Harrington On Holdem Voted Most Influential Poker Book

A panel of 56 top professional poker players have cast their votes on the poker books they believe have been the most influential throughout their career. Poker Hall of Famer, Dan Harrington’s, “Harrington on Hold’em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Hold’em Tournaments 1: Strategic Play” comes out on top.

Explore the best poker books by category:

Delve deep into the minds of the world’s most exciting, enigmatic and experienced poker players, and you will find Dan Harrington sitting on a throne in the Palace of Memories, handing out tips on how to win No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.

Let's Hear It from the Players' Mouths

We asked 56 players to vote for the poker books that have been the most influential during their career. 13% handed their top vote to Dan Harrington and his No-Limit Tournament bible, Harrington on Hold’em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Hold’em Tournaments 1: Strategic Play.

“Harrington on Hold’em is the bible of all poker books,” said the two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Andy Frankenberger.

“Starting with the Harrington on Hold’em series probably helped me out the most throughout my career,” said the three-time WSOP bracelet winner and 888poker ambassador Dominik Nitsche.

“At the time his tournament series was the most influential thing ever written,” said WSOPC gold ring winner Jason Wheeler, “I didn’t read too many books apart from Harrington, everything else I learned in battle.”

Three-time WSOP bracelet winner and author of Poker Tilt, Dutch Boyd had this to say about the Harrington Series:

"The Harrington series brought a lot of trade-craft concepts to the "public"... the idea that your strategy should change based on how many chips you have or how many players are left seems obvious to us now. And most tournament pros understood those concepts before Harrington published his series. But this series defined those inner tournament concepts better than anything released previously."

WSOP bracelet winner and 888poker ambassador Jackie Glazier loved it so much she couldn’t stop reading it:

"I think I probably read it a total of three times in the first year that I was learning to play poker. It gave me the confidence to make a lot of decisions at the table in that first year as a beginner. While much of the information is probably a little outdated now, I still think it is an excellent book for new players."

Inaugural Super High Roller Bowl winner Brian Rast on Harrington’s series:

"It was a landmark book in its time, which revolutionized tournament poker. These were great books that introduced concepts like M - and used hand examples to illustrate teachings. All-in-all excellent books that, at the time, broke new ground."

For some people, the Harrington book had an extra special memory attached to it. Here's Jeff Kimber to explain:

“I got him to sign my original copy on the morning of a WPT Bay101 Shooting Stars event and then knocked him out in the afternoon to collect the $5k bounty.”

Texas Dolly's Super System Enters the Mix

Not only did Harrington's first book in his three-part tournament series receive the top percentage of #1 votes, but it also received the joint highest total of overall votes with 22. Joining Harrington with those 22 votes was Doyle Brunson and the 1978 classic Super System: A Course in Power Poker.

"This was the second book I ever read, and I enjoyed it because it was more about the lifestyle of the game as well as providing helpful strategy," said Adam "Roothlus" Levy.

"Super System was the first poker book I read," said WSOP bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo. “At the time, I was selling my old golf clubs to take shots at 0.50/$1.00 while in high school. I remember reading a section on playing draws aggressively, particularly gut shots, and making a mistake nearly all students of the game make at some point: misapplying a concept.

“For a few days, there was no amount of big blinds, regardless of the scenario, that I couldn't get all-in with a gut shot. It cost me a lot of old sand wedges and putters, but it is my most memorable poker book lesson, and one that still resonates with me today. Now when I study something new, I try my best to grasp fully the new concepts I come across before putting them into play."

“He covered so many of the games and was a revelation when there was very little literature available,” said former EPT Champion Julian Thew.

"Doyle Brunson is the most historical poker player of all time," said the Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske. "He started in the game when poker was illegal, competing with some of the biggest crooks in the game when shootings were normal. And, he is still in the game today playing with these smart youngsters with all of their electronic devices.”

"He is a living legend. He speaks through his silence in any poker game. He is the authority at the table no matter who he sits with. He is the captain and no player in the world would dispute that."

The Best of the Rest

We handed the judges a list of 129 poker books. 86 of them received, at least, one vote. With various books tied on the same number of votes, and with no easy way to separate them, we ended up with a Top 59.

