Hello,

I posted a similar thread in the “Books and Publications” section, but didn’t get any love over there. I’m really hoping to get some suggestions here.

I’ve been studying/playing live small/med MTT’s for quite some time, and now I’m very interested to learn live small stakes cash games. Trying to decide which format is for me, tournaments or cash.

Hoping to get some advice on what are the best books to read and will help me with cash games the way they’re played today. Have they really changed over the years like tournaments have?

I’m interested mainly in live $1-$2 full-ring cash games.

Thanks a lot!

My two cents:

No matter which book you pick to read, you absolutely MUST have the ability to patiently watch the table and decide whether or not the advice will work against these specific villains.

You will see books that recommend making top pair and then betting the snot out of it. This will only work against villains who refuse to fold if they've caught any piece of the board whatsoever.

You will see books that recommend double- or triple-barreling. This will only work against timid, weak-tight villains who will only put a majority of their stack in the middle with the near-nuts.

Any book that teaches you to think about the math cannot be a bad book: If there's $100 in the pot and you bluff $150 into it, how often does the villain need to fold for it to be profitable? If a villain does a certain action 75% of the time, can you respond in the correct way 100% of the time and still turn a long-term profit (hint: the answer is usually yes). How big do preflop stacks need to be for you to have implied odds with a pocket pair or suited connector? How do these implied odds change based on villain tendencies like calling station or weak-tight timid player?

There are a lot of stats you'll need that are hard to find in books, so use Google: How often will a villain flop at least one pair/at least top pair/at least two pair/a set etc., how often will a flush draw or OESD come in, how often will a set improve to a boat etc.

With all of that said, here are some of my personal favorites:

Crushing the Microstakes (yes, it was written for online games, but it's written assuming the majority of the villains are calling stations which you do commonly see at $1/$2 live tables)
Ed Miller's The Course (more geared toward tables of weak-tight players but an entertaining read nonetheless)
David Sklansky's No-Limit Hold'Em Theory and Practice
Harrington on Cash Games (most posters think this book is trash, but if you can read the book and figure out for yourself when the advice will and won't work it's at worst an educational exercise).

Lastly, there's simply no substitute for experience. No matter which books you read, it's not realistic to think you're just going to sit down and quickly start beating the game.

Good luck at the tables.

+1 to DTCF

Thank you so much DTCF for the response, I really appreciate it. Well thought out and very informative, exactly what I was looking for.

Of those books you listed, if you were me and a total noob at live cash, which book would you start with? I’ve heard a few other players talk about the “No-Limit Holdem: T & P” book.

Crushing the Microstakes. It's geared toward total noobs who can't even beat .01/.02 online, starts from the ground up and teaches you how to think.

Good luck and HAVE FUN (the latter is actually important advice - don't let poker become a frustrating grind. It's a GAME. You PLAY A GAME to HAVE FUN.)

Thanks so much for the advice. And I will definitely have some fun, I truly love the game....win or lose.

The Zen of Poker. It gives you an idea of the patience required to play poker, among other things
The Course Ed Miller. By far the best small stakes strategy book. If you're feeling overwhelmed by too much information, this book has what is essential an won't leave you overthinking things

Is “The Course” ok for someone completely new to cash games? Does someone need at least a basic cash game foundation before reading this?

Easy game by baluga whale

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Yes, but not much. It only assumes you know what things like pot odds, outs, and such are. It's also split into 3 sections based on skill level so you can progress through it as you learn more.

Sounds like a good idea would be to read Crushing The Microstakes....for the basics, then read The Course?

I'm not a pro (yet? !), but I've read basically all the books mentioned

the most important, to me, at the end of the day are

harrington on cash
will tipton's heads up books
sklansky theory of poker

I think Harrington on cash was great. I also think it's better to read one book five times, instead of five books once. You should of course read several books, but I think it's important to really study the book, not just read it.

The Harrington cash book doesn’t get a whole lot of love.....good to see that there are some players who believe there’s some real value in there.

So you think it’s very worth while for new cash players at live $1-$2?

donkey22 I want to ask you for a favor, and I mean this with absolutely no sarcasm or mean spirits whatsoever (it's going to sound like I'm being a wiseass but I promise, I'm not).

Come back to this thread one year from now and tell us: 1. How many of the books you've actually read, 2. How many hours of live $1/$2 you've played, and 3. How *you* would respond to a total beginner asking the same questions you are.

Absolutely no malicious intent whatsoever - I think it'll be an interesting experiment to observe what you're saying today vs. what you say in one year.

It's almost been a year, I hope we get the update....

8/22/19 - 4/18/18 = 491 days = 1.35 years

(I'm such a nerd!)

It seems DTCF is the common suggestion, I would say it's mine also!

Well.l OP appears gone, but ive been journeying through poker in the same time frame and the only books i could really recommend 1-2 years later are non technical books suck as Mental Game of Poker and Ace on the River for live players. The only thing that has improved my technical skills is lots of hand and range analysis (Thanks flopzilla!)

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