Top selling poker books on Amazon

Here are the top selling poker books on Amazon:


1. Poker Nation by Bellin

2. Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky

3. The Biggest Game in Town by Alvarez

4. Winning Low-Limit Hold 'Em by Jones

5. Caro's Fundamental Secrots of Winning Poker by Caro

6. The Complete Book of Hold 'Em Poker: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing and Winning by Carson

7. Hold 'Em Poker by Sklansky

8. Zen and the Art of Poker by Phillips

9. Thursday-night Poker by Steiner

10. Inside the Poker Mind by Feeney, Sklansky

11. High-Low-Split Poker, Seven-Card Stud and Omaha Eight-or-better for Advanced Players by Zee

12. The Winner's Guide to Texas Hold'Em Poker by Warren

13. Texas Hold'em Poker : Claiming $2-$5 by Conly

14. Hold'em Excellence (2nd Edition) by Krieger

15. The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook by Paymar

16. The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle by Wolpin

17. Poker - Hold 'Em: Book One by Nelson

18. Poker - Hold 'Em: Intermediate by Nelson

19. Bold Card Play: Best Strategies for Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride & Three Card Poker by Scoblete

20. Poker Essays by Malmuth


Can someone comment on 6,14, and 17? I'm a newbie just starting to learn about the game.

These lists on Amazon are often very incomplete. For example, their best selling poker book the past several years has been The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky -- current sales rank: 1,909. Recently however, our best selling book Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players by David Skalnsky and Mason Malmuth has over taken it on Amazon -- current sales rank: 829; and our new book Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky is not even on your list -- current sales rank: 4,996. Finally the book Poker Nation only has a sales rank of 3,051, and we expect it to slip way down the list now that it's publicity campaign seems to be winding down.


Here are my reviews of the three books that you ask about:


The Complete Book of Hold ’em Poker (5) by Gary Carson. As hold ’em books go this is more interesting than most. Unfortunately, interesting and accurate are not always the same thing. While the book does contain some worthwhile and thought provoking ideas, it is flawed in other spots.


To be specific, it has excellent discussions on different types of games, how hand values change, and how different concepts come into play in different games. For example, Carson correctly points out that tight games are basically a “struggle for the antes” while aggressive games “add value to very strong draws.” He’s aware that when a multiway pot develops in a tight game it is different from a multiway pot in a loose game and that this can dramatically affect the value of your starting hands. He’s also aware that good draws gain value in loose games and should be played strongly at times, that not all flush draws should be played the same, and that backdoor draws add value to your hands. There are also discussion on other topics such as game dynamics and cheating that some of you may find interesting.


But the book does have its problems. Carson mainly ignores games where people are trying to play have way decently. Once that’s true, many of the hands that he recommends playing are unplayable. Many of the hands he would raise for value are no longer worth raising with, and most importantly he omits opportunities to raise to knock people out since presumably he would claim they won’t call anyway. There is also virtually no discussion on how to play fourth street or the river.


In conclusion, this should be a very dangerous book if you are fairly new to hold ’em. That’s because Carson puts so much emphasis on ideas that can be very expensive once you are up against players who have any idea what they are doing.


On the other hand, if you are an experienced player who is having success, and you like to read poker books, you may want to view this book as supplemental reading. Just make sure that if you incorporate any of the unusual advice, that you have thought it through very carefully.


Hold ’em: Book One (5) by Andy Nelson. Some of the advice is all right for a beginner, but this small text contains some major errors. For example, when you flop a small flush draw, the book advises you to throw it away unless there are at least two other players putting money in the pot. This advice is much too tight


Hold ’em Excellence (3) by Lou Krieger. This is a book that begins promisingly, but quickly gets into trouble. The starting hand advice is reasonably good, but I cannot say the same after that. His advice regarding proper play is confused at best. For example, the author has you fold medium strength hands too quickly, believes that AK is strictly a drawing hand, recommends that against many opponents you should “fold if the flop does not fit your hand,” and requires three or more opponents to continue playing if you flop a flush draw. He does not seem to be aware that there may already be several bets in the pot.


