My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Put a numerical value out of 10 for all the poker books you have read..no explanation necessary.

Non-Strategy:
The Professor, The Banker, and The Suicide King: 10
Aces and Kings: 8
Bad Beats and Lucky Draws: 5

Strategy 2+2:
Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1: 9
Small Stakes Hold'em: 10
Hold em for Advanced Players: 8
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: 6
Sklansky on Poker: 5
Inside the Poker Mind: 9
Theory of Poker: 9
High-Low Split for Advanced Players: 7

Non-2+2 Strategy:
Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker: 10
Real Poker 2 The Play of Hands: 7
Killer Poker Online: 1
Pot Limit and No Limit Poker: 6
Winning Low Limit Hold em (2nd Edition): 6
Improve Your Poker: 8
Ken Warren's Winning Texas Hold'em: 3
Mastering no Limit Hold'em: 7
How Good is your Pot Limit Hold'em?: 7
Super System 2: 8

Guide:
10: One of the best ever
9-8: Definitely worth a read
7-6-5: Should read at some point
4-3-2-1: Don't waste your time

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Theory of Poker 10
Small Stakes Hold 'em 10
Harrington on Hold 'em Vol. 1 9
Middle Limit Hold 'em Poker 7(6)

I know, i know, a little heavy on the praising 2+2 books but what can i say, i only buy good books. Next ones i'm getting are Ace on the River by Greenstein and Ray Zee's Hi-Lo Split poker book.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Winning Low Limit Hold'em - 9
Internet Texas Hold'em - 9
7 Card Stud (Roy West) - 9
Pot Limit and No Limit Poker - 7
Theory of Poker - 8
Small Stakes Hold'em - 5.5
Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em - 8
Omaha Hold'em Poker - 9.5
Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1 - 6
Stepping Up - 9
Super System 1 - 7.5
Moneymaker - 8

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
Winning Low Limit Hold'em - 9
Internet Texas Hold'em - 9
7 Card Stud (Roy West) - 9
Pot Limit and No Limit Poker - 7
Theory of Poker - 8
Small Stakes Hold'em - 5.5
Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em - 8
Omaha Hold'em Poker - 9.5
Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1 - 6
Stepping Up - 9
Super System 1 - 7.5
Moneymaker - 8

[/ QUOTE ]

You are invited to my game any time.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Huh?

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

I'm a sucker for this stuff. 9 is the best rating.

Improve your Poker: 7
NL & PL Poker: 9
Play Poker Like the Pros: 2
Super System II: 4
Theory of Poker: 9

The Complete Book of Holdem: 3
Holdem Poker for Advanced Players: 5
Inside the Poker Mind: 6
Internet Texas Holdem: 5
Middle Limit Holdem Poker: 7
Real Poker II: 7
Small Stakes Holdem: 9
Weighing the Odds in Holdem Poker: 7
Winning Low limit Holdem: 4

Harrington on Holdem V1: 7
How good is your Pot Limit Holdem?: 3

How good is your Pot Limit Omaha?: 4
Omaha Holdem Poker: 6

High Low Split Poker for Advanced Players: 4

Big Deal: 3
The Biggest Game in Town: 4
Positively 5th Street: 4
The Professor, The Banker and the Suicide King: 5

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Theory of Poker 10
SuperSystem I 8
SuperSystem II 6
HEFAP 8
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players 6
Small Stakes Holdem 8
Winning Low Limit Holdem 7
Harrington on Holdem Vol. I 9
Harrington on Holdem Vol. II ? (Haven't gotten yet)
Championship NL & PL Holdem 5
Tournament Poker (McEvoy) 6
Carson's Complete Book of Holdem 6
Killer Poker Online 2
Pot Limit and No Limit Poker 7
Omaha Holdem Poker 6
Caro's Book of Tells 7
Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Poker 5
The Tao of Poker 4
Sklansky on Poker 6
Mastering No Limit Holdem 7
Play Poker Like the Pros 3
High-Low for Advanced Players 8
7CS for Advanced Players 7
Winning 7CS 6

