Hi I couldn't find the "Introductions" thread on here its a pretty hectic forum for finding stuff so forgive me if this is the wrong area and move it to the correct forum.

I've been playing poker for about three months, first off it was on WSOP app and then about two months ago I moved onto PokerStars where I'm down about $100 haha. I first played the $10NL and would often play okay but it was the few bad hands I played that ruined my bankroll. I'm now on the $2NL and also play the 10c, 25c MTTs plus the 50c STTs. Basically after a lot of money down the pot I think I've come to decent groove.

I'm reading The Theory of Poker currently, nearly done, and also moving onto "Phil Gordon's Little Green Book" plus I want to read "Crushing The Micro-Stakes". Are these books recommended?

I want to buy PokerTracker or whatever but it seems like a big investment, any way I can get it cheaper or anything? Or a free version? I had the trial version but it wouldn't sync to my PS hand history :S

Also what's the best type of games to start off playing?

TLDR: Relative beginner wondering whats the top 5 books to read for micro-stakes MTT, STT and cash games; how to get cheap/free poker tracker type software? And how to extract the most from this forum (where to start on here, and in my games).

Thanks

Welcome!

Pokertracker 4 or Holdem Manager 2 is essential if you're playing online. It will be well worth the investment.

Welcome to the forums!

Good job moving down to 2NL. 10NL, believe it or not, can be fairly challenging for a new player. Might as well do your learning at the cheapest stakes possible, and then progress as you improve!

My personal opinion on books is that if you've heard of the author (Hellmuth, Gordon, etc.), then it almost certainly isn't worth reading. There are probably some exceptions, but I think the general rule holds.

One of the very best resources is absolutely free and that is 2+2. As you've noticed, 2+2 is huge and difficult to navigate. However, there are Stickies at the top of Beginner (as well as Micro Full Ring, etc) that have TONS of wonderful posts. These should be your starting point.

And honestly, clicking random threads on here is probably going to be more valuable than Little Green Book.

Both Poker Tracker and Hold'Em Manager have free trials, so that is definitely a good place to start out. After that, if you plan to stick with this online poker thing, it's definitely an investment that is worth making sooner rather than later.


Finally, there's no "best" type of game to play. Some people love tournaments. Other people hate them. Some people are good at short stacking cash games. Other people like playing deep stack. It is about figuring out what you enjoy and are comfortable with and then learning to be the best at that. Trying them all out is okay for now, but ultimately you'll want to narrow down into an area and learn the intricacies of that (For example, the skill set for mastering STTs is going to include things like memorizing push-fold charts, where as this is almost completely useless in a cash game).

@Frozen_Starlight: thank you, I will invest in PockerTracker 4 then, as it seems most popular. Unless anyone can say otherwise.

@DUCYdonk: Thank you, very good response. What is wrong with those types of books? yes I'll try and read one sticky a day minimum.

Maybe I should be more clear; what is the best type of game to start out on? I thought maybe one type is best to become adept to before venturing on to other types. I always got the impression you should start with MMTs but that's an assumption at best.

Another newbie question to get out of my system on here instead of clogging the forum:

- Is ABC poker (play tight, bet/raise for value when flop/turn/river hits and check/fold when it doesn't etc) still profitable?

Thanks again guys.

Crushing the Microstakes is a good place to start for some basic strategy. Do take some of it with a pinch of salt though as a lot of it talks about a state of the games that no longer exists, and do try and read other books as well so you learn to think for yourself.

Welcome!

Crushing the micros is great - Phil Gordons Little green book is good (altough a Little bit out of time)

Hi thanks guys, Ive been reading the CotW thread in Micro-stakes, there's a lot of math and terms etc what thread would be a good start to begin grasping all this stuff? I keep finding threads and then a lot of the math glazes over my head