blonde poker forum

Got a friend who hardly ever plays online but plays in a regular friendly home game (think its run as stt).   He's very enthusiastic and always asking me for advice.   It's his birthday soon and i was thinking about getting him some poker literature.  Wondering of anyone had any suitable informative but not too heavy going recommendations?

The Psychology Of Poker by Alan Schoonmaker was one of the best books I read for Live poker.
No strategy in their.
Just concentrates on why people with different personality types play the way they do.
I found it very useful when I started out in learning to read players and situations.
Very easy read too.

Super system 1+2 are friendly and get some good concepts across...

Harrington on holdem was the first thing I ever read and thats ok.

But hands down best bit of poker literature I've read is Jared Tendlers 'The mental game of Poker'

For anyone playing online, the poker books are pretty much out of date by time they hit the shelf nowadays.  So much so that the books are no longer hitting the shelves.. the odd e-book aside.  However, a home game stt should be like a 2004 sng, confirmed the other month when I was asked to enjoy  endure such an evening.  So, any of the dated sng books will do just fine.  He doesn't need ICM calcs, Nash, anything else.  Just a basic understanding of when to play hand strength, when the situation requires him to borrow a little bit of hand strength, and when seeing flops is no longer a good idea and it's push/fold time.  That should be more than enough to clean up in the average home game.

Starting out, just a basic rule understanding under the belt, I would definitely recommend the Harrington books. Pretty much the Tight-Aggressive strategy nailed on. It is accessible, well explained and thorough.

Did Harrington cover sngs ?

Been a fair while since I read the first one tbh. I want to say Yes, but I can't do it with any real conviction. I'm about 75% that the answer is he does.

The fundamentals are covered really well though. Written in 2004 if that's a selling point, Simon :)

I read them waaay back when.  They covered cash and mtts, but not really stts iirc.

Stt's are a special breed, and for a home game, I think reading a stt-specific book would help more than reading about cash or mtt strategy.

All imho of course.

Would definitely recommend the Harrington books.  Yes they are a bit outdated now, but really explain tournament fundamentals well.

Id also recommend the Kill Phil and Kill Everyone books by Lee Nelson.

Jared Tendlers book about " The Mentals  Game of Poker " r very good .
There's another book coming out SOON written by a top Chinese poker player.
Watch this space for update !!!!!

Even though a lot of the material has been surpassed by training sites and what not, I'd say Harrington's books are a perfect first book for someone wanting to start studying the game. I believe they also covered SNGs.

Colin Moshman - Sit n Go Strategy


/Thread

There was some sng stuff, was pretty bad iirc.

IMO Harrington probs way OTT for a home game player. Probs just get one of the lder more basic strat guides. Any stuff above level 1 is pointless in most home games, oppos don't have a clue.

+1

got the book read it read it again and in a home game areana he should wipe the floor really helped me early on

I think that was my point to the guys recommending Harrington.

It's like saying "I need help changing a washer on a tap."  There are two books on the shelf.. "how to change a washer on a tap" and "everything about everything on plumbing"

Just get the book that shows you how to change the washer imo.