My Book Reviews .. Post Yours

[2+2 wannabe]

(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

[Mason Malmuth]

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

[KingMarc]

[ 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

[gila]

[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.

[binions]

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

[maurile]

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)

[johnnybeef]

[ 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)

[helpmeout]

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.

[Quad_Damage]

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

[nbajam]

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