Thought it would be a good idea to get a recommended reading list for the typical sslnl player going.

(Please try to avoid acronyms and abbreviations for book titles, remember not everyone is going know what they mean)

My two recommendations...

• Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
• Professional No Limit Hold'em Volume 1

Elements of Poker is a good book. For live poker, I thought No-Limit Texas Hold 'em: A Complete Course by Angel Largay was pretty good. Don't agree with some of his pre-flop strategy, but he did and has been crushing low stakes NL in Vegas for years.

No Limit Hold'em Theory & Practice

- read this book 10 times them read

Professional No Limit Hold'em Vol. 1

- then read NLHET&P again and forget half of what u just read in PNLHE1

- then when ur ready to work on ur head read

Poker Winners are Different

- then, when u have a sound grasp of all these books, start reading as many 'online' 6max ebooks as u can get ur hands on. pluck what u can from them (adapting the information to fit ur low stakes 'live' games.) keep in mind that the info u learn in these books will be way over the heads of most of ur competition so use the advanced plays wisely.

I can tell you what not to read:

Daniel Negreanu - Power Hold 'Em.

A book where every example/theory leads to being heads-up pre-flop is rather useless in 1/2 or 1/3 NL hold 'em game. Small ball rarely works at this level.

I still think the best for this level are the Harrington Vol. 1 and 2 books. At least for the way he presents how to approach a decision post-flop/turn/river.

"Caro's Book of Poker Tells" by Mike Caro.

Getting old but still a solid read and will definitely come in handy, especially against the players you'll find at low-stakes.

Oh dear, this isn't a book, but it's a great recommendation IMO:

Listen to Bart Hanson's Deuce Plays, which is the Deuces Cracked podcast. Listen especially to his live hand review episodes, they are absolutely fantastic.

trying to decide between NLHE theory and practice or professional no limit hold em. I mainly play 3-5nl with a 300 buy in.

The ones on Poker Road are also the nuts. (2008 Archive)

The interviews/co-hosted shows with Limon, Gabe Thaler, Citizen James, etc. are very good as well. (DC & PR)

CardPlayer.com has a ton of good articles. Start by reading Ed Miller's and branch out from there.

Read them both (T&P 1st and 3rd)

"Ace on the River" by Barry Greenstein is excellent and teaches a lot of valuable lessons about how to carry yourself as a poker player. It's kind of wisdom rather than knowledge, but essential for anyone playing live a lot.

Title pretty much says it all. Seems like most books I know of out there are for online games and 6 max. Is there anything that covers full ring live games in the 1/2 stakes?

I just got HOC (Harrington on Cash Games, Volumes I and II) and I'm part way thru the first book.

Anyone have any opinions on this book and how applicable it is to typical live games?

One thing I have noticed so far is that Harrington doesn't quickly classify all of his opponents as a bunch of morons, and I think that is tending to be a more accurate view of the 1/2 games I play in as opposed to some of the general "lol, live players suk so bad" views that seem a little too prevalent (IMO) here on the interwebz. For example, most opponents I'm playing with are making bets relative to the size of the pot; those who aren't really stand out. A lot of opponents also do a fairly good job of hand reading and attempting to put players on hands.

Gmourningthecanucksloss,gohabs?G

I think this is the best book for this level. He breaks down hand ranges, what a moderately competent opponent is likely thinking/doing and what you can reasonably expect to be facing if you get to the turn/river and still face resistance.

Granted, Harrington plays hyper conservative and he makes this clear in the book, but he also does abide by the "your goal is to see cheap flops in position" mantra. Which is so true IMO.

That is a very good point. JTo and I had discussed this some in a previous thread. To me the key to developing a range at 1/2 against a fish/marginal player is understanding their thinking. There are some who just spew their chips, but there are many more who just drip them away by making what they think are logical plays, but which we know are fundamentaly wrong.

Example: we have all seen the player who will limp with AK suited, jacks, etc.., and will call any raise with them, but will almost never raise those hands themselves. Figuring out what his logic is makes him hyper exploitable when he raises, and also makes getting away from him when he outflops you so much easier. If we get stuck in "he's a fish mode", then we are missing the forest for the trees.

