Top 20 Poker Books – Part II

This is the second bart of our Top 20 Poker Books review. The following books are still very good and will provide you with tons of information regarding poker. Some even include playing strategies and tips.

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker by Stewart Reuben and Bob Ciaffone

This is one of the single best options on the market for “Big bet poker”, focusing on pot limit and no limit poker. It also covers significant concepts for lots of varying games, when the majority of books solely focus on Holdem. These well respected authors do a great job in explaining NL and PL cash games and tournaments. No serious student of the game should be without this one.

Winning Low limit Holdem by Lee Jones

The value of this book is easily recognized by the fact that it is well over a decade since its original release and is still one of the best first references in learning limit poker at a low limit level. The key concepts are explained extremely well and is a great start in improving your limit/fixed game. If you’re looking to beat the loose low limit games, this will certainly help you do it.

Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy by Barry Tanenbaum

This is a great title for all those who have experience winning in lower limit games and wish to step up to the mid and high limit games, where games often become a lot tougher. So much advice that most readers will have to go through it at least once to digest all the well presented information. Strongly recommended for aspiring players.

Limit Hold’em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies

This book keeps up with the times, offering advice for new emerging short handed games. Particularly important for newer poker rooms, which often comprise of weak short handed tables. The author discusses differences between live and online play, as well as short handed and full tables. The only danger in this book is the lack of strong foundation advocating their advice. Regardless of this, this is a good book to improve your short handed game.

Small Stakes Hold’em: Winning Big With Expert Play

Contains an in-depth analysis of principles a player needs to understand in order to play winning Holdem. Invaluable chapter against all those opponents who will do anything but fold. Contains one of the largest sections devoted to questions and answers, in order to learn by practice. Designed for intermediate players who want to focus on beating loose/passive games.

High-Low-Split Poker for Advanced Players by Ray Zee

For anyone serious about Hi-Low poker, this is one you just cannot be without! This book discusses all required concepts in great deal, along with examples. This is the single best reference on the subject and you would be at a huge disadvantage playing the field without it.

Sit’n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman

Moshman has filled a gap in the market here, covering one of the most popular tournaments online today, Sit & Go’s. This book delivers many new and exciting strategies, from a player who could be labeled as a maths geek, but plays as aggressively as Phil Ivey. Some of the more daring moves presented in this book are not encouraged below a $200 buy-in level. This is generally aimed at players with some experience in Sit and Go’s and wish to start moving up levels, in which more advanced play is required.

How to beat Sit&Go poker tournaments by Neil Timothy

This one covers the main concepts involved in such events and explains them well. Important more in-depth concepts have not been covered, such as independent chip modeling, leaving it an easy to read first step in learning how to beat lower limit sit and go events.

Secrets of Short-Handed No Limit Holdem

Short handed and heads up play are important aspects of poker, which come in to play in tournaments and cash games. Short handed poker is know becoming one of the fastest growing forms of poker and you would be well advised to study up on it. Teaches you to dominate live and online in 6 handed, 3 handed, and heads up games. 245 quiz questions and example compliment this book well. Not advised for beginners. This is for players who have good knowledge of general poker and are looking to advance their short handed game.

Heads-Up No Limit Holdem by Collin Moshman

With so many different forms of heads up games emerging, being proficient in them can be very profitable. Learn to master expected value, exploit opponent playing styles, attack button limps, bluffs, playing aggressively and more. This is a valuable tool needed for success.

No Limit Hold Em Cash Game Strategy – 52 Tips

No limit poker is deceptively easy to learn, but difficult to master. It is also one of the most profitable forms of poker for good players. If you can get some basic strategy principles down, you too can make money by playing poker. Read on for fifty-two moneymaking strategy tips.

1. If you want to start second-barreling the turn occasionally but aren’t sure when to do it, try this simple trick to get started: second barrel the turn if the flop has a flush draw but the turn doesn’t complete it.

