Your Poker Library? (1 Viewer)

[GoStumpy]

I just bought a few books and am excited to have a library section dedicated to poker...

Share yours if you want!

Mine, missing Theory of Poker and Harrington on Holdem Tournaments(at home)

These all arrived today

 

[ushallnotraise]

I always found that a lot of poker books are overrated and outdated, however there are a few that I think are very important for anyone wanting to improve their game. They are:

1) The Theory of Poker
2) Caro's Book of Poker Tells
3) Super/System 2
4) Harrington On Hold 'Em
5) Hold 'Em Poker For Advanced Players

SS2 is a fantastic book for anyone wanting to learn optimal play for O8, Stud8 and Lowball games. The original SS is only worth getting for Chip Reese's analysis of 7CS.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Pardon the so-so photo; my poker books are in a bookshelf that's in an awkward place to photograph.

The two in the upper-left are Harrington on Cash Games. Under those are Reading Poker Tells by Zachary Elwood. Bottom-left is The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen. The one being held together with packing tape and a binder clip is the second copy of The Theory of Poker that I've owned. (The other one fell apart completely, if I remember correctly. It's not that I read it so much that it falls apart, but that the binding glue they used is barely good enough to survive one reading.) The rest should be visible in the photo.

I also have High-Low Split Poker for Advanced Poker and Caro's Book of Poker Tells out on loan with people who will probably never return them. There may be another one or two I'm forgetting that are elsewhere.

 

[AdamAAAA]

I only have three. I'm looking to buy more if there are any current books worth buying for NLHE Tournament players.

• The Theory of Poker
• Harrington on Hold'em
• Super System 2

 

[GoStumpy]

I've heard kill everyone is one of the 'must have' tournament books...

 

[Max D]

Will take a picture of the physical books, but since I am at work I can get my Kindle poker books.
For some reason the Cloutier book cover is wrong, it is his book on Omaha.
For

 

[Joe Harris]

Here's my 'gambling section' in no particular order. The first poker book I owned was 'Hold 'em Poker' by Sklansky & Malmuth, mid-right. The brown cover book on the right side is a 2nd edition Super System I got from a used book store.

 

[Adam Crowley]

The two books that I have read and recommend to anyone wanting to get better are Will Tiptons books "Expert Heads Up" Vol 1 and 2.

Very high level books that introduce a lot of GTO concepts. I have read probably 10 or so poker books, all garbage.

These books require you to do alot of work to get anything out of them, but teach you how to get better at NLHE.

I haven't read the mathematics of poker but I have heard it covers similar concepts

 

[jbutler]

Sold all my strategy books a while back, but kept those that reward repeated reads:

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
A Rubber Band Story by Tommy Angelo
Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon by John Fox
How to Hustle Home Poker by John Fox
Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein

Basically all the meta-/mental game and "lifestyle" poker books. Plus a bunch of "poker" books that are really biographies or autobiographies or literary nonfiction like:

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Cowboys Full by James McManus
One of a Kind by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Blood Aces by Doug Swanson
Check Raising the Devil by Mike Matusow
The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez
Whale Hunting In the Desert by Deke Castleman

...and probably a few more I can't remember at the moment.

 

[Max D]

 

[bonesnjnts]

Sold all my strategy books a while back, but kept those that reward repeated reads:

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
A Rubber Band Story by Tommy Angelo
Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon by John Fox
How to Hustle Home Poker by John Fox
Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein

Basically all the meta-/mental game and "lifestyle" poker books. Plus a bunch of "poker" books that are really biographies or autobiographies or literary nonfiction like:

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Cowboys Full by James McManus
One of a Kind by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Blood Aces by Doug Swanson
Check Raising the Devil by Mike Matusow
The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez
Whale Hunting In the Desert by Deke Castleman

...and probably a few more I can't remember at the moment.

