Poker Books I'd Rebuy After a House Fire

by jbharshaw

You've probably heard the old adage about what three books you would most want to have with you if you were on a deserted island after a shipwreck?

Well this is along the same vein except that when it comes to poker, there are simply too many good books out there to read on the subject, and I seriously doubt I could limit carrying only three books with me should I go on a long sea voyage.

So let's look at this as if I were just returning from a sea voyage, got out of the taxicab at what was supposed to be my home, and come to find out that it has burnt completely to the ground.

Believe me when I say that I thought about this for quite a bit. There are many good books out there, also many not so good, but I chose the ones that are the most valuable to me. These books aren’t the best for everyone. In fact I’m doing a much shorter list of books for beginners, but for the advanced player, this is a pretty good starting library (these books are not in a particular order).

Books I'd replace right away:

- The psychology of poker -Shoonmaker
- Harrington on Hold’em 1&2 -Harrinton
- Internet Texas Hold’em -Hilger
- Secrets of Texas Holdem - Krieger
- Phil’s little Green book -Phil Gordon
- Play like Chan -Chan
- 52 Tips For Texas Hold’em -Shulman
- Seven Stud the waiting Game -Percy
- Seven Card Stud Poker –Ohlmer
- Book of Tells –Caro
- The Gambler’s Guide to Taxes – Lewis
- Texas Hold’em Beginner to Winner 1&2 – Krieger
- Pot Limit & No Limit Poker –Ciaffonne

Books I would replace later:

- Everything by Sklansky
- SuperSystem2 - Brunson
- Play Poker Like the Pros - Helmuth
- Killer Poker –Vorhaus
- Championship NL & PL hold’em, -Cloutier & McEvoy.
- Everything Krieger except Online poker.
- The Everything Poker Book
- Beyond Tells - Mckeena (Haven’t finished this yet, Expect it to move up. Looks real good.)

Just as an aside, these are books I definitely would not replace:

- Online Poker – Brunson
- Winning Secrets of Online Poker –Frye
- Online Poker – Krieger

I have about a dozen instructional DVDs by assorted pros. I would not replace any of them.

For the beginners:

- The everything Poker book. (For absolute beginners)
- Seven Card Stud the waiting game
- Play like Chan
- Texas Hold’em Winner to Beginner
- Play like the Pro’s (Do not read past the chapter on pre flop play.)
- Internet Texas Hold’em winning strategies.

Would also add Helmuth’s first video, but again don’t watch the “after the flop” play.

The poker program I'd replace is - Poker Academy Pro 2 for a computer simulator.

Good Luck.

jb


Editor's note: jbharshaw has written articles with us for several years now, and you can read more about books he has reviewed in the 'Advanced books' section of his website - Best Poker Guide / Advanced Books

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