2. You should play very few hands from early position. Stick to the big pairs AA-TT and high card hands AK and AQ.

3. If you say even one curse word out loud, take a five minute break outside.

4. Take the time to learn about pot odds. It’s not as bad as it sounds so get off your rear and get to it!

5. Don’t get married to AA, KK and QQ after the flop. It’s only a pair. If someone puts in a big raise, you better have a good reason to call.

6. Practice game selection. It’s easy to get lazy and just join the first game you find and stay in until you’re done playing. Take the time to find good games. If a game you’re in goes bad, make sure to switch tables. You might not be able to physically see it make you money, but your bottom line will improve if you practice some table selection.

7. Don’t forget to get poker bonuses. A good bonus is a major boost to the old bankroll.

8. If nobody’s entered the pot yet, come in with a raise. Don’t open-limp any of your hands. By raising you can win the blinds and if you don’t win the blinds you have a good chance at winning the pot on the flop.

9. The 10% rule is a myth. Yes, pocket pairs hit sets about 1 out of 8 times but you won’t win the opponent’s entire stack every time for this rule to work. Anything less than 10% of the smallest stack between you and your opponent will work.

10. Get PokerTracker. If you don’t have it already, you’re behind in the game. This is the most valuable tool you will ever find. PokerTracker will pay for itself many times over.

11. If it’s not strong enough to raise, just fold it.

12. Patience wins way more money than bluffs.

13. Always keep a minimum of 20 buyins in your bankroll. If your bankroll drops below 20 buyins, move down. Bad runs hit even the best players.

14. If someone is constantly floating you, tighten up preflop, lower your c-bet frequency and checkraise the turn more.

15. Position is everything! Don’t get lazy, bored or irritated and play marginal hands out of position. It’s hard enough to play strong hands from out of position so don’t even think about playing marginal hands from out of position.

16. Join some poker forums. Find some of the bigger forums and participate in hand history and strategy discussions. Forums will improve your skills more than any other resource.

17. Don’t be scared of scare cards. Don’t assume every scare card just hit your opponent’s hand. Use your hand reading skills and make a logical assessment of the hand.

18. Move up in stakes. Always work on moving up and improving your game. But only do it when the bankroll allows. Remember, you must always have 20 buyins in your bankroll.

19. Don’t be scared to value bet. You’ll be surprised at what people call you down with. If you have a strong hand and you are the one betting, assume your opponent has a weaker hand until he proves you otherwise.

20. Attack the blinds from late position. It makes you look loose and will get your strong hands paid off more often. Additionally, you can play these pots with the advantage of position.

21. Don’t worry about defending your blinds. They aren’t that important. Don’t get involved with a weak hand from out of position. You’ll probably lose more money doing that than just giving up a blind now and then.

22. Assume shortstacks are fish until proven otherwise. Don’t bluff them or try to push them around. Just sit patiently and wait for a strong hand to take them out.

23. Take notes on your opponents. Not only will these notes help you in the future, but it is a good training exercise in analyzing your opponents.

24. Downswings hit everyone, so don’t feel bad when it’s your turn. If you need to, take a break from poker, move down in stakes and read up on your strategy.

25. Be the first person to change gears. If your opponents tighten up, be the first person to start stealing and bluffing. If your opponents loosen up, be the first person to tighten up and wait for stronger hands.

26. Pay attention! Even if you’re not in a hand, practice guessing what the other players have. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at it. Eventually your opponents are going to think you have x-ray vision.

27. It’s OK to quit a game while down. Not every session is going to be a winning session so get used to it. Sticking around for longer than you intended is a quick way to lose even more money.

28. If an opponent calls preflop, calls on the flop, calls on the turn and then makes a big raise on the river, he’s probably not bluffing.

29. Be aware of your table image. Your opponents will be more willing to call if you’ve been winning pots without showing anything down. It doesn’t matter if it was nothing more than a streak of nice cards because they can’t see your cards.

30. Don’t let pride keep you in a bad game. You’re going to have to quit games occasionally because there are too many good players. There’s no shame in following the money. Good players are boring to play against, fish are rewarding.

31. Clean your room. Don’t be lazy and play poker in a dirty, cluttered environment. It helps your game to play in a clean, well-lit setting. Open a window and get some fresh air.

