Great quote from Harrington on Hold'em

[Crix]

"Ask a casual player what separates him from the top players, and he'll probably have trouble giving you a good answer. Some think good players are just innately lucky. Others think they are just better bluffers. Still others think they can read your cards by dissecting every tick and twitch of your expression. The truth is that good players are really good at remembering everything that goes on around the table, and making use of the information in a logical fashion."

This is probably the one thing that most people just don't grasp about being a good poker player. I was pleased to see Harrington so clearly define it.

[illab]

So I'm guessing you're recommending it? I mainly play NL sngs and the only poker book I have is super system, should I pick up a copy or is their a book more directed towards my area of interest?

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
So I'm guessing you're recommending it? I mainly play NL sngs and the only poker book I have is super system, should I pick up a copy or is their a book more directed towards my area of interest?

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Get the harrington book. Then consider 'pot and no limit poker' and 'improve your poker', both by Ciaffone.

[illab]

So you recommend Harrington over Ciaffone's book? I've also heard Cloutier's book is decent for tourney strategies.

[kiddo]

Ciaffone is very good in my opinion (and many others). It doesnt matter if its "better" or "worse" then Harringtons book. U will improve your game and if u dont play for cents u will get the $ back u paid for it real fast.

[JohnG]

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So you recommend Harrington over Ciaffone's book? I've also heard Cloutier's book is decent for tourney strategies.

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I wouldn't say one is better than the other. I think all 3 are important to study for bigbet. Ciaffone is more general bigbet concepts concerned with mostly deep money. Harringtons is more comprehensive and specific, with plenty of hand examples and problems to illustrate, and more on stacks less than 50X BB. If you could only buy one book for what you are interested in, Harrington would be more suitable for you which is why I think you should read it first. His 2 sections on reading the table and pot odds put it above any other book for your purpose. If you can buy more books, the 2 ciaffone books would be the next ones to buy.

I think Ciaffones next book will be better than anything out there.

And don't bother with Cloutiers book. Concentrate on the 3 mentioned. Then Harrington vol 2, Raymers book, and Ciaffones new book will be out within the next 12 months, which will all be worth getting.