poker books please respond

[ronnieburger 0]

NEW POSTER I am 15 years old and i have been playing poker for about a year now, i play live tourneys and cash games online i would love to "go pro" when am of legal age i was wondering what books would prepare me to do this (i have three years) i like reading about it and have most simple odds down and some concepts of pot odds. any suggestions of books or preparation tools thanks P.S. limit cash games and NL tourneys

[SapphireTiger 0]

to be honest i get kind of sad when these young people aspire to grow up to be poker players. i dont' know...from what i've heard it's such a hard way to make a living.Just be sure to keep your options open!

[bigkg 0]

i play live tourneys and cash games online

[....Ian.... 0]

umm dont you have 6 yearsand as far as a book: try school books they're a better investment

[bigkg 0]

For a real repsonse; read SSHE, then read it again, then again, and one more time couldn't hurt.

[FileError404 0]

The best limit advice in my opinion, comes from Jennifer Harman in "Super System II." The best NL Tourney book, hands down is "Harrington on Hold 'em" .

[jjdylan 0]

Theory of Poker

[Random Fluke 0]

For a real repsonse; read SSHE, then read it again, then again, and one more time couldn't hurt.

ditto. Small stakes hold em is probably the best poker book on the market at the moment. I'd also buy The Theory of Poker . Read them both, play 10000 hands, then reread them again.

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

It really pains me to see younger teenagers getting real excited with the poker craze going around the world and getting diehard set on becoming a pro. It's certainly a seductive lifestyle, the pros we see on TV and the kind of guy Daniel Negreanu is. From someone who's not much older than you (I'm 20) and only wiser because I've f**ked around more in my life, I can tell you it's not nearly as glamorous as you might think.I went to college my freshman year and am currently taking my sophomore year off to "work." But for all the fall semester I played poker online and the worst thing in the world happened: I won heavily. I won about 10 grand in 3 months playing multi-table tournaments, and I was absolutely living it up. Got wasted all the time, went to every UGA college football game, travelled all over the southeast for football, parties, and visiting friends from high school, and it was an absolute blast. I even ran an underground cardroom with some friends to have a little extra bank on the side.Everything was going great up until about Christmas, when our cardroom got robbed at gunpoint for about 15 grand. That made me re-evaluate my life and how unhealthy it was for me for poker to be that huge of a part of it.Since then, I've toned my poker back a lot. I want to be the best poker player I can be, and I still believe there's a place in my life for poker. Now, I play .50/1 limit on Partypoker and I'm getting pretty good at it. I want to beat the game for the long run, and not gamble it all away on long odds/big payday type situations. I believe there's more money in it that way anyway. I'm actually doing more real work, and I'm a lot happier in my life for it. I'm actually making more (and saving more) with my real job working 40-50 hours a week than I was back when I had 5 grand in my checking account at all times for a fun budget. And, I even believe I'm a lot better at poker for it all in moderation. I feel like I learn more when I'm playing less than 10 hours a week at micro-limit and really concentrating, instead of waking up with a hangover at 2:30 p.m. on a Wednesday just in time for the 3:00 30 dollar MTT every day.If you really want to become a pro someday, I think the best way is to work your way up. Whenever it becomes feasible to play online for money, start small at micro-limits. Beat each stake, play within the 300 big bet rule, and work your way up (and yes, learning limit will make you a much better all around poker player, and even a better no-limit player). And, supporting someone else's post, definitely read and re-read SSHE (David Sklansky's "Small Stakes Hold'em). It's the best poker book on the market for beating low limit online, which is what 99% of poker players today should be most concerned with.Smash said it best a few weeks ago: the worst thing that can happen to someone who just turns pro is if they start winning heavily early on. I completely agree. As someone who's been there and done that, and as someone who's not far removed from the days when I was 15 and I knew everything... I implore you, PLEASE learn from my story! I realize it's a long post, but it's straight from my soul and I really hope it rings true with someone out there.

[711Buddha 0]

If you are serious, you should read them all.

[....Ian.... 0]

Everything was going great up until about Christmas, when our cardroom got robbed at gunpoint for about 15 grand. That made me re-evaluate my life and how unhealthy it was for me for poker to be that huge of a part of it.

you carried 15K around?

