Which Book to read

First, this is my first post and I would like to thank the Administrators and every regular poster for the amount of help I've gotten from this site. This site is probably the biggest influence in my transformation from fish to average poker player.

Now that I got the brown nosing out of the way. I just purchased Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players and The Theory of Poker. Which book should I read first? I play .10/.20 NL and .25/.50 NL ring games online if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

Return Holdem for advanced players and buy Small stakes holdem instead.

Then read theory of poker

Originally Posted by Humphrind

Return Holdem for advanced players and buy Small stakes holdem instead.

Then read theory of poker

Do you seriously think SSHE has any useful information for NL? Or are you telling him he should play limit instead of NL?

For No Limit, I really like "Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker" by Stewart Reuben and Bob Ciaffone. I learn a little bit more from it each time I read it. It covers how position and stack sizes are much more important in NL than limit.

i read The Complete Book of Hold 'Em Poker by Gary Carson....i dunno if anyone else would recommend it... but i did learn a little

Originally Posted by Zangief

Do you seriously think SSHE has any useful information for NL?

No more or less than holdem for advanced players.

TOP is awesome!

Yes, SSH is specifically for limit hold'em, but I would suggest it's still a very good read for an over-all poker 'edjamacation'.

I haven't read it yet, but I've heard that 'harrington on hold'em' is a very good NL book.

Also, you should read Doyle Brunson's NL section in SSI or SS2.

I've also heard good things about Sklansky's NL Tourny book, but I can't offer a direct opinion on it yet.

Originally Posted by Humphrind

Originally Posted by Zangief

Do you seriously think SSHE has any useful information for NL?

No more or less than holdem for advanced players.

Yes, good point.

After reading and re-reading SSH about 3 or 4 times, I moved on to HEFAP, and I have to say that its a pretty damn good book ......

But, you have to understand that its geared towards bigger games, and of course if definitely focused on limit.

The 21st century edition of HEFAP has some good advice on lower limit loose games, but overall it doesn't give you what you need in games where 5-6+ players (with 2-3+ calling stations) are seeing every flop. That's what SSH is for! e.g. ever notice how little SSH talks about bluffing, and semi-bluffing, but HEFAP has whole chapters on these topics.

When you're just starting to read up on poker, I think you should pick up TOP and one or two specific books geared towards the specific game(s) you play in (stakes, LHE vs. NL, cash or tourny), then read, play, read, play, read, play, and repeat. That's why on FTR, when first starting out, you'll usually get the advice to "get TOP, and one book geared towards the game you play".

When you are ready to expand your knowledge and horizons you gotta start to think 'all around poker education and knowledge, and knowing what concepts to apply where and when, and how'.

Here's another tip: go play at a B&M if you have the chance .... You'd be amazed and how much 'secret' sharing, and strategy talk you'll hear at the tables. There's an amazing amount of useful info you can pick up on if you are REALLY good and filtering out the complete crap you hear along with all the gems. The trick is to pick out the helpful, solid, successful players, and strike up friendships/acquaintences with them, and/or, just listen & learn, and watch them play. Above all, never stop learning.

I started off reading SSH and playing NL. If you can grasp the concepts, a lot of them transfer over pretty well.

Harrington on Hold'em is a great book for NL tournaments.

Harrington on Hold em has helped me quite a bit in my poker skills.

I started playing in late january, and after reading this book (last week) I see a whole side to poker that I never saw before. In addition, it is written beautifully. A very easy read and I think you can expand onto other books from it since he mentions other 2+2 books in there and some concepts.

Thanks guys, I knew I could count on this forum for some direction.

I going to purchase SSH and read it first. I'll hold off on HPFAP and TOP untill reading SSH.

Read SS or SS2
Read SS or SS2
Read SS or SS2

Cloutier's book is basic but good for tight play.

Harrington's is really good too, maybe a little advanced for you but has great stuff.

Just bought HPFAP and TOP, HPFAP is interesting so far, even with the limit focus I think it'll be useful in the long term.