Someone told me about a couple of books, but I forgot the titles.
I’ve been getting into the free games quite a bit. I do OK, but I need to gain a bit more edge on the game.
Anyone play in the northern metro?
In my opinion, the best poker book you can read is Dan Harrington’s book. Look it up by author, I think it’s mostly about low limit hold-em games. This is for any games where the buy in is in the hundreds or less.
The Phil Hellmuth books are a good start. They are pretty korny and basic, but might be a good place to start.
Come over to my house and bring lots of money I’ll teach everything you need to know 
Read Brunsons books there the best
nothing beats good old fashion practice. Sure reading the books helps you learn the different styles of play but those are only hypothetical situations. If every hand was played out like it was suppose to be we would all be broke millionares. With that said, i think the only two books need to be read or the Super System by doyal brunson and Phil helmuths book. Dont think you will make millions by reading these books either, you will have to read doyals book a lot of times to fully understand his concept.
“Harrington on Hold ‘Em” I think is the name of Dan Harrington’s book. Actually, he has 2 or possibly 3 volumes. I have read the first one. Very good read.
JD
Good advice guy’s.
All 3 of Harrington on Hold em books are very good.
Also Doyle Brunson’s super systems 2 is awesome.
But if I were you I would highly recommend David Sklansky’s Small Stakes Hold ’em it’s the Best book yet for the small stakes/low limit player.
Go to Barns and Noble they have all the Poker books you’ll need.
And like stated above just play.
Check Raise…. 
Sklansky has a couple must reads, theory of poker and hold’em for advanced players.
bruson’s super system books and harrington’s, that will about melt your head.
Get in and get free rolling, lots of great free lessons to be learned there, you may make a little off them too, but you never lose anything 
Nick <– Shark 
Supersystem by Doyle Brunson, hands down. Not that you will become one by reading this book or anything but, more professional poker players have read that book than any other.
Read Brunsons book a few yrs.back but the best thing to do for results is practice. Party poker.com is a lot of fun and it’s free. Played thousands of hands on this site and it really helps.Remember,every hand is a story being told,you just have to figure out how it ends. 
Doyle Brunson
Can’t believe no one has asked the obvious question. What form of Hold’em do you want to learn to play? NL cash games, NL Tournament play, Limit Cash games. All very different strategies.
All three of Harrinton’s books are good if you plan to play high buy in NL tournaments. Doyles book covers different strategies, but is pretty boring to read in my opinion. Couldn’t get through it and don’t agree 100% with some chapters.
For someone just learning the game, I’d suggest “Winning Low Limit Hold’em” by Lee Jones. It will teach you a solid Limit Hold’em game.
If you are just learing No Limit, read “No Limit Hold ’em: Theory and Practice” by David Sklansky and Ed Miller.
DO NOT read any Harrington or Doyle as your first book. It will screw you up and you will go broke trying to play at that level as a rookie.
One last thing. You mention “Free Games” I’ll assume you mean you are playing for no money. Stop doing that right now. Every hand you play at that level will set you back.
Good Luck.
That was going to be my point. If he is interested in the game and wants to sit down a Canterbury or a casino in the next few weeks for 2/4 limit, most of those books would be worthless.
The biggest thing to remember about going to live action games is what kind of game you are playing and for how much money. If you are playing no limit in a bar for $20, you are going to experience a lot of bad players and bad beats.
If you are playing those same people for $100 buy in, they’ll usually be much more conservative. I typically don’t get too wild in the first part of any tourney because I like to try to get some trends and players styles down. It’s easy to pick out the ultra agressive crazy player, and it’s usually pretty obvious who the solid systematic players are. You want to watch what kinds of hands they value, do they really think mid pair is worth calling half their chips with?
Limit Hold-Em is a whole different animal. Especially low limit. There is no bluffing anybody out a pot for $2.00. You have to play solid and have the best hand in low limit hold-em. Decide how advanced your knowledge of the game is. How familiar are you with the terminology?
If you’re not that advanced yet, find a poker theory book that describes all aspects of the game and doesn’t go into precise plays. Phil Hellmuth’s books or DVD’s will show you how to play top 10 hands, and teach you personality styles (however korny they may be). I think his DVD’s might be a good choice for a begginer too.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I’m checking them out on Amazon right now.
The bar tournaments I play are free (no limit) but the prizes range from $30-$150, and an invite to a larger tournament with higher payouts. Most of the people play good poker, but there are a few ultra aggressive players out there as well.
I played at Cantabury once at the low end tables and didn’t care for how people played.
Thanks again.
Quote:
One last thing. You mention “Free Games” I’ll assume you mean you are playing for no money. Stop doing that right now. Every hand you play at that level will set you back.
Good Luck.
I do think there is a lot of value to free games, but the point of caution is valid, but the value of playing good cards and playing a hand properly can be learned, for free. I’d reccomend play money sit and go tournaments, give you a lot of practice on being patient and playing you hand correctly, the higher the limit generally speaking the better the player, though you still see the full range of players from the super tight, to the maniac’s, you get a chance to play your cards and a chance to play the players, I’m played thousands of free sit and go tournaments, I know it’s made me money.
When stepping into the real money realm you need to realize the players are usually better, and the game changes, and you’ll need to play different than you do with play money. Sheer number of hands you get to see, has lots of value, think the average night at the bar you see 50-100 hands, you can see that easily in an hour online. I learned lots playing play money lessons other people I know paid hard earned money to learn.
Learn to have a never die attitude, and choose to fight the battles with the best cards if you get short stacked (It’s key to try to advoid being short stacked). I reserved myself to never lose money playing, believe it or not thus far I haven’t, though I play for small stakes, the attitude is a big part of my sucess, I think.
Don’t make the mistake that limit poker is the same as no limit, too often I see people make poor mistakes in the games, playing nl poker like limit poker and like wise, they indeed are two different games.
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