Favorite books
Maybe we should start each separate question in a new topic to keep it organized. 
What are your favorite poker books?
Perhaps if you wanted to break it down by category:
Low Limit
Middle Limit
Pot/No Limit
Tournaments
Other games (stud, omaha, etc)
Books about poker (other than strategy)
Also, have you used (and liked) any literature from the web to learn about poker?
And as a good chance for a plug
where does your own book fit best into these categories?
ScottyZ
What are your favorite poker books?
Perhaps if you wanted to break it down by category:
Low Limit
Middle Limit
Pot/No Limit
Tournaments
Other games (stud, omaha, etc)
Books about poker (other than strategy)
Also, have you used (and liked) any literature from the web to learn about poker?
And as a good chance for a plug
where does your own book fit best into these categories?ScottyZ
Comments
Low Limit
I like Lou Krieger's "Hold'em Excellence," Lee Jones "Winning Low-Limit Hold'em," and my own "Winning at Poker." It is probably a matter of personal preference for writing style as much as anything. Lou and Lee are more focussed on hold'em than I am, but I give more info about a lot of other issues relating to poker.
Middle Limit
Not sure what "middle limit" is. For definition sake, I will call low-limit anything up to 15-30. The lessons in the low-limit books will be valid up to 15-30 at least. Probably 20-40. If you are talking about higher levels than that, Sklansky's "Hold'em for the Advanced Players" is unsurpassed. Be warned... Sklansky is a very dense writer. By that I mean he packs A LOT of content into few words. You have to really study Sklansky to understand all of the subtleties that he is teaching. People who criticise him as being "too rigid" do so only because they have not understood his books.
Sklansky's "The Theory of Poker" is indispensible in the long run too.
Pot/No Limit
Brunson's "Super System." Ciaffone's "Pot limit and No Limit" The definative work in this area has not been written. In part, I think, because there is more than one way to be a successful big-bet poker player. You see this in the BIG tournaments. Cloutier, Flack, Lederer, and Gud Hanson are *very* different one from another but they are all successful.
Tournaments
Sklansky's "Tournament Poker" and my runaway favourite is D.R. Sherer "Poker Tournament Tactics for Winners." It is hard and maybe impossible to get though.
Other games (stud, omaha, etc)
The new Omaha/8 by Lou Krieger and Mark Tennant looks very good. Roy West's 7-stud is good.
Books about poker (other than strategy)
Anthony Holden "Bid Deal" is AWESOME.
James McManus "Positively 5th Street" was very populer (NY Times best seller). I have mixed feelings about it. Parts were fantastic, other parts not so much. I liked the story of the Binion murder trial better than the poker parts.
"Poker Nation" Andy Bellin very good.
Also, have you used (and liked) any literature from the web to learn about poker?
rec.gambling.poker (newsgroup)
twoplustwo.com
unitedpokerforum.com
All useful, but very time consuming.
Go get a little program called Poker Stove at www.pokerstove.com You will love it.
Couple of other random notes...
I am generally dissapointed in the Championship series of books (McEvoy and partners). There are tidbits of great information in them but they feel thrown together to me and without much substance.
One day you will wake up and see that the books are simply "guides." I often quote my friend Lou Krieger: "A list of starting hands it essential for the beginner, a guide for the intermediate player, and a point of departure for the expert." He is correct.
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I had never even heard of that tournament book by Sherer!
I agree with your point that the definitive book on no-limit is not out there. Although I agree with your point that it's hard to write about no-limit at advanced levels, I find that no book out there really covers the *basics* of no-limit well. It seems like Super System & Pot & No Limit Poker both assume you are a very advanced no-limit player before you get to page 1. Why read the book then? We need something like Lee Jones writting "Winning Low-Limit No-Limit Hold'em".
I like/dislike pretty much the same books "about" poker as you did, and I also kind of liked "Shut up and Deal" by Jesse May.
I usually use
www.twodimes.net/poker
instead of pokerstove.com, but I think they basically do the same thing (i.e. evaluate hands).
And thanks for your thoughts on the "Championship" series. I noticed they are being re-relreased in the next few months, so I was wondering if they're worth getting.
One more category I forgot, do you like any of these new books on online poker strategy? I haven't read any yet, but I do play a fair bit online so I am wondering if they have any real content, or are they more like "if someone checks really fast, that means they used the advance check/fold button."
ScottyZ
As much as the book has been panned, I think that Phil Helmuth's "Play Poker Like the Pros" makes a pretty good pass at a basic no-limit system that will work against little skilled opposition.
****One more category I forgot, do you like any of these new books on online poker strategy?
I find them redundant. Yes, there are a few differences, but for most novice players you are much better off studying the fundmentals than worrying about some subtle differences between a traditional cardroom and an online room.
Another great book which I don't think has mentioned yet is Middle Limit Holdem by Brier & Ciaffone. Anyone else like/dislike this one?
