Posted Mon Jun 14, 2004 2:50 pm GMT by DMLJR
Hey all,
Well I had been reading around on here and someone mentioned Doyle Brunsons Super System book.
I was in Barnes and Noble this weekend and saw the book (massive) and remembered someone saying it wasn't an "easy read" and that it was full of strategy and statistics, not for your begginner.
Well thumbed through the pages (because Barnes and Noble has the lowest pressure sales staff on the face of the earth..."hey miss, where can I pay for these?" "pay for em?.....Just read em!") and as I was thumbing through the pages I saw alot of information, more information than could ever be digested in a single sitting. So i bought the book at $30 (not bad considering it was over 100 in 1978) and brought it home.
After just reading 1/2 of the section on limit poker I can't believe just how badly I have been playing. I see so many things wrong with my game. I have been doing ok at the tables for my first week of playing online for real money. I was up 100 bucks, but since have dropped right back down to where I started. I didn't know if it was bad cards now, or good cards then, or if I had just become loser with my chips since I won a few hands. But after getting the book and starting to read, I haven't played single hand in two days. I just can't get over the feeling that if I sit down to play I am going to miss out on some important information that I could take to the table with me.
I guess this is a long rant about nothing, but if you are new to all this, and you want to get at as much poker knowledge as possible I would grab a copy of this book.
Dave
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Posted Mon Jun 14, 2004 3:30 pm GMT by jwrussell
Man, I just can't resist!  I picked my copy up at Sams Club recently for.....are you ready?...it's gonna hurt....
16.95! (or something along those lines).
Definately a great book. Changed the way I play alot of hands. That being said, I can see how some people are saying the book is outdated. Alot of the info that they talk about being a big "secret" is really readily available and known by most players now a days.
Now, are you ready for the really cool part? SuperSystem 2 is on its way out. Check out www.fullcontactpoker.com and go to the pictures part of the web site. It has a picture that is titled something like "the authors of Super System 2". I emailed Dan Negreanu and he emailed back saying it should be out in a couple of months.
*fake Edit* Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why am I telling these people about this new book! Dumb, dumb, dumb! I could have had the edge! 
Posted Mon Jun 14, 2004 3:32 pm GMT by snoogins47
Another Brunsonite, eh? ;P
Yes, for anybody who has got a decent concept of the workings of the game, I think the Super System is more than a worthy investment.
Not as a purely instructional tool, but more as a guidebook to stats, philosophies, and most importantly: a window into the thought processes of a top pro.
That's the thing that really helped me by reading Super System. Not the idea of being "ultra aggressive" and "freerolling with the weak player's money when I have the worst hand in big pots" and all that... just picking the brain of somebody whom has been very successful in poker playing. I don't play that much like Doyle after reading it, but reading it completely altered the way I thought about the game, and decisions in said game.
Can't wait for SuperSystem II... last I heard it's due out sometime in the fall, anybody have any more details on it by chance?
Posted Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:03 pm GMT by DDiehr
To the beginner:
Books are great! They can teach you a lot about the game. My favorite authors are: Warren, Sklanskly & Malmuth, and Krieger. That being said, nothing (and I mean nothing) replaces the knowledge you get from playing the game. The first six months I played I lost approximately $3000 playing in a $3-$6 ring game. During the next six months I broke even. Since then I've been a winning player. (up $8500 in '04)
I currently play mostly online poker, but I suggest everyone trying to learn the game to play in as many live games as possible. The players there will give you advice (both good and bad), explain themselves constantly, and most importantly give examples of both good and bad play. If you can play with the same players over and over again you can get a good idea of what styles work and what don't.
That said: you do have to be very critical of what comes out of the mouths of poker players. Nobody likes to admit they're a loser. One of the old-timers at the casino I play at constantly gives me advice. He's a very nice old man and fun to talk to, but he's been playing for 30 years and I doubt he's had a single winning month. I know this because I watch how he plays and not what he says. Very often it looks like he's winning, he'll have two or three racks of chips in front of him and a smile on his face. But I know (as the other regulars do) that he's been losing three racks everyday for the past week. You'll also get the unemployed or retired trying to fool you (and themselves) into believing they're professionals. Again you've got to pay attention to their play not their talk. Real professionals keep their mouths' shut.
Posted Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:05 pm GMT by Jauron
That book is good for opening your eyes to things you may not of thought about. A lot of people don't understand you don't have to play exactly like it suggests, just understand the concepts and apply some of them to your game. I have a friend who won't read it saying everybody else has read it, and it would be worthless....not understanding that by him not reading it he's at a dissadvantage of understanding why some people play the way they do.
Needless to say he's been on a losing streak for a long time now, and he just won't do anything about it.
Posted Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:13 pm GMT by DMLJR
Well,
I had read through the "limit hold'em" section and was most impressed just by a few of the statistics about straights that I had never fully thought out in my head. Then last night I got to the "no-limit" part of the book, and reading more about his super aggressive style etc. I don't think I could personally ever play just like that mostly because I don't have the bankroll to be called very often when I have the worst hand. But I can see how alot of it would maybe help me in tournaments, especially our home games which are run like tournaments, with a $XX dollar buy in, and winner takes all.
I am still trying to play as many hands as I can for the experience, but the home games I play in are full of people who have been playing just about as long as me, but have never played online for money. I'd say only about 1/2 of them understand the game at all. For instance, two of these guys can be sitting on a inside straight draw, and watch an ace fall on the flop and the turn, and never once think that could be a bad sign. Another guy admits to me the other night "I never worry about what the other people have, as long as I have a really good hand". Now, these guys are great to play with, and I make a good chunk of change every time we get together (they say I am the luckiest man in the world) but I am not going to learn anything from these guys.
I am a book junky, so just reading about the situational call (particularly in the limit section) was good for me. Can any body suggest another book to jump to next? I was thinking about picking up Mike Caros book on Tells, not because I think it will be really useful as I think it would be a fun read. Since I live hours and hours from the nearest casinos I am going to have to slug it out online for a while until my trip in August to Vegas.....what is a "low limit" game in vegas?
Dave
Posted Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:55 pm GMT by jwrussell
Hey, who cares if you learn from them, just "earn" from them!! 
As to the books, the only ones I have read so far are SuperSystem and, don't laugh, the Idiot's guide to Poker (or Dummy's, whichever it is). Believe it or not, that one is a pretty good primer.
I've heard Caro's book of Tells is a good one to have read though. My guess is, grab the first one you come a cross and keep grabbing and reading.
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