Books on Omaha 8/b

[pipes]

Beginner through expert, I just don't think the Zee book has alot of substance to it. But if anything, I think it would help a beginner more than an advanced player. As Beavis says, it does have a decent section on general concepts. But the sections dedicated to advanced strategies are just a series of random extremely vague essays IMO.

But I think the Stud8b section is very good and would recommend the book just based on that.

[Moneyline]

IMO the 4 best O8 books are:

1) Super System 2
2) High Low Split Poker For Advanced Players
3) How To Win at Omaha High Low Poker by Mike Cappelletti
4) Omaha High-Low by Bill Boston

Hellmuth's book is good for beginners, the Tenner/Krieger book and Ken Warren's book are awful IMO...

[djr]

reallY? I liked Tenner/Krieger much more than Cappellitti.

[Klak]

the ray zee book is by far the best. you need to read it about 10 more times if you think its:
[ QUOTE ]
a series of random extremely vague essays

[/ QUOTE ]
it may seem vague because there are so many different situations to cover in it.

[pipes]

[ QUOTE ]
the ray zee book is by far the best. you need to read it about 10 more times if you think its:
[ QUOTE ]
a series of random extremely vague essays

[/ QUOTE ]
it may seem vague because there are so many different situations to cover in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sigh, I knew I would get one of these posts by one of the lemmings. Believe me I've read it many many times, and I have the ability to read and comprehend. I'm not missing anything. Just not a tremendous amount of useful material in that section.

[gergery]

I don’t think any of the O8 books out there are that good, to be honest.

Tenner/Krieger is best at laying out the pure basics for a complete beginner, and giving simple “do this” instructions. After that its crap. Well organized, but lots of useless info.

Capelletti’s is best for covering the full range of O8 play. It lays out the basics, which hands to play, covers some of the essential odds, covers some important situations and whys, and has some advanced topics. It also has good statistics sprinkled throughout, and has “here’s me playing this hand and why in several scenarios”. I would say this is the single most valuable book of the lot, but that’s not saying much. Unfortunately, it is very disorganized and hard to find all the good info, and it requires a few reads to get there.

Zee’s book is very good, but it is what it says it is -- for advanced players. It is more a list of “here’s a fairly specific situation and what you should do/think about”. Those are good and helpful, but only for someone who is fairly familiar with both general poker concepts and O8 specific play.

Warren’s book is helpful for giving lots of examples of “here’s a low board/high board --what hand is best?” if you want some practice reading boards. Worth a quick scan in a bookstore at most.

Other good sources to learn are Hutchinson’s Omaha point count system (good for fiddling with various hands to see how playable they are), Steve Badger’s website (pretty good overall), Annie Duke’s website (a few good articles here and there), and Capelletti & Krieger’s Cardplayer articles (worth a read).

Haven’t read Hellmuth’s book but if its at all like his other two books its not worth more than a quick bookstore scan at best.

Haven’t read Bill Boston’s book.

My advice to someone getting started would be, in order: 1) Read Tenner/Krieger’s section on what hands to play and how to play some flop situations which is maybe <20 pages (while in a bookstore). 2) Read the free online articles, 3) play a bunch, 4) buy and read capelletti, 5) after you’re ready, buy and read Zee

--Greg

[BradleyT]

All of the books mentioned are good books. I'd recommend every single one of them. However if I went back and re-read some of them now I probably wouldn't learn much because they've already taught me what I know and how I should be analyzing my hand, the board, the bets, position, etc.

[beset7]

BradleyT-is that where you learned to play AAAK outside the blinds? I saw your pokertracker stats on the PTO forum! now I've got the dirt. (jk).

[FeliciaLee]

Ray Zee without a doubt.

A lot of people just don't understand the 2+2 books. They seem deceptively simple sometimes. They give people that "Duh!" impression, that advanced play is going on all the time, in every game, at every limit.

It's not. Sure, Sklansky may have written about the raise on the flop to get a free turn with a draw twenty years ago, and everyone thinks that is SUCH a common play, and going on all the time at even the lowest limits. Just think about it, though, how often do you see it? Rarely, if ever, and that is the MOST often seen "advanced" play.

Underrating 2+2 books is very, very good for my bankroll. I hope players continue to do so. But you who fail time and again to see the value of these books are making a huge error. I implore you to look at these books with a different attitude. Take notes, make columns on a legal pad about some of these plays, listing the times you've seen extremely advanced, positive EV plays in your games. Don't be deceived, look beyond what you think is so obvious.

Even at the lowest limits possible, Ray's book holds the key to a winning strategy. He doesn't mince words, you really can play by rote, on the Internet, and buy some essentials at even the microlimits. Just because it is "so easy" doesn't mean it's not the best strategy.

I did a three-way chop last September in a $1500 buy-in O8 tourney. Zee's work was responsible for this, not Cappelleti's or Krieger's. I'm not putting them down, I'm simply saying that if you do not own Ray's book, or if you are underestimating it, you are doing yourself a huge disservice, while doing me a huge favor. So get that book!

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BradleyT]

Ha! That was from a 6 max table with 5 players.

Villain shows [ 8h, 6h, Js, Th ] a pair of nines.
Hero shows [ Ah, Kh, As, Ac ] two pairs, aces and nines.