No Limit Texas Holdem

Hi.  Let me give sort of a brief story of what got me first interested in this great game called No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.  About three or fours years ago; almost everywhere I went.  Random strangers would come up to me and ask me if I was Phil Ivey or if I played poker.  At the time I had no clue who Phil Ivey was.  One day at the gym a  young girl asked one of the  front desk attendants did Phil Ivey work out at the gym.  Upon hearing this I finally decided to google “Phil Ivey” when I got home to see if I looked liked him.  I think we look alike but I couldn’t fathom people actually thinking I was him.  For those of you who don’t know.  Phil Ivey is considered by many to be the best poker player in the world.  His nickname is the Tiger Woods(another person everyone says I look like)  of poker.  So after doing an internet search on Phil Ivey.  I ran onto his myspace page and he listed some books to read for those interested in learning more about poker.   I went out and bought all of the books(which I’ll name later) .  I started to watch more games on television and bought a laptop to play online.  I pretty much stuck with playing No Limit Texas Hold’ Em because besides being the most popular form of poker; it is also where all the money is.  I grinded it out online.  Got really good; really fast.  I got to the point where I was comfortable playing for real money in Atlantic City.

For those of you who are new to the game or even the more experienced players.  I’ll offer some tips to get started or improve your game.  I strongly recommended reading the following books:  Doyle Brunson’s Super System, Harrington’s Volume I and II,  The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky and Caro’s Book of Poker Tells.  Read these books front to back.  Nowadays you can find poker being played on some cable channel every night of the week.  Watch these games in fact, watch the same tournaments over and over again.  Don’t just pay attention to the players but listen intently to what the television commentators say.  A lot of times they offer great insight into strategy and what not to do.  Next, start playing online.  This is probably the best way to get better.  You will get to see and play so many hands and learn from your mistakes.  Also, subscribe to CardPlayer magazine.  A lot of pros write columns for this publication and it is the cream of the crop of poker magazines.   This will give you a solid foundation  to become a  solid player.   This was  just  a brief  overview.  In the upcoming posts I’ll offer more strategy and insight in depth.  Stay tuned.