Besides great content, I enjoy the fact that it's around 330 pages of which *every single page* is full of text. I have to compare it with a 2+2 book where lots of pages are blank or close to it, there is a virtually useless Q&A section of around 100 pages, and an index which not only gives seems to give every single page a word appears on, it also differentiates between check-raise, check-raising, check-raised, and check-raise bluff.
"I wanted to find every page where they used the word check-raising, and I'm sure glad I didn't have to wade through all the pages they were only talking about check-raised... that's livin' in the past, man!"
Don't get me wrong here--- regarding the 2+2 content, I also think Sklansky's books are top-notch. It's just amusing how inflated 2+2 try to make their books look.
ScottyZ
Thx.
PS - Chapters in Toronto area has a good supply of your books prominently positioned in the stores. Staff were fully aware of your title and were able to immediately direct me to the correct table. Congratulations!
lee jones is a great LL book.
Everything else is a "you probably should read." Sklansky never writes anything that is wrong. He is, however, not the most interesting writer and some will find that they can get to be skilled players another route.
Thanks.
I haven't read it personally, but it is part of the Two Plus Two Advanced Players series which are generally well-respected by most of the poker community.
A caution though, these books are pretty high level. If you're just playing a home game, some of the "tricks" won't work as they assume you are playing against skilled players.
If you want more of a basic strategy book, you can check Amazon.ca or Chapters... they do have several Omaha-specific books. I can't vouch for the quality of any of them though... One is co-authoured by Lou Kreiger.. I found his Poker for Dummies book useful at the start...
hork.
There isn't too much out there. Cloutier's Championship book isn't too bad and I think there is something written be Ciaffone.
Dave
Most of Ciaffone's other books are excellent, but I'd say his Omaha book in particular is nothing special.
ScottyZ
Yes. I re-read it when I sense that I am close to tilting. (not one of those temporary tilts you get after a bad beat... but when I have one of those maddening month-long tilts)
hork.
An oversite on my part. There are large parts of the book that are, um, silly but it is indespensible for the most part. Your study of tells will be MUCH faster if you study Caro. He could have done without the "how much this tell is worth an hour" because that part it, well, wrong. It doesn't mean the tells are though.
Great book. My copy is signed by Mike! And... falling apart.
Winning at Poker
By: Dave Scharf
Hold'Em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner
By: Lou Krieger
Winning Low-Limit Hold'Em
By: Lee Jones
I was going to get Caro's Book of Tells, but decided this was all a little too much information for me at one time. I also looked at the tournament books you recommended but thought those books were way beyond my level of understanding. Maybe in a few months when I've got more experience under my belt.
Thanks for the tips.
Not to knock the books at all, because I plan to grab 1 or 2 myself. Depends on everyones budget though. But I have also found some free info online, by the pros. Just be creative with your word searches on yahoo or google.
try searches like:
holdem poker strategy
holdem poker tips
holdem poker Q & A
playing holdem poker
learning holdem poker
winning holdem poker
tournament holdem poker
Loved Doyle's book. All the road stories alone were worth the price. lol Lot's of insight into people's styles, and some of their habits and patterns. Great read. Plan to buy his other books too.
I'll start Dave's book tomorrow.
Roy Cooke's Real Poker 2 The play of the hands is also an interesting read. In this he has put together a lot of his articles from cardplayer magazine and for those of you who have had the chance to ever read one you will know they are good.
The play of the hands discusses a lot of real situations as opposed to the normal strategy concepts. It also gives you an idea of how *you* should be thinking and how your opponents do as well.
Dave's book has lots of good info on limit. I didn't see anything in there on no-limit.
ScottyZ
I'm starting Hold 'Em for Advanced Players right after I finish TPfAP, which should be tomorrow.
It's easy-to-read and his discussion of "top ten hands", low-mid pairs, A-rag, and suited connectors are very good.
I also like how he recommends playing these pre-flop, post-flop, on the turn and on the river. This was very useful to me.
I also enjoyed his writing about other pros. For example, how Huck Seed and Daniel Negreanu played suited connectors, or Devilfish's aggressive NLH play where he constantly calls you down.
Since higher level poker is very "read" and "tell" oriented, I think this book provides as solid a foundation as you're going to get. I personally think that, combined with experience, it's all you really need to develop your own style.
I've read a few other holdem books including Brunson's "SuperSystem" and Lee Jones, "Winning Low Limit Holdem" but only found them useful as entertainment reading.
One criticism I've read of Hellmuth's book is that playing super tight will make you predictable. Although this is true, I take it in another light. I think that setting a certain table image is useful in setting up for bluffing later on. I actually work at building a super tight table image. Once that is done, I feel that I can start adding more flexibility to my game.
From reading the reviews, I don't think the book is given as much credit as it should because most judge the book more on the author's "character" than the book's merits. But then again, that's just IMHO.
Jim
You aren't kidding about finding Sherer's book.
I can't find his tournament book or the No Fold'em Hold'em anywhere!
anyone out there located a copy yet?