poker books -- tourney

ConfusedONEConfusedONE
in General Poker Chat
Doyle Brunson's Super System
Tournament Poker For Advanced Players by Sklansky
Theory of Poker by Sklansky
Championship Tournament Poker by McEvoy

which one to start off with? :confused: please rank them :banghead:

thx,
CO :confused:

......any other good books? :spade:

Comments

  • PhallicPhilPhallicPhil
    I've read all four. They're all good but I'd read them in the following order:

    1. ToP Sklansky (thoeretical basics of poker)
    2. TPFAP Sklansky (theoretical basics of tournament poker)
    3. S/S Brunson (practical applications of the above to poker in general)
    4. CTP McEvoy (practical applications of the above to tournaments)
  • ConfusedONEConfusedONE
    PhallicPhil wrote:
    I've read all four. They're all good but I'd read them in the following order:

    1. ToP Sklansky (thoeretical basics of poker)
    2. TPFAP Sklansky (theoretical basics of tournament poker)
    3. S/S Brunson (practical applications of the above to poker in general)
    4. CTP McEvoy (practical applications of the above to tournaments)
    thx for input :)

    has TPFAP improved your play?:)
  • ScottyZScottyZ
    1. TOP. I can't believe how much useful information about tournaments is in the "poker is a struggle for the antes" chapter alone.

    2. "No Limit Texas Holdem" by McEvoy & Daugherty. This book is designed for beginners, so you may skip it if you feel you are already beyond its level. Despite no indication of such in the title, this book seems to present more of a tournament line of thinking (as opposed to NL cash games).

    3. TPFAP. An essential read for tournament strategy-- 3rd only in suggested reading order.

    IM(unpopular)O, Super System is pretty "meh" overall, and says very little about tournaments directly.

    I haven't read the other book you mentioned.

    ScottyZ
  • ConfusedONEConfusedONE
    ScottyZ wrote:

    IM(unpopular)O, Super System is pretty "meh" overall, and says very little about tournaments directly.

    ScottyZ
    thx ScottyZ :)
  • garrogarro
    ScottyZ wrote:
    3. TPFAP. An essential read for tournament strategy-- 3rd only in suggested reading order.

    IM(unpopular)O, Super System is pretty "meh" overall, and says very little about tournaments directly.

    I haven't read the other book you mentioned.

    ScottyZ

    TPFAP I have on order and cannot wait to read it.

    I do agree with your comments about SuperSystem. I picked it up USED (not a good sign for a poker book ;) ) at BMV book here in Toronto. Read it and returned it, "meh" indeed.
  • ScottyZScottyZ
    Since I got a minor SS bashing sub-thread going, I'd like to add that I am still looking forward to Super System 2 which should be out soon.

    The worst thing about SS is simply being out of date, so SS2 may offer a *big* improvement simply because of the modernization.

    ScottyZ
  • garrogarro
    ScottyZ wrote:
    Since I got a minor SS bashing sub-thread going, I'd like to add that I am still looking forward to Super System 2 which should be out soon.

    The worst thing about SS is simply being out of date, so SS2 may offer a *big* improvement simply because of the modernization.

    ScottyZ

    Please correct me if I am wrong but SS2 is suppose to be sort of colaborative effort is it not.
  • UnknownUnknown
    garro! Welcome back! I feared you'd up and left us.

    From what I understand, SS2 is indeed a collaborative effort. I'm looking forward to reading it. As for TPFAP, I'm sure you'll be glad you ordered it. I'm reading it now for the 3rd, maybe 4th time. I plan to have it fresh in my brain by the time I get to beautiful Regina.

    Regards,
    all_aces
  • garrogarro
    all_aces wrote:
    garro! Welcome back! I feared you'd up and left us.

    Nope just took a couple of weeks vacation (see this post for details http://pokerforum.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=2157)
  • pkrfce9pkrfce9
    I've read reviews of this book. The way they see it, this is a book for experienced limit players just starting out with NL tourneys.

    For those of you that have read it, is this the case?

    They also slag Sklansky for his lack of tournament success. Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in buying the book and reading it. I've read a few of Sklansky's other efforts and found them very helpful.

    I read TJs and Tom McEvoy's "Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold'Em' book. The stories are interesting but I didn't find a lot of help out there for a beginning NL player. Anyone interested in a slightly used edition? Cheap??? :)
  • UnknownUnknown
    I'm reading it again now, and I have to say, he's pretty tight. He says that you have to have a better hand to raise with than to call a raise with ('The Gap Concept'). Makes perfect sense.

    Then he starts talking about limping (in a limit tournament, I believe) and how people play tighter in tournaments than cash games, and therefore the hands that they limp with will be stronger than usual. So, hands that you limp in with after a limper is already in have to be even stronger... definitely stronger than a hand you'd raise with if nobody had entered the pot.

    Hands like JsQs should be brought in for a raise from EP if nobody's entered, because even though you might limp with it in a cash game to get a big multiway pot going, there are fewer big multiway pots in tournaments. Therefore, you're probably not going to get what you were after (a big multiway pot) by limping, so you should raise.

    Therefore, in a limit tournament, if a good player limped in EP, he (Sklansky) would fold KhQd, and just call with AcQh.

    The KQ I can MAYBE understand, but I probably wouldn't fold it if nobody raised. The AQ I would definitely raise. Am I too loose, or is he too tight? I think he's too tight (but I'm biased).

    It's a GREAT book, with a lot of valuable information in it, but I don't take everything he says at face value. A lot of his concepts are good, but when it comes down to him giving specific hand examples, I think he's erring on the side of caution a bit too much. Anyone else?

    Regards,
    all_aces
  • QuasiQuasi
    Have started his book, along with 3 others. I have to agree with you All_Aces, actually I just read that chapter your mentioned. He seems to be quite conservative and tight in some of his examples then again he's the expert not me.
  • garrogarro
    One book that hasn't been mentioned (one which I just purchased and I am loving it), while it doesn't deal with tournament poker specifically it does deal with the poker player as a person. Zen and the art of Poker is IMHO a great book on how to be a "poker player", and what kind of attitude you should have internally/externally while playing the game. It's one of the few books that is about what it is to be a player instead of just how to play.
  • actyperactyper
    pkrfce9 wrote:
    I read TJs and Tom McEvoy's "Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold'Em' book. The stories are interesting but I didn't find a lot of help out there for a beginning NL player. Anyone interested in a slightly used edition? Cheap??? :)

    How much shipped?
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