technolog's tales of domestic bliss, DIY & other nonsense

[technolog]

[technolog]

Right, first up in my quest for knowledge. Has anyone got any book recommendations?

I want to play MTTs predominantly. I have Harrington on Holdem 1 - should read it now really. Also got Super System 1 & 2 which I don"t like the look of but again I ought to read them. Or at least the NLHE sections. I"ve got Sklansky"s Theory of Poker and Caro"s Book of Tells too. In fact I read the Theory of Poker for the most part in the early days and, to be honest, large swathes of it were pretty unintelligible to me at the time. So that might be worth re-visiting.

I don"t want anything trying to make me a mad scandie type as I"m pretty conservative by nature and don"t think it"ll work.

Something that covered the admin side would be good; record-keeping, note-taking, bank roll management.

[technolog]

I don"t want this to be just about the pokerz and I"d love people to chip in and mickey-taking is always good

I couldn"t sleep last night, which is very, very rare for me. Thankfully. My over-indulgence on NYE was partly responsible, as was thinking about things to put on this blog.

But the main reason was I"m off to get a 3D telly today - woo-hoo! Will report back later on this.

[SirPercival]

Looking forward to reading more Jack, keep it up.

My recommendations for anyone who has never read a poker book would be to start with the Harrington series. Although many say his strategy is now "old school" and out of date I do thing it is worth knowing first before reading other stuff.

Although you don"t want to turn into a mad scandie I would still recommend Gus Hansen"s "Every Hand Revealed". This is not so you turn into a mad scandie but it will help understand how they think "cos you will need to play against that type.

I find Caro"s Book of Tells a bit out of date TBH. Much prefer Joe Navarro"s "Read "Em and Reap" (don"t be put off by Phil Hellmuth on the cover).

Not directly covering bankroll management ect however I would highly recommend "The Poker Mindset - Essential Attitudes for Poker Success" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger.

Your are welcome to borrow any of the above from me if you wish, just let me know and I"ll bring "em to Bolton.

I am currently reading Harrington on Cash Games Vol1 which Santa brought me

Good luck with the blog and happy reading.

[technolog]

Assuming I"ll be playing on Sky (due to new blonde sponsorship deal) upto £20 tourneys and Betfair probably upto $20, what sort of bankroll do I need?

I probably have the best part of a grand spread across various sites. I"m assuming I"d need somewhere between £2k & £4k to do the job right? I"m in the lucky position of being able to fund this from savings if necessary.

[technolog]

Looking forward to reading more Jack, keep it up.

My recommendations for anyone who has never read a poker book would be to start with the Harrington series. Although many say his strategy is now "old school" and out of date I do thing it is worth knowing first before reading other stuff.

Although you don"t want to turn into a mad scandie I would still recommend Gus Hansen"s "Every Hand Revealed". This is not so you turn into a mad scandie but it will help understand how they think "cos you will need to play against that type.

I find Caro"s Book of Tells a bit out of date TBH. Much prefer Joe Navarro"s "Read "Em and Reap" (don"t be put off by Phil Hellmuth on the cover).

Not directly covering bankroll management ect however I would highly recommend "The Poker Mindset - Essential Attitudes for Poker Success" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger.

Your are welcome to borrow any of the above from me if you wish, just let me know and I"ll bring "em to Bolton.

I am currently reading Harrington on Cash Games Vol1 which Santa brought me

Good luck with the blog and happy reading.

Thanks Stuart. A gent as ever and a very generous offer. I"ll get my own copies though as I"m a really slow reader and don"t want to be under pressure to get "em read and returned. I also like a well-stocked book case. Even if I don"t read them

[SirPercival]

Assuming I"ll be playing on Sky (due to new blonde sponsorship deal) upto £20 tourneys and Betfair probably upto $20, what sort of bankroll do I need?

I probably have the best part of a grand spread across various sites. I"m assuming I"d need somewhere between £2k & £4k to do the job right? I"m in the lucky position of being able to fund this from savings if necessary.

My advice would be to make up rules that suit you and then stick to them. Some say you should never have more then 5% of your roll at risk at any one time, others say 1% (or even lower!). Give yourself some flexibility though, if you say now 1% then start with a $2k roll what are you going to do if you lose your first $20 buy-in?

