Hello everyone, hope all is well this weekend for anyone reading up on my blog.
Today I thought I'd talk about some poker books as I mentioned them in my last blog. I've become quite the reader of books that don't pertain to academics in the last few months. Good and bad come from this, I'm at least reading for once, but it's not the books that I should probably be reading. However, from all this reading I've come across a wealth of knowledge that may still pertain later on in life, especially if this poker thing blows up for me (I'm an optimist, if I wasn't I wouldn't be playing poker). I'd like to share at least my thoughts on several books I've read thus far.
Currently reading: Take me to the River by Peter Alson
Take me to the River has turned out to be a pleasurable read so far (I'm about half way through it) as it tells the story of a man who is bound to get married very soon but has decided to go to the 2005 WSOP event before the marriage is to held. With a 15 thousand bankroll and a few friends, he tells his story from the eyes of a semi-professional poker player who has observed the game of poker evolve from it's underground roots to it's gold laced present. The story is enough to keep any level of poker player interested, and the more savvy of us can pick out a few very good tips, ideas and strategies from the text as well.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is actually interested in my blog.
Books I've read: One of a Kind
Again by the same author in junction with another author tells the story of one of poker's greatest players. The story is about the original "Kid Poker", Stuey Ungar. A card playing savant who had a craving for any action, whether at the poker table or at the bookies. The man had turned a self-destructive personality into a winning poker player, but not before his personality got the best of him and he ended up dyeing of a heart attack from his years of drug abuse. A great story for anyone, poker player or not, with many life tips mixed along with a few poker tips.
Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read stories about weird but strangely interesting characters.
The Philosophy of Poker
A great mix of philosophy and poker with more of an emphasis on poker that anything else. It's a book written by mostly card playing college professors and the like. It's a book that Aristotle, Einstein, and Karl Marx would write if they were card playing aficionados. Great book for reaching down into the nitty gritty details of poker away from the statistics and basic strategies. The book delves into psychology, sociology, and intangibles of poker.
Highly recommend it to any poker player out there.
Great books on the strategy of poker:
Dan Harrington on Hold Em Volumes 1 through 3.
Quite possibly the greatest books ever written on tournament No Limit Hold Em. Tells the secrets the pros never wanted anyone to know or never knew how to articulate into words. If you want to be a serious tournament player, then you must know these books inside and out.
Super/System 1 and 2
The bibles of poker. Should be in every poker player's library.
Theory of Poker
David Sklansky letting the whole world know exactly how the math in poker works. Again, if you are a serious poker player, this book should be read or at least all the concepts contained within should be known.
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As is suggested by the title of this blog entry I have something in store for the blog in the future.
First I am going to start something that may create more traffic and more interaction with the site. I am going to start something along the lines of "How would you play it?" and "Guess that hand." I will walk through a particular hand and a particular way of playing that hand, and will leave it up to the viewers of my site to not only guess the hand, but try and point out possible mistakes they see in the play. Should be fun, I'll give it a try within the next week, keep on the lookout for that.
Secondly, I'll be throwing up a blog on some other poker variations such as Omaha H/L and such. I'm admittedly not as much of an expert on other games as I am with NL Hold Em but I know enough that I can post a primer of sorts on them.
Thirdly, I may start occasionally letting everyone out there know exactly how my own poker career is faring. I'll post my current bankroll and any occurrences, and will probably be followed up by a snippet of knowledge I may have gained from playing with that bankroll.
That about wraps it up this Sunday afternoon, have a great week everyone and please keep checking on the site for updates.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Saturday, August 05, 2006
The The Lost Art of Reading: Opponents, Cards, and Books.
In personal blogger space, I have finally moved into my new apartment and slowly but surely making it feel more like home and a little less chaotic. I will be returning to poker within the next week I would imagine, schoolwork allowing.
******
The Lost Art of Reading. What do I mean? Well the poker amateur community has been so bombarded by books, television, and everything else poker, that we have strayed away from the basic strategies of poker.
An example. You can pick up any poker book, and probably watch an episode of Full Tilt's Learn From The Pros, and they will all have general strategies for any given hand. "You have this hand, you fold it in this position, and you play it like this after the flop...", etc. What happened to the old saying, "Play the players, not the cards."
So should you stop reading books on poker? Of course not, you can never suck up enough information, whether you consider it good or not. If it's good information, you follow it and expand on it. If it's bad information, you learn about it and adapt to it if you see it at the poker table.
Where people get caught up in is that they consider every poker book a bible of sorts and that there is no bad information on poker. I'm not going to convince you that any information I give here is good or not, it's up to you to decide. A good poker player, however, can discern between good and bad advice and can learn from both.
*******
The Art of Reading boards and opponents. Now I am not an expert, for that you should go talk to Daniel Negraneu or any other successful professional poker player. However, I can give you pointers and tips to becoming a successful reader.
