I have heard some good things about that book but have yet to read it. Here is a small break down of the books I have an what they offer.

Full Tilt Tournament Edition: By far the most valuable poker book I have ever read. I think all poker players, online and brick n mortar should read this book. Has statistical information for n/l that you will not find in other books. Also has many pro's who give their "style" of play, including actual situations at the table with a Q&A of "what would you do" type of learning. As well as what actually happened and what the correct play would have been. Also has a wonderful and informative section on 7 card stud as well as Omaha (but also covers the full spectrum of games from Razz to triple draw) Seriously, if you even consider for a second on buying a book, buy this one first. http://www.amazon.com/Full-Tilt-Poker-Strategy-Guide/dp/0446698601

Read em and Reap: If you play ANY live games, and want to get better at reading people then this is the book for you. Yes it may have Phil's mug all over it and filled with his condescending remarks but the information inside from the FBI guy is invaluable IMO. I made twice my money back from what I paid for this book in the first hour of play at the casino, it really was eye opening for me. http://www.amazon.com/Phil-Hellmuth-Presents-Read-Reap/dp/0061198595/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303257591&sr=1-1

Gus Hansen "Every hand revealed": This book nearly destroyed my game. It is a fabulous book if you want to get a glimpse into the mind of a pro and how they think and tackle each play. Gus actually took a recorder to the Australian Million and recorded each play he made, then wrote a book about the whole thing (he won the tourney for a cool mil) Awesome book but just head my warning YOU ARE NOT GUS HANSEN!! After reading his LAG style of play and then implementing portions of that into my own play it nearly wrecked my game. Although I have found my own style which takes some from him, but its all game theory at the end. Good buck, fun read, won't help you much though unless you are a math stat maniac. http://www.amazon.com/Every-Hand-Revealed-Gus-Hansen/dp/0818407271/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303257591&sr=1-3

Poker odds and Probabilites: This is the bible of statistics. Do you want to know how well your 78o will do against AKs preflop, flop, turn and river? Then this is the book for you. Super math/stat people will love it. It was a little to much math for me, but is a good book to have around when I want to know a specific answer. It also has a workbook in the back that will teach you positive EV poker. If you are serious about becoming a pro, this will help guide you in that direction. http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Holdem-Odds-Probabilities-Tournament/dp/0974150223/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303258209&sr=1-4

I have also listened to quite a few audio books. Like "Little Green Book" by Phil Gordon. "Ace on the river" by Barry Greenstein. "Play poker like the pros" by Phil Helmuth.

And of course, if you have been living under a rock. Super System by Doyle Brunson is still considered the bible by professional poker players. It is old and pretty outdated but most of the fundamental stuff still works today.

The tough thing about poker books is once they are released everyone knows all the ins and outs. Which is why poker constantly evolves, it is an ever changing game and although it has strict rules, it will never be played the same way twice. An old poker adage: "Their are more scenarios in poker then stars in the sky" or "Poker takes a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master" come to mind. Good luck on your poker readings :)

A lot of people are suggesting low stakes online, which is fine. I play live more often, and I'd suggest spending a few hundred dollars on books and training materials. I have used a number of training materials, but I like the following the best:

Website:

crushlivepoker.com is well worth the $40/month. It has articles, videos, and podcasts. Start with the "Fast Track Poker" videos.

Books:

The Course: Serious Hold 'Em Strategy for Smart Players - Ed Miller. This is a great overview of the immediate things that will benefit you playing live poker. I kind of wish that I had read it earlier on in starting to play at the casino, as a lot of the things he describes in the book take a while to learn through experience. It is technical enough, but mostly introduces global concepts.

https://www.amazon.com/Course-Serious-Strategy-Smart-Players/dp/1511768320

The Mental Game of Poker - Jared Tendler. This is an incredibly helpful book for the mentality with which you approach the game. If you play golf at all, he is basically the Bob Rotella of poker.

As for other suggestions, I'd just say stay positive, keep a hand history (write down the hands in your phone, for example), try to absorb as much as you can through a variety of materials, and try to trust yourself.

Really, the more work and experience you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. $2,000 isn't an incredible amount if you consider this the beginning of a long, rewarding investment. I do not know what the average for people is---I believe that it varies a lot.

Good luck!

That is actually really impressive!! It's real rare to find someone who can answer that question properly. I take back any doubts I had about your ability.

