Lots of truth to the bolded statement esp when comparing say 1-2 live to 5-10cent online and maybe 10-25cent as well. Less 5 way raised pots, but still.

I've, somehow, only recently heard of this book.

I know it pertains almost entirely to these stakes, so I figured this was the best place to ask about it.

What areas does it stress the most? I've heard it has really good sections on reading your opponents and also some good insights into how to socialize with the fish to keep them in good spirits and keep them donating.

What are the strongest merits of this book? Would you recommend it strongly to anyone thinking about grinding the lower limits live?

I've read it, and I would. Here's the table of contents:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Texas...der_1550227424

I thought chapters 5 and 6 were especially helpful. The player type stuff seemed to be a retread of this book:
http://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poke...logy-of-poker/

Check out this link for more resources. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...d-2p2-1053008/

Is Dynamic Full Ring Poker a good source for live play? It seems the author mostly plays online, and I would assume, therefor, would be writing from that perspective.

Does it still have lots of useful info for live play?

I think it's okay, primarily as a decent source of info on the basics of full ring. IMHO, lots of the concepts that deal with loose tables translate to live play.

What are some of the top 3-5 books people would recommend, these days, for info on tells that people exhibit at the table, and the psychological elements?

I don't mean how to deal with your own tilt here, but how to read it in others, or how to adjust to their psychological and emotional changes throughout a session.

I know some older ones are The Psychology of Poker, and, Caro's book of tells.

Are those two still two of the best, or are there some newer ones that might be better?

The Joe Navoro ones look a bit hoky, but might be legit.

What do people recommend for books on reading your opponents tells, and adjusting to their changed emotions and psychological states throughout a session?

I am 2/3rds of the way through DFR and like it so far. I think its definitely applicable to live even though Split is mostly an online full ring guy. As a matter of fact, I would go as far as to say that for 90%+ of the posters on thus forum, if they just read the preflop section several times that alone will easily recoup the price of this book (and hopefully increase the quality of hands posted on this forum )

The alan schoomaker one is a little pedantic, although it does make some good general suggestions about adapting your play to combat different idiosynchratic and familiar player styles (LAG, TAG, etc.) In a session, you'll find that you'll have to keep your play much more fluid than it explains, though, and you'll need to percieve subtle changes in your opponent's mood, and in the way they adapt their play facing different opponents (most notably, YOU). No player really has one playing style that they constantly adhere to, and you'll see changes from hand to hand in how someone (especially a good player) is approaching the game.
The mike caro tells are pretty golden, in my opinion. The classic "shaking generally means strength, not weakness" I have found applicable in many situations. Also the "poker clack" or "fake sigh" to feign weakness when abundant strength is present are pretty common tells in the low stakes. His general game theory suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt, though, I think. I remember him giving an interview about NL where he said "when you have aces or kings, you want your raise to be called around the table! you have a great hand!" :\

experience is a really great teacher for the reading aspects of the game, though.

Note also

Few books stress betting pattern reading enough, and that's so critical in reading and in read-dependent decision making. The harrington ones are pretty good at hand dissection, and I remember the Stoxtrader limit book making pretty good suggestions about this, also. It's such a complex topic, and is so hard to pin down, books could be endlessly written about it without covering all possibilities. Generally a series of hands should be used to contribute to a decision in a particular hand, and it shouldn't be played in a vacuum, based on "tells".

You may want to consider some books about body language that don't have much to do with poker. That can be helpful too. I am thinking of one at the moment but the name eludes me.

Caro's book on tells is very pertinent to small stakes NLHE games imo. I often see people glance at another's stack after making a large bet or going all in. And almost does it delineate a strong hand as they are envisioning their chips coming to the bettor or in the bettor's stack. It's a pretty reliable tell and it's been a while since I read Caro's book but I believe it's in there. If you haven't read this it's a good start.

Author? Can you make a rough guess at the title?

Or any other good books on the subject?

I can't remember the book I am thinking about but read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. It's in line with reading people and their emotions. If you don't feel as though it helps you it will in the very least be a good read. There is a wikipedia summary here.

yah, books on NLP are useful for this. Understanding unconscious body language, both with it's effect on your own behavior, and on the behavior of your opponents, is pretty useful in a game setting. Like, how your posture changes when you are strong versus when you are weak. Whether you fidget or lean back from the table in the middle of a troubling decision, lean forward over your chips when you are about to assume an aggressive role in the hand etc. You can manipulate this in many cases to your advantage, as your opponents recognize these signs without their observations reaching the conscious level where they might analyze them, or by the time they do it's too late .

http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-NL...f=cm_lmf_tit_2

NLP! Awesome. So I can read pickup artist books to get better at poker? I love it

For the 90% ...

http://books.google.ca/books?id=b3wE...page&q&f=false

As for Angel's book, it is both excellent and terrifying. I believe Malmuth was once horrified by some of the advice in it (In specific, regarding an all-in by Angel, preflop, with 82s or something), however this is the excellent/terrifying stuff. Angel doesn't really approach the game from a mathematical background, he more uses quasi-math to rationalize his play. I forgive him for this because the focus on the book is playing poker as a game of people played with cards (as McEvoy once stated), rather than a game of of cards played by people.

