Do Pros Read Poker Books?

PokerProdigy · #1 05-15-2005, 04:03 PM

Do you think/know if any of the top pros read poker books? For instance, did guys like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negrenue, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, Chau Gang, Scotty Nyguen, Chris Fergusen, etc... get to were they are by reading poker books?

Let me know if any of these guys learned alot from reading about poker. Also, feel free to add names of people that aren't on the list and whether or not they learned from reading poker books.

Also, have any of you successful mid-high stakes players learned alot from poker books? Or was it more from practice, experience, and/or natural ability? I've just been curious about this for awhile.

DcifrThs · #2 05-15-2005, 04:13 PM

i can't speak for "the pros" snce i dont know them or know how they got good.

but i can speak for successful mid/high limit players that i know and talk to.

ALL of them have done many if not all of the following to get good and some of them now play for a living and do very very well at it:

1) read TOP, HPFAP, inside the poker mind and most if not all of 2p2's publications and other publisher's books.

2) discussed hands and strategy w/ other good successful players.

3) took 'pen to paper' and really got into the intricacies and EV calculations of different hands and moves on different streets.

4) play in all different game types and gained lots of experience...and got good at SH play b/c at the higher limits many pots are 2-3 way and usually HU bgy the turn.

and other things i can't think of now...

but basically they've all worked hard...

i AM curious, however, if there is a certain natural poker talent that exists from birth and that prevents some players from reaching world class/ray zee status. imo there's gotta be some inherent talents that make some world class potential...but i dunno...

-Barron

PokerProdigy · #3 05-15-2005, 04:16 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i AM curious, however, if there is a certain natural poker talent that exists from birth and that prevents some players from reaching world class/ray zee status. imo there's gotta be some inherent talents that make some world class potential...but i dunno...

[/ QUOTE ]

I have wondered the same thing, and oh yeah, thanks for the reply.

Kurwood Derby · #4 05-15-2005, 04:46 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Do you think/know if any of the top pros read poker books? For instance, did guys like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negrenue, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, Chau Gang, Scotty Nyguen, Chris Fergusen, etc... get to were they are by reading poker books?

Let me know if any of these guys learned alot from reading about poker. Also, feel free to add names of people that aren't on the list and whether or not they learned from reading poker books.

Also, have any of you successful mid-high stakes players learned alot from poker books? Or was it more from practice, experience, and/or natural ability? I've just been curious about this for awhile.

[/ QUOTE ]

They've all studied SSHE. Greenstein in particular just idolizes Ed Miller.

PokerProdigy · #5 05-15-2005, 04:49 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do you think/know if any of the top pros read poker books? For instance, did guys like Phil Ivey, Daniel Negrenue, Barry Greenstein, Howard Lederer, Chau Gang, Scotty Nyguen, Chris Fergusen, etc... get to were they are by reading poker books?

Let me know if any of these guys learned alot from reading about poker. Also, feel free to add names of people that aren't on the list and whether or not they learned from reading poker books.

Also, have any of you successful mid-high stakes players learned alot from poker books? Or was it more from practice, experience, and/or natural ability? I've just been curious about this for awhile.

[/ QUOTE ]

They've all studied SSHE. Greenstein in particular just idolizes Ed Miller.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good one.

goofball · #6 05-15-2005, 05:01 PM

I'm a pro and I got where i'm at partially due to poker books :-)

theBruiser500 · #7 05-15-2005, 05:42 PM

ray zee said a poker player should read everything they can about poker

Peter_rus · #8 05-15-2005, 05:45 PM

I've read russian translation of HPFAP and Supersystem I, but if you ask me of how much i've learnt from them and if they teach me anything i'll answer you - 'nothing'. This is just semantycs, experience and simulation results in my opinion without complete math's concepts and proves which poker is full of i think.

Maybe there is something that i missed and i've heard that "small stakes holdem" by Ed Miller is cool book and i also find that some chapters from King Yao's book who's poster here at 2+2 which were published free somewhere in the net are very interesting (it's not advertisment - just my easy thoughts after reading about river plays which is actually the simpliest part of limit TH and easy to math-analyze), but i suspect that these 2 last books are also too far for now from complete TH theory which i think of and imagined in my mind with correct and strict proves and math analysis. Though i think they really can help many far-from-math people to win significantly online and in live play while i prefer to 're-invent a bycicle' myself (maybe some other books i haven't heard of too can help). Anyway i guess you must always ask yourself question "why this way and not the other" when you read any books and if there is no strict and math-proved answer to this "why"-question in this book - then you must find it yourself.

Harv72b · #9 05-15-2005, 05:47 PM

I think it's safe to assume that every top pro has read Supersystem at one point or another, probably Caro's Book of Tells as well. It would make sense for them to read every book they can get their hands on, as they are routinely playing against the authors and can glean more precise reads on their opponents through what they've written.

I know that Gus Hansen once said that he could write a book just saying to do the exact opposite of what most of the others were saying, and it would be better. That seems to imply that he at least has read a few. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I'm not a successful mid-high stakes player by any stretch of the imagination (yet), but I do know that I never would have won enough to even play these games without my poker library. Experience and to a lesser extent natural ability do help, but at some point every poker player is going to learn something from a book.

James282 · #10 05-15-2005, 07:18 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I think it's safe to assume that every top pro has read Supersystem at one point or another, probably Caro's Book of Tells as well. It would make sense for them to read every book they can get their hands on, as they are routinely playing against the authors and can glean more precise reads on their opponents through what they've written.

I know that Gus Hansen once said that he could write a book just saying to do the exact opposite of what most of the others were saying, and it would be better. That seems to imply that he at least has read a few. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I'm not a successful mid-high stakes player by any stretch of the imagination (yet), but I do know that I never would have won enough to even play these games without my poker library. Experience and to a lesser extent natural ability do help, but at some point every poker player is going to learn something from a book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Caro's book of tells compared to the major 2+2 books is comparing comic books to Shakespeare, or cotton candy to a good steak. You like it for the first few bites but after you're tired of it and it makes you feel sick.
-James