"Your Best Poker Friend" by Alan Schoonmaker
Most experienced poker players will tell you that poker is as much an emotional game as a physical one. That is to say, just knowing which cards to play is not enough.
To be a successful poker player, you need to understand the psychology of the game, as it informs the decisions that you and your opponents make. For literature dissecting poker psychology, Alan Schoonmaker is the guy.
Schoonmaker and Poker PsychologyYour Best Poker Friend is a follow up to The Psychology of Poker, which reviewed some broad psychological concepts related to poker, and Your Worst Poker Enemy, which talked about the ways players sabotage themselves during a game.
Your Best Poker Friend shows you how to use psychology to your advantage.
Your Best Poker Friend
Your best poker friend is, of course, yourself, and this book shows you why. The book teaches players how to set goals for your poker development and how to achieve them.
It also teaches you about observing your behavior and others to identify psychological leaks that you can plug in yourself and exploit in your opponents. A crucial section helps you analyze whether you are psychologically cut out for the ever-popular no-limit Texas hold'em.
A thorough self-analysis that shows that limit hold'em is in fact the best game for you could save or make you thousands of dollars.
Using This Book
This book should be used in conjunction with what you already know about poker to maximize your poker efficiency. Exploiting the psychological weaknesses in others at the poker table can make a huge difference, especially with volatile games like no-limit Texas hold'em.
