Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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To date I have only played B&M, and attempting to memorize the starting hand charts he lists prior to having played would have turned me off to playing.

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Well of course the book is written for internet poker and you're supposed to have the chart handy to play with at first. It would of course be impossible to memorize for live play. The best way to "memorize" it would be to play online with it for awhile until you "get it". Then you won't have to memorize it to make virtually the same plays on your own.

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

Memorizing any chart is pretty much a waste of time, unless you are good at rote memorization.

For most of us it is easier to understand why each hand should be played, once you do that you can always figure out if your hand is playable in the current situation or not.

A good example hand is what to do with T9s UTG. It's pretty trivial to realize that no chart is going to be right all the time for this hand. And once you understand what makes this hand playable you can figure out if you can play it in this position or not depending on the table.

At a very loose and passive table it is right to play 33 UTG, but it is also right to fold it in late MP if it's folded to you. Hard to capture in a chart without overwhelming the reader with info, but easy to understand why it's playable in the first case but not the second.

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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if you've got WLLH, ITH, TOP, and SSH, you'd be better off re-reading the books you already have -- two or three times each -- instead of buying new ones.

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I have three of those you mention but not ITH. I thought WLLH was great and went through it a few times. I still refer to it occassionally. I am mainly reading SSH now, and have read through about 75% at least once. I got into some trouble with SSH at first trying to be aggressive and overdoing it. I didn't understand some of the constraints on when to be aggressive. I'm still working on that, but I've calmed down and I went from -2BB on Party to +2BB.

Do the ITH fans think someone in my position might do well to get ITH at this point, or would it likely be good to just continue concentrating on reading SSH? I don't mind getting ITH if it would really help me, but I wonder if it would be taking a step backwards or maybe just sideways.

Also, it was mentioned that ITH has great starting hand charts. It was also written (above, I think), that HE4AP has great starting hand advice. How do these two compare in that area. I was thinking of getting HE4AP just for the starting hand section for now. I used to use the WLLH charts, and now I use the SSH charts. I have them about 80% memorized. But I don't have a good feel for fine tuning them. For instance, SSH says you can cold call two bets with any pocket pair in any position preflop. I have a feeling that might be subject to some refinment that SSH doesn't go into, or maybe I missed it.

Could someone expound a little on how the treatment of starting hands in these two tomes compare and contrast?

Thanks,
-TomBk

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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winning low limit holdem
holdem poker for advanced players
theory of poker

this is what i just reccomended to my brother last month in that order. i havent read ssh yet. it may replace top in my top 3 in the future if it lives up to expectation. i would still reccomend top to anyone though.

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holdem poker for advanced players that is not a beginner book. this book is for higher limit holdem.

i am sure , a beginner dont want to start out at a higher limit holdem.

SSH will be better because it for low limit hodlem.

ITH is way better than WLLH.

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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For instance, SSH says you can cold call two bets with any pocket pair in any position preflop. I have a feeling that might be subject to some refinment that SSH doesn't go into, or maybe I missed it.

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My copy doesn't say that. In fact, my copy says that in a tight game you should fold the smaller pairs from early position even for one bet. Although it is true most play them for one bet if the game is not very TAG.

I do remember SSH saying something like you can cold call a raise IF a couple other players have cold called it as well. This is very different from what you said.

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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For instance, SSH says you can cold call two bets with any pocket pair in any position preflop.

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...my copy says that in a tight game you should fold the smaller pairs from early position even for one bet.

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What you point out coyboyfanz, is correct under the Tight Game guidelines. What I wrote above applied to the Loose Game guidelines. -TomBk

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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I've got to disagree with the Ciaffone's Middle Limit Holdem as a good book for a beginner. There's some good ideas in there but using them in a low limit game will get one killed. For playing 1-2, 2-4, and 3-6 on Party, that book is not appropriate.

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Could you expound on why you feel MLH would be bad for a beginner as an extension of WLLH as suggested above? And can we assume a beginner means someone who plays at .5/1 and maybe 1/2? Very few beginners are even playing 2/4 and 3/6 online, although they might be in casinos, I suppose.

By the way, Mason Malmuth's review of Middle Limit Hold'Em is here. He has some reservations about the book; but if I'm reading him correctly, the issues he has with it might tend to conform to the Jones WLLH style of keeping beginners out of trouble at the slight expense of not optimizing every play.

TomBk

Re: What THREE books would you recommend to a brand new player....
 

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He bought the five books in question.

[/ QUOTE ]So how did he like them? Which did he like best? And how much did they help his game? =TomBk