For instance, can you triple barrel with rags to induce a fold against a villain on the river? And if you can't, why were you there to begin with?

That's the sort of advice you'll come across in Angel's book.

And herein lies problem, it's more a signpost than a map to the promised land. There is a small chapter at the end of book where he gives an example of same three hands played against the four basic player types, and his play is different in each case. It's a great chapter, but I could have used a book of these examples rather than a scant offering. Then again, maybe that was intentional. He doesn't strike me as the sort of cat that would propose a formulaic strategy.

I think the majority of people who read Angel's book will lose a lot of money at the tables, simply based on what I've observed in live play. At these stakes, everyone seems to be looking for a justification to start shoving their chips in the middle. Now, Angel isn't promoting this, but ... let's just say that not all truths are for all ears.

Some are longer than others.

Best.
Flux

If you like Splitsuits work he has a bunch of vids here.

http://www.thepokerbank.com/videos/s...it/bet-sizing/

This is the link I have bookmarked. When I tried to get to the vid index page it gave me a 404, but it was working a couple of days ago.

yes, just don't whip your dinglehorn out at the table

I am always available for private discussion of these books if anyone is interested.

I'd hate to bump this, but It's a thread in the sticky and better than making a new one since I want to start to focus on 1/2NL live. I've been in and out of playing and reading because of school, work scheduling, and $$$.

tl:dr will be: Anyone here read Poker Math that Matters by Owen Gaines? Is this a good book to read before or after books like PNLHE v1, NLHETAP, SSNHLE?

My current read books are HOH v1, half of Kill Everyone, Read em and Reap and TOP. ( I hate reading, but I now want to start learning more again, lol)

I own:
Hoh v1, and v2
HOC v1, v2
PNHLEv1
NLHETAP
Read em and reap.
Kill Everyone
Super System
Power Holdem Strategy
Poker Tournament Formula
Theory of Poker
Ultimate guide to poker tells
(have more than I thought lol, got a few as gifts/hand me downs from friends)

Now I want to focus on Live Cash games, and an occasional tourney and hoping to get a couple more of these read and thinking about getting Poker Math That Matters.

I know that I am responding to a month old post but perhaps this might help. I'm a amateur poker player but I'm a Pro Crastionator!

Concerning Math That Matters I have read it and am starting to reread it. It tries to take you from very basic math and is quick to use rough approximations. Sometimes when these are used early in the process it results in significant error. Very little here for a person already making a good living at poker, a lot for beginning and intermediate players. A lot you can use on the fly when you can't use more precise formulas too, the main purpose of the book I believe.

My opinion is that for the most part we shouldn't get too wrapped up in the math so I find his math usually good enough. A percentage might be two to five percent off as an example but how often does that matter? I usually round a bit myself with 19% becoming one in five or four to one. When I know actual percentages are roughly 48 to 52 if the other player holds the hand I suspect the question is am I willing to get into a coinflip, I'm not pleased with a four percent edge most the time if I do have it. Of course some of this might be why I am a low level player.

It's been close to a year since I read the book so kinda bear that in mind reading my review. One thing I do like is the quiz at the end of every chapter. I have long thought that poker books should be set up like that. My computer and network books with the courses I took for my MCNE certification years ago were like that and I found it very useful.

Hu

I'm looking for some new poker books to read to improve my game. I would like to hear everyones suggestions on what books are good or bad. I'm looking more toward cashgame theory however I wouldn't mind reading tournament theory either.

This site offers some really good books. In the upper left corner of the home page check out "2+2 store".

You mentioned your focus is on cash games, and I'll assume NLH because thats the most popular game right now.

In no particular order, but all seems like good books:

1) Dan Harrington -Harrington on Hold em', volumes 1 & 2

2) David Sklansky -Hold em for advanced players

3) Ed Miller -Small stakes hold em

4) David Sklansky -and maybe Tournament Poker, for advanced (expanded edition)

thanks, I'll look into those books. I've already read harington's v1 cashgame book and he offered some very good advice, though he does play pretty nitty. A lot of people have mentioned sklanskys books being pretty good as well.

I think most poker books are wayyy outdated and quite useless. thats just my opinion though. u can learn just as much on this forum. if u want to invest some money into your game, hire a coach.

There is already an extensive thread on this which should probably be turned into a sticky.