[Pears27]

+1 on the Harrington series, which is particularly helpful for local casino and online MTT stuff.

For big live tournament prep, read Hansen"s Every Hand Revealed. It"s a blow by blow account of his winning the 2007 Aussie Millions, covers a great balance of thoughtful uber-aggression and is just an entertaining read in general.

If you"re into omaha too, Santa brought me Jeff Hwang"s PLO Big Game Strategy, which is full of PLO goodness (primarily aimed at cash games).

Sorry to hear you"ll be focusing on Sky MTTs. You"ll need to play plenty for the variance to even itself out...

[technolog]

+1 on the Harrington series, which is particularly helpful for local casino and online MTT stuff.

For big live tournament prep, read Hansen"s Every Hand Revealed. It"s a blow by blow account of his winning the 2007 Aussie Millions, covers a great balance of thoughtful uber-aggression and is just an entertaining read in general.

If you"re into omaha too, Santa brought me Jeff Hwang"s PLO Big Game Strategy, which is full of PLO goodness (primarily aimed at cash games).

Sorry to hear you"ll be focusing on Sky MTTs. You"ll need to play plenty for the variance to even itself out...

Thanks for that. I must admit I"m not a fan of the Sky software. I just feel the need to support blonde.

[Eck]

Don"t imagine you will get a great deal from Harrington 1 and wouldn"t bother with super system or theory of poker didn"t get a lot from either of them. Liked the Hansen book and other stuff like the Rizen, Apestyles & Pearlammer book (read Vol 1 and there is now a second out).

I like using training sites as it suits me, I have used Cardrunners  & TPE and now using PokerXfactor. Don"t think much of it is teaching you anything massively new but more re-inforces stuff you do if that makes sense. Other than that use the PHA boards on places like Blonde and 2+2, you don"t need to contribute if you don"t want to just be honest with yourself and ask what would you do and try to understand what the decent posters are saying.


Good luck Jack.

[duke3016]

Just two points on this topic.

A) Will I enjoy reading this immensely - Oh yes  

B) Will I offer advice on Poker - Don"t be silly  

[Mikeyboy9361]

Just read this, wow Jack you were a big fella, lol
With regard to the 3D TV I am probs a bit late but if not go to www.electricaldiscountuk.co.uk this is my website, for really good deals. Also PM me if you want any info.

[Swinebag]

harrington on hold em is great for beginners but is a bit dated and I think you"ll find you are already applying these concepts pretty well  jack. Volume 2 may have a few things that you could learn from though. These books certainly helped my game a few years back

Am I the only person who thinks that Hansen"s book is nothing more than a great read. As a strategy tool, it is dated and flawed IMO.

I agree with eck that "winning poker tournaments one hand at a time" is a must read. This is one book that really helped my game.

I actually read eck"s copy of this after he gave it away to APAT members. I passed it on to Forththistle...I wonder where it is now?.... maybe someone could pass it on to Jack?

Looking forward to reading more of this Jack (You may inspire me to revive my tired old blogthing).

I"ll be particularly intertested in the weight loss episode. As someone who is a few pounds stone overweight myself, I could do with some inspiration

[Ant1966]

Am I the only person who thinks that Hansen"s book is nothing more than a great read. As a strategy tool, it is dated and flawed IMO.

Nope.

Good luck with the blog Martyn Jack.

[AAroddersAA]

Good - this should be excellent.

Are you playing just tournaments or cash as well? I can give you some of my notes on some of the regulars on the small stakes cash tables (mainly the £30 and the £50) the site is considered pretty soft but there are a few regs who have a solid game, poker tracker not working is annoying. The Sky software seems to be much improved from when I last tried it to be fair. Won"t waste your time trying to give advice on tournament situations (there is something called ICM, thats about the limit of what I know about proper tournament strategy *lol*)  but feel free to PM me about cash hands if you want. I offer no assurance that my stategy is any good of course.

Personally I would not bother with books, I have read the Harrington and Super System Books and personally think they are out of date/clearly not meant for the internet games of 2011 and I read them about 4 years ago - If you really want to learn just post hands on PHA board on a forum with a good selection of good players, much better than any book in my experience.