blonde poker forum

I havent been playing on Stars for very long but have earned enough Player Points to get a book off them, ive never read a poker book before and was wondering if there was any that stood out?

cheers

there are some excellent pokerbook reviews on the blonde review section.

for me supersystem 1 and 2 stand out.

Harrington's books as well are a great introduction to tournament NLHE.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Do you disagree boldie?

Interesting I thought Harringtons books were alot better than Super System for No Limit Hold em. Super system is a good read if you want to learn the other games.

Sklansky books are quite hard work and for more intermediate players but have some more advanced theroies in them.

No, he just makes more sense when he grunts and growls.

I don't like Sklansky mainly because people who read it become predictable for a far while after reading it. Supersystem teaches people an ideology a way to play agressive poker, teaches them a fundamental understanding of all the games and an understanding all the other games which is a great help to your HE (in my opinion) Sklansky is mainy worth reading so you can spot others that are using it.

Did you meant Harrington rather than Sklansky?  If not, why don't you like Harrington? 

yes I meant Harrington...I apologise.. I'm at work and, as you know, easily confused. Harrington is evil...sklansky is fine but it teaches you to play tighter than a choirboys arse.

I think many people misjudge Harrington's advice based on having only read the first book.  I think the second book clears up a lot of what you probably don't like about Harrington (IMHO) - or those who adopt a game that is based solely on what is covered in the first book.

Harringtons books have definately helped my tournament play.

How? I now observe the players (who have read the books) making moves, when their Q or M are dropping and have had the table folded to them. My SB, BB and button play has now become alot more brave to play back at them or extract max value from hands as I know their raising hands have increased in range.

And that's the only reason to read them.

Lol Boldie, has Harrington done something to your personally. They are not perfect books but some of the ideas in them like M and the bits about ICM are pretty good and stuff that beginners will almost certainly not be aware of. Like with any book read it critically and make you own judgements about the concepts in it, Harrington is perfect for this its well layed out there are plenty of hand examples to think about. Just don't take it as gospel.

lol..amazingly I've never even met the good man. I am sure he's a very nice fella but I just can't stand his book and over the past few years a smouldering hatred has been building up towards it..I can't explain why I am as passionate about it as I am..maybe it's because a lot of players do treat it as gospel..in fact that's probably it.

Have you read the second one?

I've read nr 1 lost the will to live after that. I honestly couldn't bring myself any further than 15 pages in book 2 so threw that out. (literally..it went into the bin very rapidly)

Harrington on Cash Volumes 1 and 2 out next month

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Harrington%20on%20Cash%20Games.pdf (http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/current/Harrington%20on%20Cash%20Games.pdf)

Well, like it or not - there is "before Harrington" and "after Harrington" in terms of tournament play. If he did the two WSOP final tables in a row now through fields of the same size it would amount to unreal running well - because even standard breakeven or losing tournament players apply the basic tenants of Harrington now and don't give respect to c - bets / squeezes, etc.

It is astonishing to think that he was doing things that the vast majority of the field were not four and five years ago - and those things have all become super standard now. At the very least, that consideration helps to make sense of the fact that he was able to FT two years in a row. Simply put, he would have been destroying 60% of the field.

My point? The book is no longer Gospel because it is outdated. A victim of it's own simplicity and effectiveness if you will. Tournament theory has had to outflank it because by simply doing what HOH says you automatically stop becoming easy bait in 95% of live tournaments - and a swathe of online donkaments. Therefore, the top MTT players in the world have had to do different things to gain an edge. But when HoH came out, wow.

But the key is that while the book is no longer gospel it MUST be read if you're serious about playing tournaments. Just because everyone else has. So you need to know what's in there. And anyone can say what they like about it - but if it was the first book on poker you ever read you would be doing well. Because it will - at the very least - give you a base for how you think about and analyse your hands.

How can you possibly detest the books so much when you've only read 1 3rd of the content? IMO you need to read the whole package to gain the most of the mans great knowledge!

For the same reason as that I never watched "Fantastic 4 part 2" If the first one was shit, then why would I see the sequel?

I get what Lloyd is saying..but just because someone who wrote a book is a legend and the book is considered to be a classic and a lot of it can be found in the foundations of poker that doesn't mean it's the best way to pick up on that knowledge is through that source. I much prefer supersystem1 and 2 as a source for info and all the forums and lessons you can find online.

Facist.

yeah, but what can you do?

Despite super system 1 and 2 being out for years before Harrington completed his take on tournaments; and Sklansky already having penned TOP (essential) and TPFAP (astonishingly awful) - a lot of what is in the HOH series was considered groundbreaking. You can prefer Supersystem if you wish - but it is inarguably lacking for tournament play. As such, how can you say that one can access the content contained in HoH by reading supersystem?  ;carlocitrone;

Yes, it's all there in the forums. But if you're starting out, I contend that it is much easier to grapple with a well layed out and simply written textbook than it is with the 2 + 2 archives or HSMTT.

It is widely anticipated that this book will be poor - or at least outdated. I mean, what does Harrington know about cash games? That said, it seems to be comprehensive. If it is anything like Harrington on tournaments then it's publication is not going to affect online cash at 1/2 and above. But live cash might automatically become less profitable.  :'(

I think they'll definitely help me at the level I play and with my limited knowledge.

I found his first 'trilogy' to be very well written and easy to read.  That's half the battle with an educational text.  Even if it doesn't provide answers, it'll certainly get me asking the right questions and knowing a little bit more about what to look for elsewhere.

Ordered 'high low split poker' by Ray Zee with my fpp from stars. Arrived DHL within 7 days and excellent book if you like stud8 or O8 games. Only for limit games though.

Does anyone know any other books that will improve my PL game as most casino Dealers Choice games are PL.

Chapter on PL omaha in super system 2 is good. Any others people know about?

In Harrington's books he says to make your own judgements, he says to mix up your plays and he says not to do it 'by the book'.

The problem is the number of players who ignore this bit and only take notice of the more specific bits he writes.

As this is the learning centre I would say that Dave Scharf - Winning at Poker  is a good book for learning the fundamentals of limit cash. Very easy to read as written by someone who actually knows how to write.

One to avoid is Online ace by Scott Fischman.

ive read a few books on poker but never harrington,from the opinions i have read i think its about time i bought the books, is it worth buying the 3rd book which are questions to answer based on what you have learnt in the other 2 books.