Newbie's should start with HEFAP

[Jacob_Gilliam]

This was the first poker book I ever read, and I learned a lot more from this than SSHE. The problem I have with SSHE is that it's strategy is very formulaic (if you have these cards, you should do this, etc.) While HEFAP shows you how to make the correct decision based on individual situations, and assumes that with practice you'll learn to apply these concepts to all different types of situations.
The only thing that I think is really good about SSHE is the preflop charts, but then again you learn how to play preflop intuitavely through HEFAP, instead of always doing the exact same thing regardless of the game. Poker is not a game of charts, it's a game of figuring out the best move for that specific situation, which may not be exactly repeated for thousands of hands. HEFAP teaches you to think more about why your doing what you are doing, and I think just about any newbie would do better by starting with this book over any other, including SSHE.

[ArturiusX]

I only just read HEFAP, and I love it. Its one of those 'thinking books'. SSHE turns you into a machine, but HEFAP makes you very aware of how you should approach different kinds of players, both thinking and loose players.

Basing your play around SSHE, then extracting certain concepts from HEFAP (like shorthanded play and heads up) would make you a god on the poker table.

[@bsolute_luck]

i've just started reading HEFAP, but no i don't think a newbie would do better starting with this and, from what i can tell so far, HEFAP is also basing it's play on thinking opponents at higher limits.

SSH is used for low-limit, donk-betting goofs who don't pay attention, play anything, and are more in it for "fun".

HEFAP seems to give some credit to your opponents. plus a newbie won't fully understand HEFAP without first grasping the basics: SSH and TOP.

[aron]

I started with HEPFAP, read it twice.
And played break-even poker (it seems like in retrospect).
This was at the same time I played my first couple of hundred hands single-tabling.

Later on I got hold of SSH, and felt that it was a book with information possible to absorb.
This christmas I re-read HEPFAP and felt that I actually understood a bit of what the hell was written there.

My advice would be that unless you've played poker a lot or are way above average intelligent SSH is a much safer bet to start with, cause HEPFAP is a advanced book.

And after that I totally recommend to give HEPFAP a try after reading TOP as well.

-aron

[iNsChris]

Read HEFAP before SSH was quite alot to take in, fairly confusing.

SSH is great book now i'm currently reading it, I'm sure ill understand HEFAP better once Finished(read/understood) SSH.

2+2 books certainly superior to others i've read [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Good job 2+2.

[apples]

I think if you try to apply concepts in HPFAP without understanding SSHE you are building on a very shaky foundation.

[btspider]

i strongly disagree.

[unimproved]

I don't think this is good advice. If a 'newbie' goes to .5/1 armed with the info from HPFAP only, he's going to be playing a game that'll go way over the heads of the vast majority of his opponents. Frequently checking strong hands OOP on the turn for example is a good way of throwing money away in the micros.

[ QUOTE ]
The only thing that I think is really good about SSHE is the preflop charts

[/ QUOTE ]

I could not disagree more strongly with this.

[Ringo_Mojo]

Yes i think SSH does teach a formulaic approach to poker, but thats what works in the low stakes games that its aimed at beating, and its the easiest way for a new player to get rolling in the game.

HEPFAP has its place, as does TOP (which if you havn't read you should), but I think that SSH is a better place to get started.

[JKDStudent]

I strongly disagree. The first book I read was SSH and I digested it pretty well on the first reading, and have went through it a few times since. Yes, it's very formulaic. It's pretty much an instruction manual. But that's ok to start out with. New players need to get comfortable and see a lot of different situations.

HEFAP is very advanced. I am a pretty intelligent guy and very well read, but this book still overwhelms me at times. But aside from that, there are two other reasons that this is not the ideal starting point. First, at the lower levels, the concepts in HEFAP are simply too sophisticated. They will be wasted at lower levels. Secondly, as I said already, it's better to expose new players to a lot of situations to get them comfortable. Once they're on auto-pilot to an extent, HEFAP will better enable them to understand why they've been doing what they've been doing and to make adjustments accordingly.