Note: I believe my review of the Krieger book is for the first edition. I'm not sure what changes of significance, if any, were made in the second edition.

As a poker novice, I can only comment that Carson's book had terrible advice for pre-flop play. I would never play some of the suggestions that are given, especially in EP. Even with a very good flop game, I think that some of the hands he recommends should be mucked without question. I enjoyed the latter chapters that include player profiles, table selection, and other good information. I thing I paid 15 bucks for the book, which is fair. However I feel that the starting hand selection is too loose unless you are in a home game. Just my opinions.

Excellent review of the Carson book. Like yourself, I have noticed that there are very few holdem books on the market which deal extensively with post-flop play. I am wondering why this is so. Is it because preflop play is more amenable to computer simulation or what?

But how come I can't get the Brier & Ciaffone book from Amazon?


Nothing against Card Player, but the only online book store I use is Amazon.

IMO preflop play is much more quantifiable than play from the flop and beyond. There are so many different mixes of hands and player types, that once you get past the flop, the situations that arise are almost impossible to narrow down to perfect play. Thats why most of the comments on post-flop play has the stero-typical "depends" attached. A foolsih lay down to one, is a great read to another. The experienced players have a gift that has been nurtured through years at the table, that I just don't know can be taught.

How'd I do?

I agree that preflop play is easier to write about because there are fewer situations. But I would hope that post-flop play could be taught at least partially without having to learn everything through experience. I believe that the real money gets made once the flop comes and that many of the "great debates" among experts on starting hands is actually kind of silly.

i think part of the reason is that it is too complicated and most of the would be authors dont really know how to play post flop themselves.


Pat

I'd love to see a book with a bit more on post-flop play. As I think about it, most of the time I search this board, it's looking for various thoughts on play post-flop. I just don't know that it can be put forth in a manner that could cover the topic thoroughly enough, due to the infinite combinations of hands, # of players, player types, etc.

Having said that, I would be the first to buy a book on post-flop play. Perhaps you, Mason and David could put out " post flop Hold 'em for Advanced players"???!! Just remember me when your dedicating the book!!

last night I won a $200 pot with 98suited (thank you river!) and another guy won one almost as big with A3suited (flush on the river). I also won a sizeable pot when my J5suited flopped a full house. in So. Cal. games, with so much post-flop action, flushes pay off well and longshot draws (e.g., inside straight) can prove profitable. it's like marlin fishing, big game hunting, and is a much different game than the one I usually encountered when I lived and played in Vegas. Carson's book helps with the general approaches one should adopt when faced with these varying types of games.

Fist off, my post was referring to Carson's suggestions for early position play. I’ve never played in the games in Cali, however I find it difficult to believe that these hands will win over the long haul. You should be honest with yourself; your J5's hand is as good as a lottery ticket, if you play it long enough you just might win a nice hand. You will also lose your shirt many times, too. None of the hands you mention should be played up-front from EP, however your games out in Cali may differ from basic math and sound theory. With all the players drawing to flushes, do you REALLY want a jack-high draw????? The A3s has a chance, but a jack? Get real. Inside straight draws are surely profitable . . . AFTER the flop and if you have the nuts. Do you want to be in a pot that will be raised one or two times with a hand like 86s? I may get blasted here, but I can not think of any “good” player wanting in an aggressive pot from EP with those hands you list. JMO


By the way, the only way your play is like big game hunting is if you are referring to yourself as the game. Have a nice day.

no need to get ornery or insulting, wiseguy. I'm trying to show that deviating from orthodoxy can be profitable under the right conditions.


