Top 9 Poker Books Of All Time

[scez]

How advance does mike caro's book of tells get? Does it get into things that are not as obvious, or not known by most players? I have seen the clips on his site and they seem pretty basic.

[Dat_Dude]

How advance does mike caro's book of tells get? Does it get into things that are not as obvious, or not known by most players? I have seen the clips on his site and they seem pretty basic.

The book is way more in depth than the video. The cool thing about the video is that you see the tell while it is happening. The detail in the book describes how effective the tell is or how certain you can be if you spot it and compares this to a novice, intermediate, and advanced player.

For example:
Tell: Player looking away from the table while in a hand...acting uninterested -- Meaning they are likely to have a monster:

Against a novice: 85% effective
Against an intermediate: 60% effective...and so on.

So if you spot this tell and you are playing your brother's kids, you can be 85% certain they have a really good hand. If you spot this same tell on, say, Layne Flack, you might only be around 35-40% that it is actually a valid tell.

I think it is a definite MUST have/read for any serious poker player and was the first book I purchased.

[Jefecaminador]

Thats odd, I have Mike Caro's book and I found it to be almost worthless. I'm not saying the book isnt telling the truth, but it seemed like everything he said in there was pretty obvious. Basically you have to determine two things, is the person aware that they're acting, are they acting strong or weak. Weak means strong and strong means weak.

[davepoker]

I think that Small Stakes hold'em by sklansky, malmuth, and some other guy deserves to be on there.

[UtrechtSlim]

Harrington has definitely taught me the skills but no book has affected my poker personality more than

The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

If you're interested in playing the player rather than the cards..

[MrDarling]

I've finally decided to order some books - there are some great deals to be found on ebay.

I'm now ordering 3 from the above list.
just one questions : is "winning low limits" a FL book or a general poker book that will apply to NL as well.
I haven't played almost any FL poker , though I might need to. My poker game leaves a lot to be desired

[AHBrownell]

I don't care much for the Lee Jones Limit Hold'em Book. King Yao's book on limit is far better for learning low limit.

I think Phil Gordon's book being absent here is shocking! That is clearly one of the best poker book ever written.

My list would probably look like (no particular order):

Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1
Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book
Weighing the Odds in Texas Hold'em by King Yao
Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Slansky
Super System
Caro's Book of Tells

I have not read TJ's book, but nobody has told me its a must read. I'm really looking foward to Negraneau's new book on Hold'em and Phil Gordon's second book. I just order Greenstein's book last night, so we'll see how that one is.

[AcesUp]

I loved "Positively Fifth Street" and I am sure any person who enjoys poker and a good read would, but as long as you are going to include that on this list of top poker books let me offer two others: "The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King" and "One of a King: The Story of Stu Unger". These are both two great poker books that would definately make my top list. They are completely entertaining and they also show a different side of poker that is completely foreign to many of us.

I have read all of the books on this list and many others looking for good advice on No Limit Cash games. Outside of Doyle's classic, there isnt too many that standout. But I did just get a new one that I really liked and I think I would put it ahead of some of the books you listed. "No Limit Hold 'Em: The Book of Blunders". I am always trying new books and I found this on on Amazon. It would definately rank high on my poker cash game books.

[Felting]

I think that Small Stakes hold'em by sklansky, malmuth, and some other guy deserves to be on there.

Absolutely, this book took me from a losing FL player to averaging almost 2 BB/an hour.

[Ensano]

How advance does mike caro's book of tells get? Does it get into things that are not as obvious, or not known by most players? I have seen the clips on his site and they seem pretty basic.

The book is way more in depth than the video. The cool thing about the video is that you see the tell while it is happening. The detail in the book describes how effective the tell is or how certain you can be if you spot it and compares this to a novice, intermediate, and advanced player.

For example:
Tell: Player looking away from the table while in a hand...acting uninterested -- Meaning they are likely to have a monster:

Against a novice: 85% effective
Against an intermediate: 60% effective...and so on.

So if you spot this tell and you are playing your brother's kids, you can be 85% certain they have a really good hand. If you spot this same tell on, say, Layne Flack, you might only be around 35-40% that it is actually a valid tell.

I think it is a definite MUST have/read for any serious poker player and was the first book I purchased.

it's funny you mention pros having such an easy to spot tell like this, cause it's seems Jennifer Hartman has ( or at least had, hopefully she watched HSP season1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns5IAsoajEs