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

It was a 1/2 no limit game, and we usually had 2-3 full tables running with an average stack between 200-300 dollars. The night we got hit, we had approximately 4500 in the bank, plus we had an extra grand in cash reserves. On the police report we filled out, one of our players was a big sports bettor, and he won big that day and had just gotten done settling up with the bookie. He had 6,000 dollars in his socks, 3,000 in one sock and 3,000 in the other, and one of the funnier things about that awful night (if it could be called funny) was that when the robbers searched him, they found the 3 grand in one sock but missed the 3 grand in the other sock.Plus, one of our players had an 8,000 dollar rolex on his wrist, and they stole about 20 wallets and 20 cell phones from us. So all told, they probably got away with the cash value of between 15 grand and 25 grand.It was definitely uber-f**ked up.Thank God the police were reasonably cool enough about it. We were the 3rd game in Atlanta to get robbed and we were the first ones to call the police about it. When they found out that 2 other games had gotten robbed by the same 4 masked gunmen as before, they were able to keep their eye on the ball. They looked the other way on our gaming establishment and realized that it's moreso in the public interest to stop 4 huge n**gers with guns than it is to bust four 19 year old kids for felony commercial gambling (which they could have done, and which would have really REALLY sucked).P.S. Before anyone flames me for my politically incorrect choice of descriptive words, let me say this. I live in Atlanta and have my whole life, and some of my best friends are black. I don't have a problem with black people, I just have a problem with n**gers. I didn't get pistol-whipped in the face and jacked by a black person... It was 4 huge n**gers with guns and ski masks. Just trust me on that.

[SapphireTiger 0]

It was a 1/2 no limit game, and we usually had 2-3 full tables running with an average stack between 200-300 dollars.  The night we got hit, we had approximately 4500 in the bank, plus we had an extra grand in cash reserves.  On the police report we filled out, one of our players was a big sports bettor, and he won big that day and had just gotten done settling up with the bookie.  He had 6,000 dollars in his socks, 3,000 in one sock and 3,000 in the other, and one of the funnier things about that awful night (if it could be called funny) was that when the robbers searched him, they found the 3 grand in one sock but missed the 3 grand in the other sock.Plus, one of our players had an 8,000 dollar rolex on his wrist, and they stole about 20 wallets and 20 cell phones from us.  So all told, they probably got away with the cash value of between 15 grand and 25 grand.It was definitely uber-f**ked up.Thank God the police were reasonably cool enough about it.  We were the 3rd game in Atlanta to get robbed and we were the first ones to call the police about it.  When they found out that 2 other games had gotten robbed by the same 4 masked gunmen as before, they were able to keep their eye on the ball.  They looked the other way on our gaming establishment and realized that it's moreso in the public interest to stop 4 huge n**gers with guns than it is to bust four 19 year old kids for felony commercial gambling (which they could have done, and which would have really REALLY sucked).P.S.  Before anyone flames me for my politically incorrect choice of descriptive words, let me say this.  I live in Atlanta and have my whole life, and some of my best friends are black.  I don't have a problem with black people, I just have a problem with n**gers.  I didn't get pistol-whipped in the face and jacked by a black person... It was 4 huge n**gers with guns and ski masks.  Just trust me on that.

I respect you TJ, but just don't use the word because a lot of people who read this forum don't realize the impact of that derogatory term and they will see other people using it and will think it will be okay to use that term. In addition, the word n*gger is heavily tied to race regardless of if you mean it that way or not. You're using the term to describe some guys in a negative way when the term was used to preven upward mobility for an entire race. Same thing as calling someone gay.I don't know. Just my opinion.

[wrto4556 0]

I'll tell you from personal experience, going "pro" is tough. I was barely squeeking by last month. Good books to feed your brain are:Theory of Poker by David SklanskyHold'em Poker for Advanced Players by David SklanskySmall Stakes Hold'em By Ed Miller, David Sklansky, and Mason MallmthPoker Essays 1, 2, & 3 by Mason MallmuthInside the Poker Mind by David SklanskyZen and the Art of Poker by Larry PhillipsandSeven Card Stud for Advanced Players by David Sklansky (if you're into stud...they also have an O8/b book that I havn't read).

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

Fair enough. I just have some rather generalized negative feelings towards those four guys and was more or less trying to express that.

[dontlookdown 0]

i know most of u hate hellmuth but his book is good

[custom36 4]

I agree with TJ to an extent. I'm 18 and an education major in college. I hope to be good enough that I can play poker full time during summers. So far I'm on the right track. I started with $10 last February and I played $0.01/0.02 NL on Noble Poker (they gave it away free with sign-up). Within about 3 weeks, I was up to $50. I made a stupid move and took $25 to a $0.25/0.50 NL table. Fortunately, I hit an excellent run of cards and got my roll up to $200 that weekend. I've continued to play within my bankroll since then and I currently have $800 (thanks to the mini-score in a tourny yesterday). I am a MUCH better player than when I began, but need to continue to get better. I have Super System 1 &2, and will soon order 3 more books (Harrington on Hold'em 1 &2 and Small Stakes Hold'em).You're only 16. Don't expect a ton of success right away. Be patient, play within your bankroll. You'll be a much better player because of it.