Good books and why they helped you

[AllEars]

I guess this is a vey basic sort of thread, but I'd like to offer my recommendations on some books and would be eager to hear of other good curriculum.

In general I'd say that most of the books from 2+2 are at least good and many are great. For texas I read Small Stakes Hold'em by Miller, Sklansky and Malmuth as my first book (since friends had taught me the absolute basics already). I'd say it was the book that has influenced mine and countless others style the most. After that I read The Theory of Poker which is *the* book for me. I also flipped through Lee Jones's book for novices and found it ok, if not as good as small stakes.

When I moved over to tournaments from ring games I read Super System by Doyle Brunson (not worth all the hype imho) and Harrington on Hold'em 1 (recommended). Vol. 2 and 3 are still waiting for me

For high-low I'd go no further than Ray Zee's High-Low split poker which is indispensable, although it doesn't cover the basics with enough detail.

For the Hold'em enthusiast and medium/high-stakes-player Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players is pretty much the bible.

The Psychology of Poker by Alan Schoonmaker is also a great read and will improve your game for sure.

But as any veteran can see I've only read the basic poker books and I was wondering what I'm still missing. So any thoughts or recommendations? Tournament Poker for Advanced Players is at least one I'd really like to get my hands on. Santa?!

[Elizabeth26]

Thanks for sharing this information. I am going to order Small Stakes Hold 'em from Amazon. Did you get Tournament Poker for Advanced Players for Christmas?

[honest99]

I fully agree on "Super System" as not such a good book. I guess poker has evolved a bit since than.
For tournament I like the little green one from Phil Gordon. I really like the way he writes, but since I prefer cash game... I'm still looking for a good book, and I have read many.

I find the books so far are just covering people talking about their way of playing tournament.
I want a good analysis of the game.
Game theory is a must!

The sklansky books are ok, but there is a lot of work that could be done here!

[r8rpwr]

I am headed to Half Price Books today (one of my favorite stores ever, LOL) and I am going to try to see if I can find any of these recommendations there. Thanks for the input!

[Fictive]

I've got a small library of hold 'em literature. I'd say that the Theory of poker and Texas hold e'm for advanced players (both by Sklansky) are a must, altough there are people who didn't get anything out of them. My guess is that they didn't really understand what they read.

However, the one book that seriously helped me take a leap forward is Phil Gordon's Little Green Book. I recommend that book to any NL player.

[ExCal]

I have a little extra dough in my paypal account, so im heading over to amazon.com. And I will search some of the books you guy's just typed up, and see which one's for me. Thanks