if there is frequent raising before the flop that tends to eliminate half the field or more, I agree that J5suited should not be played from early or middle position. but if there is infrequent raising or even if the more frequent raising doesn't weed out players yet to act, then J5suited hold its own as long one plays with caution after the flop. that's the key. not losing ones' shirt when the danger lights are flashing. when it's played when a minimum of 6 out of 9 players are seeing every flop, then J5suited stands to be better going in than several of one's opponent's hands (e.g., 69offsuit, 65offsuit, 9Toffsuit, 86offsuit, 94suited, 85suited and small blind hands like 32offsuit and T3offsuit). and, yes, occasionally that jack-high flush will bite the dust to QT or Axsuited and the like. but frequently it will crush "legit hands" like 65suited, 76suited, T9suited as well as all the other small suited trash hands (assuming that any suited hand is played, then there are 10 + 9 + 8 Ax, Kx, Qx combos which will outweigh Jx and 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 combos which won't). now, if the flush comes on the turn, and someone is holding Q, K or A of that suit, they will overtake the jack-high flush 7/44 or about 15% of the time. so you'll collect AT LEAST an additional big bet 5/6 times for the one time in six you lose the pot.


J2suited has EXACTLY THE SAME CHANCE of catching a flush as Axsuited and a much better chance of being top pair/best kicker when the flop comes J x x than A2suited does when the flop comes A x x.


I would bet that automatically folding Axsuited or 98suited from early position makes sense in the kind of games you play in, but in the typically loose/passive games I frequent, such discretion would be the blunder part of valor.

"J2suited has EXACTLY THE SAME CHANCE of catching a flush as Axsuited and a much better chance of being top pair/best kicker when the flop comes J x x than A2suited does when the flop comes A x x."


Ok, the above statement is absolutely dumb. The statement is the reason to NOT play those hands. They are dominated from the start as players holding better card can hit the flop and punish you or draw with over cards and punish you on later streets. Sure, there will be players playing worse cards and there will be a couple playing better cards that will see your starting standards and make things miserable for you. It will be tough when you flop top pair and miss your draw and QQ or the like scoops the pot. This will be a common thing because the pot is so large and there are so many players that you will lose many of these hands. The same with Ax's and miss your draw and call all the way to a player's AT or better. I am sure that your post flop play is very good and that is the point you are trying to make, but I still feel that your J2s hand is terrible by any standards. Play your game, as you know it best, but in your post you “thank the river” twice and “flopped a full house” – these are very lucky hands that happen to hit and not good starting standards for early position play. I’ll shut my trap now and my apologies for the rudeness, as you did not deserve the harsh comments.


PLEASE COMMENTS WELCOME FROM OTHERS, I would like to hear if I simply do not understand the California games that the poster is playing in.

in these loose/passive or loose/semi-aggressive games, even premium hands will lose more often because more players will be seeing the flop and chasing everything from runner/runner to 2-outers and 5-outers. the last time I played, the flop came 972 rainbow and a duffus on the button cold-called 2 bets on the flop (the flop-raiser had raised from the big blind preflop) with J6 offsuit and scooped when the turn came 8 and the river 5. every hand is more vulnerable, but the pots are correspondingly more voluminous. result: greater volatility but greater profit-potential. and definitely not for the faint-of-heart.


the other players tend to only see my "atrocious" hands when they win because I am long gone unless I hit the flop hard or draw out. then they go head-to-head with J9 offsuit thinking they have a 50-50 chance of having me outkicked or catching me betting a busted draw on the river (which I will of course do on occasion) only to see me turn over KJ. comparatively, when Sr. Rock bets the flop, it's adios amigo.

Carson's book is valuable. It is pretty comprehensive for a "beginning" book and encourages the reader to consider the game from many "angles." It's not perfect (Carson recently admitted that one of his probabilities was wrong), and many here don't seem to like it, but it's worth reading. I recommend it to all new players.


"Hold'em Excellence" is a fine book, but not one that I find myself going back to often. This book comes under fire, especially by more sophisticated players, but it espouses a pretty ABC take that won't get you into trouble.


The books by Nelson were helpful to me early on. They advocate a very tight, ABC style. I consider them almost "Cliffs Notes" to Lee Jones's book. They're inexpensive, which is a plus.


Jeff Biship