He put out 2 volumes, years apart. I receive Vol II for Christmas. Almost bought Vol I today, but worried it’d be redundant. Did I make the right move?
Assuming you are reading it to improve your play, the recent edition is the one to read. The original would be largely redundant and much of the information is now obsolete because the games have changed over the years. Get the original only for historical interest.
Thanks Turble! That’s what I suspected. (and yes, I am trying to de-Eeyore my game)
SS2 is where I started, about the time it came out. After you finish SS2, I highly recommend Harrington on Hold’em which will get you up to a 2006 level thereabouts. The most impressive poker book I’ve read lately (and I’ve read about forty of them) is Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker by Jonathan Little.
I’m halfway through Caro’s book of tells.
Yeah, that one and Theory of Poker (Sklansky) are general classics as they aren’t specifically about Hold’em. Universal tells are pretty rare but there are a couple of sound general principals… If you believe your opponent is acting, then strong means weak and vice versa. And a trembling hand is usually a sign of a strong hand, not a bluff.
Second Harrington on Hold’em I and II. The David Sklansky books (and there are a bunch) are decent if a bit heavier on the theory. Stay the hell away from anything by Phil Hellmuth or any recent WSOP 10k winners.
Even though a lot of his stuff is about games that are rarely played these days, Caro is great for learning poker fundamentals that apply to all games; he has a way of making lights come on in a flash with his “missions”.
Profitable poker missions you can start on today. The “Days to Success” booklets for both Hold 'em and Stud were major turning points in my poker career.
I’ll give you a mission to go along with reading the Book of Tells. The next time you sit down to play, Never watch the flop … watch a player instead. Just do it. Do it on every flop.
Did you see it? Maybe not on the first flop, but you saw it, didn’t you? It looked exactly like the picture in the book, huh? And if you had been watching the flop (like everybody else), you wouldn’t have seen it.
I expect that if you try this, you will never again, in your entire life, watch a flop. And you will have another big flash when, eventually, the player you are watching is watching you. That one will take a while; you will not find very many of them. Just grin back and make a mental note to respect his play.
Have fun.