Poker Books - Best Poker Books
Find the best poker books for you, with excerpts and reviews. And buy with confidence from Amazon.com
- Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen
Amazon's bestselling poker book, with 51 five-star reviews... and counting! Gus Hansen is a well-know poker pro, whose writing combines useful information and instructions with an easy-to-read style, almost like a novel. From the 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."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "Like a great teacher, Hansen makes poker fun. He puts the reader in his head as he debates his next move. It's so witty, sometimes deadpan, and funny I couldn't put it down."
- "While pros making videos of their poker tournament victories are common online, this is the first time a serious player has explained an entire tournament in print -- a live brick-and-mortar tournament!"
- "Everybody who rates this book highly is right. It's one of the better poker books around, especially at this price. Like they all say, it's excellent because Gus Hansen recorded his fresh thoughts into a voice recorder during a tournament (which he won!) and later compiled those thoughts (very honest and not self-serving) into this book."
- The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition (Paperback)
26 five-star reviews and Amazon's second-bestselling poker book. Compiled from the thoughts and writings of the Full Tilt Poker pro's, this is not just another poker strategy book but brings ideas to improve your poker (especially your poker tournament play) that you won't have read in every other book. From the description -
"The professionals of Full Tilt Poker include the best and most famous poker players in the world. Their accomplishments are unparalleled, with countless World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour championships to their names and well in excess of $100 million in winnings in private games. Now, this group of poker legends has banded together to create THE FULL TILT POKER STRATEGY GUIDE, which will stand as an instant classic of the genre and is sure to become the industry standard."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "I was suspicious of this book and wasn't sure it would include any new information that isn't in other poker books (Harrington or Sklansky and Malmuth). Many poker books rehash concepts (play tight early, more aggressive later). This book has several new concepts I haven't read before."
- "This is destined to become one of the "must have" poker books. Brunson's Super System (I and II) covers the spectrum of poker as played in ring games at casinos. This volume is the counterpart for tournament play."
- "This is the type of book I hate to recommend to other players. It just flat out gives away too much information... Novices and those of us who have only been playing hold'em for 5 years or less could spend another 10 years on the felt to ever absorb this much knowledge. I own 50+ poker books and countless DVD's. This is among the top 3."
- The Theory of Poker (Paperback) by David Slansky
80 five-star reviews on Amazon! This book is a classic amongst poker books. Perhaps not the best for the beginner - wait till you've been playing a few months and learnt the basics of poker, then read this to take your poker-playing to the next level. Also recommended for experienced poker players wanting a new angle, or a little inspriration to refresh their game. From the 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 best book ever written on poker."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "It's not the easiest reading, but the language therein will be used by most serious players of the game in discussions away from the table. Get 'Poker for Dummies' by Lou Krieger and Richard Harroch first, as well as a basic text for your favorite game, like 'Winning Low-Limit Hold'Em' by Lee Jones. After a few months of play, open this book to reevaluate your game and what you thought you understood about poker."
- "Sklansky's The Theory of Poker has generally been reguarded as a classic since its initial release. Along with Doyle Brunson's Super System and Mike Caro's Book of Poker Tells these three book were the the 1-2-3 knockout combo of poker books. Super System covered many main types of poker specifically, Caro's Book of Tells covered much of the psychology of poker, but Sklansky's Theory of Poker was quite different."
- "I prefer later titles by this author but the valuable information in here should not be bypassed. Contained in ALL their titles: The best advice backed up with easy to understand examples. Contains the least amount of dubious advice of any poker text. Skylansky and Malmouth will effect a huge difference in your poker fortunes."
- Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play (Paperback) by Dan Harrington
215 five-star reviews! Texas Holdem Poker is arguably the most popular poker variation, featuring on so many of the televised tournaments that have made the game so popular recently. This books gives you a behind-the-scenes, warts-and-all description of what it really takes to win a Texas Holdem Poker tournament. From the description -
"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. Harrington s 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."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "The book is laid out well for learning. Each chapter starts with a discussion of the topic, touching on the theory. There are several example situations with the authors' answers and detailed reasoning, as well as the merits of alternative plays. Following each chapter there are problems, mostly from real hands. It provides a diagram of the table, the chip counts for each player, your knowledge of the opponents, etc... all the relevant information."
- "Every time I read a 'poker book', my play seems to suffer until I can figure out how to incporate the new thoughts I have with my style of play. Not true with this book - in some instances my style of play felt 'validated', and in others, I learned where my style of thinking was differing from a 'professional'."
- "I bought this book the other day and was rather skeptical about how good it would be, but, now that I finished it, I can honestly say that Harrington on Hold `em is the best book on poker that I have ever read. Am I over-exaggerating? No. The secret of this manual is that, while he expresses many of the same thoughts and ideas as other poker players/writers, he is far superior to them in the teaching of technique and strategy."
