Greetings!

I have been playing No Limit Holdem cash games for about a year. I realize that I like STT much more.

I am interested in becoming an expert STT player. I don't want to ask how do I play JJ in late position with three limpers and a raiser in front of me with a mid size stack during the middle phase of the tourney. I want to know what do I need to evaluate so I can make an educated desicision on how to play JJ in late position with three limpers and a raiser in front of me with a mid size stack during the middle phase of the tourney.

Based on my research it appears that the best way to accomplish my goal is to study "The Theory Of Poker" by David Sklansky. It appears that people who don't even like him agree that this book is a must read for understanding poker concepts.

I am wondering if any of you SnG players would be interested in doing a chapter by chapter group study of this book and discussing how to apply the concepts to *ONLINE* SnG's (STT).

It appears to me that his concepts were written mainly for Live Play. It also appears that some concepts that apply to live play do not really apply to Online play, especially not to the lower stake games.

I beleive a discussion of our various view points on SnG concepts could prove to be very valuable for the SnG community of livepokerforum. By using this book as an outline it would cause our discussion to stay on point. We would have a systematic, point by point discussion concerning how to play our favorite game.

Reading is good, but a theory is just that.

Your distinction is mostly semantics and does not really make that much of a difference.

How you play a hand is based on (in no particular order) stack size, position, blind level, reads on players in the hand, your table image, tourney structure. I'm sure I am missing a thing or two, but again, this is just off the top of my head.

Theory can help you, but you have to play the game to understand it. Theory cannot supplant experience and it cannot supplant discussing what to do in specific situations.

Also, if you want to read books to assist your tournament game, I would suggest Harrington on Hold'em, volumes 1 and 2. They are (arguably) the best books on tournament poker available.

-Jus

I read theory of poker after having played for about a year, and reading UPF like a mad man. By the time I read it, I had learned just about everything that book had to off just by paying attention, and reading posts. I would suggest reading it, but it really won't be THAT applicable to Sit and go's, HoH will be much better, I'm sure. I would suggest reading both.

United Poker Forum.

-Jus

Once you really, truly understand the Fundamental Theorum, you've got what you need out of TOP. Now, that's a tall order, for sure. (Like Flop, rereading TOP occasionally is +EV, but a lot of it I'd already absorbed from playing and reading forums when I got around to really getting into TOP.)

Harrington did more for me than any book I ever read, both 1 and 2. Maybe because I'd read everything I could and played a half million hands and a couple thousand SNGs before I read it. You think? Harrington crystallized a lot of my knowledge and my game made a large jump after reading it. (I might go for a discussion of these two books, however.)

Believe it or not, Erik Lindgren's book Making the Final Table also is a good read. He plays opposite of Harrington. Super LAG. There is a lot in that book that surprised me, despite what I've read in several reviews criticizing it. And The Little Green Book by Phil Gordon is excellent, too.

I don't think doing a chapter by chapter analysis of TOP will make you an SNG expert. I really don't think that becoming an expert in TOP would make you even a decent SNG player, as there is far more to playing tournaments than cash games, as far as being a consistent winner. If you had the patience, you could win a lot of money on a ring table by pushing AA all in and playing no other hands. There are enough idiots out there who'd call it. That wouldn't work too well in SNGs.

Frankly, I don't even know how one becomes an expert SNG player, as I'm not one and don't know if I've ever met one. I'm pretty good, but I've played a few, too, and worked very hard on improving.

What's the minimum qualifications of expert play, guys?

I don't hate Sklansky. I'd just rather watch paint dry than to read one of his books.

Hi expert,

Because 3 people gave you their opinions does not mean that the forum has spoken it never will.

I think any serious discussion on poker is a good one.

Maybe Sklansky is not a good pick. I think it is a good idea and deserves some more thoughts.
HOH could be a good discussion topic because it has many SNG samples

And welcome by the way.

Tommyhawk

My bad...

Welcome to BTP. Sorry if we seemed hostile. We're not at all. Get both Harrington's. It's worth it. Trust us on that.

I play two smiply strategies when playin cash games. One is a short stack stack system and one is a nut peddling system. Niether requires much thought and you can play as many tables at a time as you have time for.

Wow, I don't what I said to cause this stir but I am finished. Back to read but don't post strategy.

latter

Reading this thread made me think I had accidentally log into to 2+2 Very un-BTP like in my not so humble opinion.

Expert if you are still reading there was a thread on twoplustwo.com in Dec of 2005 where they did a discussion on TOP in relation to one table tournaments. I would think they would be finished by now but you should be able to read their conclusions and add them to your own.

Just do a search on "theory of poker" (use the quotation marks), search on the one table tournament section and search for post newer that 4 months and older than two months. This will get you the December post from that section on TOP.

Good luck!

P.S. I am also a system player when playing cash games.