Poker Book

C

car

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Hi,
Im looking for a book on texas hold'em Poker for a friend for xmas.
Ive seen quite a few on amazon and play.com. Brunsons super system or super system II, seem to be ones a lot of people go for. Any more I should consider?
 
Phil Hellmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros is also very good. Has various chapters on strategies for Beginners, Intermediate and advanced players as well as rules and strategies for other variants of poker.
 
thanks, I was just reading its review on amazon when I rechecked this post, I was tied between 3-4 books, with that being one, to go for. Play.com deliver it free so may go for it.. I was looking at that one and http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416903674/qid=1134057070/ref=br_lf_b_3/002-5819351-1613620?n=4414&s=books&v=glance (this) one on amazon, but play dont have the little green book. :(
 
My hubbie swears by The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky. We got that and Brunson's two on Amazon. Hope this helps.
 
If your going down the Brunsons super system root get
Brunsons super system but not super system 2 ( 2 is more applicable to tournament play)

Theory of Poker by David Sklansky:
Was a ground braking book in its day but there are easier books to follow that are out.

If you really like your maths get "Weighing the Odds in Hold’em Poker"
by King Yao especially if you want to master limit holdem

Personally I'd recommend "Harrington on Hold 'em" vol 1 for anyone playing poker for 1 year or less.Gives a clear idea of all the basics.

One word of warning I'd say to anyone getting involved in online play
Don't play paddypowerpoker ... I've seen and heard alot of evidence that its rigged.
 
car said:
Hi,
Im looking for a book on texas hold'em Poker for a friend for xmas.
Ive seen quite a few on amazon and play.com. Brunsons super system or super system II, seem to be ones a lot of people go for. Any more I should consider?
Click to expand...

Have you tried asking the folks over at the boards.ie [broken link removed]? They have a list of books in their Poker Guide.
 
BillyNoMates said:
One word of warning I'd say to anyone getting involved in online play
Don't play paddypowerpoker ... I've seen and heard alot of evidence that its rigged.
Click to expand...

Looks like you should go [broken link removed]. Do you have any real evidence other than hearsay that a particular online poker network is rigged?
 
Thanks for the links greenman. the boards forum was exactly what I needed.

On the subject of PPs site. I play a small bit in no serious manner, would be a complete amateur and not really interested in taking further. However, Ive played paddypower and have been what I now know as "fishing", I won, and had several posts saying how they hated how "this damn site is rigged" and how it "rewards fishes" so there does seem to be a feeling out there that paddys isnt all it should be. I won (small amounts mind you) so it doesnt bother me. :)
 
TheGreenMan said:
Looks like you should go [broken link removed]. Do you have any real evidence other than hearsay that a particular online poker network is rigged?
Click to expand...

I play quite alot of poker ~20hours a week. I'm a winning player at $1-$2 no limit. I've played on about 20 different sites over the last 3 years.

I completely accept bad beats as being part of the game in fact poor players making bad choices is what keeps any winning player in profit.

however I experenced alot more on PaddyP than elsewhere.

A while back I done some trawling of web forums etc and found alot of anecdotal evidence that the "Victor Chandler" site has a lot more bad beats proportionatly than most. I'll dig up some links when I get time.
PaddyPower is basically "Victor Chandler" (all running Tribeca software) for every player pp brings to the site they get a % of their rake generated.

It's bascially rigged so poor players don't get disillusioned.
Also the number of collisions on ppp is higher than expected (not due to looseness of play either)

A collision is basically where 2 or more players drive up the pot because they both have good hands.

A friend of mine plays at the $10-$20 limit and while its harder to say(less hands go to a showdown) he's convinced it is completely fair at this level but not the lower levels (where more poor players hang out).

In my time on ppp I have seen some crazy runs of cards and some crazy bad beats. I thought it was just you notice these things more but over time I said enough is enough. I gave up playing there (while it was still profitable) when I saw players winning alot in fishy circumstances.
 
So what sites are commonly thought to be "rigfree"? Although me being an amateur I should probably stay at ppp and vcp. I understand the reasoning behind it, ie, when the river is turned it favors the poorer hand which should never have been called at all and therefore, as you say, the poorer player doesnt get disillusioned. This has happened me twice when Ive won, and the losing players on ppp were genuinely upset saying that it doesnt happen on other sites. I now know what they were on about.
Ive since found out a bit more about poker about when to call and when not to, I doubt Id get away with such loose play at the higher levels, or indeed at ppp if I continued so. Im not really that interested in it but I know someone else who is and so was looking for the book for them as an xmas pressie but will let him know your comments.
thanks for info billy,
 
As to what sites are rigged and which aren't I can only say pp,vc and william hill are bad after that it's less clear. I'd recommend finding a site that limits the number tables a person can play on at one time.
really good players like to play 3-6 tables at a time. if sharks are on multiple tables then they're harder to avoid.


