I just got my new computer today, and I have to admit, I felt I’ve been the most constructive I’ve ever been in the last month. I’ve worked on my poker game, eaten better and I’ve read a few books, both poker and non-poker.
I’m not as big of a reader as my friend, who I’m staying with in Vegas these next few months, but I’ve read my share. I prefer discussing strategies in hand-by-hand situations, but it doesn’t hurt to pick people’s brains, especially those smarter and more experienced than I am — of which there are plenty. There are people who just think on another and higher level than I could ever imagine. Luckily, they seem to find ways to write books.
Poker books can bump you up the learning curve faster than playing 200,000 hands. They can save you some money too, learning about mistakes that people have already made, instead of making them yourself.
Of the three poker books I recently read, two are in the following top 8 list. These are books that can help you become a winning poker player and maybe help you understand why your opponent just four-bet your squeeze play…
Keep in mind, this list is limited to books I’ve read and know about. If you have any suggestions on books I should read, put a comment in on our facebook page and I’ll check it out.
Also if you think I left any out, let me know.
Best Poker Strategy Books
8. Doyle Brunson’s Super System: A Course in Power Poker
By: Doyle Brunson
Description: Super System 2 gathers together the greatest players, theorists, and world champions and expands upon the original with more games, new authors, and most importantly, more professional secrets from the best in the business.
This superstar lineup is led by Doyle Brunson, two-time World Series of Poker Champion, nine-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, and the greatest poker player of all time. His hand-picked roster of expert collaborators includes: Daniel Negreanu, winner of multiple WSOP gold bracelets and 2004 Poker Player of the Year; Lyle Berman, three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, founder of the World Poker Tour, and super-high stakes cash player; Bobby Baldwin, 1978 World Poker Champion and president of Bellagio; Johnny Chan, two-time World Poker Champion and nine-time WSOP gold bracelet winner; Mike Caro, poker’s greatest researcher, theorist, and instructor; Jennifer Harman, the best female player in the history of poker and one of the ten best overall; Todd Brunson, winner of more than 20 tournaments; and Crandell Addington, a no-limit hold-em legend.
Together with the original Super System, hailed by professionals as the most influential book on poker ever written, this two-volume set comprises a full library of the best poker advice, strategies, and professional concepts ever published.
Why I recommend it: This should be the first book you get and when you open it up, skip ahead to the chapters on the less popular games like triple draw and Omaha 8. Sure the original Super System is way out-dated, but the fundamentals are still here, and everyone’s got to start somewhere.
7. Every Hand Revealed
By Gus Hansen
Description: One of professional poker’s most intriguing and fascinating players, Gus Hansen has often been called “The Madman” for his crazy, fearless, aggressive style. But you can’t dispute the fact that this poker superstar knows how to win–and win big. The holder of the inaugural Poker Superstars Invitational title as well as the only player to win three World Poker Tour tournaments, Gus won his fifth major international title when he became the 2007 Aussie Millions Champion, outlasting 747 players and nabbing $1.2 million. Now, for the first time ever, Gus analyzes the hands that he played during the tournament and reveals his secrets for winning in Every Hand Revealed.
Why I recommend it: When I was first putting this list together, I took a look at my library and knew that this book was in my top 8 list. Sure it’s a little bit embarrassing to say I like this book — every one of the professional players I know think Hansen is a donkey. But what I like about it is the chance to see what and how a player thinks — especially one who used to be one of the biggest stars of the game, until he dropped millions online. Understand that each hand and each move he makes is his game. Take a few elements from him — it’s the most valuable part of the book. But for crying out loud, don’t emulate him completely, or you’ll go broke.
6. Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha
By Rolf Slotboom
Description: Pot-Limit Omaha is a fascinating game which is rapidly increasingly in popularity on the back of the current poker boom. However, there is a dearth of quality material giving advice on how to handle all elements of this complex form of poker. Until now…Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha is one of the first books to analyze medium- and high-stakes PLO in great depth. The author, long-time successful PLO cash game player Rolf Slotboom, reveals key information that has never appeared in print before. The following are just some of the topics that are discussed in this ground-breaking book:
- A revolutionary short-stack approach
- Adjustments for big-stack play
- A study on the proper bet size
- Correct seating position
- Blocker play
- The bare ace bluff
- Exploiting your opponents’ specific weaknesses
Finally, the practice hands and the chapter on hand match-ups offer tremendous theoretical and practical advice. This book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to play PLO successfully.
Why I recommend it: There has to be a place for an Omaha book on this list and Slotbloom’s is the best for the beginning and intermediate players looking to try his short-stack strategy. Also, for advanced players, it’s helpful to understand the same short-stack strategy when you see opponents trying to use it. This is a great building block for your Omaha game — a game that’s really profitable right now for the folks who know how to play it.
5. The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One
By David Sklansky
Description: The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky discusses theories and concepts applicable to nearly every variation of the game, including five-card draw (high), seven-card stud, hold ’em, lowball draw, and razz (seven-card lowball stud). This book introduces you to the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, its implications, and how it should affect your play. Other chapters discuss the value of deception, bluffing, raising, the slow-play, the value of position, psychology, heads-up play, game theory, implied odds, the free card, and semibluffing.
Many of today’s top poker players will tell you that this is the book that really made a difference in their play. That is, these are the ideas that separate the experts from the typical players. Those who read and study this book will literally leave behind those who don’t, and most serious players wear the covers off their copies. This is the one of the best book ever written on poker.