32. Bad beats happen to good people. They aren’t any fun but the faster you can brush them off, the better off you’ll be. A good way to toughen yourself to bad beats is to go outside and get five minutes of fresh air every time you take a bad beat, even if you feel it hasn’t affected you.

33. Don’t get stuck between two raisers unless you have a monster. If player A raises, player B re-raises and you’re next to act, don’t call because the betting is still open for player A.

34. Play your sets fast more often than slow. You want to protect your set from draws and build a big pot.

35. Exploit your opponents to death. Example: If you find an opponent who always folds to blind steals, shamelessly steal his blind every single time until he stops letting you get away with it.

36. Raising a draw is a strong play. Semi-bluffs can win the pot in two ways: by getting a fold or by hitting the draw. They also do a nice job of disguising your hand.

37. Take all the small, unraised pots you can get. Be greedy! If nobody else is contending a pot, take a stab at it.

38. Don’t overestimate your implied odds. Your opponents can see the board and they’ll put less money in if an obvious draw card lands. Plus, they might not have much of a hand anyways.

39. Save the hand histories of your most difficult hands and review them later. Discuss them with other people at your favorite poker forums.

40. No matter how tempting it is, don’t berate the idiots at your table. You know in your heart that you want them around because eventually they’re going to give away all their money. If you have to, turn off the chat.

41. Be well rested, well fed and well exercised when you play poker. A healthy mind requires a healthy body.

42. Learn a new game. Learning variants other than Texas Hold Em will help you in many ways. You can find fishier games, you can play in mixed games and you can come back to Hold Em with a fresh look on things

43. Try different poker rooms out. Switching poker sites can give you a refreshing change from the norm and give you a chance to find easier games.

44. Don’t continuation-bet shortstacks with air. They love to get it all in with any draw or any piece of the flop.

45. If you raised preflop and hit a strong hand on the flop, try this line once in a while: bet the flop, check the turn, bet the river. Your turn check will throw them off and get a lot of loose river calls in your favor.

46. Learn how to play heads up no limit. It’s difficult but it will get you good at reading hands and making decisions in tough situations.

47. In heads-up no limit matches, many of your opponents will get too aggressive. Be patient. Don’t suddenly get frustrated and make huge bluffs without a plan. Wait for some decent hands and value bet them to death. Overaggressive opponents love to make hero calls. If your overaggressive opponent doesn’t make bad calls, you should find a new opponent.

48. Experience is the greatest tutor. As long as you’re able to break even, stick with it, you’ll get better over time. Keep studying your poker strategy and applying it at the tables.

49. If you get checkraised on the turn and you have a pair, you should probably fold it. At small stakes no limit tables, they don’t bluff with turn checkraises very often.

50. Try to sit with the wild, reckless players on your right and the tight, predictable players to your left. This way you get position on the wild guy so you can see what he does before you make your decisions. At the same time, you don’t have to worry about the guy to your left getting too tricky.

51. If you’re in the blinds, don’t call late position raises with pocket pairs with the hopes of hitting a set. The late position raiser has a wide range of hands and he won’t pay you off often enough to make it worth while. The rest of the time he’s going to have little trouble making you fold.

52. Open-ended straight flush draws will hit over half the time if you get it all in on the flop. If you push these hard, you’ll win the majority of the pots. You’ll get folds most of the time and the rest of the time you’ll be the favorite to win the hand. An open-ended straight flush draw looks like this: you have TsJs on a 2h8s9s board.

The one caveat to all these strategy tips is that in no limit hold ‘em, there are no absolutes. Certain situations will require you to deviate from the optimal strategy that was given above. That’s to be expected but remember; the other 95% of the time these tips will keep you on the right track. Good luck out there.

Is your Check Raise Strategy Making you Money Or Costing you Money in Limit Texas Holdem Poker?

Some people think they are really playing good poker when the once in a blue moon they trap another player and get an extra bet out of him. What they fail to understand is the other 90% of the time it did not work they cost themselves a lot of money in missed bets. This article will show poker players how to adapt to their surroundings and switch their strategy if it is not making them money.