I do understand your point about the math, to master this game you do need to master the math, but, all I was doing is offering an alternative. You have to understand that everything you wrote in that original message is real difficult for the average person to get their head around. It's painful for even me to read and I honestly have made around 200k from Poker with far more simplified math. I could drum up some old graphs, but it's probably easier to check out the book I just released.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Levels-Learn-Players-Think-Through/dp/1527211711

That book only covers the fundamentals but I did crack some new stuff in there. Real important new stuff which could well translate over to the trading game... As a peace offering I'd be happy to send you a free PDF and even happier if you would send me some feedback/write a review/tell your friends about it or something like that. (I'm struggling to make book sales for a reason that will become evident if you do read it.)

Not giving you a lecture on the fundamentals of the game, but a big part of playing NLHE is range estimation. Whether the opponent is an unknown or not, you need to assign him a range based on how the hand played out. He limped preflop (doesn't mean much at this stake in live poker), and raised on that flop. We can assign a pretty standard range- which I did, and make a decision based on that.

If you like playing it safe that's fine, I just think you lose a lot of value by folding here.

There's a book called Let There Be Range! by Cole South and Tri Nguyen, both highly skilled high stakes players, that talk about the concepts of assigning ranges to all opponents, known or unknown. I suggest giving it a read if you can, it may help your game when it comes to range estimation and equity calculations for spots like this.

Pep talk: Better luck next time, fish. Dogecoin is cheap now. Head over to /r/dogecoinbeg if selling plasma doesn't pan out for you.

Resources: Best Book on Poker Ever Written (at first blush it may seem to be about hold'them but just double whatever he says and you got PLO strat ldo)

This is probably the best place for you to tell your story and get real help on shedding your degen past. I honestly just see trolls replying to this /r/poker thread, which won't help you much.

Thanks for the doge,

Looked Eighteen to Me

You need to change your mentality and your view of poker. You can't play with scared money. Read some good poker books to hone your strategy.

• Easy Game
  
• Application Of No Limit Poker
  
• The Mental Game of Poker
  
• Every Hand Revealed
  
  Those are a good start. Lose the fear. You can't just play the cards, you need to read your opponents and play poker. One thing I do at home is deal out 9 poker hands face up and see how I would play each one and deal out all the streets see how you would play each hand. What if you played one hand differently? What if you raised or re-raised a particular hand? How would that affect the other hands? That helped me out a lot.

Choose flatting his 3-bets if he's going crazy with them over 4-betting him back when in position. Position is the best tool you have in heads up, so use it. If he's c-betting 100% of his 3-bets, then try to flat with hands that make a good top pair hand, KQ, KJ, K-10 suited.. Just fold those Ace-rag offsuit hands. Flatting and playing post flop rather than 4-betting light is the lower variance play, and more useful when you think you have an edge on your opponent since you don't need to get into spots where you're gambling big when you're in position and have a solid read on his style.

Also, i STRONGLY recommend reading this book. It has done wonders for my heads up game, and overall understanding of poker. http://www.amazon.com/Heads-Up-No-Limit-Hold-Collin-Moshman/dp/1880685442

I would consider both to be outdated, interesting reads to learn how people used to think about poker but not a priority.

If your friend is nerdy enough (not scared by multiplication and the word percentage) https://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Hold-em-Advanced-Players/dp/1880685590/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550768137&sr=1-2&keywords=janda#reader_B071W92Y8Q this is probably what I'd buy him, it's leagues above most books. Don't be fooled by the 80s style cover, Janda's material is based on game theory which is the "modern" way of thinking about poker. The reason it got a 4 instead of a 4.5 is probably because math allergic people won't be able to read it

If not https://www.amazon.com/Exploitative-Play-Live-Poker-Manipulate-ebook/dp/B07KPKNGM6/ref=pd_sim_351_4/135-8225113-7074201?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07KPKNGM6&pd_rd_r=e26db4d5-35f9-11e9-8361-31a05a5f3960&pd_rd_w=TudBf&pd_rd_wg=QzYrh&pf_rd_p=90485860-83e9-4fd9-b838-b28a9b7fda30&pf_rd_r=64DN7ZTD95NBH4719356&psc=1&refRID=64DN7ZTD95NBH4719356#reader_B07KPKNGM6 this one seems good based on the table of contents and sample.

The second one is a safer bet for sure btw, you need to be really into poker and have studied basic stuff to enjoy the first one

I'll help you out, what you're explaining here is the wrong way to look at a cash game. Start with a book.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419974039&sr=1-5&keywords=ed+miller

Once you have the vocabulary down, you can start to rely on Google to go out and research situations yourself (usually on the 2+2 forums) or post your hands here using the proper terminology and listing all the proper context needed (stack size of opponents, your position, their style of play so far established, the actions of other players before you, the size of the pot so far, etc. etc.) However, without that vocabulary and knowledge of what you should have been considering it's very difficult to do this. Don't look at the other players at 1/3 as inspiration. They would likely move up if they were great players.

