Re: top 5 poker books (primarily hold\'em)
I'm assuming you mean fixed-limit hold'em. I'm listing all the books on hold'em I've read in order of how useful I've found them, broken down into categories.
I've put my top 5 overall in red.
For beginners:
<font color="red">1. Matt Hilger - Internet Texas Hold 'em</font>
2. Lee Jones - Winning Low-Limit Hold 'em
3. David Sklansky - Hold 'em Poker
4. Gary Carson - Complete Book of Hold 'em Poker
5. Lou Krieger - Hold 'em Excellence
6. Ken Warren - Winner's Guide to Texas Hold 'em Poker
For intermediate players:
<font color="red">1. Ciaffone & Brier - Middle Limit Holdem Poker
2. Sklansky & Malmuth - HPFAP</font>
Books not specific to hold 'em, but ranked for hold 'em usefulness:
<font color="red">1. David Sklansky - Theory of Poker
2. Bob Ciaffone - Improve Your Poker</font>
3. John Feeney - Inside The Poker Mind
4. David Sklansky - Getting the Best of It
5. Mason Malmuth - Poker Essays III
6. David Sklansky - Sklansky on Poker
7. Mason Malmuth - Poker Essays II
8. Alan Schooner - Psychology of Poker
9. David Sklansky - Poker, Gaming, and Life
10. Mike Caro - Funtamental Secrets of Winning Poker
11. John Vorhaus - Killer Poker
12. Brunson et al. - Super/System (better for other games)
13. Phil Hellmuth - Play Poker Like the Pros
14. Andy Nelson - Poker: A Winner's Guide
A lot of this is just personal preference. I really like looking at specific hand analyses, so the Hilger and Caffione/Brier books rate very high on my list. (I'm sure I'd love Roy Cooke's book as well.)
I know some very good players who liked the Vorhaus book a lot, but I've never been much for pep talks.
I'm looking forward to Ed Miller's book.
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