Best book for no-limit beginner to start with?

[Unarmed]

True beginner.
Played the odd game in high school and have now just started playing no-limit hold em with friends (just 2 nights thus far) Any suggestions on which book to pick up first? There don't seem to be any targeted specifically to NL....

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'd rather not start off on the wrong foot.

[AtlasNNN]

Super/System and the Ciaffone/Reuben book comes to mind. Phil Hellmuth has one for beginner NL in his book also. I just bought a book which I wished I hadn't. It is called No-Limit HOldem for new players by Brad Daugherty and Tom McEvoy. Avoid it at all cost because it is a total piece of crap.

Here is how I suggest everyone read this piece of crap kindergarten level book. Go to the bookstore and browse through it. If you want to go into the details, then speed read it. Once you are done, put it back in the shelf where it belongs and then buy another book. I thought McEvoy was on a roll after reading his Satellite Strategy book. And I thought this crappy no-limit book with Brad Daugherty would be a good one. But I am totally wrong.

I wouldn't pay more than 2 bucks for it. But I would be willing to pay the non-sale cover price of Brunson's book and also Ciaffone's and Reuben's book. Hellmuth's book is worth the price too at $14 bucks. There are no good beginner no-limit books, unfortunately. You are going to have to be satisfied with the more advance level ones. Read Theory of Poker by Slansky in the meantime.

Hope my advice helps! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[crockpot]

ciaffone/reuben's book is the best but it will require a lot of study and practice to get the ideas down. it's the only book i know of written based on how stack sizes determine your play, which is an extremely important underlying concept.

super/system is okay, but doyle's tactics don't work against many of the loose players you'll probably be facing. for example, moving all in with a straight draw will just cost you money against a guy who will call with a hand like middle pair.

[Unarmed]

Great. Thanks for all the help. I actually bought Carson's book yesterday as it was real cheap and I need a primer on basic hold em anyway. I'm going to read it with a grain of salt and then move on to the ones suggested above.

Thanks again.

[blackaces13]

One thing to keep in mind though if you're playing with friends is that you are probably playing short handed. I also play a little no-limit with firends and these games typically have about 5-7 players. Sometimes we'll even play with 4. If you're playing with 4 or 5 people then you can't play the style sugggested for playing against 9 opponents, its simply too tight.

I read Hellmuth's book when I first started playing and I never lost money in the games I played with friends, but I wasn't winning much either and I knew I was way above the avg. level of player in this game. It was because I was trying to only play his "top 10" or "NLH 15 Hands". When you're playing 4 people you don't need to wait for AK, AQ or pocket pairs. In fact you can't afford to.

Also, if your friends are new too they will almost assuredly let you limp into most pots. This makes hands like 56s, 22, Axs, JTo extremely playable. Especially if your friends will pay you off when you hit, which I also bet they will. Anytime you can inviest a toothpick to win a lumberyard take a crack at it. And the suited connectors and Axs type hands ar great to do it with.

One thing to avoid is overbetting the pot. It took me a long time to realize that if I flopped top 2 pair and came in with a $7 dollar raise into 75 cent pot, I'm only gonna get called if I'm beaten. If your friends are doing this type of extreme betting when they hit their hands then let them and don't tell them about it, but don't do it yourself. Make sure that the amount you bet can be called by someone with a weaker hand or its not worth making. A related concept to this is to not bet people out pre-flop with pocket aces or kings. These hands will be worth more if you can get a player or 2 to call a small raise and then start getting aggressive after the flop. Bet at least the size of the pot on the flop no matter what it is, unless you hit a set with a rainbow board then you may want to slow-play by just calling or betting the minimum, use your judegement there. If you raise pre-flop with Kings and an ace flops, if you have less than 3 opponents bet agressively at the pot if its checked to you, act like you hit it. If you get called then you're probably beat but the chance you had to win the pot plus the info you gained by having a pot sized bet called is worth the price of the bet in my opinion here when you have kings against an ace on board.

Thats about all I can think of now as general rules for playing against inexperienced friends in NL. But I've been playing it for a while so if you have any questions about it I actually have a lot to say on the topic. One more major thing, DONT CALL BIG BETS WITH MARGINAL HANDS. This will take a while but if you have K10 and the final board is something like K-6-7-Q-J and the flush card hit the river. Don't call any sizable bet, especially if it comes from a guy who had been calling the whole time and then sits up straight and asks "who's turn is it" all of a sudden. That's a pretty obvious example but there are a lot of times where you need to fold a hand you wanted to showdown if someone overbets. Sometimes you even have to fold the best hand, in the long run you'll save A TON of money by folding these hands like top pair medium kicker, but in general try to get to a showdown fairly cheaply with them.

[TheRake]

Unarmed,

Just picked up this book last week while I was in Vegas. I haven't even started reading it yet, but seems to been along the lines of what you are looking for.

If anyone has read this already I would be interesting in hearing opinions.

TheRake

[LSUfan1]

I had basically the same questions, except I have read HEP and WLLH already and have been winning fairly consistently in the 1/2 ring games. I think I am going to move on to NL tourneys now, so thanks for the info!

[NickS]

Re: McAvoy and Daugherty's new No Limit book. I bought it about a month ago when it first came out. I just finished reading it for the third time so obviously I like it a lot. Even though it says "New Player Series" it's really aimed at experienced limit players with little or no No Limit experience. I got more out of this than Ciaffone's "No Limit and Pot Limit" book, and you know who's "TPFAP", although I also recommend both of those if you are serious about playing tournaments. I especially like the sections on betting, and the practice hands for all types of starting hands and flops. I highly recommend it.

[Zeno]

If you have not already done so, post some hands in the Pot-, No-limit Forum and read the forum. There are many players that post hands (the traffic has gone up a lot with the upswing in NL games) and it is a good information resource - which will supplement your reading materials and help you learn the game well.

-Zeno

[Pokerho]

Blackaces, your post felt like it was aimed right at me. It really solidified alot of jumbled thoughts that I have been having about my NL home game. Thanks.