
Ask HN: A book about poker for hackers? - kylebgorman
Startup folks, and hacker folks, often speak the praises of learning to play poker competitively, for fun and profit and social engineering. What should I read to get started?
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TheMrTortoise
Brunson will cost you a lot of money now. Sklanskys theory of poker is WAY too
tight and conservative (Note you havent seen him on any tv shows playing or in
any tournaments for ages). Ed miller for limit is good but you will get so
bored playing it. Tournament is fun but you need a gigantic bankroll to play
games with people who can play ... The theory of poker evolved a lot since
those books and is now about hand ranges based on prior action and stats you
have collected (Well it hasn;t but the way it is expressed has and the
language to talk about it has developed massively). Brunson, miller and
sklansky never get into how you use software to systematically destroy people
(because they were live players). The best advice is to visit two plus two
forums and start reading there. Its better than any book - and i know i have
bought and read a lot. Brunson, sklansky et all (ie 10 years old+) hurt my
game. Assuming you intent to be someone who makes money and not gamble.
Especially if you are playing at micro stakes (0.1-0.25 and under). the TAG
style is good to learn but after 20k hands at 4 tables you will be bored -
especially full tabling. Also tournaments vs cash game are entirley different
games. In tournaments you _have_ to play sometimes beacuse of the blinds, in
cash games the value of deception and lying in wait is much higher. In a
tournament due to blinds vs stack size you often have no choice at all - well
you do but only 1 correct play. In cash you can be a lot more patient. Also be
aware that you need 20k+ hands before you can draw any conclusions about your
play (assuming you didn't just go broke - but even then doesn;t mean you
played bad)

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ianstallings
First step would be to join two plus two forums and start asking questions.
There are so many books about poker but two stand out in my mind right now -
Skalnsky's Theory of Poker and Ed Miller's series on Limit and No-Limit poker.
There are many variations of poker and some of the latest flavors are pretty
interesting, but No-Limit Hold'em is the most popular.

Poker can be very lucrative but it is a tough game mentally. I played full
time for a year and packed it up. Too much stress, as crazy as that sounds
coming from a software programmer. I tracked it all and my database proves I'm
a winner but at that time the game was dwindling and it just seemed like a
tough future. Online in the US now is pretty brutal. Live is still a cake walk
if you know your game.

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rattus
If you're asking social engineering questions, you're already pretty well
equipped for poker.

My picks in this realm were Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players by David
Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (which seems to be out of fashion now as it
dictates a pretty tight game) and also Mike Caro's Poker Tells book is quite
good about the most common types of tell behavior you will see at tables and
tourneys. It's up to you to determine if they're real or if someone is putting
on a show.

I wish I could learn all over again :)

~~~
ScottWhigham
I hardly think "Hold'Em Poker for Advanced Players" is a good book suggestion
for someone who says they are just starting out. Mason's books, while
excellent for what they are, are far from appropriate for someone wanting to
learn the game from the ground up.

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hiddenstage
Super System by Doyle Brunson is great for both beginners and intermediate
players. Really the best way to learn, like most things, is to get out and
play.

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actionbrandon
kill everyone. this book is awesome.

[http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Everyone-Strategies-
Tournaments-S...](http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Everyone-Strategies-Tournaments-
Sit-n-Gos/dp/1935396307)

