Poker Stove Odds Calculator

This is a really easy to use FREE program that will take alot of the guesswork out of figuring handstrength. While it could be used for online play (Holdem Genius is ideally suited for that), Poker Stoveis better suited for research and “what if” scenarios. You may be surprised to find out how strong some of those suited connectors are compared to AJ offsuit, for instance.

Small Stakes Holdem & Getting Started in Holdem by Ed Miller

Even more great stuff from Two Plus Two Publishing! Ed Miller is a young, smart (MIT graduate) player who quickly moved up in the cash games ranks. He has teamed up with Sklansky and the crew at 2+2 to produce these excellent books. You will benefit from his sound poker knowledge as well as his recent experience in the small stakes ranks of poker players. Small Stakes Holdem will help you tear up the small stakes games. Getting Started in Holdem is also fantastic, even if you have been playing a while. Check out the reviews at the links below.

Harrington on Hold’em – Vols I & II

Normally, it takes a while for a poker book to become regarded as the best in its category. In the case of Dan Harrington’s recently published back to back volumes, however, they became recognized as the best available almost immediately. If you play tournament poker, you must buy these both Volume I and Volume II and devour them. Your competition probably has!

Theory of Poker by Sklansky

If you found this website, then you probably know about Sklansky’s classic Theory of Poker, but we would be amiss if we failed to recommend this “must have” work, acknowledged by many professionals as THE book that was most influential in their success as a poker player. Sklansky’s Theory of Poker ranks right up there with Brunson’s “Super System” as one of the two most influential poker books of all time.

While you are at it, you should pick up Sklansky’s Holdem Poker for Advanced Players also. Play less, read more, then win more. It works.

Super System and Super System by Brunson

Unless you got to our website by mistake, you probably already Super System and/or Super System II on your bookshelf. But, if you are a poker player and don’t already have one (or both) of them, shame on you! Along with Sklansky’s Theory of Poker, Brunson’s “Super System” is recognized as an all-time Poker Classic.

Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book

Buy this Book! An instant classic recommended by the likes of Howard Lederer and Annie Duke (“In our minds, this book is an instant classic and a must-have for any serious student of the game. Everyone who reads it will come away a better player.”) Easy reading, but very profound, this is far from the dry theory books (all excellent) which abound today. Phil Gordon’s book is the best Poker book I have read in a very long time!

And the Moral of the Story is….Slowplaying Can Make You Feel Really, Really Stupid

Whenever I read a story like this one, I am reminded of how very careful you must be when slowplaying a relatively strong hand, or even a very strong hand. Poker players can, and do, develop tunnel vision, seeing only the hand they have, and not their opponents potential hands based on their actions and the cards on the board. We must also consider the cards which may still be coming. When staring at an ace high straight, or the nut flush, it is all too easy to miss the fact that we may already be beat (the straight by a flush, the nut flush by a full house). And, of course, the full house can be beat as well…

The last live tournament I played in was in Tunica, MS, and I slowplayed my set of 4’s after the flop. The hand got even better when my set turned into a full house on the turn. With an ace and a flush draw on the board and two other players active in the pot, I was sitting pretty, I thought. Let them do the betting and/or chasing. The seven of spades on the river was my dream card, I thought! After all, my full house beats his made flush, right? Except by slow-playing my strong hand (which only got stronger) I had actually allowed him to hit his gutshot straight flush, which he was chasing since the flop. The pot was huge, and that hand crippled me. Soon I was out of the tournament.

I played the hand badly. My biggest mistake was not fully recognizing what the developing board might afford my opponent. I saw the flush draw, but I did not see the straight flush draw. I let this beat happen by not fully reading the board and understanding where one of my opponents was really headed.

Slow-playing is an effective, albeit dangerous technique. You must be very aware of the cards that are out, the cards that may come, and be good at reading your opponent to effectively exploit slow-playing opportunities without shooting yourself in the foot.

Poker Legend Puggy Pearson Dead at 77

Poker Player Newspaper carried this article pertaining to the passing of poker legend Puggy Pearson. Credited with a great degree of the success of No Limit Holdem as a tournament game, Puggy Pearson was also beloved by many (especially the older gang) as one of the more colorful characters in the poker world. As the article points out, however, he wasn’t necessarily a favorite of the dealers. Like many of the other older guys (Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, et al), Puggy Pearson deserves the accolades of millions of poker players who weren’t even born when he and his like were burning up the roads and taking down the big pots.