What sources be it online or books would people recommend to improve my poker game?

pokerslim

Good afternoon everyone.

I've recently just started to get back into playing poker after quite a long time away from the game due to having kids and work and all that wonderful stuff that seems to take up so much of my time\money and I thought if I'm going to start playing it I may as well try to learn to play the game at a decent standard. I know that there is a world full of information online but I'm also aware that some of the information may be slightly dubious in its quality so I'm looking for advice on various sites or books that might help me improve my game.
I've spent the last week searching through various posts in this forum and I've really enjoyed reading through them (Peter your posts are very enjoyable reading) and a lot of you guys seem to know what you are talking about so I figured this would be a good place to ask for advice.

I look forward to hearing from you

Slim

Duesenberg

What kind of games are you looking to play?

Omaha or Holdem?

MTT's, Sit n go's/DYM's or cash games?

You'll get much better answers if you could add this info

pokerslim

My bad! Yes a bit more information would probably help! I'm mainly looking to improve my Hold em MTT game as I find these an enjoyable (mostly) way to spend my time

Cammykaze

I really enjoyed Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed.

It breaks down his thinking and you can get a proper feel for where he is at as he is taking you through each hand. He strikes a good balance between strategy and bringing in his own personality into it. If he messes up a hand you will know about it.

The book is well written and excellently laid out making it easy to get through. His post-flop analysis on the hands were the most useful parts of the book.

Had read a load of poker books back in the day and this one sticks out.

chicknMelt

Every hand revealed is good read. There are probably better sources to learn from though.

Chris moorman has a good book.

If you are serious about getting good then an online course like the ones from Raiseyouredge, or upswing are good. Quite expensive though. ( I have the RYE one)


Raiseyour edge has great free youtube videos.

Tonka, Lex velduis, Doug polk also have good youtube channels.

There is software to help you analyse your decisions like PIO solver, ICMizer, flopzilla.


There are tonnes of learning sources. I recommend using as many as possible!

madprof

Doug( the Sky Poker Tour Floor Manager) recommended me 3 books:

Ever hand revealed as above
The Professor, The Banker And The Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of all Time- fascinating read!
Reading poker tells- Zachiary Elwood- again a great read and gives a broader insight to player behaviours..its the sort of book you need to read a couple of times to try to internalise the core principles..

GL GL

glencoelad

Dara Okearney and Barry Barry Carter have joined forces and have a great new book out satellite games. Dara is well know as one..if not the best at this game over many years. Poker Satellite Strategy , available on Amazon .

Itsover4u

start with a run it once cheap subscription build upto raise your edge and upswing

Itsover4u

also charlie carrell has some really good free content

MasoniReef

Play your own style learn the lessons the hard way any book can tell you what to do but only you can cope with whats going off in your head i was once told to get comfortable in a situation i had to put myself in a uncomfortable position to get used to it that way further down the road if it happens again i aint panicking

pokerslim

Thanks for all the replies, it'll certainly give me some homework to get started on! I'm curious as to how the online courses work, is it like a tutorial video you just follow a long with? And when you say they are quite pricey how much are we talking?

chicknMelt

They are a lot more than just a video to follow along with. There are individual videos for every situation/topic and stack size, with accompanying hand range charts. Basically everything you would ever need to know to beat even very tough online tournaments broken down into individual topics. If your not sure what i mean, the websites will give more details.

I forget exactly how much, but in the $1000 ball park. A worth while investment in my opinion, though they are not easy going and require you to do "homework" (which they show you how to do) to get the best from them.

pokerslim

Ah ok I get what you mean I think, it does sound very interesting I must admit but might be slightly out of my current price range. I'll certainly look into it in the future though as knowledge is power.

Duesenberg

For some slightly easier on the pocket options, you may want to take a look at a beautifully titled book called Kill Everyone by Lee Nelson et al. Although a few aspects of it are a little outdated now, it's still a very good and thorough strategic text specifically for MTT play.

When it comes to videos/training sites, the best value/most cost effective option is Run It Once. An 'essential' membership costs $25 per month and they have some really high quality and very up to date content on there. It's not a specifically designed course like Raise Your Edge but rather a smorgasbord of videos on all aspects of poker/game types and you just dip into whatever takes your interest.

Finally, The Man Behind The Shades is a cracking good read. It's a biography of the tragic poker genius that was Stu Ungar (2x WSOP main event winner). It'll do naff all to help your game but it's well worth the time.

JJBinks

Flopzilla, card runners EV and PIO solver (they have a great forum as well). Learning how to construct your ranges and how to exploit people that don't put the work in to play in a balanced manner.
PIO takes some getting used to but well worth the time to learn how to use it, that's all I use now for my study time.
Great advice in this thread btw. Glgl

pokerslim

Funnily enough I was reading a bit about Stu Ungar last night

Tikay10

pokerslim said:

Funnily enough I was reading a bit about Stu Ungar last night

If you can play like Stu, you'd be just fine, but probably best not to minic his lifestyle.

pokerslim

I'll certainly keep that in mind!