Comments | shipitfish: SYWTSPP 3 - What Books Should I Read To Start Limit HE?

shipitfish

SYWTSPP 3 - What Books Should I Read To Start Limit HE?

Mar 19, 2006 22:53

[ This is the third part in a continuing series called So, You Want To Start Playing Poker?. The series is designed to help new players learn some basics about starting poker from the ground up.]

In a post about what game structure to select, I recommended two possible games: limit HE and NL HE. In this article ( Read more... )

books, limit he, didactic, newbies

Comments 11

small stakes holdem anonymous March 20 2006, 04:31:38 UTC

You left out the Two Plus Two book Small Stakes Hold'em. It isn't targeted at absolute beginners, but it should be read immediately after the Lee Jones intro. Also, it is my opinion that following the advice in any of these inrto poker books will not make you a winning player. If you follow their advice perfectly (which is hard enough to do when you are starting off) you will still lose.

You will only win when you fuse the advice from those books with some poker instincts and experience. When you are starting off at limit holdem, if you follow the beginner advice, you will amost certainly slowly leak away money (as oppsed to seeing a wild ride with some big wins and some devistating losses).

Re: small stakes holdem shipitfish March 20 2006, 05:07:40 UTC

Hey, man, you are killing my thunder. :) I was planning to talk about that book in later posts. :) But yes, it's a good book for sure, and I agree that following the basic advice isn't enough; just a way to get started and acclimated.

jellymillion March 20 2006, 09:48:28 UTC

My in-laws went to New York and all I got was Play Poker Like the Pros.

And they thought I'd be pleased.

shipitfish March 20 2006, 19:57:44 UTC

As I mention in the post, it's my in-laws who introduced me to the fact that casino poker existed! So, I have a lot more positive poker experience with mine than it sounds like you had with yours. Hey, at least they know what your hobby is. :)

swolfe March 20 2006, 19:29:54 UTC

you may also be saving this for a future post, but i think that the theory of poker deserves a mention.

shipitfish March 20 2006, 19:55:12 UTC

Yeah, my belief is that Sklansky is just going to confuse the total newbie at first.

roryk March 20 2006, 20:07:36 UTC

The Krieger book is not just poorly organized, it contains advice that is just wrong. People should just stay away from it entirely. Also people should be careful to buy the updated version of the Lee Jones book because the old book has the same mistakes that are in the Krieger book ( ... )

But not all low stakes games are so loose roryk March 20 2006, 23:01:34 UTC

Many of the low stakes limit games aren't as loose as they were when we were rookies. I remember playing hands back in the day where I'd cap off the turn with AA unimproved in a 5-way pot (still 5-way on the turn) and take down a monster. From my observations, those days are essentially over. (And I'm not saying many books would recommend playing a turn like that -- I'm just saying those games were *that* loose -- as I'm sure you recall.)

I'm not refuting anything you said. I'm just saying that even the advice in Small Stakes Hold'em will provide a nice foundation, but not make a new player an immediately winning player. Back in the day I believe new player could follow the cookbook and make money.

roryk March 20 2006, 20:23:38 UTC

I totally disagree-- I think you should read and buy up every poker book you can if you play and have the inclination. They are very inexpensive hobby books as hobby books go (as compared to books on say chess, which run in the $30-$40 range, generally) and there are not that many of them. I think Steven told me to read every poker book-- someone told me to. This was their reasoning, and it is good reasoning ( ... )