i am a cash game player and i am trying to improve my skills

i noticed that most people are recommending sklansky's books like hold'em poker and hold'em for advanced players

are these books mainly for tourney play, cash game or both?

Hold'em poker is a short book. At the time it was written it was a very important book. A number of top flight pros refer to it as the only book they ever read. At this time there are more complete books on limit hold'em cash games such as Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players and a few others. Do you play limit or nl?

i play limit but planning on moving to nl later
so im guessing hold'em poker is not as good as it was anymore?

o and im looking for cash game books, not tourney books

The first book you want to sink your teeth into is Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller, David Sklanksy and Mason Malmuth. Especially if you play live where it is common to see 5 - 6 players seeing the flop. This book is the best limit hold'em book out there by far.

The next limit book would be Winning in Tough Hold'em Games by Nick Grudzien and Geoff Herzog. Don't get too bogged down with the Poker Tracker charts. This book will give you a solid theory of how to think about the game and will prepare you for tougher games where many pots are 3 bet and contested heads up or three way.

For No Limit we move to Harrington on Cash Games vols 1 & 2, Professional No Limit Hold'em vol 1 by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta and Small Stakes No Limit Hold'em by the same authors available as an ebook presently. Also No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice by Ed Miller & David Sklansky.

There are other excellent books (Theory of Poker for example) but the above list is where you should focus right now. Also don't buy them all at once. Take it one step at a time and enjoy the learning. GL

If you are a limit cash player looking to improve and/ or move up in stakes, I recommend the following in this order:

Holdem Poker
Getting Started in Holdem Poker
The Theory of Poker
Small Stakes Holdem
Holdem Poker for Advanced Players
Limit Holdem in Super System 2
Middle Limit Holdem
How Good is your Limit Holdem?

This should provide a good six months of serious study...

2 weeks on the first two, 5 1/2 months on the third. You should probably read Small Stakes Holdem at least four times. I would never part my with tattered copy and I don't even play LHE anymore!!

do the contents in small stakes holdem work even if it is heads up or 3 players seeing the flop?

It usually gives instructions for both tight and loose games. (ie. "If the game is loose, you might try this, but if not, do this instead.")

Not really. Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players covers that, but it is a pretty difficult skill to learn from a book.

what do you mean by it is difficult to learn from a book?

I think the point is that shorthanded or tight full games skill is largely going to be learned by experience and knowing your opponents, the "book" stuff differences are a small part. Basically open up a little and be a little more aggressive, the dead money is now from tight or passive players not loose players. Fine tuning that skill is probably best done by playing, posting hands.

This is an excellent book (mine is dog eared and tattered from multiple readings) but there is one thing that bugs me about it. Sklansky uses the preface/intro to paint a picture of 5-6+ people seeing the flop as the norm. I have no idea where he finds these types of tables but I'd sure like to come for a visit! With this in mind I'd tend to ignore the 'loose' preflop tables and focus on the 'tight' preflop suggestions that he also provides. That said, this book is a pure gold mine of insight into playing strong limit hold'em.

One other book worth mentioning is the Lee Jones classic. While geared more for staying out of trouble it will definately make a person's game profitable if applied carefully. Sklansky looks to accept greater risk and variance in exchange for long term ROI. This variance issue can cause a lot of grief for newer players with small bankrolls trying to adopt and master Sklansky's approach - the material is definately accessible but the learning curve is steep.

If I was starting all over I'd be tempted to work through Lee Jones' work first and then move on to Sklansky.

Just a thought

is this book for no limit or limit?

Lee Jones' Winning Low Limit Holdem 2nd edition. It's for the limit game. Considered a classic.

Ian

read theory of poker, hold em for advanced and small stakes, then go play and figure the rest out after 1,000,000 hands and counting...

That book was decent. A classic is an overstatement. TOP is a classic.

For shorthanded LHE the best books are (IMO):
- Winning in Tough Hold'Em Games (hard to read but worth the effort)
- Limit Hold'Em - Winning Shorthanded Strategies (excellent to get started, but focusing on beginners and need to adjust as you get better)

As a NooB to a NooB I definitely recommend SSH by Sklansky, Miller and Mallmuth. The book was a kick in the nuts at first, but once I began grinding through it and applying the basic concepts and charts my game was enlightened at the least. I recently ordered Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed, I'll crack those open as soon I finish Sklansky. Good luck!

Cheers