Must Read(Poker Books)........

JHickle · #1 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 07:57 AM

I am not one to sit down and read a book.....would rather wait till the movie comes out.
Looking to improve my poker skills and wanted to know what would be the best one or two books to read to improve poker skills. I play mostly tournament NLHE if that makes a difference.

Thanks

jdunford · #2 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 08:08 AM

I'd recommend Harrington on Hold'em (3 volumes, start with v.1). Also, pretty much anything by Sklansky (of 2+2) is worth reading.

A-Ro · #3 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 08:08 AM

The Harrington on Holdem series....without a doubt.

wiploc · #4 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 01:58 PM

I'll add another vote for the Harrington books. They're easy to read, and have a lot of valuable information. I think you'll find reading them is fun rather than a lot of work.

maniack · #5 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 04:29 PM

In addition to Sklasky (esp. his new NL book, which is excellent, if dense with game theory) and Harrington, I think Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is excellent and is the book I recommend to newbies or people without much interest in the more difficult math and probability theory stuff. His other books (the Little Blue Book and Little Black Book) are okay, but the "green" is the best, imo, and definitely the book for you if you play tourneys.

bolgenmod · #6 (**permalink**) 02-16-2007, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHickle

I am not one to sit down and read a book.....would rather wait till the movie comes out.
Looking to improve my poker skills and wanted to know what would be the best one or two books to read to improve poker skills. I play mostly tournament NLHE if that makes a difference.

Thanks

If you are looking for tournament NLHE books and don't particularly like to read, you really MUST read Harrington on Holdem as others have said. The HOH books are pretty clearly written and frankly, the best books out there on tournament poker. And you can't just read Volume 1 -- Volume 2 deals with essential concepts that are not covered in V1 (things like the ratio of the blinds to the chipstacks). I would say that Volume 3 is optional: it consists of a series of hand quizzes like those found in V1-2, which you may or may not love. (And you may or may not agree with the answers.)

Maniack recommends Phil Gordon's Little Green Book, which is a good choice, but not the best, I think. One problem is that the LGB only scratches the surface of NL play. (And it discusses cash games as well.) It is clearly written as well and generally a quicker read than HOH (perhaps because HOH has waaay more depth). It is definitely worth getting, but I would not at all call it essential.

Finally, jdunford is also right that anything by Sklansky is probably worth reading. And some people will no doubt recommend the Theory of Poker. But TOP is more theoretically oriented: he uses examples from all forms of poker and many of the concepts are much more applicable to limit ring play. Not to mention that it is a difficult read, and not just because of the topics, but because his prose is famously awkward and sometimes impossible to understand.

And btw, although poker books are poker gear (I guess), most of the posts about poker books have been in the strategy forum. You might want to look there and see what other advice has been given in the past.