It’s an interesting question isn’t it? And perhaps one that tends to be overlooked by the majority of average poker players. It is important for players to understand as well as accept that you can play a certain poker strategy against players at one table and make money, while playing the same strategy at another table it may cost you money. A good poker player realizes this and will be able to adapt to their surroundings and play many different styles of poker in order to pull an acceptable return for time spent at the tables. While other average poker players stick to the same predictable strategies and cost themselves money in situations where they should really be making money. Knowing your table and their tendencies is extremely important, and in this article you will find a perfect example of a player who failed to adapt to his surroundings, and ultimately cost himself over $150 in a 2 hour session of playing limit texas holdem.

Let us first try to understand the difference between playing no limit texas holdem versus playing limit texas holdem. When playing no limit poker, you always have an opportunity to take most if not all of your opponents chips on the river. Versus limit texas holdem, you only have a certain amount of bets to take as many chips as possible from your opponents. So it is imperative that you know the tendencies of the players at the table and which strategies will work against such players, so you can adapt when a particular strategy isn’t making you money.

Now let us take a gander at what a check raise is. A check raise is basically when the betting is on you and no one else in the hand has raised the pot yet. You check it in hopes that someone else will make a bet, and then you can raise him when the betting comes back around to you within the same round, thus called the check raise. This is a very good strategy and can make you a lot of money if you’re playing with a bunch of fish. However, if your not paying close attention it may be costing you money instead of making you money if you are playing against a better group of players.

Let’s take a closer look at some specific examples I saw last time I was playing a $5-$10 limit ring game. I always pay very close attention when I play online poker. One of the things I noticed during this particular session was a player that was continually costing himself money by trying to check raise the other players at the table, but they weren’t falling for it.

We have 8 players at the table, and player A who we will call John who is first to act just calls the blind, then it comes around to player B who we will call Brian and he raises $5 preflop. Everyone else at the table drops out including the big blind, so we are left with 2 players. John and Brian with Brian being in position. Now I am going to tell you what each player is holding in order to better illustrate this concept. John is holding 3d 3c and Brian who is in position is holding Qh Jh. Now the flop comes out 10c 5h and 3s. John has now flopped a set and has a player that raised preflop hopefully betting into him. It is the perfect situation for a check raise right? Well normally it would be, but not in this situation and I will tell you why in a moment. Let’s continue the hand. John checks his set and Brian who raised preflop bets $5. John just smooth calls and the turn is 8d. John checks again hoping Brian would bet so he could check raise him, but instead Brian checks this time. Now the river comes, no help to anyone and John bets, and he of course Brian folds.

The reason John played this hand wrong is simple, but you would not realize it unless you were paying close attention at the table. This is the 5th time I had seen him attempt to trap a player to no avail. The players that were at this particular table were extremely sharp and were very tough to trap. So over the course of about 2 hours I saw John cost himself nearly $150 in bets by trying to trap the player instead of betting his hand strong. Some players think they are really playing good poker when the once in a blue moon they are able to trap a player and get the extra $10 out of him. What they fail to understand is the other 9 times it didn’t work and they cost themselves $90 by missing the bet on the turn, not to mention the extra $45 they missed by not raising on the flop. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist here to figure out that John’s playing strategy for the check raises was actually costing him money instead of making him money. John probably makes money most times with this check raise strategy as a lot of us do, but he failed to understand and accept that his strategy was not making him money at this table, therefore he should have adapted to his surroundings to find a strategy that would work, such as betting his hands strong.

I am not saying you should never smooth call to set your players up for the check raise. This is actually a very good strategy and with the right players at the table you will make money time and time again. However, if it is not working you should be betting your hand strong and not missing any bets. For poker players such as myself who are in it to make money, $150 is a lot of money for 2 hours work, and this is what I saw John cost himself if not more over my 2 hour session. That’s $75 an hour just in mistakes. You just have to study and know the table and be able to accept that if a strategy is not working and making you money, you need to switch it up to find a strategy that will.