[Wolffink]

When I'm into something as a hobby, I enjoy reading books about it. You can't *do* it all the time--and the next best thing--and sometimes the *best* thing for me (if I was on semi tilt or just not 100%) is to read a fun or informative book on a subject or hobby I enjoy.

That's why I read the 2+2 magazine and cardplayer.com every month. I enjoy it. It's rare that an article will actually plug a leak in my game. But it's fun to me to read about poker. It's fun to me to read posts here. Like Ray Zee says, it's helpful to *think* about poker. There you go.

For chess books, I loved Timman's "Art of Analysis"; Fischer's "Sixty Memorable Games"; Bronstein's book on the Zurich 1953 tournament; Tal's "Life & Games of Mikhail Tal; and Keene's "Nimzovich, a Reappraisal". Some wonderful games in these books--almost magical!

Now are these *required* to make master level? No. Like someone said, a decent opening tome, a tactical encyclopedia, and a good endgame book will probably take you there. Combine that with a strong chess software program--and you're cooking with gas.

Now there are a ton of poker books. Most seem to repeat each other. Some don't. The books here at 2+2 usually are a step above the "Master XXXX Poker" books that explain the rankings of the hand and <yawn> preflop card selection. Many times I've read them in the bookstore's coffeeshop and didn't bother to buy them. The 2+2 books I re-read. You could, I believe, count all the *advanced* poker books non 2+2 on two hands. So although there's a ton of poker books out there, once you get past the beginner and ancedotal books, there's actually not a gamut of poker books out there once you're past knowing how to play the game really.