"Stage 1 of the Diploma is based on the first two Harrington books. They represent the perfect start and will help you avoid embarassing yourself in your first tournament."
"Stage 2 is based on 5 books, to be read in any order. Theory of Poker is all about theory rather than giving you an off-the-peg strategy. Learn why the strategies in other books work."
"Something very different. Learn about playing styles: aggression vs passivity, looseness vs tightness. But also includes some excellent advice on verbalising your analysis."
"Biggest lessons from this book are the importance of position and aggression. It taught me a lot but is the only book on the reading list that I never find myself going back to."
"Stage 3 now, and time to specialise. You can go for this book, which draws together all of Stage 2 into a single strategy for single table Sit-n-Gos...."
"One more book for stage 3. For sit-n-goers there are essential ideas on application of ICM model to bubble play and to last 3 play. The Chen/Ankerman push/fold tables (see below) also appear."
"Some possible extra study. This deals with everything except the cards, taking a step on from Schoonmaker. Some very good advice in here about note taking."
"A very optional extra. No fun if you've not got a maths degree but the page with tables for optimal heads up jam and fold strategies is useful if you find yourself h2h with a better player."
"Finally, on to stuff outside the course of reading. The no limit holdem in Super System is supposed to be definitive, but I'm not buying a book that thick if I'm only interested in one chapter!"
"This is a great read and has lots of useful stuff, but nothing that's not covered by the course of reading. Only worth a go if you want an alternative version of many of Harrington's lessons."
"This book is disjointed and very heavy going. What good ideas it has tend to be covered elsewhere in the Diploma (mainly in Theory of Poker) or only applicable to cash games."
"Word of warning. Some books on holdem are about limit holdem, so don't waste your money. This one's an example. Easy mistake to make (but not one that I've ever made)."