Cray0ns United States. Jul 09 2008 15:14. Posts 993
Book Recommendation: Elements of Poker
I've done my fair share of reading poker texts with a strong focus on strategy books. I unfortunately can not say any of those has highly impacted my game. Despite focusing mostly on strat books, the only books I can recommend are Harrington's series and now Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker. (I suppose I'd recommend Barry's Ace on the River b/c he's a sick hero and it has no strat at all - it's just about Vegas and how he's a degen). I've had the Angelo text on my shelf since I pre-ordered it from Amazon and just now cracked it open during my recent flight to Vegas. Already I feel like it's going to impact my game and bottom line. It by no means is a strategy book, but actually is more of a study on tilt and minimizing the time at the table we play less than our best game instead of focusing on improving our game when we're at our best. Many of the anti-tilt and stop-loss concepts are not new but it's really putting it in terms that I can apply and use to convince myself to end sessions when I'm not bringing my A game. It's too early to tell, but it's been a very refreshing read so far and has left me very optimistic about the potential impact it will have on my bottom line simply by shortening the time I play under conditions that are less than optimal.
Other notes.
- Vegas trip should be the last distraction from heavy grinding/study for some time. I said this before the Vegas trip but Myth making the FT and another friend playing the ME after satting in for $7.50 were reason enough alone to sneak out there for a couple days even during double FPP week.
- I may look for a student - not for the profit but as with other areas of study, the best way to really understand something is to be able to teach it. I think it's also a good way to revisit things I presently take for granted. This is not high on my list and I've definitely run good to have many solid players on my contact list in order to get plenty of discourse in. That said if any one wants to chat strat / set hand & hour goals / etc send me a PM - no harm in adding more accountability on my study.
- Reducing tables in play: End of day profit is trivial at this point and the real focus during the grind is improving my A game and maintaining my A game longer while I play.
- Starting to play/study more MTT. At least 1 day a week (usually during the weekends) will be reserved for this. I haven't started playing the 215 Sundays yet but with some success Sundays will probably become mtt day for me. The longterm target is to make myself an attractive potential stakee for some fishy live events within a year - or have a resume large enough to justify taking on the variance myself in these massively +EV opportunities.
