Poker Books and Reviews

Fascinating intimate profiles of the most influential and successful players in history, including Doyle Brunson, Eric Seidel, Howard Lederer, Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, and many more. Thrilling play-by-plays, valuable insights, and how-to advice taken from real-life scenarios at the highest stakes tables over the past 50 years.
Read Full Review of 'Aces and Kings'

Jonathan Grotenstein and co-author Storms Reback, have done a remarkable job of research in writing 'All In: The Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker,' using hundreds of resources, interviews and re-creations of hands and situations to take care of everything a poker buff might want to know about the most famous poker tournament in the world. Well-indexed, this is the story about how the game became popular, and of the people who helped and are helping promote it.
Read Full Review of 'All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker'

In this book Slim describes some of his greatest gambling exploits — from winning the World Series of Poker to creating extraordinary proposition bets to running the biggest black market in Europe during the war while giving pool exhibitions (hustling) on military bases for Uncle Sam.

The most recognized female name and face in professional poker, Annie Duke earned her fame by first supporting her family with her poker earnings then by winning a gold bracelet and championship title at the prestigious World Series of Poker and eventually earning a $2 million purse by defeating some of the best poker players in the world at a special tournament televised on ESPN. Annie talks about growing up, learning to compete, marriage and family. Separate chapters take the reader through the World Series event where she earned her bracelet. The bones of the book provide a broad picture of what it takes to overcome all the angst and anxiety of a dysfunctional background and succeed in an unconventional career.
Read Full Review of 'Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions'

Once the exclusive game of Las Vegas high-rollers and serious gambling men, poker is now wildly popular in living rooms across America. A nine-time winner of the WSOP bracelet, Phil Hellmuth, Jr., has been a poker insider for over the last 18 years. Over the course of his celebrated career, he has played, beat, and been astounded and foiled by a striking array of hands. Building on his bestseller, Play Like the Pros, he now reveals the secrets of making tough decisions, audacious bluffs, and incredible calls-based on the bold moves of his renowned peers and rivals.
Read Full Review of 'Bad Beats and Lucky Draws'

This book contends that the game of poker is in reality a game of psychology. james McKenna is a poker columnist and a pychotherapist. This book will teach you to play your opponents as well as you play your cards. Learn how to read and give bluffs. Predict what the players around you are thinking.
Read Full Review of 'Beyond Bluffs'

In poker, it's not enough to play your own cards well. Knowing how to read other players, gauge their hands, spot their weaknesses—these are the skills that enable you to chart a winning course of action, no matter what cards you're dealt. Noted psychotherapist and poker columnist James A. McKenna shows you how to anticipate players' behavior by analyzing their physical and mental approaches to the game.
Read Full Review of 'Beyond Tells: Power Poker Psychology'

McKenna goes into the psychology of poker, revealing howto use the psychological patterns that govern opponents to trap them into making mistakes. He explains how consistent winners use different bait for different prey and how they trap and avoid traps by noticing the difference between players at the table. He expands on his two previous works, Beyond Bluffs and Beyond Tells, by demonstrating the different approaches needed for different personalities and outlining the traps for each: pigeon traps, fish traps, speed traps, net traps, and mixed traps and showing readers how to take their game to a higher level by playing their opponents as expertly as they play their cards
Read Full Review of 'Beyond Traps'

The best-selling account of a year spent in the tough world of the professional poker player. Poker is not gambling but is like chess, a paradigm of life at its most intense, a gladiatorial contest that brings out the best as well as the worst in people. Its heroes and eccentrics stalk the pages of this remarkable book, along with all the hair-raising, nail-biting excitement of the games themselves.
Read Full Review of 'Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player'

Holden's original book, Big Deal, presented a great read about his quest to play and win his way to the top of the heap, the World Series of Poker Championship. Since that year, poker has turned out to be the hottest product in the world and that's the focus of this title. Holden' presents his vision of the book and of the future of poker. He becomes a guide to the world of the "new" poker -- to the players who dominate the modern game and the personalities behind the multibillion-dollar business it has become -- as he tries once again to win the world title. Holden is friends with most of the important people in the world of poker, from players to to managers to promoters, but his roots (an ongoing home poker game) haven't shifted as he brings both worlds together here for a totally captivating work.
Read Full Review of 'Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom'

This is a fascinating account of former world poker champion Bobby Baldwin's meteoric rise to the championship. The book covers everything from his early days playing poker in dangerous roadhouses to his high-stakes poker games against other poker legends.

Contains 11 solid chapters, packed with illustrations, sample hands, and interviews with players who pulled off some of the biggest bluffs in modern poker history. Where most books have a basic chapter, section or discussion on bluffs, Lessinger takes it many notches better -- almost honing it to a fine art where we'd all like to be -- way ahead ands brave enough to keep plowing over the opposition even when don't have a great hand.
Read Full Review of 'Book of Bluffs'