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Typically I'll skip over sections that pertain to games I don't play, but do you suggest reading poker books in their entirety? Is there something to overtly gain from "unrelated" chapters or is it more or less a waste of time that would be better spent, for instance, re-reading the stuff most relevant?

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I skip around a lot too - especially the more general stuff, but it's always nice to give yourself a refresh course as well.

What book are you talking about?

I make a point of not skipping a sentence. No matter how boring a section might be I just don't fee right skimming a book. It also helps that I play just about every game with a decent level of skill. If anything I am more inclined to skip the Hold Em sections as I tend to play other games much more than the Hold Em. Basically no, I never skip a sentence, I guess it is one thing I am kind of anal about. If I bought a book I am reading the whole thing.

I should also mention that what you learn in another game can often times really help your game as a whole. For instance take Jeff Hwangs Pot Limit Omaha book. I swear, that book really helped my big bet poker game as a whole, not just my Omaha game. You might also learn a bluff in one game that works well in another. It just serves you better to study more games than one as there are things you would never expect you might learn from one game that can help a lot in another.

Poker is not Hold Em only. Poker is a lot of different games and each can be learned and learning each game can compliment the other. While limiting your learning to one game can be a strength at times, I believe that overall it turns out to be a big weakness. If you don't believe me then read Steve Zolotows section in SS2 named "The Fox and the Hedgehog." For those who skip sections you may have missed this 3 page article toward the beginning of SS2. It is probobly my favorite article on poker ever. Simply put, if you only know one game you are stuck in that game. If you know many you have options. Why play in the super tough Hold em game when there is a super soft Stud game one table over? Why skip sections when you ar ecapable of learning them all?

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"You will succeed far more by capitalizing on your opponents mistakes than you will by the greatness of your own play." --- I am not sure who said this but it is a great quote and piece of advice.


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Is that Omaha book any good Powda? I'm self taught in PLO and mostly at HU - so I'm sure I'll get crushed at full ring and am looking for a good Omaha book to read.

It is an EXCELLENT book! You definetly want it. Check my review in the books section on this site.

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"You will succeed far more by capitalizing on your opponents mistakes than you will by the greatness of your own play." --- I am not sure who said this but it is a great quote and piece of advice.


Colorado Players Click Here

My Blog: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...n=blog.ListAll

This statement is right on the money. There are a few things to gain from reading a section in a book on a game that you don't play; As PoWada pointed out, you could learn a play that applies to the game of your choice and you never really know when a situation comes up where for some reason you have to play the game the read about.

Yeah, I like to read every part of a poker book. Even when going through the sections I think won't offer me anything I usually find one nugget of new information or something that reinforces a point I didn't pick up earlier.

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Like PoWda, Ed and others pointed out there is usually something that even the best players can learn from just about any book. Even if it's only one tiny thing, how much is that worth over a session? Over a week? a month? Lifetime?

The cost of the book becomes minuscule compared to its true worth to your poker bankroll.

My Dad likes to say "Reading is the Key to Success"

Read, learn, play, implement, re-read, play, etc.

I know several players that I would say are decent(not great) but winning players that the game is passing them by because their opponents are learning and adapting and they are still stuck in their A-B-C playing style.


Jason

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There is also a strong arguement for re-reading important poker books. I was shocked byt the new things I learned rereading Jef Hwang's PL Omaha book, and since then have set up a program to reread a number of key poker books.

As a specific example, re-reading the chapter on Game Theory in "Theory of Poker" generally shocks players that read it ten years ago, because their poker has advanced enough that some parts that you could *not* understand ten years ago suddenly become amazing insight.

Aside from re-reading to learn, there is also re-reading for pleasure. I will re-read the last chapter of Phil Gordon's book "The Real Deal" (a fictional WSOP experience with reader participation questions) with a smile ... especially the way it ends (no spoiler) . The original article in HARPER'S magazine called "Fortune's Smile" by Jim McManus is also a favourite. Jim would later spin that story about how he made the final table of the WSOP into a book, called Positively Fifth Street, but the article is timeless.

In past posts I have often recommended that players (especially younger players that need a break from their crushing homework loads ) read all of Daniel Negreanu's articles from the oldest to the newest. There is usually a useful nugget of poker playing information that is immediately useable in each article, presented in a context that ensures you do not forget.

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I've read a fair bit of books myself, though all of them on Hold'em. In my honest opinion, a lot of them were junk. The books that I read when I was new to poker probably helped me to some degree by giving me some more solid fundamentals, but I as I got better, I found I needed to unlearn a bunch of the things that those books taught me.

The most valuable information you will find on the subject of poker can be found for free on the internet, especially if you plan on playing online. Live play from what I understand is quite a bit different. Online play involves the use of tracking software which is something that I have not seen addressed in any book that I've read.

Small stakes poker is so much more of a science than many would like to believe. For the last several years thousands of very intelligent people have been debating strategy and theory on forums like this one. The best posts have been archived and are considered must reads for all new members.

I think I've read just about every archived thread at 2+2, and believe me, that is worth every poker book on the market x100.