- The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success (Paperback)
Only 17 five-star reviews so far, but this book is high in Amazon's list of bestselling poker books. From the other books you'll get the technical information about how to play the game of poker successfully, with poker stratgey and tactics advice. But this book gives you the other essential asset for winning consistently at poker - your mindset! From the description -
"What "secret" separates top poker players from poker wannabes? Is it zen-like mind-reading skills, a computer-like brain or thousands of hours of play? No. It is a series of established approaches and behaviors that enables these experts to bring their "A" game to the table session after session, regardless of short-term results. In this groundbreaking book, Taylor and Hilger lay bare the secrets of the Poker Mindset: seven core attitudes and concepts that ensure you have the optimal emotional, psychological, and behavioral framework for playing superior poker."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "At first glimpse, this book appears to be not much different from a lot of other 'poker psychology' books on the market. However, after delving in and devouring the book, it offered much more than I expected. This is not a book that talks about reading opponents or taking advantage of their weaknesses, rather it takes the opposite approach: It tells you how to read yourself and avoid allowing your opponents to take advantage of you."
- "If you play poker for fun OR if you think you're good enough to turn pro, this book is a "Must Read!" It's not another "how-to." There are plenty of those. And, if you're like me, you know that poker playing skill is all relative. If you already know about "pot odds", probablities, "premium hands", betting after the flop, and all the other technical stuff, then read this book before you play another hand. Sure, you will already know some of this stuff intuitively. But even if you do, this book is good reinforcement!"
- "There are quite a few good books out there about the mechanics of poker play (I recommend any of Dan Harrington's books) -- where you can read about pot odds and late-position versus early-position play and all that -- and there are also good books out there about the psychology of poker play. I have read only two books devoted to the mental aspect of the game, but "The Poker Mindset" ranks among the best treatises about the psychological mindset poker players need to develop to improve their game."
- Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent's Guide to Decoding Poker Tells (Paperback)
29 five-star reviews. No list of poker books would be complete without at least one title from Phil Hellmuth! Love him or loathe him, he is one of the biggest characters in the poker tournament circuit, and one the all the poker TV producers want on their program. In this book, Hellmuth is teamed with Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence agent, specializing in non-verbal communications. From the description -
"Every great player knows that success in poker is part luck, part math, and part subterfuge. While the math of poker has been refined over the past 20 years, the ability to read other players and keep your own "tells" in check has mostly been learned by trial and error.
But now, Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer specializing in nonverbal communication and behavior analysis—or, to put it simply, a man who can tell when someone's lying—offers foolproof techniques, illustrated with amazing examples from poker pro Phil Hellmuth, that will help you decode and interpret your opponents' body language and other silent tip-offs while concealing your own. You'll become a human lie detector, ready to call every bluff—and the most feared player in the room."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "This book is very good. It does a very good job of laying the groundwork for the psychology and physiology behind tells. It explains the body's natural tendency to react to various situations as a function of the biology of the brain and thousands of years of evolution. It also takes the reader through several learning excercises that will help increase awareness of important things to observe and additionally help the reader to be less "readable" himself. Additionally, it is well organized and well written."
- "Too many books of this general type are fluffed up with a lot of rhetoric about why we should care about the subject; there's only a little of that here, before the author dives right in. Navarro provides a good catalog of unconscious tells to look for, hints on how to distinguish those from acting, and a good method for sealing yourself off from broadcasting tells (hint: watch Hoyt Corkins play). I was pleased to see that he discusses how to put tells in context and doesn't exaggerate their importance."
- "Navarro knows the subject of nonverbal behaviors (tells) very well. It has been his job to know what the other guy was going to do or what he is trying to hide for over 25 years. He knows all the tells and why we exhibit these tells. He gives you all this information in the book and even how to hide your own tells--well, at least conceal them enough to save you money."
- Earn $30,000 per Month Playing Online Poker: A Step-By-Step Guide to Single Table Tournaments (Paperback)
Only two five-star reviews, and mixed comments by the reviewers. But this is the bestselling book specifically covering online poker and online poker tournaments - perhaps due to the claim in the title. Check the reviews and make your own decision on this one! From the description -
"Catering specifically to no-limit Texas Hold ’Em sit-n-go (SNG) online poker players, this is the essential guide for those looking to master the game without having to learn complex and confusing theories. Based on a group of university students’ experience playing—and winning at—online poker, this handbook illustrates how to take a small initial investment and turn it into hundreds of thousands of dollars by following specific steps and guidelines. Instead of bogging players down in the mathematics behind the game, the information is doled out on a need-to-know basis based on skill and limit levels that guide players on a progressive winning path."
Excerpts from the reviews -
- "The book is very typical of many books. Big claims with little and less than honest information. All the standard things you get from a bogus book on poker is here from the standard chapter on "How to join a poker site!" I think that chapter is in every poker book that is filler based rather than substance based. Still I read on hoping for this book to deliver it's outrageous claim. The strategy in this book is very basic and really doesn't go in depth into many of the situations that are going to define someone from being a winning SNG player from an average donkey or predictable nit. I disagree with so much of it and the author is nowhere to be found to even defend some of the things he recommends."
- "Totally agree with the above review. Moshman's book is vastly better. This is like reading a Phil Hellmuth book for a no limit tourney instead of a Sklansky one."
- "Excellent practical advice on winning single table tournaments. I wanted to find some guidance of a step by step format that would increase my winning ratio and show me errors that I was making. Knowledge is inexpensive. Ignorance is costly. This book is great value."