Rank	Title	Author
1	Harrington on Hold'em, Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments; Volume I: Strategic Play	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
2	Super/System: A Course in Power Poker	Doyle Brunson
3	Every Hand Revealed	Gus Hansen
4	The Mathematics of Poker	Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman
5	The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More	Jared Tendler and Barry Carter
6	The Theory of Poker	David Sklansky
7	Let There Be Range!: Crushing SSNL/MSNL No-Limit Hold’em Games	Cole "Cts" South and Tri "Slowhabit" Nguyen
8	Power Hold'em Strategy	Daniel Negreanu
9	Super/System: A Course in Power Poker II	Doyle Brunson
10	Applications Of No-Limit Hold’em	Matthew Janda
11	Moorman's Book of Poker	Byron Jacobs
12	Harrington on Hold'em, Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments; Volume II: The Endgame	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
13	Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies For No-Limit Hold ‘Em Poker, Tournaments, And Sit-N-Gos	Lee Nelson and Others
14	Play Poker Like the Pros	Phil Hellmuth
15	Elements of Poker	Tommy Angelo
16	Ace on the River	Barry Greenstein
17	Expert Heads Up No Limit Hold'em, Volume 1	Will Tipton
18	Hold’em Poker for Advanced Players	David Sklansky & Mason Malmuth
19	Harrington on Hold'em, Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments; Volume III: The Workbook	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
20	Caro's Book of Tells, the Body Language and Psychology of Poker	Mike Caro
21	Reading Poker Tells	Zachary Elwood
22	The Yoga of Poker	Andrew Lichtenberger
23	Winning Poker Tournaments - One Hand at a Time	Jon Turner, Eric Lynch and Jon Van Fleet
24	No Limit Hold’em: Theory and Practice	David Sklansky and Ed Miller
25	Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player	Anthony Holden
26	Excelling at No-Limit Hold'em	Jonathan Little
27	Zen and the Art of Poker	Larry W. Phillips
28	Raiser's Edge	Bertrand Grospellier
29	Shut Up and Deal	Jesse May
30	The Biggest Game in Town	Al Alvarez
31	Devilfish: The Life & Times of a Poker Legend	Dave Ulliot
32	One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "the Kid" Ungar	Nolan Dalla
32	The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide	Michael Craig
33	The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time	Michael Craig
34	Kill Phil	Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson
35	Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players	David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Ray Zee.
36	The Mental Game Of Poker 2: Proven Strategies For Improving Poker Skill, Increasing Mental Endurance, And Playing In The Zone Consistently	Jared Tendler and Barry Carter
37	Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: Expanded Edition	David Sklansky
38	DUCY? Exploits, Advice, and Ideas of the Renowned Strategist	David Sklansky and Alan Schoonmaker
39	Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold’em	Tom McEvoy and T.J. Cloutier
40	Lost Vegas: The Redneck Riviera, Existentialist Conversations with Strippers, and the World Series of Poker	Paul McGuire
41	For Richer, For Poorer: Confessions of a Player	Victoria Coren
42	Positively Fifth Street	James McManus
42	Verbal Poker Tells	Zachary Elwood
43	Harrington on Cash Games; How to Win at No-Limit Hold ’em Money Games: Volume I.	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
43	Winning in Tough Hold ’em Games; Short-Handed and High-Stakes Concepts and Theory for Limit Hold ’em	Nick "Stoxtrader" Grudzien and Geoff "Zobags" Herzog
44	Winning Low Limit Hold’em	Lee Jones
44	Treat Your Poker Like a Business	Dusty Schmidt
45	The Tao of Poker	Larry W. Phillips
45	What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-reading People	Joe Navarro
45	The Education of a Poker Player	Herbert O. Yardley
45	Small Stakes Hold ‘em: Winning Big With Expert Play	Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth
46	Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I	Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller
47	According to Doyle	Doyle Brunson
47	Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions from Facial Clues	Paul Ekman
47	Mastering Pot-limit Omaha: The Modern Aggressive Approach	Herbert Okolowitz, Wladimir Taschner
48	Harrington on Cash Games; How to Win at No-Limit Hold ‘em Money Games: Volume II	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
49	Strategies For Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments	Jonathan Little
49	Easy Game: Making Sense of No Limit Hold'Em 3rd Edition: Adaptations	Andrew Seidman
49	The Godfather of Poker	Doyle Brunson
50	Heads-Up No-Limit Hold ’Em	Collin Moshman
50	Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker	Stewart Reuben & Bob Ciaffone
51	High-Low-Split Poker, Seven-Card Stud and Omaha Eight- or-Better, for Advanced Players	Ray Zee
51	Amarillo Slim In A World Full Of Fat People: The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived	Thomas 'Amarillo Slim' Preston
52	Phil Gordon's Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em	Phil Gordon
53	Harrington on Modern Poker Tournaments	Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie
54	52 Great Poker Tips: At Home, Tournament And Online	Lou Krieger
54	Poker Tilt	Dutch Boyd
55	Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker	James McManus
55	More Hold'em Wisdom for All Players	Daniel Negreanu
55	Read 'em and Reap	Joe Navarro
55	Way of the Poker Warrior	Paul Hoppe
55	Pass The Sugar	Joe Hachem
56	The Course: Serious Hold'em Strategy For Smart Players	Ed Miller
56	Hold'em Wisdom for All Players	Daniel Negreanu
56	Poker Tournament Formula	Arnold Snyder
56	How Good is Your Pot-Limit Omaha?	Stewart Reuben
57	Secrets of Short-handed Pot-Limit Omaha	Rolf Slotboom & Rob Hollink
57	Sit ’n Go Strategy; Expert Advice for Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments	Collin Moshman
57	Internet Texas Hold’em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro	Matthew Hilger
58	Life's a Gamble	Mike Sexton
58	Don’t Listen To Phil Hellmuth: Correcting The 50 Worst Pieces Of Poker Advice	Dusty Schmidt & Paul Hoppe
58	Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker I	Jonathan Little
59	Poker For Dummies	Poker For Dummies Series
59	Check-Raising the Devil	Mike Matusow, Amy Calistri, and Tim Lavalli
59	Middle Limit Holdem Poker	Bob Ciaffone

Of the 86 books that received votes, 28 of them were voted as the #1 pick by a judge.

Interestingly, Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo had three #1 votes but only finished as the 15^th most popular book because it wasn’t as popular across the board.

Books that received consistent votes, but were never considered good enough to warrant a #1 pick, were: