On the reading shelf

I enjoy reading poker books. So of course I'm brining a few along for the plane flight and the hotel room. I'll tell you which ones at the end of the post, but first a brief review of my favorite poker books.

Poker books generally come in four flavors: strategy books, non-fiction books about poker culture, biographies, and fiction books. Here are my thoughts on each genre:



Fiction books: I don't read them. 98% of them are stupid, and none of them are as good as the best poker stories told via film. Like Rounders or The Cinncinati Kid. So don't waste your time.

Biographies: I've never read a poker biography. Don't really interest me. The one I would consider reading is the one about Stu Unger, but someone told me it wasn't very good.

Strategy books: Man, there must be a thousand of these out right now. Go over to Barnes and Noble and you'll see what I mean. The sad fact is that I own about two dozen of the thousand, but truth be told, there are only about 10 books you'll ever want to read. The rest are either just reprinting stuff you can find elsewhere or, in many cases, simply giving you outright bad information. Even the best books I've learned not to treat as Bibles; I don't think there exists a perfect poker text. You also have to decide if you prefer strategic or tactical books, because they are very different. I prefer strategic book; my brother-in-law, himself an excellent player, tends to prefer tactical books. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

That said, here are my five favorite strategy books:

1) Seven Card Stud for Adavnced Players- Honestly, anything published by 2+2 publishing can be vouched for as at least reasonable to read - and they have books on most poker variants, all written by top theorists like Sklansky, Malmuth, and Ray Zee. The 2+2 collection has its disadvantages - one being that they are way too strategic and not nearly tactical enough - but on the whole I think they are much better than anything else. This volume in particular is special to me. It's the only poker book that I can assuredly say has had a five-digit effect on my financial fortunes as a player. I got it for my birthday when I was 17, and I've probably read it 150 times (I upgraded to the "21st century edition" when it came out in 1999). It changed me from a nickel-dime high school player into someone who thought about the game in the proper way.

2) Harrington on Hold'em, Vol. I, II, and III - These are the only books I've ever read on the topic of tournament poker that I thought were worth much. And they are great. Volume II is probably the single most important mass publication of "what the pros know" in the history of poker. It will change your game, period. (It's a 2+2 publishing book).

3) The Theory of Poker - Everything that Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players taught me to intuitively beleive, this book lays out in theoretical detail. And like 10 times more. If you play limit games and you haven't read this, you're simply costing yourself money. I guarantee that the "heads up on the river" chapter will instantly alter your bottom line if you're an average amateur cash-game player. (Also a 2+2 book).

4) The Tao of Poker - A lot of people bash this book, but I think it's great. A huge hurdle in poker is keeping yourself in the right frame of mind, and this book will help you do that. Also has a companion, Zen and the Art of Poker, which is also good.

5) Caro's book of tells - Not the greatest strategy guide, but it's sure to make you pick up on at least one or two tells in your weekly home game. And nothing - I mean nothing - is more fun that having a rock-solid tell on one of your buddies.

6) Pot-limit and no-limit poker - This is the best big-bet poker book around, and Bob Cioffone is one of the few non-2+2 authors that I trust (His other book - middle limit hold'em - is well worth a read). I haven't read the new Sklansky book on no-limit yet, so for right now this is the best theoretical treatment of big bet poker.

Then, of course, there's Super/System, the book that started it all. I don't really like it. The Stud section is good, but most of the book is hopelessly dated. I'm glad I own it, but I would almost never look at it.

I'll probably bring my Harrington books to Vegas. Maybe Tao of Poker as well.

Non-fiction poker culture books: As fun as strategy books are, this category is the best. By far. Again, there's a lot of crap in this genre, but there are some real diamonds. Skip anything written by a famous poker player. Those are all garbage. Almost all of the best books in this genre are written not by top players, but by struggling writers who also happen to be semi-pro poker degenerates. It gives them a real street cred and a real gritty feel.

Here, in no particular order, are a bunch that I like:

1) The Biggest Game in Town - my dad bought this book when it came out in the early 80's, and I read it in 8th or 9th grade. Just an amazing read, detailing the absurd world that the Vegas poker pros live in, set against the backdrop of the 1981 WSOP at Binion's.

2) Big Deal - The author decides to live as a poker pro for a year. 'nuff said.

3) Positively 5th Street - the modern day version of Biggest Game in Town. The author gets Esquire magazine to commission a story about the 2000 WSOP, uses his advance to buy into a satellite, wins the satellite, and goes on to make the final table of the main event. Great retelling of a story that basically wrote itself.

4) Poker faces - A more scholarly book that does a psychological analysis of the regulars in a California card room in the early 1980's.

5) Take me to the river - Just bought it this week. A NYC writer and semi-pro player in the underground card clubs goes to the 2005 WSOP. Supposedly, it's as good as (or better than) Positively 5th street, I'll let you know.

There are tons of other books: I liked Poker Nation ok, and I really enjoyed The Making of Poker Player, although I doubt it will become a classic. The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King is also decent. Some of the older supposed classics - like Confessions of a Winning Poker Player and The Education of a Poker Player - didn't live up to the hype, in the same way that The Boys of Summer falls short in the baseball genre. It's not that they aren't good books, their just dated and overhyped.

So that's my shelf in Vegas: Take me to the river, a couple Harrington books, and maybe my Tao.