Winning Concepts in Draw & Lowball 6
Poker (by Irwin Steig) 1
Winning Poker Systems (Norman Zadeh) 7
The Complete Guide to Winning Poker (Morehead) 3
Free Money (Michael Weisenberg) 5

Positively 5th Street 8
Poker Face 7
The Biggest Game in Town 5
Poker Nation 6
Big Deal 6
King of a Small World 4

CardPlayer magazine 6
All-In magazine 2

www.twoplustwo.com 7
rec.gambling.poker 5
CardPlayer magazine forum 4
United Poker Forum 3
Full Contact Poker Forum 2
Live Journal Poker Community 3

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

How anyone can get SSHE a bad rating and give Roy Wests book on Stud a good rating boggles my mind.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

All the books I own:
Strategy related (1-10)
TOP - 10
Winning low limit - 6
Small stakes HE - 8
Inside the poker mind - 8
Psy. of poker - 8
Play poker like the pros - 5
HE for advanced player - 7
Harrington on Hold em 1 - 8
PL/NL championship - 4
Tournament for advanced players - 7

Non-strategy
Postively 5th street - 8
Biggest game in town - 7

Although I give Winning low limit a lower grade than small stakes, I would still recommend it before small stakes. Once gaining some experience, I'd say read small stakes. Play poker like the pros I give a lower rating because the limit section is a complete joke, although I'd recommend it for it's limit tournament and PL Omaha advice.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1: 9
Harrington on Hold'em Volume 2: 9
Small Stakes Hold'em: 10
Hold em for Advanced Players: 9
Theory of Poker: 8
Winning Low Limit Hold em (2nd): 7
Super System 2: 9
Internet Texas Holdem : 5

I know I read some other books but I don't remember their titles. I wouldn't rate them very high. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

(1-10)

TOP - 9
SSHE - 9
HOH1 - 7
HPFAP - 7
7CSFAP - 7
Sklansky on Poker - 6
TPFAP - 5
HLSPFAP - 5
HEP - 5
Ken Warren..... - 1

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Hi binions:

I had the same reaction. One problem with reviews like this is that inexperienced players tend to over rate books that are easy to read regardless as to how accurate they might be.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi binions:

I had the same reaction. One problem with reviews like this is that inexperienced players tend to over rate books that are easy to read regardless as to how accurate they might be.

Best wishes,
Mason

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why averages kick ass... ;p

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[copied from an earlier post]

Why?, I don't know.

I will list the books I have, followed by two numbers. The first number will be the number of times I have read it, while the second number will be my (very subjective) rating of that particular book. You will notice a few things; one, there are more than a few books I have not read yet (they will, of course, get a 0 for the number of times read). Not only am I a poker junky, but also a book junky, which leads to lots of in-the-future-books-to-read lying on the shelf.

Another thing to notice is my personal rating system. One book may get a great rating, not so much because it is SUCH an original, eye-opening, poker masterpiece, but because, at the time of my reading it, it vastly improved my game. The best example is ITH, although many here will say such and such is so much better, this is the book that changed my game from loser to winnner. Yes, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

If I have read over 1/2 of a book, but not the whole book, it will show (.5) in the "amount of times read" section, and I will give my personal rating on what I think of it so far. These books will always be read from the front to the back; not much skipping around on my part; the exception to this is the first supersystem and Hellmuths books, for which I have only read the NL and Limit holdem sections.

So, boring as it may be, here it goes.

Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Ciaffone/Brier (1) (6)
Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker, Reuben/Ciaffone (2) (7.5)
Improve Your Poker, Ciaffone (2) (8)
Caro's Book of Poker Tells, Obvious (++) (9)
Holdem Poker, Carson (2) (6)
Play Poker Like the Pros, Hellmuth.(just holdem)(1) (0)
Small Stakes Hold em, Miller & 2 other guys(lol)(3) (9.5)
Gambling Theory and Other Topics, Malmuth (.5) (5)
High-Low split Poker, Zee (0) (NA)
Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players, SMR. (0) (NA)
The Theory of Poker, Sklansky (2) (9.5)
Holdem Poker for Adv. Players, Sklanky/Malmuth (3) (10)
Poker Essays Volume I, Malmuth (1) (8.5)
PE, V. II, "" (1) (7.5)
PE, V. III, "" (1) (8.5)
Internet Texas Hold'em, Hilger (3) (9)
Real Poker II, Cooke (1) (10)
Winning Low Limit Holdem, Jones (1) (4)
Psychology of Poker, Schoonmaker (0) (NA)
Inside the Poker Mind, Feeney (1) (9)
Tournament Poker for Adv. Players, Sklansky (0) (NA)
Weighing the odds in Holdem Poker, Yao (1/2) (9)
Fundamentals of Poker, Malmuth, Loomis (1) (4)
Killer Poker Online, Vorhaus (0) (NA)
Poker Wisdom of a Champion, Brunson (1) (5.5)
SuperSystem I, Brunson(read only HE sections) (2) (8.5)
Zen and the Art of Poker, Phillips (1) (6.5)
The Tao of Poker, Phillips (2) (8)
Internet Poker, Krieger/Watterson (0) (NA)
Harrington on Holdem, duh (.5) (9)
Super System II, Brunson (through Limit HE) (.5) (5)
Championshiop NL and PL HE, Cloutier/Mcevoy (2) (6)
The Biggest Game in Town, Alvarez (1) (8)
The Making of a Poker Player, Matros (1) (7.5)
Big Deal, Holden (1) (9)
Positively Fifth Street, McManus (1) (10)
The Hand I Played, Spanier (1) (5)
Poker Nation, Bellin (1) (7)
Shut up and Deal, May (1) (9)
Poker Face, Lederer (0) (NA)

There you have it. I do not know why, but anyway. Any suggestions, disagreements; anything missing? I know I have no authority to rate these books, but, like I said, they are just my personal ratings and what the books have meant to myself and my poker game. And now, I have refreshed myself for more poker.

Peace.
Al.

The most helpful instructional poker books I have read
 

Ratings are so subjective. These are the instructional books I got the most out of (i.e. they paid for themselves many times over):

2+2 Authors
TOP
GSIH
SSHE
HPFAP
TPFAP
HOH I
HOH II
HLSFAP

Ciaffone/Reuben et al
PL&NLP
IYP
HGIYPLO
HGIYPLH

Others
SSI (NLHE & Stud chapters)
SSII
Holdems Odd Book - Petriv
Caro's Book of Tells
Real Poker II - Play of Hands - Cooke

Books I haven't finished that could make the list:
Ace on the River - Greenstein
Weighing the Odds - Yao
How Good Is Your Limit Holdem - Jacobs
7CSFAP
How to Win at Omaha Hi-Lo Poker - Cappelletti

Other instructional books that I found interesting, if not quite as helpful as those above:

MLHE - Ciaffone & Brier
WLLHE - Jones 2nd Ed
Internet Texas Holdem - Hilger
Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker
Poker, Sex & Dying - Anderson
Championship PL & NL Holdem
Championship Tournament Practice Hands
Championship Satellites
New Players Guide to NL Holdem
Winning O8 Poker - Tenner
Other 2+2 titles

Best Instructional Poker DVDs I have seen:
Lederer's More Secrets to NL Holdem
Poker Superstars Season I
2004 World Poker Conference

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

On a scale of 1 to 10.

Fixed-Limit Hold 'em
Small Stakes Hold 'em (Ed Miller) - 9
Weighing the Odds in Hold 'em Poker (King Yao) - 9
Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players (Sklansky & Malmuth) - 8
Middle Limit Holdem Poker (Ciaffone & Brier) - 8
Real Poker II (Cooke) - 8
Internet Texas Hold 'em (Hilger) - 7
Hold 'em Poker (Sklansky) - 7
Winning Low Limit Hold 'em (Jones) - 7
The Complete Book of Hold 'em Poker (Carson) - 6
Hold 'em Excellence (Krieger) - 4
Winner's Guide to Texas Hold 'em Poker (Warren) - 2

