Hey all,

I've been playing kitchen table poker for years, but I have recently gotten involved with Amateur No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament.  Its really different when you're not playing friends.  I love it.

I even love the touneys when I lose, but I think I will like playin even better when I win.   What books do you recommend?  I already have Sklansky's Holdem Poker and plan on getting the more advanced books, but who else?

John K.

"If you don't know who the sucker is in your
first 30 minutes at the table, you're the sucker"

Understand that limit, spread-limit, pot-limit, and no-limit are all separate games, with vastly different strategies.  Tournaments are also very different in strategy from cash games.

The Dougherty/McEvoy no-limit book is my favorite.  It will give you a solid foundation if you don't already have one.  I have the McEvoy/Cloutier no-limit/pot-limit book, but I didn't like it.  They have other books on tournaments, etc. that some people swear by.  The Ciaffone/Reuben no-limit/pot-limit book is supposed to be good but you won't find it in the chain stores.  I haven't read that one yet.  I have Phil Hellmuth's book, his advice is questionable, stay away.

If you play limit, start with Lee Jones, then get Gary Carson, then get the Sklansky books (Small Stakes Hold'em, Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players, Hold'em Poker).  Brunson's Super/System is dated but probably worth reading eventually.

Keep in mind that hold'em has changed a lot in the last few years.  As little as five years ago you had to be very cautious and push very small edges to turn a profit.  Nowadays the casinos are full of terrible players, so you wait for a huge edge (AA vs. a bunch of trash hands), jam it up, and rake in huge pots.  The advice given in older books may not reflect this new reality, so be careful.

jafager

yeah thats a good point everyone is playing now, I lost some money playing STUD, confused me with all the cards and trying to keep track of what others had.

Quoted: yeah thats a good point everyone is playing now, I lost some money playing STUD, confused me with all the cards and trying to keep track of what others had.

It's worse if you're sitting on one end of the table and you have terrible vision.  You have maybe a few seconds to squint at the door cards at the other end of the table before they get flipped over and mucked.

There's another problem with stud.  I have a saying:

"The problem with playing stud in Atlantic City is that nobody plays stud in Atlantic City that hasn't been playing it for thirty years."

jafager

Not really all poker, but read Amarillo Slim's "In a world of Fat People" (I think).  Good, funny read.

NorCal

If you want some practice, you can play online, for free, with either play or real money, against real human beings at  www.pokerroom.com

I love the poker fad.  So glad it has become this popular.  A truly great game.

Doyle Brunson's Super System is considered "The Bible" of Hold 'Em. But, like has been said, some strategies need to be changed to relflect the current atmosphere in poker. Super System 2 should be out soon with contributions by the current masters. I expect it to be a worthwhile read.

I played my first casino game of Hold Em at Mohegan Sun a few months back. My buddy and I played the $1-2 NL game. I was figuring opening bets of say $6 maybe even $8. Nope! initial bets were $25-$35 dollars. Is that normal? It was nuts. I played one hand in two hours the betting was so ridiculous. Eventually I went all in 3 times and won all 3 and made a $30 profit for the night. What was even more nuts is these 24 yr old kids would lose a hundred and whip out another like it was nothing. No more of that for me. Ill stick to internet poker! Im on pokerroom.com also as .41 Magnum.  

Originally Posted By John Parker: I played my first casino game of Hold Em at Mohegan Sun a few months back. My buddy and I played the $1-2 NL game. I was figuring opening bets of say $6 maybe even $8. Nope! initial bets were $25-$35 dollars. Is that normal?

Yes.  Baby no-limit games are very, very aggressive, especially pre-flop.  This is partly because people don't know how much to bet, and partly because you're playing with mostly red chips, and partly because casual players don't get a charge out of betting a few dollars.

It was nuts. I played one hand in two hours the betting was so ridiculous. Eventually I went all in 3 times and won all 3 and made a $30 profit for the night.

I play the same way, when I play no-limit, which is rarely, because it's so boring.

What was even more nuts is these 24 yr old kids would lose a hundred and whip out another like it was nothing.

Anybody buying in for substantially less than the maximum, and rebuying often, is gambling.  These people are worth a lot of money if you get the right hand at the right time.

In those games you have to be willing to push your whole stack (and even at $1/2 you could be looking at five hundred or a thousand or more) into the center of the table at any time, because it's the right thing to do.  And then lose it, because you got unlucky, even though the odds were in your favor.  If you can't handle that, financially or emotionally, then no-limit is not your game.  That's one of those things they don't talk about on TV.

jafager

Quoted: No-limit is boring? I've found the opposite to be true.

It's boring when most pots are being opened for 7-15x the big blind.  Limit games I can play all kinds of hands -- suited aces, suited kings, suited connectors, pocket pairs, offsuit broadways, plus occasional random hands from the blinds, and I can do it at least as high as $6/12.

I sit down at $1/2 no-limit with a $300 buy-in, and I'm playing AA, KK, QQ, maybe JJ and TT, AK, maybe AQ.  Late position I might limp in with smaller pairs, suited aces, suited connectors, but most of the time those are going to get raised out of the pot.  A generous estimate would be one hand in twenty, which is one hand every 40 minutes.  Not very stimulating, IMHO.

jafager

Poker is good...goes good with booze.

Liquour up front, and Poker in the rear.

get  Phil Helmuths  book , I have  read many and his is excelent,  I know I spelled his name wrong but i loaned out the book last week .


Also try Absolutepoker.com   for some cheap fun tournaments,  if enough of join we can have an Arfcom private table always available for us

Quoted: No-limit is boring? I've found the opposite to be true. It's the only way Texas hold 'em should be played IMO.

I agree that no-limit is actually pretty dull to play in the real world. Noone takes any risks whatsoever and when all but 2 or 3 people drop out before the first round the pots don't even get all that big in a lot of cases. This of course assumes that you arent playing among people with REALLY deep pockets.

What was even more nuts is these 24 yr old kids would lose a hundred and whip out another like it was nothing.

Thats really the nature of the beast (and why i no longer allow myself to even enter a casino). You have to play to win, and you only win as big as you play.

Quoted: get  Phil Helmuths  book , I have  read many and his is excelent,  I know I spelled his name wrong but i loaned out the book last week . Also try Absolutepoker.com   for some cheap fun tournaments,  if enough of join we can have an Arfcom private table always available for us

This is a singular idea!