Texas Hold'em Beginner = Me

[KWhit]

The other hold'em thread made me want to start this one up with a question.

I played in a friendly no-limit hold'em tournament on Friday night and ended up winning. It was my first attempt at one of these (though I have some experience playing hold'em online), and I think I played pretty well.

The fact that I won was no great shakes, though, because there were only 6 of us and other players were pretty new to the game. Basically it was an experiment, but it was a lot of fun, especially when I went all in and ended up needing an Ace on the river to stay in the game. Needless to say, I got it and put a big dent in the chip leader's stack.

My question is how do I get better? Basically, what I'm looking for is good websites or books that will help me make the jump from a beginner to an intermediate player.

Any help is appreciated.

[primelord]

Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players - Sklansky and Malmuth
The Theory of Poker - Sklansky

and play a lot.

Others will probably recommend Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em by Lee Jones, but I am not a big fan of that book. To each his own I guess.

[QuikSand]

One general thought, KWhit, is that you probably want to decide what kind of poker you're going to play. If your focus is mostly going to be on playing in poker tournaments, especially no-limit tournaments (as most are these days), then you won't derive a lot of benefit from a book that is primarily focused on playing casino-style limit ring games (as many, many books are).

The Sklansky texts from primelord above are both very meritorious. I'm not sure if they are the best starting point, though.

I'm stumbling a bit to find a book to recommend for a beginning player who's focusing mostly on tournaments. Sklansky wrote a book about tournament play, but I wasn't too fond of it (I've only read it once). Phil Hellmuth's book is still selling fairly well... I didn't like it much at all, but I know some peopl who have.

I'll keep thinking.

[corbes]

The thing that's helped me the most, KWhit, was buying a cheap computer game that simulates limit poker. I don't know exactly the title of the game -- "Friday Night Poker" or some such. I got it for $7 at Circuit City.

I'm sure the game's AI is really crappy, but it's helped me to just see a whole bunch of hands and situations, against computer players who play more consistently than the play money tables online.

I went down to Bally's at Atlantic City a few weekends ago and nearly doubled my money (turned $80 to $155) playing $2/$4 limit hold-em, using mostly what I've learned from "looking at cards" in this game.

Mostly, I learned to sense (and fold) when I was "out" of a hand -- when I had no chance to win.

[QuikSand]

I think this is the book I might recommend. A lot of it is, admittedly, focused on playing in limit games - but Krieger is a good writer, and I think he makes his points stick pretty effectively.

Lou Krieger - More Hold Em Excellence - A Winner for Life

[primelord]

QS makes a good point that if you really are looking for beginner level text then those two books are probably not the best place to start.

I have heard good things about:

No-Limit Texas Hold'em : The New Player's Guide to Winning Poker's Biggest Game - McEvoy and Daugherty

It is focused on no-limit tournament games and is written for people new to the game. I have only read good reviews about it. I haven't read it myself.

[KWhit]

Thanks guys. Printing this out and taking it to Barnes and Noble at lunch.

[WheelsVT]

Nobody mentioned Doyle Brunson's Super System book. Probably because it's a more advanced study guide, but it's packed with good info and is worth mentioning anyway.
It's been recently published by Avery Cardoza (whom I worked on a poker program for... long story) and is only $30. Probably a good deal considering it was $100 when it was first released.
Almost every poker book I've looked at mentions it as an "of course" reference so I figured this thread needed to have it mentioned.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by WheelsVT

Nobody mentioned Doyle Brunson's Super System book. Probably because it's a more advanced study guide, but it's packed with good info and is worth mentioning anyway.

The reason why I wouldn't recommend this book has nothing to do with whether it's "advanced" but whether the advice therein is any good. In my judgment, for most players, it simply isn't.

The section in Super System about hold 'em, written by Brunson himself, suggests that "power poker" is the way to play -- aggression early and often, even when holding basically nothing. While there are players who are successful with a style like this, it's not (in my view) a solid recipe for a beginning player who is trying to develop a sound approach to the game. That's what I'm hearing from KWhit.

I think Super System is worth reading in the long run, if only to understand some of the mentality that loose-aggressive players are following with their play (which is very different from mine). But I would never recomend it for someone who is trying to learn the fundamentals of proper, solid play.

[WheelsVT]

Very well put.
Thanks for pointing that out.

myself needs to checkout the other titles above as well.

[primelord]

In addition to what QuikSand mentioned Super System's No-Limit section is also very focused on no-limit cash games. If you follow the advice that he gives in tournaments you will be bowing out of a lot of tournaments early.

And many of the other sections, most notably the limit hold 'em section, are very out of date and don't apply very well to today's games.

Super System 2 is being written as we speak.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I think Super System is worth reading in the long run, if only to understand some of the mentality that loose-aggressive players are following with their play (which is very different from mine). But I would never recomend it for someone who is trying to learn the fundamentals of proper, solid play.

I would agree with this. Reading Brunson helped me understand that a wild loose/agressive player was not necessarily a bad player who was just lucky when he won and has helped me play better poker against this type of player(and on rare occasions helped me foray into this style when I'm on a rush vs the right table), but I wouldn't recommend it to someone just learning the game.

I would add to the list recommended so far, Gary Carson, "The Complete Book of Hold 'Em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and Winning", not as a first book to read, but a book to definitely have on the list. It, like many other books though,is geared more towards limit poker.