No-Limit Hold 'em
Harrington on Hold 'em I (Harrington & Robertie) - 10
Harrington on Hold 'em II (Harrington & Robertie) - 10
No-Limit Texas Hold 'em (McEvoy & Daugherty) - 6

Omaha High-Low
Winning Omaha/8 Poker (Tenner & Krieger) - 6
Omaha Hi-Low: Play to Win with the Odds (Boston) - 5
How to Win at Omaha High-Low Poker (Cappelletti) - 5

Other Poker Books
Theory of Poker (Sklansky) - 10
Improve Your Poker (Ciaffone) - 10
SuperSystem 2 (Brunson et al) - 8
SuperSystem (Brunson et al) - 8
Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker (Ciaffone & Reuben) - 8
Inside the Poker Mind (Feeney) - 8
Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (Sklansky) - 7
Sklansky on Poker (Sklansky) - 7
Poker Essays III (Malmuth) - 7
Poker Essays II (Malmuth) - 7
Caro's Book of Tells (Caro) - 7
High-Low Split Poker (Zee) - 6
Poker, Gaming & Life (Sklansky) - 6
Caro's Fundamental Secret's of Winning Poker (Caro) - 6
Complete Guide to Winning Poker (Moorehead) - 5
Thursday Night Poker (Steiner) - 5
Play Poker Like the Pros (Hellmuth) - 5
The Psychology of Poker (Schoonmaker) - 5
Killer Poker (Vorhaus) - 3
Poker for Dummies (Krieger) - 3
Poker: A Winner's Guide (Nelson) - 2
The Rules of Neighborhood Poker (Wolpin) - 1

Poker Biography
The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King (Craig) - 9
Poker Face (Lederer) - 8
Poker Wisdom of a Champion (Brunson) - 8
Moneymaker (Moneymaker) - 7
The Making of a Poker Player (Mattros) - 7
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People (Preston) - 7
Positively Fifth Street (McManus) - 6
Poker Nation (Bellin) - 6

Other Gambling Books
Getting the Best of It (Sklansky)
Gambling Theory and Other Topics (Malmuth)
The Man with the $100,000 Breasts (Konik)
Telling Lies and Getting Paid (Konik)

Re: The most helpful instructional poker books I have read
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ratings are so subjective. These are the instructional books I got the most out of (i.e. they paid for themselves many times over):

2+2 Authors
TOP
GSIH
SSHE
HPFAP
TPFAP
HOH I
HOH II
HLSFAP

Ciaffone/Reuben et al
PL&NLP
IYP
HGIYPLO
HGIYPLH

Others
SSI (NLHE & Stud chapters)
SSII
Holdems Odd Book - Petriv
Caro's Book of Tells
Real Poker II - Play of Hands - Cooke

Books I haven't finished that could make the list:
Ace on the River - Greenstein
Weighing the Odds - Yao
How Good Is Your Limit Holdem - Jacobs
7CSFAP
How to Win at Omaha Hi-Lo Poker - Cappelletti

Other instructional books that I found interesting, if not quite as helpful as those above:

MLHE - Ciaffone & Brier
WLLHE - Jones 2nd Ed
Internet Texas Holdem - Hilger
Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker
Poker, Sex & Dying - Anderson
Championship PL & NL Holdem
Championship Tournament Practice Hands
Championship Satellites
New Players Guide to NL Holdem
Winning O8 Poker - Tenner
Other 2+2 titles

Best Instructional Poker DVDs I have seen:
Lederer's More Secrets to NL Holdem
Poker Superstars Season I
2004 World Poker Conference

[/ QUOTE ]

A couple of comments/questions....

*GSIH is an excellent read, however, I'd figure someone who had read these other titles would not get that much out of it (besides the nl short stack strategy).

*I thought HOH2 was decent, but, I really have learned a lot more from these forums, and am eagerly awaiting fossilman's pubication. I was really looking forward to discussions of cEV and $EV, proper bubble play, and moves that are little less obvious then the ones he provided. (In short, I felt that it was a great book, just not quite as advanced as I had wanted.)

