Help on Books on hold em

[dsl8266]

Hi eeverybody my names jerry and I have been playing hold em for about 6 months. I've purchased a couple of David Sklasky's books but I am having trouble understanding the way he talks about odds and implied odds. Is there any other book out there that gives an easy explanation of odds or is Skansky the easiest to understand. Please reply anybody.
thank you so much.

[BigDukeSix]

There is a book called Hold 'Em odds by Mike Petriv, it teaches you how to calculate odds, however I have not read this book yet myself. I use the web to research any odds/probabilty questions that come up. This site for eg. check out the calculating odds link on the left.

Hope this helps....

[Poker_Vendetta]

I've never read it. But Doyle Brunson's "Supersystem" is supposedly the best Poker book ever. Some even call it the poker BIBLE. So I guess if you are a serious reader that would be the book for you. I saw it once, it was pretty thick.

[Golden Holden]

Another foundational book would be Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players by Skalansky and Malmuth... Focuses mostly on limit play, but does a damn good job at it. I highly recommend it.

[silentbang69]

I have never read it, but I have also heard that Brunson's is supposed to be the best book out.

[BigSlickAK]

Doyle's book from what I have heard is outdated since it was realeased quite a while ago. But, Mike Caro did come out with a book called The Guide to Doyle Brunson's, The Super System. Also, I find that Sklansky's Hold 'em poker provides a great foundation as well as a very helpful chart with the rankings of the 72 best starting hands.

Good Luck!

[watchdawg68]

I just finished reading Phil Hellmuh, Jr's book "Play Poker Like the Pros". It is a fairly simple read and will probably help you. It has sections for beginers thru advanced in all different games.

Watchdawg

[sickity]

I just got a book on hold em although I haven't read it yet, it is not an instuctional book though, it is called "bigt deal: a year as a professional poker player" and I forget the guys name but the title basically sais it all and he was in vegas at Binoins(sp?) and other places, sounded real cool and people said it was some good reading, check half.com and you can find it for around $10....LAter

[mindgame]

Don't get bogged down on odds. You need to know, after you see the flop, how many "outs" you have. That is, how many cards left in the deck will make me a winner. Even this, of course, assumes that you have enough feel for the game to know what hand you need to win the pot in a given situation.

so...you know that you have, say, 9 outs (you are holding a pair of high clubs, say, and there are two clubs in the flop--there are nine more clubs that make you a winner). There are 52 minus 2 (yours) minus 3 (flop) equals 47 cards left (it matters not where they are, in the deck or in your opponents hands, just trust me on this). Well let's see, you have 9 out of 47 chances of making that flush on the turn. 5 nines are 45, so you know your odds are a little worse than 1 out of 5, so your are, say 4 1/4 to 1 against making that flush. How much to see that card? One bet? Then call if there are five bets or more in there and you'll miss your hand 38 times (cost is 38 bets) and you'll make it 9 times (winning at least 45 bets). A modest theoretical profit or an expectation of 7 bets every 47 hands.

This rudimentary analysis fails to consider IMPLIED ODDS--what really happens when you make that flush. People call more bets and you win them all, most of the time. As a result, you can sometimes call when there are only as few as three bets in the pot but still have positive expectation becuase the flush pays off nicely.

But how well do you read the table? Can you be confident that the flush is what it will take? Maybe it's already beat! You're drawing dead.

Example: The other night I sat down and posted the big blind. I see that I've got the KJ offsuit. My money's in there and there are 3 calls, no raises, and I decline my option of raising. The flop is Q10h and a 9! I've FLOPPED a nut straight!!!! Bingo. I get cute and just check. One player bets and he's raised. The guy on the button calls two bets and I make it three. Everyone calls. Four guys just paid a total of $120 to see the turn. I was hoping to lose the first bettor, who had a $20 call. Anyway SOMEBODY's got to be looking for a heart. The turn is a heart and my own sinks in my breast. I now check. A bet, a raise, a call and it's $40 to call. Now why in the hell would anyone call this with a straight? Someone MUST have two hearts even if the others are drawing to one high one. Who knows? I fold.

Point: usually a straight is worth a fortune. But my uncle tells a story about a guy who lost two different businesses drawing to straights and the third when he hit one. My staight was worthless.

Showdown came and ALL THREE GUYS had two hearts. Never seen that before, but I sure as hell knew one of them did.