Pro Poker Tips - Your Poker Library

With the explosion of poker’s popularity in the last 5-10 years, a myriad of books on poker have been published. A few are great, a few more are decent, and a lot of them of downright bad. Here’s some quick reviews of the best known titles.

Super System II – This update of the first great poker book keeps most of the key material while updating the sections on non-Hold’em games. It’s a great book, entertaining and informative, and for unusual games like 7 Card Hi-Lo and Triple Draw, it’s the best info out there.

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells – The best book out there on tells. It’s not too well written, but the information is key for anyone who wants to play live and have success.

The Theory of Poker – A classic by David Sklansky, it’s an absolute must-read for the basic theoretical framework of poker analysis. If you could only have one poker book, this should be it.

Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players – Another classic by Sklansky, this is probably the best book out there for Limit Hold’em players. It covers all the important stuff, but the book is a little bit outdated. It was such a good book that it changed how the games were played. For a more updated look, check out Winning in Tough Hold’em Games by Grudzien and Herzog.

Play Poker Like the Pros – Definitely not a classic. Hellmuth shares very little that isn’t common knowledge, and the book is also poorly written. Save your $20 and take a pass.

Ace on the River – Barry Greenstein’s a fabulous player, but he isn’t giving away many secrets in this book. It’s a nice looking book, but it’s more about being a pro than real poker strategy. While it’s not a complete waste of money, it’s definitely not on my top ten.

Harrington on Hold’em Vol. I-III – This is the collection on tournament poker. All the key aspects are covered in the different volumes: early stage play, late stage, final table. Harrington is a good writer who really knows he stuff and doesn’t withhold any info.

The Mathematics of Poker – This book by Chen and Ankenman is a masterpiece in many ways. Unfortunately, it requires a very high level of math knowledge, it’s extremely technical. The book outlines game theory applications of poker, and it does so methodically and completely. If you can get through the book, you’ll come out with a very different understanding of the game. Be warned though, if you didn’t do some college-equivalent level math, it will be a struggle.