Good books for a beginner?

Sorry if this thread is repetitive but I couldn't really find another thread about this but what are some good books for a beginner poker player? I am reading Theory of Poker by David Sklansky currently and I was wondering if there are any other good books.
Also, what are poker trackers? I see a lot of stuff about using stats and whatever on strategy articles etc but I do not know what it is. Can anyone recommend a cheap/good poker tracker software to use?

Doyle Brunson's books are good. I would recommend him.

The poker player Mentality (Matthew Hilger and Ian Taylor) I read that book is very good! prepares you mentally!

same happens to me but I want a book in Spanish that is harder to get because my English is not good if anyone knows of any please communicate it in Spanish because the state does not matter if the book is for beginners or advanced

It depends.

Poker is a diverse subject.

Which game do you fancy? What stakes? Cash? SNG? MTT? NLHE? Limit HE? PLO8?

BearPlay said:

It depends.

Poker is a diverse subject.

Which game do you fancy? What stakes? Cash? SNG? MTT? NLHE? Limit HE? PLO8?

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+1, this would have been my question as well before making any suggestions.

Only thing I would suggest without knowing the area someone wants to study, would be Jared Tendler's The Mental Game of poker books. I have both, only finished reading the 1st one a month or so ago and need to go back and study it and get that tilt sorted out that hits me when playing cash games.

I think I want to play SNGs(6 Max)/MTT NLHE or 7 card stud (as I only have any experience in those 2 games)

Also, to clarify, I kind of want a book that will help me with how to think through/approach poker in general, not necessarily a specific type of game

Power Hold'em Strategy by Daniel Negreanu is enlightening.

sweetlew09 said:

I think I want to play SNGs(6 Max)/MTT NLHE or 7 card stud (as I only have any experience in those 2 games)

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I like Sit 'n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman for Sit n Goes and Annie Duke's Decide to Play Great Poker.

For SNG:

Sit 'n Go Strategy: Collin Moshman

Little Green Book: Phil Gordon

SNG Blueprint: sitandgoplanet.com


For MTT:

Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Dan Harrington (he has two follow-up volumes to this one for advanced play)


For poker strategy / Mental-Emotional Game:

The Mental Game of Poker: Jared Tendler and Barry Carter

Anything on YouTube by Jared Tendler

Anything on YouTube by Gripsed

I don't think that books are a good idea for really, really beginning poker players. Most of them will introduce concepts that might confuse.

Until you have several thousand hands behind you I think it is better to use some of the free training stuff on t'Interwebs. The YouTube ones mentioned by BearPlay are good as are many of the PokerVIP (pokervip.com) ones since in many of them the presenter explains their thinking as the hand progresses. I also quite like The Poker Bank (thepokerbank.com) videos particularly those by SplitSuit. His are divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced and he also explains his thinking well as he goes along. Not to forget the poker schools run by some of the major sites like partypoker, FullTilt and pokerstars in particular.

All of the books mentioned in this thread are good but it is difficult to recommend any as different ones suit different types of players. For example the Sklansky ones have a tendency toward poker math, as you have probably discovered, whilst others deal more with strategy.

Are any of these books still relevant with today's poker? I know that the type of people I am playing in very low stakes and freerolls, seem to follow no logic at all. Its play any two cards, shove as often as one can, and basically turn it into bingo at best. I am guessing that the higher in stakes you go, the better the poker gets, at least that's what I am hoping.

I second Sit 'n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman.

For poker math, Poker Math that Matters by Owen Gaines

For general NLHE cash games, Building a bankroll Full Ring Edition by Pawel Nazarewicz