Reading the board. Too often someone will look at a board and see if it hit them at all, and may forget that they have to analyze their opponent and see if it hit them as well. This is where you must start going through a list of hands that you have beat on this board and a list of hands that you are beat on this board. This mental list is important, and must be analyzed constantly.
Reading the opponent. You must first decide whether your opponent is loose, tight, passive or aggressive or you have insufficient information to apply a label to your opponent.
For example, you are playing some No-Limit Hold 'Em with someone at the table that you know is tight and passive. They suddenly come out of early position with a rare raise, now you not only know that he is a tight player but that he rarely raises any hand preflop. You must now place him on a hand like AA, KK, QQ or AK, as you would suspect him not to raise with anything else.
Another example, you are playing against a loose aggressive player, like a Gus Hansen. If he is playing aggressively, chances are you will have no clue as to what hand he may have in the hole because he does this with a wide range of hands.
Getting inside your opponents head. Not literally of course, no Hannibals running this site. This is the ultimate read, where you try and get inside his thought processes. You see the hand through his eyes, figure out what hand it would take for him to have such a betting process, for him to take his time with certain decisions and not with others, etc.
If you get into this mindset, and your reads are spot on, you are in "the zone." This happens from time to time, and probably more often for the pros. This is as good as it gets when it comes to reading your opponents.
******
Bringing it all together.
Read books, but more importantly read your opponents. You can read all the strategy in the world, but if you can play as though you know exactly the kind of hand your opponent is holding, you will play brilliant poker no matter what.
So next time you sit down at a poker table, do this mental checklist in your mind for every hand. Explain every action your opponents are making based on a list of possible hands they can be holding and what strategy they are bringing to the table.
If you get too shortsighted and begin to play like a robot programmed by the 10 poker books sitting in your bookshelf, then you will become no more than a mechanized fish for me to figure out and take all your money.
******
The Lost Art of Reading. What do I mean? Well the poker amateur community has been so bombarded by books, television, and everything else poker, that we have strayed away from the basic strategies of poker.
An example. You can pick up any poker book, and probably watch an episode of Full Tilt's Learn From The Pros, and they will all have general strategies for any given hand. "You have this hand, you fold it in this position, and you play it like this after the flop...", etc. What happened to the old saying, "Play the players, not the cards."
So should you stop reading books on poker? Of course not, you can never suck up enough information, whether you consider it good or not. If it's good information, you follow it and expand on it. If it's bad information, you learn about it and adapt to it if you see it at the poker table.
Where people get caught up in is that they consider every poker book a bible of sorts and that there is no bad information on poker. I'm not going to convince you that any information I give here is good or not, it's up to you to decide. A good poker player, however, can discern between good and bad advice and can learn from both.
*******
The Art of Reading boards and opponents. Now I am not an expert, for that you should go talk to Daniel Negraneu or any other successful professional poker player. However, I can give you pointers and tips to becoming a successful reader.
Reading the board. Too often someone will look at a board and see if it hit them at all, and may forget that they have to analyze their opponent and see if it hit them as well. This is where you must start going through a list of hands that you have beat on this board and a list of hands that you are beat on this board. This mental list is important, and must be analyzed constantly.
Reading the opponent. You must first decide whether your opponent is loose, tight, passive or aggressive or you have insufficient information to apply a label to your opponent.
For example, you are playing some No-Limit Hold 'Em with someone at the table that you know is tight and passive. They suddenly come out of early position with a rare raise, now you not only know that he is a tight player but that he rarely raises any hand preflop. You must now place him on a hand like AA, KK, QQ or AK, as you would suspect him not to raise with anything else.
Another example, you are playing against a loose aggressive player, like a Gus Hansen. If he is playing aggressively, chances are you will have no clue as to what hand he may have in the hole because he does this with a wide range of hands.
Getting inside your opponents head. Not literally of course, no Hannibals running this site. This is the ultimate read, where you try and get inside his thought processes. You see the hand through his eyes, figure out what hand it would take for him to have such a betting process, for him to take his time with certain decisions and not with others, etc.
If you get into this mindset, and your reads are spot on, you are in "the zone." This happens from time to time, and probably more often for the pros. This is as good as it gets when it comes to reading your opponents.
******
Bringing it all together.
Read books, but more importantly read your opponents. You can read all the strategy in the world, but if you can play as though you know exactly the kind of hand your opponent is holding, you will play brilliant poker no matter what.
So next time you sit down at a poker table, do this mental checklist in your mind for every hand. Explain every action your opponents are making based on a list of possible hands they can be holding and what strategy they are bringing to the table.
If you get too shortsighted and begin to play like a robot programmed by the 10 poker books sitting in your bookshelf, then you will become no more than a mechanized fish for me to figure out and take all your money.
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