First book?

Pretty simple (or is it? -- haha): what's the first poker book I should read? I'm a beginner that will either "fall" into playing NL or Limit hold-em.

Thanks for the help of all here. This is a great board.

Best,
EW

I speak from my heart when I say, who needs a book when you've got FTR.

I've never fully read a poker book. Ever.

Watch Dwarfman videos....good place to start. Maybe not the first book to read, but Harrington on Holdem is grand.

For tournaments: HOH1 and HOH2.

For limit: Theory of Poker and Small Stakes Hold'em

For no limit: . . . there isn't much worth a damn.

Super System isn't that good

All books from any professional pro player named Phil suck.

Don't get ANY books that proclaim to help you at online poker. They all suck something fierce.

The Roy Rounder e-book was kinda interesting (and actually about nl).

Originally Posted by Triptan3s

Originally Posted by salt3d

Originally Posted by Triptan3s

I got a copy of Small Stakes Hold’em yesterday, it is an easy read and I trouble trying to put the book down. The first 60 pages were great and I’m looking forward to picking the book up again. So far, So good.

The NL Hold’em section in Super System (SS) doesn't suck and is good for understanding LAG play. Just don't go overboard with Brunson's ideas. Theory of Poker (TOP), Small Stakes Hold'em (SSH), Harrington on Hold’em (HOH) I & II, Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players (HPAP), Kill Phil (KP) are all great books to read to help you figure this game out. I threw in the acronyms because you will see these at most of the forums. I would say that you should start out with TOP and HOH if you are going to play NL. If you are into limit SSH is the best to start off with. Read for shits and giggles HPAP after you have been doing well at the limit tables. Kill Phil is IMO really good for beginners in NL tourneys. It will give you a foundation to start with and it will help you to understand the endgame of tourneys. Similar to HOH for endgame but it will give you more of an understanding of what hands you can start playing and what you need to be raising or reraising with.

Originally Posted by Sprayed

The NL Hold’em section in Super System (SS) doesn't suck and is good for understanding LAG play. Just don't go overboard with Brunson's ideas.

I thought it was ok, but there were a whole lot of oddities. The most striking example was when he was recalling a hand in a major tournament that he won.

He had a small suited connector like 65s and was up against two guys with KK and KQ that raised huge. He called off about a third of his stack and flopped a straight to stack both of them, and made it like he made some kinda ingenious play. I thought this was very misleading to someone trying to learn NL tournament poker, because 80% (at least) of the time he would have lost a third of his stack with that horrible call preflop.

Originally Posted by Renton

Originally Posted by Sprayed

The NL Hold’em section in Super System (SS) doesn't suck and is good for understanding LAG play. Just don't go overboard with Brunson's ideas.

I thought it was ok, but there were a whole lot of oddities. The most striking example was when he was recalling a hand in a major tournament that he won.

He had a small suited connector like 65s and was up against two guys with KK and KQ that raised huge. He called off about a third of his stack and flopped a straight to stack both of them, and made it like he made some kinda ingenious play. I thought this was very misleading to someone trying to learn NL tournament poker, because 80% (at least) of the time he would have lost a third of his stack with that horrible call preflop.

Dude, that's why I said don't go overboard with his ideas. But, he is a great player and can afford losing when he takes a gambool. He was also playing during a time when people were really tight and he knew that they had overs. 67 or most suited connectors are great for busting big pp. That's why you will see a lot of people calling 3x raises early in tourneys with suited connectors and small pp and people calling them donks when they hit and bust somebody. It's actually a great play if you have implied odds. You will see a lot of this in rebuys as well by people calling AI's in the first hour. If you don't buy-in to what Doyle is saying and use some of his advice you won't be very successful (IMO). For beginners it is good to note that Doyle will gambool a lot with semi bluffs when he has outs and this may be something that is way over your head but it is a skill that you will need to learn. When you read his book you have to understand that he is playing to win and not afraid to lose.

Sorry for the highjack.