Good Poker Strategy Books

There are a lot of poker strategy books out there. Just like anything else, some good some bad. With poker exploding, the choices are becoming even more difficult to choose from. Here are a few poker books that we think you can't go wrong with.

No limit Hold em Theory and Practice is an advance poker book. If you are at least of an intermediate level, and understand some strategy, this can be the most important no limit book you ever pick up.

The book is written in two sections.The first goes into great detail in explaining many of the key principles in playing successful no limit poker.

The second section is a collection of key points in quick read form. Written by David Sklansky, this is, in our opinion, his best book on the market. It gets into the nuts and bolts of serious, in depth poker thinking.

The keys to driving the no limit poker car are: understanding how stack sizes affect betting decisions, and adjusting to your opponents playing style and thinking level. According to David, and you will see the truth of this, you might make three different decisions with the same hole cards, because of stack size differences.

This shows just how important paying close attention to this is in no limit holdem. The beauty of this book is the principle apply almost equally to cash games and tournaments, and it will be noted when there is an exception to this fact.

Harrington on Holdem (three volumes) is fast becoming a no limit holdem tournament poker bible. The first volume makes sure you understand the very basics of tournament play, and the situations you might find yourself in. He gives you a good foundation on how to play a solid game. He covers starting hands in detail.

In volume two though, he discusses the real key to understanding tournament poker. As the blinds get bigger the game changes. The concept of M, which equals the number of orbits you have left if you don't improve your chip stack, is the cornerstone to understanding how to win tournaments. This number helps shape your decisions throughout the tournament. In volume three, he dedicates the book almost exclusively to hand analysis.

So, by seeing how things play out from actual hands that were played, you can start to see what you need to do. The analysis is in depth and concise. You just can't go wrong using the information from these books. To add one more very useful resource to your library of poker books, pick up a copy of Mike Caro's Book of Tells.

This is a book for live poker, as you need to see your opponent to get this information. That's not to say you can't get some reads online too, but this book doesn't deal with that. The concept is simple. People give away information by how they act. This is by no means an exact science, but truly an art form.

Even though everyone now is familiar with the concept of tells, and many have read his book, this is still very good knowledge to have. This short list should give you plenty of added expertise the next time you hit the tables.

You will have a better plan, see more of what's going on, and get a better read on your opponents. That should help things go better, right?