BTW my friend metioned earlier knows someone at the very highest levels in paddy power. That indivdual was unaware of anything underhanded going on. It mightn't be paddyP's fault at all.
 
Folks, this thread has been beem brought to the Boards.ie Poker Constabulary .... be prepared for introduction to Poker Education and Jargon

lol ;)


Car .... Is your friend a beginner?

Harrington on Hold Em would definitely be recommended.
 
Well, he (the brother) is able to play alright, but is probably at the same level as me which in poker terms is a novice in terms of strategy/systems. We were playing in the house a couple of weeks ago and he said he would like to start taking it a bit more serious so I thought theres one xmas pressie sorted anyway. I was looking at the harrington book and it got good reviews and must admit it'd be the one Id get for myself, but was getting several orders off of play.com at the weekend and as they dont have the harrington book, I ordered "play pokers like the pros" by Phil Hellmuth which itself got good reviews.
 
If you are in Dublin, Hodges Fidges will probably have Harrington, there is one of the 'poker community' players that works there, and always has a good stock of books there.

Amazon have it as well, though it could be tight for Christmas?

The Helmuth book was my first book as well, and it's a good basic book to start with. Slansky and Brunson are also recommended, but probably for more advanced play, more mathematics involved etc...

You've made a good choice for Starter player with Helmuth, Harrington should be a natural progression for brother after 2 or 3 months of proper poker play.

Join us over at boards.ie Poker forum .... and become a saddo like the rest of us.
 
Don't buy 'em Sklansky's Theory of Poker. Even for a poker fanatic it a very dry read. It may have been a revelation back in the 70s or 80s and probably deserves its reputation as a classic but it's poorly written in my opinion and despite the "fundament theorem of poker", the concepts it concentrates on aren't all that generally useful. It certainly won't do much for your tournament play or for the "gamble gamble!" type low-limit cash games.

One book I'd recommend which hasn't been mentioned is Caro's Book of Tells.
 
BillyNoMates said:
PaddyPower is basically "Victor Chandler" (all running Tribeca software) for every player pp brings to the site they get a % of their rake generated.
Click to expand...
The only connection paddypowerpoker has to VC is that we are both on the same network (Tribeca). This means that players play on common tables but the connection ends there. PPP does not get a % of VC's rake.

BillyNoMates said:
It's bascially rigged so poor players don't get disillusioned.
Click to expand...
Thanks Hectorjelly for the link.
There is a very very very long list of threads on this subject on the boards.ie poker forum. It is in no online poker company's interest to rig online poker. Poor players are helped with education and nothing else. The smallest suggestion of rigging would damage our business irreparably.
PPP makes its money by people playing poker. We don't benefit from a good or poor player winning. It is obviously preferable that players do not go broke but I can assure you that cards are dealt entirely at random using a certified, audited RNG. As much detail as you can ever need is available on our site.

BillyNoMates said:
Also the number of collisions on ppp is higher than expected (not due to looseness of play either)
Click to expand...
We go to extreme lengths to prevent collusion on our site. (i obviously cannot discuss methods) If you search on boards for details of the EPT satellite disqualification it will demonstrate our stance on the subject most clearly. We set a new precedent in the industry with this decision.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I think it is quite inappropriate to make direct accusations about PPP on a public forum, basing your conclusions on nothing but hearsay. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have but ask politely that if you have any accusations to make as to the fairness or quality of our products, you ask me directly.

Thanks a lot and best of luck everybody,

Karl H, Poker Ops Exec.

khutson@paddypower.com
 
As Karl explained above, Paddy Power Poker is simply not rigged. It would not be in their interests to do this whatsoever, and if this was the case and they were found out it would completely destroy the company. It's simply not possible.

Regarding poker strategy books, Doyle Brunson's super system and Harrington's two volumes on tournament poker are the best strategy books out there, and are both available from Hodgis Figgis. If you're interested in an excellent read that doesn't have much to do with strategy get 'One of A Kind- The Stu Ungar Story' (also called 'The Man Behind the Shades') by Nolan Dalla. It's an unbelievable read.
 
Welcome to the boards poker crew to aam.
I agree totally with hj,karl etc that there is no way that the sites arre fixed quiote frankly it would cost them far too much money if they were caught also remember VC/PP ect are companies far bigger than their poker subdivisions.
 
God, what I have I opened here. Karl, many thanks for coming on and giving the update, much appreciated. I dont doubt the integrity of the site despite comments being posted here and on the ppp site whilst playing (see my earlier post). I accept its probably losing players that are those who question integrity the most. Although I did lose 20e a couple of weeks ago to a dodgy hand from someone else, I think as a gesture of goodwill about half back would be right and would cement my continued support to ppp. :D

Can we leave any further discussion about ppp to the boards.ie site please? Unless someone want to open a separate thread about the validity of any poker site for another thread, which can then be reviewed by mods if it gets out of hand. thanks.

will look 'One of A Kind- The Stu Ungar Story' up, thanks daithi.
 
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