Poker is a complex game with literally billions of possible situations that you need decide correctly a good majority of the time to become a winning player. The reason people are questioning if you are trolling or not is that the question of "is there a better way to play" and "what may I be missing" is like telling a lifetime speaker of Japanese that you've watched a couple of anime movies and just wondering if you're missing anything else. While your intentions may be sincere you're up against a legitimate lifetime of possible learning about this game. The beginning player comes in wanting to learn "how to win at poker" but an actual student of this game realizes that's the wrong path, you need to learn how to think about poker before you'll ever learn to win any money at it.

This looks good for a first book: Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play.

This one is very basic and an easy read... Phil Gordon's Little Green Book

Try to get a book written the last 10 years, if not 4-5 years :p

This is the book I am reading right now that made me post this thread:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQM4XAQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Some of it is flying over my head, some of it I'm understanding at least on a conceptual level. I assume it's like mathematics of poker based on your example of it.

How important do you think having that type of gameplan is to being a good player? That requires quite a lot of pre-planning to map out your range like that.

Hand ranges. You aren't understanding the book then if you are thinking about ranges. Just read the book, and try to apply what you have learned. Also, jumping around in that book helped me out a lot. I would then go play and reflect on what I read.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Let-There-Be-Range-Crushing/dp/0982402252

​

Heres one of them and I can't seem to find another very useful one I had a while back.

I mean it matters what your looking for?


This is probably a great book if your really worried about drilling down math at the table.

https://www.amazon.com/Poker-Workbook-Math-Geeks-Doug/dp/1512133124/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8


This is a good book if you want a math based conceptual understanding of GTO poker and how they affect how you should play.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Hold-em-Advanced-Players/dp/1880685590

you're kind of asking how to play poker, which is a tough question to answer.

I would recommend reading a book on it. Small Stakes No-Limit Holdem by Ed Miller (and others) is a great place to start.

ya husng.com is the best one, but i dont know if its necessarily worth it for the fundamentals you need at the stakes you are at. I'd recommend youtubing some videos, reading and posting hands on the heads up sng forum on twoplustwo and maybe reading colin moshman's book:

1 : play a ton of hands online.

2 : training video sites, although these generally aren't the best approach

3 : books. this is a good one

4 : forums

5 : think about the game

6 : free video content on utube

7 : i have been a plo specialist for 7 years and offer affordable coaching

this book is pretty good

Analytical No-Limit Hold ’em; Crushing Mid-Stakes Short-Handed Games
http://www.twoplustwostore.com/twoplustwo/IP.php?type=Category&ID=11&productID=463

Professional No Limit Hold'em Volume 1 Sunny Mehta, Ed Miller
http://www.twoplustwostore.com/twoplustwo/IP.php?type=Category&ID=11&productID=151

Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em (this is probably the best for you)
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491

Don't bother with let there be range, most consider it an extremely overpriced/unorganized book.

Ed Miller's is fantastic
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UBCEXM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My favorite one is Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and his sequel, Little Blue Book.

This book by Ed Miller discusses how to play at different stakes, and what skills you need for each of them:
He gives a list of ten skills and shows where and how they matter for each stake.

https://www.amazon.com/Course-Serious-Strategy-Smart-Players/dp/1511768320

You can order it from most book stores. Amazon has it in stock. Here's a link...

https://www.amazon.com/Levels-Learn-Players-Think-Through/dp/1527211711/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543346638&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+levels+yadi+javadi&dpPl=1&dpID=41XqMTXUNSL&ref=plSrch

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-There-Range-Cole-South/dp/0982402252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344242802&sr=8-1

not sure its worth it... ;)

http://www.amazon.com/Let-There-Be-Range-Crushing/dp/0982402252/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342478708&sr=1-1&keywords=let+there+be+range This is an expensive book.

You should read this instead imo.

www.amazon.com/Phil-Gordons-Little-Green-Book/dp/1416903674

Read SS NLHE by Ed Miller, helped my game tremendously

This one. Some Redditor was trying to pitch it a few days ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Phil-Gordons-Little-Green-Book/dp/1416903674 might prove a useful first step to getting your head screwed on right.

if you want a good read on the subject, try this book. You're a sucker if you pay for it though.

Books can only become outdated if you assume that your opponents are reading the same books, understanding what is taught, believe that you are following the same strategy, and can adjust to beat that strategy. That is of course bullshit at all levels.

My recommendation is http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491