Best Books To Learn Poker
Poker is an exciting game. To the inexperienced, it is a simple card game that predicates around the luck of the draw more than anything else. To the expert, however, it is a nuanced experience full of strategy. It is played for fun or extraordinarily high stakes.
Even if you play Poker on a regular basis, you may not understand it or know how to improve the likelihood that you will be victorious. There are hundreds of professional Poker players that have decided to share their strategies and know-how through tell all books.
What are the best poker books to read for tournaments? When it comes to tournament play, “ Harrington on Holdem ” – Volumes 1, 2, and 3, remain one of the best resources. With detailed explanations of important concepts and real-life poker problems, these books will help you take your tournament game to a whole new level. EXCLUSIVE POKER BOOKS CONTENT. Get this article as a beautiful, easily save as a PDF or print for daily use. Get a beautiful infographic of the top 10 poker books in 2020. Get a free copy of my popular eBook “21 Secrets to Dominate the Poker Tables Like a Pro“.
- The judges were given a list of 129 of the most popular poker books of all time and were asked to rate a maximum of 10 books: classics that cover everything from the maths to the mental side, the strategy to the psychology. 888 presents: the top 86 poker books of all time!
- Best Books on Poker History Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker by James McManus “Cowboys Full” refers not only to the poker hand of three kings plus another pair of cards, but it also refers to how the game of poker flourished in the western United States.
However, with so many authors and players out there, how do you find the book that will best suit your needs? Luckily for you, we have put in all the hard research already. Our article will provide you with ten of the best Poker books on the market. We also have delved a bit deeper and reviewed three of the books so that you can better find the books that suit your needs.
Top 10 Poker Books Ultimate Table
Picture | Name | Kindle Edition | Price | Rating (1-5) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Jonathan Little's Excelling at No-Limit Hold'em: Leading Poker Experts Discuss How to Study, Play and Master NLHE | Yes | $$$$ | 4.8 | |
2. Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play | Yes | $$$ | 4.7 | |
3. Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments | Yes | $$$ | 4.6 | |
4. The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More. | Yes | $$$ | 4.5 | |
5. Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em | Yes | $$ | 4.5 | |
6. The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One | Yes | $$ | 4.4 | |
7. Doyle Brunson's Super System | Yes | $ | 4.4 | |
8. Every Hand Revealed | Yes | $$ | 4.4 | |
9. Power Hold'em Strategy | Yes | $$$ | 4.3 | |
10. Real Grinders: How to Play Poker for a Living | Yes | $$ | 3.8 |
Puchase Information
Whenever you are trying to read the best Poker books out there, you need to take a few factors into consideration.
Best Books To Learn Poker Reddit
- Poker Type. There are so many different varieties of Poker that you can choose to play. Some of the more popular variations include Texas Hold ‘Em, Five Card Draw, and Seven Card Stud, just to name a few. Depending on the kind of poker you are looking to play, you should look for a Poker pro who specializes in the same type. Making sure of this will give you the best chance of emerging victorious from your games.
- Strategy Type. Based on what kind of Poker you are playing, there will be different strategies that come into play. Make sure that you find a book that focuses on strategies that will be useful to whatever version you choose to play.
- Stakes. The kinds of stakes that you will be playing with will affect the strategies that you use. If you are playing for lower stakes, you might be more willing to try riskier strategies than if you are playing in a higher stakes game.
Top 3 Best Poker Books Reviews
1. Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em
This is one of the best Poker books on the market today. What makes it stand out from the crowd is the depth of knowledge that the book provides to its audience. Instead of only offering insights from one professional Poker player, this book asks a wide array of the world’s top pros their strategies to win at No-Limit Hold ‘Em.
With this great depth of knowledge comes a somewhat higher price than some of the other books we looked at, but this book offers an unparalleled breadth of knowledge and strategy. If you are looking to play and win at NLHE, this book is an indispensable resource.
Summary: This Poker book is outstanding. It offers multiple different strategies provided by a wide array of pros and is an excellent resource to learn and master No-Limit Hold ‘Em.
2. Harrington on Hold ’em Expert Strategy Vol. 1
This book offers more strategies that you can use to increase your chances of winning at No-Limit Hold ‘Em. It offers a broad range of advice in an easy to read and understand format. While it is discussing NLHE, it also delves into the wider world of tournaments. It gives strategies and advice to survive all the way from the first table to the last in a competition.
A cool part of this book is that it is the first one in a series of books that offer excellent advice; this would allow you to extend your understanding and Poker knowledge even further. However, a drawback to this, of course, is that you will need to purchase all three books if you truly want to become a master at No Limit Hold ‘Em.
Summary: This series of books offers excellent insights and advice into the world of NLHE Poker tournaments. However, since you have to buy three different books to get the full breadth of knowledge, this might be a bit too voluminous for some readers.
3. Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker
If you are looking for a plan book that offers high risk-high reward strategies, then this is the Poker book for you. It provides wonderful insights and strategies to use in small stakes tournaments. It will also give you some strategies that might make a big difference in any Poker tournament if you are willing to take the risk.
