I have just finished reading "Getting started on hold em'" and have ordered David Sklanskys Theory of Poker from Amazon. Anyone have any suggestions as to study methods that will help me get the most out of both of these books? I am a newer player but understand most of the important begginer concepts. I am having the most trouble with pot odds, implied odds, and equity, and don't feel they are explained very well in Ed Millers book. I know that I need to study these books, so if anyone has any study methods/practice drills or anything they would like to share, it would help immensly. Thanks.

read it and weep

1, Read all books from 2+2.
2, Read all books from 2+2 multiple times.
3, Read all the stickies in this forum.
4, When you lose badly, read the important books once again.
5, When you think you can go up level, read the important books once again before you go up.
6, Try to read other good non 2+2 books
7, Try to read non 2+2 books even you know that Mr. Malmuth gives them bad rating. (This will help you understand what other players are thinking.)

Thanks for your answers. Is there anyone who has more specific study methods that might help? I have read that Theory of Poker is a tough book and I just want to make sure Im getting the most out of it. Of course im going to read it, but is there any specific study methods that work well for other people when reading? It's always been kind of a week skill for me.

I am doing the following and in general when I study something do it this way:
1. Read fairly quickly once through. This gives you a broad stroke of the material and you might find a few interesting tidbits.
2. As I'm analyzing my hands and find a situation that confused me, I go and see what the book has to say. I then study more in depth. The key here is the emotional connection you have to the material since you are using your own play as source material. The connections you make will last longer and you will be applying better.
3. As your studying stuff the second time through, do what the chess masters do: when you see a sample hand, try to think what you would do before seeing what the author would do (2+2 books seem to lend themselves to this method). If you got a different answer, try to figure out which is better and why you had different answers. I think it's the engagement in the material that will help you learn it faster.

Keep repeating this process as you play more and analyze your own play and continue finding connections between your play and the material.

Best of luck!

TBH, I don't feel Theory of Poker is going to open up anything huge for you. It really doesn't have much to do w/ NLHE but it is a good start to read and if there is anything you didn't know read through then re-read it and note down the stuff that stands out as valuable to you.

I'd suggest Harrington on Holdem Vol1 if you want a introduction into Pot Odds/Implied Odds. Very solid building block book. Theory of Poker is going to cover exactly that, Theory of Poker. It isn't going to get into mathematics that much or that kind of stuff. It gets more into understanding what is going on and trying to apply the theory to practice. NLHE Theory and Practice will be a bit more extensive toward NLHE if you're playing that format and was a good read.

Google 'pot odds' and 'implied odds'. There are plenty of good sites that will explain the basics.

If you're still looking for a book that will explain those concepts you could do a lot worse than read Matthew Hilger's TEXAS HOLDEM ODDS AND PROBABILITIES.

People learn in different ways, so there's no one study method that's guaranteed to do it for you. I've found 'mind mapping' quite a good way to capture the essentials from a book. If you want mindmapping software, FreeMind is excellent.

Good Luck.

When I get a poker book that I really waht to study and get the most out of this is what I do:

1) I read the whole thing once, cover to cover.
2) I read the book again, this time highlighting important phrases and sentences.
3) I read the book a third time, but this time I only read the highlighted portions. If I run across something that's highlighted but that I don't understand, I re-read that section of the book.
4) About six months later I'll repeat step three to make sure I have retained what was in the book.

I did those steps with Small Stakes Hold'em, Theory of Poker, Weighing the Odds, then much later with No Limit Hold'em: Theory & Practice and Harrington on Cash Games. And more recently with Pot Limit Omaha: The Big Play Strategy.

Read your books again and again as long you still learn something (even little something)...balanced with some playing of course.

If u have no problem "studying", go for it but i think (speaking for me) you will be bored faster...


good luck.

I really love this advice

Thanks a lot. This is a good answer. I know it seems like simple advice but it helps me a lot since I tend to over think things and make them too complicated. Just wanted to find out what some of you other people were doing. Thanks alot! It's really nice to get so many answers so quickly.

