Ruff Poker Blog
Learn Train Dominate Poker

Are you a grinder? Do you spend hours every day putting your stack at risk for a few big blinds an hour? I used to do that. I used to grind away at the cash tables, but one day something caught my eye. It was a $5 [...]

This book is the undisputed bible of poker. No book has made more money for more poker players than David Sklansky’s The Theory of Poker. This book is in every serious poker player’s book collection and it’s usually easy to spot. It’ll be the one that’s creased, marked, and [...]

Are you looking for a book that teaches you how to determine pot odds and show you how to calculate probabilities in your head? If you are, you’ve got the wrong book. The Psychology of Poker has nothing to do with how you play your cards. This book won’t [...]

Limit hold’em isn’t hot─ it isn’t sexy. And because it isn’t sexy, there aren’t many books written on the subject. Most people don’t realize that poker isn’t all about high stakes, no-limit poker. You need to diversify your game knowledge to find out what you’re good at. [...]

There are literally hundreds of poker books available to the avid poker player. These poker books will teach you all about choosing your starting hands, poker strategy, playing marginal hands, and playing tournaments. It’s great information for new and experienced players to have. These poker books will help [...]

Have you ever been sitting down at a poker table a heard a player call out another player’s hand accurately? It almost feels like you’re watching a magic trick being performed. One player says, “You’re holding a suited 8-10 and I’m not paying off your straight.” And sure enough, [...]

To quote Doyle Brunson, “No-limit hold’em is the Cadillac of poker games.” Until 2006, the only book available to new players who wanted to get into the game has been David Sklansky’s The Theory of Poker. It’s a great book, but it’s a general book. It runs the gamut [...]

The trouble with all poker books is that they’re full of theory. You read hundreds of pages that tell you how to choose your hands, how to determine your implied odds, and how to interpret betting patterns. There’s so much information crammed into these books that you’d be lucky if you remembered 20% [...]

So you’ve read Harrington’s first book on Texas Hold’em tournaments and are reaping the benefits. Your return on investment has gone up and you know when you need to shove to keep your stack from getting blinded into oblivion, but you feel like something’s missing.
You’re doing well in the early parts of the tournament, [...]

Most people think that poker is poker. They think that the strategy to play winning Texas Hold’em is the same regardless of whether you’re playing cash games, sit ‘n goes, or tournaments. These same people wonder why they can clean up at the cash tables, but get clobbered in tournaments. They can’t [...]