I have never heard of those john fox books—what’s the story on them?
looked on eBay and amazon—admit they look interesting

 

[palindrome]

Sold all my strategy books a while back, but kept those that reward repeated reads:

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
A Rubber Band Story by Tommy Angelo
Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon by John Fox
How to Hustle Home Poker by John Fox
Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein

Basically all the meta-/mental game and "lifestyle" poker books. Plus a bunch of "poker" books that are really biographies or autobiographies or literary nonfiction like:

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Cowboys Full by James McManus
One of a Kind by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Blood Aces by Doug Swanson
Check Raising the Devil by Mike Matusow
The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez
Whale Hunting In the Desert by Deke Castleman

...and probably a few more I can't remember at the moment.

Elements of Poker is excellent stuff. It deserves more love.

I'll have to check out a few of the others on your list.

 

[jbutler]

I have never heard of those john fox books—what’s the story on them?
looked on eBay and amazon—admit they look interesting

They are fantastic! He was a draw player from California from the old days before NLHE was the cash game of choice. He has all kinds of fantastic advice and lots of great stories and anecdotes in both of these books. A fair amount of the How To Hustle Home Poker is advice you ought not take since it involves what most would regard as cheating, but there's a ton of other great metagame stuff in both books.

I bought Play Poker... a while ago and was lamenting that How To Hustle Home Poker was ridiculously expensive in hard copy and my wife must have been listening and found a copy for a reasonable amount some place and bought it for me. She got lucky and the copy she found had a nice inscription from Fox to the original owner who must have written to him praising Play Poker... I haven't tried the phone number, but who knows - might still work!

 

[pokerplayingpisces]

Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Cowboys Full by James McManus
Blood Aces by Doug Swanson

I've read these three! Fantastic books! Blood Aces is by far my favorite. The Benny Binion story is very interesting!

 

[jbutler]

I've read these three! Fantastic books! Blood Aces is by far my favorite. The Benny Binion story is very interesting!

Funnily enough, that's the only book on that list that I haven't yet read. I'll have to move it to the front of my list because Benny's story makes up some of my favorite parts of both Positively Fifth Street and Cowboys Full.

I thought I remembered tepid reviews of Blood Aces, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I'll have to get to it sooner rather than later and find out for myself.

 

[jbutler]

I have never heard of those john fox books—what’s the story on them?
looked on eBay and amazon—admit they look interesting

They are fantastic! He was a draw player from California from the old days before NLHE was the cash game of choice. He has all kinds of fantastic advice and lots of great stories and anecdotes in both of these books. A fair amount of the How To Hustle Home Poker is advice you ought not take since it involves what most would regard as cheating, but there's a ton of other great metagame stuff in both books.

I bought Play Poker... a while ago and was lamenting that How To Hustle Home Poker was ridiculously expensive in hard copy and my wife must have been listening and found a copy for a reasonable amount some place and bought it for me. She got lucky and the copy she found had a nice inscription from Fox to the original owner who must have written to him praising Play Poker... I haven't tried the phone number, but who knows - might still work!

BTW I was just looking for something unrelated and stumbled across this 2+2 thread about "Play Poker..." There are a couple of interesting posts worth quoting. First one evidently originally posted by Mike Caro on RGP in the 90s:

John Fox is -- by the way -- a brilliant tactician, but he wrote another book called, "How to Hustle Home Poker." It is partly about my "exploits" as a schemer and hustling, even beyond the poker tables. But most of the tales come from John's own experiences, I think. Anyway, I didn't do most of the things he gives me credit for, and wouldn't have felt comfortable doing some of them. ASQ is also mentioned in that book, if I remember correctly.

Fox is now a regular on the bridge circuit -- one of the top players -- and ASQ is married and lives in the Los Angeles area. ASQ plays most often at Commerce, but has tended to move from club to club throughout the years. He is one of the truly great draw poker players and among my most memorable characters, as is John Fox. Hope this answers your question.

And then another from a 2+2 poster who claims to have had some contact with Fox:

John Fox was a brilliant bridge player. I played with him both as a partner and as an opponent. He lived in Long Beach, CA. He was a brilliant tactician and a winning draw poker player. He used the fact that most people disliked him to his advantage at the tables. He was also a bigot, a woman-hater and grossly overweight. The last time I saw him was at a bridge table and he weighed well over 400 pounds. I also heard that he is dead, but this is unconfirmed.

