SS1 vs SS2

[SoDakJak]

I play strictly limit cash games and currently own these books:

TOP, LLH, SSH, HEFAP, HE Excellence

I am looking for more books to buy and am sure that I want to buy at least one of the Super System books and am not sure which one would be best. I hear that a lot of the SS1 book is outdated, so would I be better off just buying SS2 and spending the money that I am ready to allocate to SS1 to something else? If so, what books would you suggest?

[SoDakJak]

Any suggestions at all? Any input would be great /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[KenProspero]

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I play strictly limit cash games and currently own these books:

TOP, LLH, SSH, HEFAP, HE Excellence

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Note that with the exception of TOP, all of these books are hold 'em books. So I assume that when you say that you only play limit cash games, you mean limit hold 'em games.

My question for you, then is your goal to expand the games you're playing -- maybe add omaha, stud, razz, etc., or do you plan on staying with hold 'em.

If you're planning on staying with hold 'em, I'm not sure that I'd recommend either SS book. The ones you have are probably more in depth.

Likewise, if you want to expand to one particular game, I'd probably look for a book on that game, rather than SS.

[SoDakJak]

Yes, I play strictly Hold 'Em, and almost exclusively online (I make a trip to Canterbury Card Room in the Twin Cities once every couple of months). If not Super System, then what other books would you recommend. I do not believe any of the books on tells would help me much as I rarely play live. Some books I have been thinking about:

1. Gambling Theory and Other Topics
2. The Poker Essay books
3. ITH by Hilger
4. Complete Book of Hold Em Poker by Gary Carson (it seems to be referenced a lot in SSH)
5. Middle Limit Hold Em Poker by Ciafonne
6. Hold 'Em Poker (do I need this if I have read the other more advanced books (I have a copy of the hand rankings already))

Let me know if any of these books are something that I should buy (and even more if any of them aren't worth my time....) or if you have any other recommended books I shouldn't be without.
~SoDak

[royaltrux]

It looks like you don't have any books on the psychology of poker. These books discuss why you play poker the way you do and why others play the way they do. It helps identify leaks in your own game and to take advantage of the leaks that others have in their game.

So far I have read "The Psychology of Poker" and "Zen and the Art of Poker". Both were excellent reads and improved my game.

If you're wanting some more strategy books then the ones you mentioned seem to have good word of mouth (I haven't read any of those yet). Check the search on the forums to read about Bob Ciaffone's "Improve Your Poker". It seems to get great reviews on this board.

I agree with the above poster, if you are strictly hold em player neither of the SS will be much help to you.

Hope this helps!

[Frequitude]

I got Zen and the Art of Poker for my birthday last year and found it to be terrible. It didn't help my game at all, but I also read it before I knew as much as I do about limit hold'em now. I barely remember it, but it seemed like a random collection of extremely superficial thoughts. It may be good to read just to read, but I don't think it will profoundly improve your game.


What I WOULD recommend though, is to pick up Harrington on Hold'em. It is a tournamnet/NL book, but one of, if not, the best one out there. I am strictly a limit player as well, but I am very interested in becoming an excellent tourney player. The book is in the mail and I can't wait to crack it!

[KenProspero]

Of the books you've mentioned, I like ITH, However, if you're if you're already spending the time on SSH, I'm not sure how much you'd get from it.

I don't have Ciaffone's book, but I've read good things about it.

The other alternative is to spend more time focusing on SSH and HPFAP. If you've really mastered those books, you're probably doing well in Small/Middle limit games. There's a lot to be said for mastering one system before moving on to other books.

Poster down stream recommends book on Psychology of Poker. Schoonmaker's is EXCELLENT (and a 2+2 to boot). I put this on my must read list along with TOP.

[maurile]

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Yes, I play strictly Hold 'Em

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You've already got SSH, TOP, and HPFAP. That's a great start.

I'd say the next most important books on fixed-limit hold 'em are: Middle Limit Holdem (Ciaffone & Brier), Real Poker II (Cooke), and the hold 'em chapter in SuperSystem 2 (Harman).

[maurile]

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1. Gambling Theory and Other Topics

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Good book. Not a ton of stuff directly related to fixed-limit hold 'em.
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2. The Poker Essay books

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Again, good books only partially relevant to fixed-limit hold 'em. You may get more bang for your buck with hold 'em books.
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3. ITH by Hilger

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Good book. Better introduction to hold 'em than WLLHE, in my opinion. But you've already got SSH, which is more advanced.
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4. Complete Book of Hold Em Poker by Gary Carson (it seems to be referenced a lot in SSH)

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Not a bad introduction to hold 'em, but you'd be better off rereading SSH.
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5. Middle Limit Hold Em Poker by Ciafonne

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One of my favorite books on hold 'em. You may not (indeed, should not) agree with all of their recommendations in the hand examples, but the thought process the authors go through -- all the factors they consider -- is very instructive.
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6. Hold 'Em Poker (do I need this if I have read the other more advanced books (I have a copy of the hand rankings already))

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Good book; but you'd probably be better off rereading SSH and HPFAP.

[SoDakJak]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think that my first conclusion from your recommendations is to keep studying TOP, SSH, and HEFAP until I have them virtually mastered and the concepts become like "duh". Then I might look into buying one of the psychology of poker books, probably the 2+2 one (Schoomaker is the author I believe?). I also will look into getting the two Ciafonne books (Middle Limit Hold Em and Improve Your Poker). Thanks for all the great replies and keep em comin guys!

SoDak