I was going through my old poker book collection the other day and realized that I’ve read FAR too many poker books, some good some bad. To spare you having to sift through the mountains of poker literature that I’ve had to endure, here is my list of the best 10 poker books to read. Today we’ll go through the bottom five, starting with #6.
6. “Caro’s Book of Poker Tells”
Mike Caro, the “Mad Genius of Poker”, has had different incarnations of this book around for many, many years now, and its still as viable today as when it was first written. While most top level amateurs and pros provide almost no information (Tells) at the table, “Poker Tells” helps you easily identify hand moments, facial expressions, and even posture clues that you can use to your advantage to determine whether your opponents hand is strong or weak. While the book does discuss finding tells in other forms of poker such as Draw Poker and Stud, most Hold ‘em players fill find this a enjoyable read.
7. “Play Poker Like Johnny Chan”
If you’ve ever wanted to play like 10 WSOP Bracelet winner Johnny Chan, then your book has arrived. If you’re a strict Hold ‘Em player, you’ll have to flip passed the sections on Stud, Omaha (Both High and Low), to get to the Hold ‘Em sections. At 240 pages, it is not as thick a read as the monstrous Super System 2, yet Chan does manage to get his point and strategy across in fewer pages than most could. For the poker player that most own any decent instructional manual
8. Hold ‘Em Poker for Advanced Players
Well before poker hit it big on TV and everyone with glasses and headphones on signed book deals, David Sklansky was one of the foremost experts on poker instructional and teaching. “Hold ‘Em Poker for Advanced Players”, when applied to the # of new players there are today, will actually benefit just about anyone looking to grind it out in the mid-level to high level limit games. Tournament players won’t find much help here (He wrote an entire book just on tournament play), but for the typical casino/online player that’s looking to make a profit, you can’t go wrong.
9. “The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time”
While not a straightforward strategy guide on poker, this retelling by Michael Craig of the Richest Poker Game ever, when Billionaire Andy Beal took on the world’s best poker players, provides mental, emotional, and professional insight to the way these players think when there are literally millions of real dollars on the line. With top level pro’s including Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harman and the Godfather of Poker himself, Doyle Brunson each taking their turn against Beal, it provides a awe-inspiring read as you try to imagine what it would be like with $10,000,000 of your own money sitting on the table in front of you, all of it up for grabs.
10. 52 Tips for Texas Hold ‘em Poker
Published and written by Card Player Magazine founder and owner Barry Shulman, “52 Tips” is not just a bunch of one-liner poker tips that you can breeze through in 10 minutes. Each tip is thoroughly detailed and explained, and the way in which the book was complied makes it much easier to recall the information learned in as opposed to a giant 500 page poker book that’s hard to follow. As a gift for the aspiring poker player, this is a must.