Sounds like a fun guy! Still, the books are phenomenal and beyond worth the time and money (as evidenced by limon's post in the above thread: "best book evarrrrrrrrrrrrr".)

 

[Ellasdaddy]

Sold all my strategy books a while back, but kept those that reward repeated reads:

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
A Rubber Band Story by Tommy Angelo
Play Poker, Quit Work and Sleep Till Noon by John Fox
How to Hustle Home Poker by John Fox
Ace on the River by Barry Greenstein

Basically all the meta-/mental game and "lifestyle" poker books. Plus a bunch of "poker" books that are really biographies or autobiographies or literary nonfiction like:

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by Michael Craig
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Cowboys Full by James McManus
One of a Kind by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Blood Aces by Doug Swanson
Check Raising the Devil by Mike Matusow
The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez
Whale Hunting In the Desert by Deke Castleman

...and probably a few more I can't remember at the moment.

I now have a new reading list to get through. Who needs to read for classes anyhow?!

 

[links_slayer]

currently giving this a read. results tbd.

 

[bonesnjnts]

BTW I was just looking for something unrelated and stumbled across this 2+2 thread about "Play Poker..." There are a couple of interesting posts worth quoting. First one evidently originally posted by Mike Caro on RGP in the 90s:



And then another from a 2+2 poster who claims to have had some contact with Fox:



Sounds like a fun guy! Still, the books are phenomenal and beyond worth the time and money (as evidenced by limon's post in the above thread: "best book evarrrrrrrrrrrrr".)

I'm on a quest for both fox books.

 

[jbutler]

I'm on a quest for both fox books.

If you're not too concerned about condition, they're both easily had on either eBay or Amazon for $30ish plus shipping.

The thrill of the hunt isn't quite as thrilling in the 21st century unfortunately...

EDIT: Now that I'm back in the office I can more easily post links to the eBay listing for Play Poker... and the Amazon used listings for both Play Poker... and How to Hustle...

Hope you enjoy them!

 

[jbutler]

And though I did sell my strat books and even though there are undoubtedly better volumes on hold 'em and even though this is a book on LHE rather than NLHE, I have to say (admit) that Small Stakes Hold 'Em by Ed Miller contributed tremendously to my game when I was first learning hold 'em in 2005ish.

It was released in 2004 before most other serious cash game books. And despite it being a LHE book, it gets you familiar with some basic concepts and fundamental tenets of poker analysis in a hold 'em format that I found to be useful even in big bet games. Probably the only book that I've sold that I wouldn't mind reading again now just to see if anything in it holds up at all.

 

[AdamAAAA]

Added all these to my Kindle library! About 11 new books to read!

 

[bonesnjnts]

And though I did sell my strat books and even though there are undoubtedly better volumes on hold 'em and even though this is a book on LHE rather than NLHE, I have to say (admit) that Small Stakes Hold 'Em by Ed Miller contributed tremendously to my game when I was first learning hold 'em in 2005ish.

It was released in 2004 before most other serious cash game books. And despite it being a LHE book, it gets you familiar with some basic concepts and fundamental tenets of poker analysis in a hold 'em format that I found to be useful even in big bet games. Probably the only book that I've sold that I wouldn't mind reading again now just to see if anything in it holds up at all.

happy to trade ed miller's book for how to hustle--just as a loan of course
hey, if i make it out to louisville we could switch then
(sheesh--im feeling cheap---funny what things make me pinch pennies)
just bought the play poker earlier today before you posted--thanks anyhoo

 

[jbutler]

happy to trade ed miller's book for how to hustle--just as a loan of course
hey, if i make it out to louisville we could switch then
(sheesh--im feeling cheap---funny what things make me pinch pennies)
just bought the play poker earlier today before you posted--thanks anyhoo

Thanks for the offer, but I'll probably just buy Small Stakes since it's so cheap used.