Books

limmy01

Bought a couple of books to read whilst i'm in the office and to try and brush up on my poker .

They are Harington on hold 'em and sit n go strategy by collin Moshman.

Has anyone read these and what did you think? So far i prefer the harrington one as it seams an easyier read. The collin moshman one was going over my head when he started to go on about  expected value . I really wanted to get on with that book as i thought it would help me on DYM's but i now think its a bit out of my league.....

Is there any other good books out there for beginners ?

cheers jamie

JockBMW

The Harrington Books are very good.  Some people think they are a little dated.  I tend to differ, they will give a you a great grounding in the game and will definitely help you improve

limmy01

In Response to Re: Books:

The Harrington Books are very good.  Some people think they are a little dated.  I tend to differ, they will give a you a great grounding in the game and will definitely help you improve
Posted by JockBMW

How much do i need to know EV, and ROI and even card odds as a beginner ?  They were going right over my head , could of been the fact that i was coming to the end of my night shift lol.... 

JockBMW

As a beginner I think you can look at more basic stuff.

The Rule of Two is a useful one 

Say for example you are holding AQ Both hearts,  Post flop there are 2 hearts on the board.  In order to calculate your chaces of hitting your flush you can use the rule of 2.

You calculat the number of outs , in this case 9 to hit your flush.  Then with the turn and river to come you multiply it by 4.4   so 9 x 4.4  =  39.6% change of hitting your flush,  if you miss it on the turn then it's x 2.2 to hit it on the River  19.8%

This is a quick mental sum you can do to calculate if you are getting the right odds to make a call

Dont forget when calculating your outs, hitting an Ace or  a Queen on the turn and river may help as well this adds another 6 outs to your 9.  Of course this depends on what your opponent is holding... now that's the tricky bit ;o) 

BorinLoner

EV is fundamental to the game, but as such you're almost certainly already familiar with it. It's just the term "Expected Value" that's getting you.

Basically, it means how much you can expect to win by making a particular decision (Usually a call) over time.
So if I made this call in this situation 1000 times, how wmuch would I expect to win/lose. That's Expected Value.

Return on Investment doesn't affect your play at the table. It's just how you assess how much you are winning/losing in an individual tournament/cash game or over the course of many tournaments or cash sessions. i.e. if you pay 100 tournaments for £1 each and afterwards you have £150, your ROI would be 50%. If you only have £80 your ROI would be -20%.

Card odds are something that you'll learn with experience. It's just something you pick up.

JockBMW

Are you comming along to DTD for the SPT Grand Final limmy?

limmy01

In Response to Re: Books:

Are you comming along to DTD for the SPT Grand Final limmy?
Posted by JockBMW

cheers guys for the help , you pair have helped more than the book managed to do .....

Yes will be there on the FRI and SAT and is still talking the other half into the SUN as well ( whats the odds on that lol )

JockBMW

In Response to Re: Books:

In Response to Re: Books : cheers guys for the help , you pair have helped more than the book managed to do ..... Yes will be there on the FRI and SAT and is still talking the other half into the SUN as well ( whats the odds on that lol )
Posted by limmy01

Hey Mate it is my Anniversary that wekend. If i can get to go for the whole weekend,  it should be a doddle for you to squeeze the extra day out of her ;o)

Look forward to meeting you there 

Spikelad

Jimmy are you going to play tourneys or cash or maybe both,a good tip i can give you is to just google whatever you are looking for.For instance just type in Pot Odds and you will get numerous articles to read,some people explain things in an easy to understand way(like JockBMW did in his post)unfortunately other people seem to make things so hard to understand.

I have read quite a few books so let me know what you are concentrating on and i will happy to help.

Fabraclass

In Response to Books:

Bought a couple of books to read whilst i'm in the office and to try and brush up on my poker . They are Harington on hold 'em and sit n go strategy by collin Moshman. Has anyone read these and what did you think? So far i prefer the harrington one as it seams an easyier read. The collin moshman one was going over my head when he started to go on about  expected value . I really wanted to get on with that book as i thought it would help me on DYM's but i now think its a bit out of my league..... Is there any other good books out there for beginners ? cheers jamie
Posted by limmy01

I wouldn't recommend books. Their are far more effective and efficient ways of learning. Training videos are very good, cheap and value for money. Their is good advise available on the sky poker channel aswell.Particularly from Stu and Ryan. Internet grinders willl generally be better sources of advise, then old school players  The best way to learn, is to find top players and try and gather as much information from them as possible, for as cheap as possible, take notes so you are less likely to forget, and will be more active in the learning process.  You will generally find some top players giving advise on training videos.

Once you have gathered enough information it may be time to risk a few pound on the very lowest stakes. Always try and play players you are significantly better then.If you become one of the minority who makes money from the game, give yourself a large pat on the back.Analysing your play regularly is very important Don't pay too much attention to short term wins or losses The most important thing is to enjoy playing.