Otherwise from that, this should be a list of what books beginners should be reading and rereading in order to become a better player..(finding players who are better than you to discuss hands with, and playing 50k hands are two other ways to help out)

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

MLHE 9
HEPFAP 8.5
SSHE 8.5
IYP 8.5
Killer poker series 8
TOP 8
ITPM 8
Zen and the art 7.5
POP 7
Play poker like the pros 0.5

Thats about all i can be bothered with, most books are useful in some way except PPLTP.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

I didn't find any of the books I reviewed difficult to read.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

You insulted the holy bible, therefore, you will have hell to pay. After all, no one could not like SSHE could they?

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

I don't understand all this, when did I say I didn't like SSHE?!

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand all this, when did I say I didn't like SSHE?!

[/ QUOTE ]

You gave it a 5.5, while you gave WLLH a 9, as did you for for ITH. binions interpreted this the same way I did I guess; you hate money.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

SSHE simply isn't applicable to the games I play in. What's wrong with that?

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
SSHE simply isn't applicable to the games I play in. What's wrong with that?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you rated books on how applicable to the games you play then I wonder exactly what game you play where WLLH is almost perfectly applicable, and SSH barely at all?

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
SSHE simply isn't applicable to the games I play in. What's wrong with that?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you rated books on how applicable to the games you play then I wonder exactly what game you play where WLLH is almost perfectly applicable, and SSH barely at all?

[/ QUOTE ]

I play in $5/10 games with friends who all play pretty tight. Occasionally a loose player will get invited who is relatively clueless about poker but likes to gamble, but it's usually 8 or 9 guys who are semi-serious about playing, not gambling.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
I play in $5/10 games with friends who all play pretty tight. Occasionally a loose player will get invited who is relatively clueless about poker but likes to gamble, but it's usually 8 or 9 guys who are semi-serious about playing, not gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then I get why you felt ITH was great. Still don't get WLLH. But you should seriously read HEFAP, it will likely do wonders for you in that game.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

I was thinking of WLLH as more of a beginner's book and ITH and SSHE as advanced books. As a beginner's book WWLH is great IMO.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Non-strategy:

Positively Fifth Street: 7
Big Deal: 8.5

Strategy:

SSHE: 9
WLLH: 7 (8 if you're a rank beginner like I was when I first read it)
HoH 1: 10
HoH 2: 9
Theory of Poker: 10
HEPFAP: 8
TPFAP: 5
SS2: 8 (NOT for the NLHE "content", however.)
Psychology of Poker: 7
Killer Poker Online: 2 (laughable)
Gambling Theory and Other Topics: 9
How Good is Your Limit HE: 7.5

I think I'm forgetting one or two.

Edit:

Poker Tells: 8

I also noticed I'm not nearly as "voracious" a reader as some of you are. Do I get extra points because I've read almost everything 2-3 times (or more) and it's all been since January? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

I'd love to chime in, but I have 70-some poker books and over 200 on LV and gambling in general.

Ugh

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

Here is my list of reviews(scale of 10):

TOP-10
SSHE-10
HOH Vol. 1-10
HOH Vol. 2-9
TPFAP-8
SS 1-8
SS 2-8
Sklansky on Poker-7(good refresher book+best razz book)
Championship No-limit and Pot-Limit Hold'Em-3
Play Poker Like the Pros- worthless, hurts more than helps

I am currently reading Improve Your Poker and Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker, which im sure will get 9 or 10s.

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

[ QUOTE ]
SSHE simply isn't applicable to the games I play in. What's wrong with that?

[/ QUOTE ]

Which games are these?

Re: My Book Reviews .. Post Yours
 

2+2
Theory of Poker 10
Small Stakes Hold 'Em 10
Harrington on Hold 'Em 1 9
Harrington on Hold 'Em 2 8
Hold 'Em Poker for Advanced Players 9
Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players 8
High Low Split for Advanced Players 7

Non-2+2
Supersystem 7
Supersystem 2 9*
Caro's Book of Tells 7
Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em (2nd Ed.) 6
Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em 5

* I give SS2 such a high score due to the inclusion of
specific information with regards to triple draw and
PLO; there is noticeable lack of good information on these
subjects in the book market.