| Do poker books, dvds and programs actually help players? |
| Yes |
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95% |
[ 134 ] |
| No |
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4% |
[ 7 ] |
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| Total Votes : 141 |
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kweer bait
High Card
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 12
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 Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:01 am Post subject: |
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| i thought all of harringtons books were good reads and i noticed some immediate improvement. |
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thepowerplay
Four of a Kind
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 344
Location: Vancouver BC Canada
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:58 am Post subject: |
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| griffinlord wrote: |
But it is important to use those tools correctly.
If you read your poker book as if it were a novel, that is you don't really process the information presented, you will learn little or nothing.
An effective approach for studying from books (poker books or school books) is to:
1. Read a chapter (or entire book if short) to get a general sense of the topics being covered and how those topics are organized.
2. Practice (poker)/attend lecture (school).
3. Return to the book and re-read one section at a time taking as much time as required to process the information.
4. Practice implementing what you learned in #3.
5. Return to step #3.
If you are already an intermediate player you can skip steps #1 and #2 and jump straight to a modified #3:
#3 Read lightly until you encounter information that is new or covers an area where you are weak--then read that section/chapter carefully.
#4 and #5 as before.
Many players do not bother to read the books with any care or effort put into processing the information contained. If you read a book without actually processing the information it contains, you'll learn very little--if you learn anything at all.
For those of us who do not have a live mentor watching DVDs (and some shows) can provide a valuable illustration of how principles are implemented. |
When I first started out a couple of years back, I went nuts buying all sorts of books thinking the more and faster I read, the better of a player I would be, and that winning must be a certainty if I picked up all the "winning concepts" from the best books. Well, as I'm sure you can all anticipate, I wasn't a winning player, but rather a losing player with a nice library (not a big loser mind you, but net negatvie for sure). Near the beginning of this year, I approached some of my favourites in much the same way Griffinlord describes. I started right from scratch as if I was a total beginner, and really took my time digesting one dvd and it's concepts and didn't move forward with it until I really felt I had the concept down. I found that over a few months I did take my results from slightly negative, to break even, to positive. So I agree with Griffinlord for sure... I love the books and the potential contained within them, but often less is more. I'm still just working through a few things, but at least I've got a big library to work through now for years to come.
ps... Lederer's DVD's have been favourite so far, even if they are light on advanced theories. Great for the fundamentals, though! |
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nitropickin
Two Pair
Joined: 11 Sep 2007
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| ITS FIXED AND THATS THAT YOU BUNCH OF BOTTOM FEEDER FISHES |
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luckyjimdixon
Pair
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 21
Location: California
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| Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: Of course these materials are helpful... |
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Not surprisingly, the forum readers have overwhelmingly indicated that poker books, DVDs, and other media are helpful. But here's a point that I think is sometimes lost in the discussion of instruction and strategy: The point is not to play "by the book." Instead, reading and other forms of instruction should give you the tools to understand several possible courses of action, to identify possible moves by your opponents, and, ultimately, to develop your own dynamic style of play.
By dynamic, I refer very specifically to an adaptable, constantly evolving approach; to use a simple example, you can play AA in a number of different ways depending on your position, opponents, your own table image, what the blinds are in a tournaments, etc., etc. What you should learn from the books is not "how to play AA" but "how to think about what's going on at a particular moment in time and use that knowledge to make an informed decision about how to play AA."
I've now reviewed more than 30 books for Card Player magazine, and read many more (I simply don't review the horrible ones). There's a lot of commonality but there's always differences too: differences in strategy, of course, but also differences in how strategy is presented and explained.
I've posted all my reviews at my personal web site (along with other artifacts of the poker culture):
http://web.mac.com/tbpeters/
I'm always interested in thoughtful feedback. |
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luckyjimdixon
Pair
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 21
Location: California
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| Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:50 pm Post subject: 2007 Poker Books | "Year in Review" |
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Hi and happy Christmas!
I've taken a stab at quick rundown of the year in poker books; I reviewed a total of 26 poker books this year for Card Player magazine and Publishers Weekly.
Highlights include:
 Michael Craig's excellent anthology, The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition
Collin Moshman's book: Sit 'n Go Strategy
Professional No-limit Hold'em: Volume I by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller (the best book of the year on cash games by far)
...and, just for fun, the multimedia extravaganza Ricky Jay Plays Poker
I invite you to read the entire post at my website and to download a December 19 podcast by Al Schoonmaker about poker books from Hold'em Radio (the show is titled "Poker Psychology" and is available from iTunes).
Looking forward to lots of new books--perhaps most notably Kill Everyone, which I'm reading and will review early in 2008.
Happy holidays. |
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pockett10s
Royal Flush
Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 527
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| Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| I read Colin Moshman's Sit N Go Strategy, and that was a good read. I however, got the same info by taking a week and searching the internet for everything about STTs. However, all the info I found is helpfully consolidated into his book. |
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BOYNAMEDSUE
Moderator
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 7386
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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| It's next on my reading list. Oh man, I'm gonna be rich! |
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luckyjimdixon
Pair
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 21
Location: California
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject: new book review: Al Schoonmaker's "Your Best Poker Friend" |
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I hope CardPlayer readers will check out the January 16, 2008, issue of the magazine (Chip Reese on the cover) for my review of one of the best poker psychology books I've ever read: Al Schoonmaker's Your Best Poker Friend: Increase Your Mental Edge.
The book is a sequel to another fine book, Your Worst Poker Enemy; this one teaches you how to be honest with yourself about your game, how to learn (he's a big advocate of "active learning"), and there's a terrific section that will help you determine if you have the psychological temperament for playing no-limit hold'em.
The cardplayer.com version should be up soon; it's also posted on my own web site. Great book.
P.S. I just submitted my review of another TERRIFIC book on poker and psychology called Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo. I'll post about it when it's published. |
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Radeh
High Card
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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Just read "No Limit Hold'em Secrets" by Roy Rounders. Great book!! He gives a lot of good tips for playing different hands according to position and the characteristics of other players. Quite easy to read if you're familiar with basic poker terminology...
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swayzakon
High Card
Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:04 am Post subject: |
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| I've read Sklansky's "Theory of Poker" very good book. |
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luckyjimdixon
Pair
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 21
Location: California
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| Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject: More new reviews -- anyone read "Elements of Poker" by Tommy Angelo yet? |
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I already referenced the review of Your Best Poker Friend by the great Dr. Al Schoonmaker (not online at www.cardplayer.com, but it is in the printed edition and on my site). Also have a review out of Poker: The Ultimate Book by a French writer named Francois Montmirel (available at www.cardplayer.com; volume 20, #26.). More of a coffee table/art book than a strategy guide, it's a really good-looking book about the history and culture of poker.
Forthcoming: I've submitted my review of a book I'm very excited about: Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker. On the psychological realities of poker playing, he is brilliant (and an entertaining writer to boot).
--Tim Peters |
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Bad90lx
High Card
Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject: Harrington on Holdem. |
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| This is my first poker read. (havnt been playing long) It is an easy read for anyone, his concepts are clear and understandable. Only 190 pages in and i feel like a better player. Opend my eyes to alot. |
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Radeh
High Card
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book" is awesome. His thought processes are great! |
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BOYNAMEDSUE
Moderator
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 7386
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| I have Phil's LGB on my iPod. It's great. |
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renegades8
Forum Fish
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
Posts: 3369
Location: spewing @ 25NL
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| Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| BOYNAMEDSUE wrote: |
| I have Phil's LGB on my iPod. It's great. |
Is it transferrable?  
I've got both his green and blue books, and he does a good job of keeping it simple while still including some great strategy. |
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