black first (AKA Poker: The Real Deal) then Green.

Some guys will say don't waste your time on the Black as it is too rudimentary - but I got stuff out of it and I was not a beginner.
Also Gordon's books are very easy and comfortable to read.

Then move out of the shallow end to waist deep with Harrington.
 
BigCountryAA

BigCountryAA

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Power Hold'em Strategy is a great book. The book covers topics from beginner to more advanced.

It's by Daniel Negreanu and has chapters written by Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, Paul Wasicka and David Williams.
 
MediaBLITZ

MediaBLITZ

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Power Hold'em Strategy is a great book. The book covers topics from beginner to more advanced.

It's by Daniel Negreanu and has chapters written by Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng, Paul Wasicka and David Williams.

That's kind of the problem with it for a beginner - it's all over the place and gives a whole lot of different viewpoints in a whole lot of different voices.

Don't get me wrong - it's worth having (I suppose - it's sitting in my drawer right now) - but after you get a good consistent baseline from like Gordon or Harrington then you can start looking at little deviations/opinions from others and start developing your own game.
 
Daniel72

Daniel72

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My first two little beginner books, and i can recommend these, were a poker book by Simon Young and another one by Mark Strahan. For the titles google please, and i don´t know if the books are still available.
 
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Penhorse340

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I'd recommend Phil Gordons Green and blue books. The Green is a very well rounded and accessible book, and the blue is simply a compendium of real life situations with real life hands, and a breakdown on the considerations around how to play them. You sort of have to read the green for it to make sense, but the blue book is, for me, far more fun to pick up and put down, you can read it in 3 minute chunks, a hand at a time.

Just toying with the "mental game of poker", Is that one worth my money?
 
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