I just started looking in to mind mapping earlier this week. I am looking for ways to get an employee from novice to expert in as little time as possible. Here is a link that sparked my interest on mind mapping books http://www.itotalsearch.com/ebook/HowtoStudy.pdf
Here is an alternative to installing FreeMind. It's web-based, similar to Google Docs http://www.bubbl.us
Maybe if there is enough interest, we could start a thread on techniques, examples, and completed poker book/video/theory mind maps.

I think Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Holdem has the best explanation of basic poker math (outs, odds/probabilities, pot odds, and implied pot odds).

Stop buying books and play.

An informed comment from a prolific poster who has contributed so much to the books/pubs forum

Ya, playing and reading (studying) go hand and hand.

My game has suffered lately b/c I haven't studied in the past few weeks and only played.

It's easy to play instead of study! My problem is integrating what I learn from study into my play. I have to think so fast that much of it is overlooked in the heat of battle. (Thinking is hard enough for me at normal speed ...)

Generally you're going to develop more from your studying when you find yourself in a situation you are questioning and go back and look at it later. That is where you should apply your skills to see if you are playing properly. It is like when football teams are reviewing tape, if they aren't applying something they've learned they go out and run hardcore focus drills on it. When you notice you're not applying something you've learned you go into your next session with the intent to highly focus on that until you feel it becomes a fluid part of your game.

Good advice, thanks. Study, play, review!

....I do play

1. Read "Theory of Poker"
2. Read something else, maybe "Getting Started" again, or "Harrington on Cash".
3. Read "Theory of Poker" again.
4. "Theory" does a great job of summarizing chapters, go over those again or any parts you highlighted while reading.

Focus on a topic you want to examine further, such as "defending against a semi-bluff" or "check raising Vs. slowplaying". Watch an episode of HSP or PAD and try to find spots where the players are doing this. Compare the way they handled those hands to the advice given in the book etc. etc.

Hi Guys,

I read it afterward, I think my first version of advice sounds a bit like a joke. So I will put some explanation here. I am strange enough to follow my own advice even when I was playing free money. (I am now at micro NL holdem and still growing up.) I am also pretty new to the game but I think my advice will work for players even if they are more experienced and talented than me.

The reasons why continual and repeated readings work is that most of us are not good readers and listeners. For example, it took me several reads to understand "discounted outs" from Miller and several reads more to think through when it should be used in different kinds of poker. Some concepts need to be digested.

I also suggest reading the book when you run bad and when you want to go up. These are two situations when you will easily *mis-evaluate* your skills. For mere mortals like us, slowing down a bit helps a lot.

On whether you need to read all 2+2: IMO, I think everyone should because it includes a gambling school of thought which is prominent in these days. It is also the only school (as far as I see) which gives ubiquitous *winning* advices on gambling. This should be must-read for every gamblers. Honestly, even the blackjack book taught me something. (e.g. play poker seems to be more interesting.)

On whether you need to read non 2+2 books: So we are talking about the ~1000 books (estimated from internet book list) that human being have written in print. Of course you don't need to read *all* of them. But books written by Wi Yee, Candoza usually represent totally different points of view of poker. Some players see some of these books as bibles. (Ah. Think James Mcmanus, you will know what I mean.)

For a person who just start out and don't know how to play NL Holdem, starts with the couple of books suggested in this thread and try to read on. I will recommend the following 7 levels of reading:
1st time: browse read and only remember the concepts that shock you.
2nd time: highlighting and underlining. Occasionally walk around your room to think through the concepts. Do the exercise.
3rd time: Play some and read the book again and see whether the principle make more sense.
4th time: Make notes and write commentry on each chapters of the book. Read up internets and understand how people perceived it.
5th time: Compare this book with similar books and sort them out and think clearly what each school mean
6th time: Try to speak out loud of what some and some concept means when you look at the title. Speak out your own disagreement about the book and try to re-think whether the author has already explained it in other parts of his book.
7th time and beyond: Write your own book on the same subject. Try to learn some other things so that you could have social life other than reading

Reference: How to read a book? Adler Mortimer. (Hey I don't like his philosophy though.)

R

Im sorry, but what are these? I mean like where can I watch them and what not. Sorry, not familiar with some of this stuff.

High Stakes Poker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekIPpFBtBHg

Poker After Dark: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23011821

Another site for poker vids: http://pokertube.com/