Poker Books and Training websites

I figured This would be a good time to give my thoughts on some really great training tools for poker. If you are serious about your game, you will want to do as much studying, research, and practice as you can in order to be successful.I have read multiple books through my tenure of learning the game and have alot more that I would like to read. The thing I find helpful when reading Poker books is getting other peoples understanding on how they play the game and actually see their explanation or thought process in particular situations or hands vs. tricky or deceptive opponents.

Education is our Friend

You will notice that since the Poker Boom of 2003, there are multiple poker books that hit the shelves whether it be mathematical to psychological, you have to weed the good material from the bad.  It is also important to find which books compliment your style of play so it will be incorporated in your game with a smoother transition rather than trying to understand the methods of LAG (Loose Aggressive)  if you're a TAG (Tight Aggressive) player or vice versa because your thought process on many things will contrast and you may not agree that it is the best line to take in situations. Poker in general is read dependent, player dependent, stack dependent, etc. so its hard to play a single hand correctly the exact same way EVERY TIME. If you do this you need to stop because it is basically making you an open book to those that are observant at the table. With that said you will not be able to maximize your profits on key hands or key situations. If you want to be successful in poker, you must be deceptive.

Anyway, here are a few suggestions that I think are great Poker reads for your collection to Learning more about the game you love to play.

Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Vol. 1 and 2
Authors: Eric (Rizen) Lynch, Jon (PearlJammer) Turner, Jon (Apestyles) Van Fleet

These books are very well written and the commentary and explanation on their play of key hands in tournaments they have won are very helpful as they discuss betting patterns, pot sizing, and pot odds/implied odds. None of the books I will suggest are for the beginners who are trying to learn the game as it may be a bit over their head but if you play a TAG style then you may find that you can correlate this perfectly into your style of play.







Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-limit Hold'em Poker Tournaments and Sit-n-go's
Authors: Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib, Steven Heston, Joe Hachem (Foreword), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier

This book is very intense and fun to read. It has a strong understanding for the mathematics of the game and exploits weaknesses in passive opponents. It is a great read for the Super LAG player and even good for someone who is trying to disect the brain of a Loose Aggressive Maniac at the table. If you plan on incorporating this into your game I would say enjoy the ride because there is alot of varience involved.












Read'em and Reap: A career FBI agent's guide to decoding poker tells
Authors: Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins, Phil Hellmuth

Now everyone has heard of the book Mike Caro's Book of Tells. I have read this book and there is some good content. A much shorter Read though is the one I have mentioned here. It has Some really great insight on subliminal tells a player may not realize they are revealing. Joe Navarro is the Ex FBI agent and he has some interesting information I have used at the table and is dead on, You can even practice by watching some players at the WSOP making these tells and get a read on what they might have. If you haven't noticed they have been having a section during the WSOP Broadcasts with him explaining what he is witnessing on the players body language. The best part I like about this book is that he expresses the signs as either "Strong/weak" "confident/nervous". The really talented players will give off reverse tells so the Author stresses to be wary of this.

Another very useful tool I have found that is free is Cardplayer Poker School
There is an unlimited amount of Articles and Videos that discuss multiple strategies about the game. You can also quiz yourself after viewing, reviewing, and studying each section of this awesome tool. It gets explanations from many great Live and Online pros each having their own twists of situations they have experienced through their years of play at the table. Other than that the best way to gain knowledge is by playing as much as you can and analyzing your own play as well as discussing poker with a group of friends or mentors as much as possible.

I didn't put the most obvious books like Doyle Brunson's Super Systems, Harrington on Holdem, etc because I believe these are Hidden Gems that have alot of great poker intel and may be unfamiliar to most.

If you have any suggestions of Books or websites that have helped you in your journey to success let me hear it!

Good Luck,
Matt Stroud