I have not read HOC. Its still on my shelf waiting until I have time. But it seems every time I run into someone just killing a 1/2 table and strike up a conversation with them, they mention that book.

And I'm not asking about strategy or anything. I'm just chit chatting asking about their wife or kids or whatever, and they're just happily stacking chips letting their lips run about whatever's on their mind. And seriously on several occasions its been that book.

i agree about the every pot heads up thing. and also, it seems the opponents always check in the example.

however, there is great advice in this book and his chapter specifically about pot control, starting hands and position, and other stuff too. i think it is worth reading for concepts.

Both of the books I recommended while not specifically targeted at live 1/2 players, they are excellent for live play at many levels.

I've read HOCv1&2, PNLv1, and NLHTAP. I would say all three are great books.

NLHTAP will give you a lot of concepts to think about and some tricks for specific situations. It's a toolbox of sorts, abstract in spots and immediately applicable in others. Hence the name "theory and practice."

PNLv1 gives you a paradigm for beating small stakes games, in the form of SPR. It's a concept you can also apply in tougher games, but at first I found myself getting trapped against set miners in online games when blindly applying it, so you have to adjust your SPR guidelines when your opponents are also TAG or TP. The other stuff in this book won't shock anyone who's been around the game for a year, but there are some good points made.

HOC has a lot of hand examples, and you should think about them from different perspectives, not just Harrington's conservative view point. He does emphasize using position and reads as leverage to making plays. And I like that he uses the idea of randomizing your plays, which is something we rarely do in strat posts. We usually say "do X" rather than "do X 30% Y 70%" The hand examples will give you guidance on when you can afford to play a mixed strategy and when you must be closer to taking a pure strategy. The prose is very dense and I imagine you could get a lot from multiple critical readings. I will have to revisit this book soon.

I strongly recommend Professional NLHE by Ed Miller et al.

Harrington on Cash Games are solid books but not that relevant to small stakes live IMO. I learnt pot odds etc from HoH the tournament books. Which also appears in Harrington on Cash. That knowledge is of course essential but can probably also be found in other books.

Negreanu's power holdem book was not that good for me. Only thing I learnt was the theory regarding checking behind with TPTK and the nut flush draw.

HOC II is probably worth the $ just for the interview with Bobby Hoff at the end of the book (probably can read it at the store.)

Both books are pretty good though and as u move up in stakes the info becomes more pertinent.

I've actually told many people this myself. It was good to hear from someone who has quietly been crushing live cash for so many years, and somehow managed to stay out of the spotlight. He seems to be one of the few older players who really understands the game. There was a good interview with him on the podcast a while back, could hav used more strategy talk but nontheless was still good.

Time to bump this thread.

I've read Elements of Poker but want to sharpen up my ABC game a little more for live play.

My question is which 2+2 member in this forum would be best to listen to?

Noob to this site but I always believe in following success.

Me, ldo.


KURTSF, KNEEDURDOUGH,PERCULA,VENICE10,and I believe on the rise would be AINTNOLIMIT, although he is fairly new but I think adds a different element round here. I also like to think I add a tip or two from time to time, but more than likely IMA fish.

Edit: there are some others also if I forgot you im sorry. Theres a few also that i havent seen in a while that id like to see again.

I think everyone would recommended...

No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice

followed by...

Professional No Limit Hold'em Volume 1

then disregard half of what you just read and reread...

No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice ...again

then you could read these... (FREE)

Ed Miller

Alan Schoonmaker

also, a lot of these translate very well... (FREE)

****Concept of the Week" Schedule and Table of Contents****

as well as... (FREE)

#2000...random shyt

Lymon's Podcast w/Bart Hanson

Lymon's Podcast w/Bart Hanson Part II

Bart's Other Podcasts on Deuces Cracked

Bart's Podcasts on Pokerroad - 2008 <-Jeremiah Smith does a good job as well