Which book is best for me?

[popeye18]

Right now im currently playing 3/6 6max and looking to gradualy move up in shorthanded and full ring play. The only limit book ive read is small stakes holdem. Ive heard Weighing the odds in Holdem by King Yao is good and also Middle limit holdem poker by Ciaffone. For those of you who have read these which is going to pertain to the games im in now and looking to move to most.

[gila]

Yao's book should do you well for the games you are looking to join. You shoud also read Theory of Poker, and Holdem Poker for Advanced Players.

[MCS]

WtO will be more helpful. Also check out HPFAP.

[amulet]

i think rereading as you improve is very important. you will be surprised how much you get out of a reread after you play for a while.

next i suggest HPFAP and TOP. WTO is good but i think the others are superior.

as for MLHP i like it. several 2 + 2 posters feel that it gives weak tight advice. and while that is true to some degree, it is still a strong book. one of the reasons i like it, and really like it for a "newer" players, is that ciaffone and brier repeatedly stress analyzing the texture of the flop. this is very important for players who are still early in their learning curve, and this book does it better them most.

overall, next i would read HPFAP, TOP, MLHP, then WTO.

then i would reread ssh, followed by rereading them all.

[Vincent Lepore]

I haven't read nor know of a book that does a good job of addressing short handed play. I believe Abdul addresses Short handed play on his web site. I think that's where I found some very sound advice.

Recommended reading for advancing from small stakes to midlimit: Sklansky's TOP, should have read this before playing small stakes. HPFAP - This is the only book you need to learn a winning mid limit strategy.

Companion books that will help you understand the game of Poker and not just Holdem are MAson Malmuth's Poker Essay's Vol I and II especially. John Feeney' and Al Schoonmaker's books on poker psychology also are good books designed to help you understand the mind game of poker. Especially your personal behavior.

Vince

[Petteri]

Holdem for Advanced players and Middle Limit Holdem Poker are best books about Limit Holdem. Both books are mainly targeted to full ring players, but have small sections about short handed play. Even though those are full ring books every limit holdem player should read them both many times over and over.

In http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/archives/index.htm there is good articles from Jason Pohl. Look also http://www.cardplayer.com/ for articles about short-handed play.

I think Slansky/Malmuth or/and Ciaffone/Brier should make book about short-handed play. Problem is that it is much easier to write full-ring limit book than short-handed limit book.

In full ring limit when stakes are not very high you can win without making good adjustments to opponents play. Many winning players only play their own cards.

In short-handed poker you should adapt more to playing style of your opponents and number of players. Every decision depends not only from your cards and position, but also who you are playing against.

[Vincent Lepore]

[ QUOTE ]
In short-handed poker you should adapt more to playing style of your opponents and number of players

[/ QUOTE ]

An interesting comment. I try to play exclusively shorthanded on PP. I like shorthanded play because bad players can't run and hide as much as in full games. Even though the real addressive bad players are better off playing shorthanded where their early hand (preflop) mistakes are not as exploitable they make up for it in playing horribly after the flop. I've learned to temper my post flop play based on my opponents play. i wonder if this is what you mean about adapting to your opponents play. I think so. In full games one takes an opponents play into consideration but does not necessarily adapt to the individual style of each opponent at the table. I think in full games a successful player will play a bit by rote (his own style) and not often adapt his play to his opponents style. In short he will tend to force his opponent adjust or adapt to his style.

Vince