June 13, 2015
Hey guys,
going on a 14 days cruise in 2 weeks. As I have no internet there and some time to read I plan to read at least 3 poker books.
I am searching for MTT poker strategy books.
I’m not a complete beginner, looking for new input. I already have Daniel Negreanu’s Poker Power Holdem Strategy.
Do you have any recommendations for me?
Thank you guys,
Matthias
February 5, 2015
Howdy! Well good for you…off on a cruise there. Good suggestion there by joel…, downloading the vids and watching them. You can do that with TPE podcasts too… I am always listening to those guys in my truck…in fact I have run out of podcasts to listen to…(I am now going through Andrew Brokos's Thinking Poker podcasts). The podcasts give a real good feel as to how the pros think about hands step by step. They have certainly changed how I play – I am sure I am attempting a hugely amateur version of their style of analysis, but nevertheless I am doing things I never did before like considering how many streets of value I am looking at getting and analyzing ranges (villain and hero) at every step…considering these things are FREE it is a pure crime not to use them. Maybe you already do…
Books you say… I still use books both paper and e-books for when I get stuck unloading my wagon somewhere. So I have read quite a few tourney poker books. For more advanced strategy… at the moment I am reading Kill Everyone. Well I totally rate this book. My coach who is well respected in the world of SNG's also rates it highly. The only reason I hesitate to reccommend it 100% is that I can imagine you trying to relax on the deck of your cruise ship totally pulling your hair out and cursing me for promoting the thing as you try to grapple with equilibrium vs exploitative button shoving ranges with a bubble factor of 1.7 and CSI of 6. If math is your thing then its a no brainer…but for sure it is no bedtime light reading. I have not yet read the Raiser's Edge…but I know it is in a similar vein being part of the same series. For sure I have to be in a happy and positive mood when I pick up Kill Everyone…4 months in I have only read 42%.
One I will suggest that is far more enjoyable but which can be very instructive is Jonathan Little's Secrets Of Professional Tournament Poker vol 3… The Workbook. Much like the third Harrington book, this is a Q&A where you score points for the correct answer. This one you can take to bed with a cup of cocoa. I also reccommend the 1st book in this series, although it is not well edited for content imo. the 2nd book got pretty poor critical reception as far as I can tell… I have not read it mind you.
I'd give Sklansky a miss…I know he is credited with being a Godfather of the game and has come up with well respected theories, but I found the Theory Of Poker to be a real slog…I might spend 3 hours trying to comprehend a paragraph, only for the point he was trying to make to emerge as pretty pedestrian. And stay the heck away from Killer Poker By The Numbers… unless you want a brain hemorrhage. I forget the exact page, but its something like page 16 I cannot get past after 3 years of intermittent attempts. For heads up poker Will Tipton has written Expert HUNLHE, and it is awesome…although again it helps if you have a maths degree. Nevertheless an awesome read…not yet read part two.
Hope you have an awesome time! Peace
February 5, 2015
August 28, 2014
I would also recommend Jonathan Little’s ‘Excelling at No-Limit Hold’Em’.
Just the chapter by Alex Fitzgerald alone would have been totally worth it IMO.
There are lots of great chapters for MTTs – strategies and techniques and moreover, you can also get some bonuses, like the additional chapter by Byron Jacobs on short-stacked Heads-Up play as well as some forthcoming webinars from the authors (some free, some not) and an MTT cheat-sheet.
December 18, 2015
I recently read Kill Phil, Kill Everyone, and Raiser’s Edge this year. I do agree they are excellent reads for beginners and experienced alike. Everyone here has listed some great classics as well. Some books I’ve read for tournament specific are as follows:
Doyle Brunson’s Super System I, Super System II, and Daniel Negreanu’s Power Hold Em Strategy,
Dan Harrington on Hold’Em series Volume I, II, III
Harrington on Modern Tournament Poker
Championship No Limit Hold’Em & Pot Limit Hold’Em by Cloutier
Poker Tournament Formula I and II by Arnold Snyder
December 18, 2015
I love the older books personally. It gives a great historical view of how some things still are or once were. The fundamentals are still there as I think they give a good overall foundation as a springboard into today. For those reasons, it’s timeless. As far as Harrington’s older tournament books, back then, things were tighter, bet sizing was larger, get it with the best of it, get out when you don’t methodology. But the shift is when players are playing more pots, smaller sized raises, 3-betting and/or 4 betting light more of a thing. Calculating the odds of hitting the next card and being able to get in cheaper to last longer, more ability to trap and represent hands. Creating more of a balance/equilibrium strategy overall I think. 6x today may be polarizing of a big hand, or nothing at all. Am I anywhere close, or way off on this? lol
TPE Pro
August 25, 2012
mykhalzyruskane said
I love the older books personally. It gives a great historical view of how some things still are or once were. The fundamentals are still there as I think they give a good overall foundation as a springboard into today. For those reasons, it’s timeless. As far as Harrington’s older tournament books, back then, things were tighter, bet sizing was larger, get it with the best of it, get out when you don’t methodology. But the shift is when players are playing more pots, smaller sized raises, 3-betting and/or 4 betting light more of a thing. Calculating the odds of hitting the next card and being able to get in cheaper to last longer, more ability to trap and represent hands. Creating more of a balance/equilibrium strategy overall I think. 6x today may be polarizing of a big hand, or nothing at all. Am I anywhere close, or way off on this? lol
You’re right that understanding how poker has evolved over time can be very useful for playing against different types of players (particularly live), but the ideas you mention are fundamental to the point where they don’t necessarily represent a change in the style of poker being played, but an improvement in the quality. People like to say, “modern players tend to 3-bet more and be more aggressive” as if it’s a choice to just play differently, but the reason they all do it is because in many instances it’s just the mathematically provable correct play, and these days we can actually prove that.
The problem with older poker books is that they simply don’t include sections dealing with more advanced, modern aspects of poker theory like GTO play, balance, ICM, the mental game, game selection, and other factors. It’s very good to read from different sources, but if you don’t put the older material in context, then all you end up doing is learning to beat games that haven’t been available in 20 years.
December 18, 2015
And you’re definitely right. A lot of the things I see people today aren’t in the older books and things keep evolving compared from books even just a year or few years old. I am definitely look at these older books in context much like older trading methodologies as it helps to see where things came from and how things evolved to where it is today. More reason why I looked towards online training sites such as TPE to gain that modern knowledge of improved quality. :-).
Thank you much for your response theginger45!
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