My introduction to the world of poker theory and application came through books. Though I’d played in home games and some online before, I’d never really thought of the game of Texas hold em outside the confines of a pastime, a great entertainment that if I made some money during, great.
As I got more into the game, I read a couple of important online poker books such as Phil Hellmuth’s Play Poker Like The Pros, Dan Harrington’s tournament poker books, and pretty much anything else I could get my hands on. Reading those books helped me open my brain up to the possibilities of ways of thinking about the game outside of just entertainment, and more of a science. It was a vital part of my learning, and without it I would probably have never gotten much further than my friends’ basements on weekday nights for $20.
Translating the theory and ideas in online poker books, though, is something that can only really go down in actual time spent in hand to hand play. As instructive as those books were, the true way to learn to play the game of poker is to play, while thinking about what you are doing instead of just going along for the ride. There truly is no substitute for experience, for having been there, and the learning never really stops until you do.
