I've been around the game for more than 5 years now and it's changed a lot. Recently my 1/2NL live-game has done some crazy stuff and due to a couple bad beats my bankroll is nearly busted. It's made me decide to move to a more reliable game of which infinite hands and games exist... that don't break at 1AM because everyone has work in 6 hours.

I'm currently interested in 1 table SnGs, Middle stakes MTTs, $100NL and $200NL.

So essentially, my question is which books are the MUST HAVES for me. Like should I get harrington on cash games 1 & 2 or is 2 just a repeat of 1 with some filler? Can someone suggest a small army of books for me, more than 1 but less than 6.

MTTs - Poker Tournament Forumla 2, Kill everyone, HOH1+2

SNGs - SitNGoStrategy - CM

100/200NL - Fees Six max, BillyJexBook

looks like a nice start, tyvm

Kill Phil by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson - If this is in your game you'll be beating tournaments a lot easier =)

A training site will bring you way more benefits than 99% of the books out there...

Having said that, I liked "Professional NL Holdem" and Moshmann's HU book if you're just starting out with heads-up play.

A couple of bad beats should not bust your roll. Sounds more like lots of bad play.

or bad bankroll management

No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice is essential if you are willing to read it at least twice

Naw, it was like that other guy said... poor bankroll management. The problem is that it's a really weak game, the other problem is that they let you buy-in w/ deep stacks. They actually let you buyin for whatever the biggest stack on the table is, so really there are millions to be made (or lost). You take 2 bad hits and your bankroll looks rough.

lol, steer away from this kinda million making opportunity if you still havenn't read all the books out there. So you put you whole bankroll on the table?

isn't there a movie about a guy like this?

yeah but in the movie, he lost with a lower boat

I lost with a nut flush to a straight flush, a set to a running flush (all in on the flop), A straight to a gutshot higher straight (all in on the turn, gutty river), Two pair to trips (I was actually behind from the get go on this one), Pocket aces to pocket 8s (... this actually tilted me for a good $400 loss instantly after). And yeah, I've just been running REALLY BAD and I don't have the roll to cover that variance.

I thought this was a terrible book.

It seemed to me that its basic premise was to tell you how to play against opponents that are better than you, using a push or fold system. However, this seems to contradict any sensible form of game selection.

Once you move on to their sequel book, "Kill Everyone," it really starts to make a lot more sense. The first book was eh, but the next one is a must-have for any serious tournament player, MTT or STT.

'Cept buying it can sometimes be a little funny due to the title.

Kill Phil does work - You just have to be patient and use it correctly. The system is pure simplicity, but it works very well. A few years ago when I first got it, I used the system on BoDog (when they still accepted US players), and playing only $5 SNGs, I placed in the top 3 in more than 50% of them, and made a killing in profits =)

My best finish using a modified Kill Phil (Push or Fold) that I designed, placed me in 14th place in a 3,000+ player tournament, and my A-A got cracked when the opponent hit Quads on the Turn!!! We both flopped sets and he 1 outed me.

Simplicity in tournaments can lead to great success.

You probably didn't cash over 50% of the time. If you did, it's because you had a small sample size. Not knowing what constitutes a sample size = donk. Running hot in some 3,000 player freeroll doesn't prove push-fold is optimal.

It's simplistic because it is far from optimal.

Elaborate on these claims and i swear to god i will buy kill phil and kill everyone within 5 minutes of reading your next post.

i.e.sample sizes for the sngs. buy in for the mtt (s?)

Thanks

At least twice is an understatement, wear the covers off this one!

What does the buyin matter for the one mtt he got 14th in? You guys should just get The Theory of Poker so you can learn to start thinking right.

Ummm...Bodog still allows U.S. players.

If you liked Kill Phil, you'll love Kill Everyone.

which movie is this ?? i need to watch it.

I agree with much of the above. When the book first came out I did some trials using its strategy and finished with moderate wins and losses at a few different buy-in levels. The sample size was somewhat small, about 1200 total. (I do not consider this to be any kind of definitive evidence.)

Kill Phil is a great book for what it is designed to do. However and as previously stated, it is far from optimal strategy. Clearly the average player will be much better served by reading a title that will teach them how to play a more optimal strategy.

The book does have some value from certain perspectives for certain players. In general, anyone who's not about to sit down at a table full of players that are better than them can come back to this book after reading something else.