Best Book To Learn Poker
However, the strategies covered in this book take much greater chances than in any of the others that we reviewed. These plans are great to have in your Poker toolbox, but should not be your first choice for consistent use. Though they most definitely can be effective, we would not recommend you try them all the time, or in higher stakes games.
Summary: The strategies listed within this book are great to keep in the back of your mind, but we would not recommend them for consistent use. They are high risk-high reward strategies that will more than likely cost you as many wins as they gain you.
The rules of poker might be easy, but it is a game which can take a lifetime to master. From live cash games to large-field tournaments, there are a whole host of strategies and psychological nuances to consider – and that’s even before you’ve sat down at the felt.
Fortunately, many of poker’s most successful players have scribbled down their wisdom in book form, giving us mere mortals the chance to learn and perfect their time-tested strategies. “But where to start?” we hear you cry. Don’t worry, we’ve cherry-picked six of the very best poker books to set you on your way…Just don’t forget us when you hit the big time!
1. Harrington on Hold’em, Dan Harrington
Best known for winning the Main Event at the 1995 World Series of Poker, Dan Harrington is a veteran of the game, having amassed nearly $7 million in career earnings over the last 40 years. His book, Harrington on Hold’Em, is the first of three books many pros cite as one of the most influential poker guides ever written.
Taking readers away from the cameras and, instead, into the nitty-gritty world of tournament poker, Harrington shares his time-tested strategies, including how to optimise betting patterns and respond to re-raises. In a nutshell, Hold’em helps you to not only play better but think better as a poker player.
2. Elements of Poker, Tommy Angelo
Every now and again, someone comes along and rips up the rule book. In the case of Tommy Angelo, this manifested itself in the form of Elements of Poker: a 266-page compendium of invaluable poker takeaways. Funny yet stern, light yet weighty, Angelo takes the reader into uncharted territory and asks them to think about things they had perhaps not considered before. Indeed, this isn’t a book about pot odds, hand ranges or percentages: this is a guide to considering professionalism, mindfulness and, what Angelo calls, lopping off the “C-game.”
If you’re looking to battle the psychological and physiological stresses of poker, look no further than this book.
3. Caro’s Book of Poker Tells, Mike Caro
Mike Caro’s Book of Tells is the most influential and highest-ranked volume on the psychology of body language. And for good reason. This tell-all and show-all paperback emphasises how, if poker players want to win consistently, they need to acknowledge, understand and interpret the movements of their opponents.
Caro perhaps explains this best when he says:
“A player gains an advantage if he observes and understands the meaning of another player’s tell, particularly if the poker tell is unconscious and reliable. Sometimes a player may even fake a tell, hoping to induce his opponents to make poor judgments in response to the false poker tell. After all, poker is a game of deception.
The general rule is that weakness usually means strength, and strength usually means weakness. But, you must decide how much weight to give a tell at any given moment. If you make learning tells fun, it will be an ever-changing, exciting part of your poker arsenal.”
From shrugs to eyebrow raises, this book will give you everything you need to interpret body language at the table.
4. Super System, Doyle Brunson
It wouldn’t be a proper list without mentioning the “Godfather of Poker,” now would it? Doyle Brunson’s first book, Super System, is just as legendary as the man who wrote it. Published in 1978, many players consider this book to be the holy grail of poker strategy.
And it’s not just Texas Dolly who gives away his secrets; this book is brimming with expert advice from poker luminaries like Mike Caro, David Reese, Bobby Baldwin, David Sklansky and Joey Hawthorne.
As a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion and a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, there is no one more qualified than Doyle Brunson to take your game to the next level.
5. Every Hand Revealed, Gus Hansen
You need only look as far as Gus Hansen’s total career earnings (more than $10 million!) and three World Poker Tour open titles to know that this is a man with some of the best experience and knowledge in the game.
His book Every Hand Revealed takes you deep into the mind of a loose aggressive player, giving readers an insight into how “The Madman” thinks at the poker table. Some of the topics include: making smart bluffs, raising out of position with bad holdings and how prize structures influence play. It also covers the 300+ hands he played at the Aussie Millions in 2007, where he beat a field of 747 players to win a whopping $1,192,919.
This is a must-read for any players who prefer the entertainment side of poker. If you’re looking for an instructional guide, look to other books.
6. Play Poker Like the Pros, Phil Hellmuth
Where do we even start with Phil Hellmuth? Though he may be one of the most polarising figures in the poker world, there is no denying the “Poker Brat’s” amazing success. In 2015, for instance, Hellmuth captured his record 14th World Series of Poker gold bracelet – a feat no one else has come close to claiming. While that alone should be enough to invest in his book, there’s more.
Play Poker Like the Pros will not only teach you how to play poker games like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and Razz, but you will be given unprecedented access to Hellmuth’s tournament-tested strategies. You will learn how to play against every type of player: from the crazy and unpredictable “Jackal” through to the skilled and meticulous “Lion.”
These “million dollar winning strategies,” as Hellmuth so modestly puts it, are for every level of poker player: whether you’re an online poker newbie or a seasoned tournament pro. Love him or loathe him, Play Poker Like the Pros should feature on any serious poker players’ bookshelf.
Ready to test out your newfound knowledge? Head over to Grosvenor Poker.
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