Why I recommend it: Sure it’s not the best book if you’re looking for no-limit advice, but to be honest, there are plenty of books out there covering no-limit hold ‘em. This one focuses on limit games, but the concepts are there, and they are by far the most advanced ones you could read in a book today. Want to be a better all-around player? Put this one on your shelf.
4. Harrington on Hold ‘em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
By Dan Harrington
Description: Poker has taken America by storm. But it s not just any form of poker that has people across the country so excited it s No-Limit Hold Em the main event game. And now thanks to televised tournaments tens of thousands of new players are eager to claim their share of poker glory.
Harrington on Hold Em takes you to the part of the game the cameras ignore the tactics required to get through the hundreds and sometimes thousands of hands you must win to make it to the final table. Harringtons sophisticated and time-tested winning strategies, focusing on what it takes to survive the early and middle stages of a No-Limit Hold Em tournament, are appearing here for the first time in print. These are techniques that top players use again and again to get to make it to final tables around the globe.
Now, learn from one of the world s most successful No-Limit Hold Em players how to vary your style, optimize your betting patterns, analyze hands, respond to a re-raise, play to win the most money possible, react when a bad card hits and much, much more.
Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold Em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make it to the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Hold Em, Harrington and 2-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive book on No-Limit Hold Em for players who want to win … and win big.
Why I recommend it: Overall, I think that this is one of the best books to date on tournament hold ‘em. Even though many players regard Harrington as an old-fashioned, tight player, he provides many aggressive and unexpected moves that you can incorporate into your own game. What is also important to realize about this book is that it isn’t strictly for beginners. In fact, it’s best understood by advanced players looking to completely master tournament play.
3. Harrington on Hold ‘em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. II: The Endgame
By Dan Harrington
Description: In the first volume of this series, Harrington on Hold ‘em: Volume I: Strategic Play, Dan Harrington explained how to play in the early phases of tournaments, when most players at the table had plenty of chips, and the blinds and antes were small. This book, Harrington on Hold ‘em: Volume II: The Endgame shows you how to play in the later phases of a tournament, when the field has been cut down, the blinds and antes are growing, and the big prize money is within sight. Harrington shows you how to make moves, handle tricky inflection point plays, and maneuver when the tournament is down to its last few players and the end is in sight. He’s also included a whole chapter on heads-up play, whose strategies up to now have been a closely-guarded secret of the game’s top masters.
Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold ‘em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make it to the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2,576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Hold ‘em, Harrington and two-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive book on no-limit hold ‘em for players who want to win and win big.
Why I recommend it: Since I enjoyed the first book so much, I couldn’t wait for this volume to come out. I wasn’t disappointed. With online sit ‘n go tournaments being so popular these days, shorthanded play becomes commonplace at the end of every event you enter. Harrington does a thorough job of coaching through the need for increased aggression. There’s also a heads-up section that’s great.
If you play tournament poker, this book will definitely expand at least one aspect of your game.
2. Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume I
By Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “Pearljammer” Turner and Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet
Description: Want to win poker tournaments? Now you can learn exactly how consistent winners really do it. Meet PearlJammer, Rizen, and Apestyles. These top guns of tournament poker are frequent winners in today’s highly competitive online scene, as well as in live tourneys. Their collective experience and track record is staggering: more than 35,000 tournaments played, more than 1,000 final tables made, over 200 major wins, and more than $6 million in cashes. The authors are not only consistent winners, but powerful teachers as well. Step-by-step, they reveal their decision-making processes, using hands drawn from actual play not examples contrived to fit a particular poker theory.
Why I recommend it: Not often do you get to go inside the mind of poker players. Normally, the best players write brag books about big scores and big hands they’ve played. Sure it’s entertaining to hear about Johnny Chan’s winning hands from his WSOP main event wins, but it won’t necessarily make me a better player. Here, you get move-by-move explanations from three pros with different styles. If someone I know is looking to move from beginner to advanced, I normally point them in the direction of teaching Web sites, because you get to watch pros play a typical session and hear their thought processes. This book is similar to that experience.
1. Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Volume II
By Eric “Rizen” Lynch, Jon “Pearljammer” Turner and Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet
Description: Are you ready to learn winning ways from today’s true tournament experts?
The authors are not only consistent winners, but powerful teachers as well. Step-by-step, they reveal their decision-making processes, using hands drawn from actual play not examples contrived to fit a particular poker theory.
Reading this book is like attending a master class in tournament poker.
You’ll see the way cutting-edge pros use their wisdom and incredibly extensive experience to analyze almost every poker situation imaginable. Deep-stacked or short-stacked, against single or multiple opponents, you’ll learn the skills that will make you a winner, including:
- When and how to play aggressively or tightly
- When to make moves
- When to make continuation bets and when to hold back
- How to induce and pick off bluffs
- How to accumulate chips without constantly risking your tournament life.
Poker is a fun game, but it’s even more fun when you win. If you want to become a great tournament player, shouldn’t you be learning from the best? Now You can!
Why I recommend it: The only thing that separates Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time and the Harrington on Hold ‘Em series is that the former is more up-to-date, making it a more relevant work – and my top book to read to get better at the game. Also, I prefer to look at the game in scenarios, like “Winning…” does. That’s how I learned to play this game, through experience, and the “Winning…” series adds to my experience without ever moving chips in — and that’s by far been worth the cost of the book.
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