Should I also purchase Brunson's Super System?

[OldLearner]

Just ordered Reuben/Ciaffone's PL & NL Poker.

Thinking about also ordering Super System, but read the following review (at Amazon) that makes me wonder if I should.

[ QUOTE ]
This is my favorite poker book of all time. It has alot of insights from odds, to game theory, to various ways to approach different hands. I would advise the book only to advanced players with significant experience and the desire to vary their play. The authors system really only works for a super agressive player who is not only extremely talented, but very disciplined. Not many people can emulate this style, and most who try will lose massive amounts of money!!! I Hope This Helps.

[/ QUOTE ]

The parts of this review that give me concern is the part about the strategies working well for "super-aggressive extremely talented" players and "most who try will lose massive amounts of money".

(I'm not worried about the losing massive amounts of money. That just ain't gonna happen).

Being a NL newbie, my thoughts are that the PL & NL Poker should be what I am studying at this point and that I should wait until I have a better theoretical footing before I look at Super System.

I would certainly like to have a look at Super System, but don't want to muddy the waters too much when trying to become comfortable with new concepts.

Do you folks think it would be worthwhile to also order Super System or should I wait until I am more comfortable in the NL arena to give this a read?

[3~Libras]

The review that you read couldn't possibly have described this book more accurately. Even still, I would recommend purchasing ALL of the books you can find, if you are really serious about learning NL because they all have something different to offer. Being that you are a newbie, I would suggest buying Tom McEvoy's new book, No Limit Holdem, the beginner's series, particularly if you are interested in playing tourneys. I have read much about holdem, and even though this book is targeted towards beginners, I found it to be one of the most impressive reads yet. It has a betting chart, hand selection according to position and many hand examples and strategies to play them according to various flops and what player types are in the pot with you. You can get it at Card Player Magazine .

[TwoNiner]

It will give some nice perspectives on no limit, but it is also great to have b/c it covers stud, hi-low(although not 8 better) and goes into great detail in each section. Also, just the general poker advice from Brunson is great.

[Redmen62]

I think how much value Super System has for your game depends greatly on the NL games you will be playing in. Brunson's strategy is for games with huge stacks as compared to the blinds, and with other solid NL players.

In the games that I play (Online NLHE with 50x BB stacks) such tactics would be far from optimal. That said, I am more than happy to have plunked down the cash for Super System even if I'm not in games that allow me to fully apply it yet.

Just got Reuben/Ciaffone and am finding it much more suited to the type of games I play.

So, buy them both, but determine what type of games you're going to be playing in and pick up the appropriate book first.
- Redmen62

[tewall]

Ciaffone advocates a tight-aggressive style which is not so hard to implement. He doesn't get involved in a great deal of pots, but when he's in, he's likely to be swinging away.

In the more no-fold'em games, even Ciaffone's book will be a little off what you want to do, but the principles will apply.

Brunson's book probably will not be too helpful viz a viz the NL section in terms of directly applying what he wrote to a low limit NL game. It definately wouldn't work, except in rare circumstances.

That being said, I would still recommend the book as highly as possible. There's lots of great poker advice, and the key thing is how to learn to think for yourself and apply what you've learned to the specific situations you encounter, and the book certainly has fodder for that.

However, there are other books you might want to get first.

[OldLearner]

From reading posts here, I was under the impression that Ciaffone's book was the best.

What others do you suggest?

[theBruiser500]

I think SuperSystem is the best book ever, buy it and sleep with it.

danny

[tewall]

I agree that his is the best. There's an ebook called "Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker" which isn't bad. The Super System book, of course, is great. Both the Super System and the Ciaffone book you want to read all of, not just he no limit sections, as there are many principles that apply from other games.

Those are the ones that come to mind. Theory of Poker is a great book, if you don't have that.

[spacemonkey]

does anyone know where you can get this "Kick Ass No-Limit Holdem Poker" book? The website is under construction at the moment because apparently the author is updating the book. Are there any sources on the internet where you can get hold of the unupdated version though?

[Magician]

It contains concepts which are useful in the tougher games such as 3-6 NL on Stars.