What were the most popular types of books? Who were the most popular types of authors? What were the bibles? And who on earth managed to find their way onto the New York Times Bestseller List?
Where are Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman when you need them?
It’s number crunching time.
56 judges from the world of professional poker voted for the most influential poker books of all time. Each judge could vote for a maximum of 10 different books. The point system handed 10 points to the most influential book, 9 to the second most influential, 8 to the third, and so forth with the final book receiving 1 point. Not every judge voted for 10 different books. Some only voted for only one.
The Book Type Rankings
The 56 judges considered 28 different books to be worthy of their #1 vote. Here is the breakdown of the book types:
Of the 28 books credited with a #1 vote, only 7 of them had been written in the past 5 years.
The most popular books by type were as follows:
Hold’em strategy - Harrington on Hold ’em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments; Volume I: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie (Ranked #1)
General strategy - Super System: A Course in Power Poker by Doyle Brunson (Ranked #2)
Mindset - The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter (Ranked #5)
Online Poker - Moorman’s Book of Poker and Byron Jacobs (Ranked #11)
Psychology - Caro's Book of Tells, the Body Language and Psychology of Poker by Mike Caro (Ranked #20)
Biography - Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player by Anthony Holden (Ranked #25)
Fiction - Shut Up & Deal by Jesse May (Ranked #29)
Non Hold’em Strategy - Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players by David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Ray Zee (Ranked #35)
Cash Games - Harrington on Cash Games; How to Win at No-Limit Hold ’em Money Games: Volume I by Dan Harrington (Ranked #43)
Heas Up Strategdy - Expert Heads Up No Limit Hold'em, Volume 1 by Will Tipton (Ranked #17)
Sit 'n Go Strategy - Sit ’n Go Strategy; Expert Advice for Beating One-Table Poker Tournaments (Ranked #57)
Here are some of the comments from the judges:
888poker Ambassador Akira Ohyama on The Mental Game of Poker:
“Back when I just started playing as a professional, I had issues with tilt as many others probably did. I like how this book teaches not how to remove tilt (which is clearly very hard) but teaches how to cope with it and better understand where it stems from. Definitely, a must read for any up and comer, so they don’t tilt their bankroll off.”
Former Late Night Poker winner Simon Trumper on Mike Caro’s Book of Tells:
“The first poker book that I ever read and it gave me such an edge 20-years ago.”
Cash game genius Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith on Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players:
“This book inspired me to think hard about 7-Card Stud while nobody was really paying attention to it. I have learned many plays from this book, and since done a lot of math work and incorporated derivatives and drawn heavy inspiration from it to consistently play in the Larry Flynt 1500-3000 Stud game for the past 7 years.”
WSOP bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo on Expert Heads Up No-Limit Hold’em:
“This was my first real introduction to game theory, and my wake up call that the serious players were studying game theory, making game trees, etc. Basically, reading this book helped me figure out I had no clue what was going on, even though I thought I was a good player at the time.”
London’s Hippodrome ambassador Kelly Saxby on Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player:
“I think I bought this dreaming at some point in the future I would take the year off to play and see where it takes me! It’s a thrill ride reading through the high and lows of poker in terms of money and emotion and is highly entertaining.”
The Top Poker Bibles
The words ‘bible’ and ‘new testament’ were applied to a few classics. Harrington on Hold’em Series by Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie, Super Series by Doyle Brunson and Theory of Poker by Dave Sklansky spring to mind.
Doyle Brunson wrote the original Super System 38 years ago. David Sklansky wrote the Theory of Poker 22 years ago, and the number one most influential poker book of all time Harrington on Hold ’em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments; Volume I: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie was written a decade ago.
As the votes were coming in and these timeless classics kept pulling away from the rest of the crowd, it reminded me of the old adage:
Poker takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master.
It seems apparent to me that a lot of books only have to be written once.
Here are some more ‘bibles.’
The Bible on Hold’em Strategy - Harrington on Hold ’em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments; Volume I: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington & Bill Robertie (Ranked #1)
The Bible on General Poker Strategy - Super System: a Course in Power Poker by Doyle Brunson (Ranked #2)
The Bible on Real Time Tournament Play - Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen (Ranked #3)
The Bible on the Mathematics of Poker - The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen & Jerrod Ankenman (Ranked #4)
The Bible on Mindset - The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter
The Authors
The Top 59 ranked influential poker books of all times saw 20 authors pop up in the rankings with more than one book on their resume.
- Dan Harrington - 6 books
- Bill Robertie - 6 books
- David Sklansky - 6 books
- Doyle Brunson - 4 books
- Daniel Negreanu - 3 books
- Jonathan Little - 3 books
The following authors had 2 books in the Top 59:
Collin Moshman, Dusty Schmidt, James McManus, Zachary Ellwood, Mason Malmuth, Ed Miller, Ray Zee, Paul Hoppe, Jared Tendler, Barry Carter, Joe Navarro, Larry Philipps, Michael Craig, and Stewart Reubin.
Only Doyle Brunson authored two books that made it into the Top 10. They were Super System & Super System II. The latter was the only book to make it into the Top 10 without acquiring a #1 rating from any of the 56 judges.
6 players managed to author a book and also get their name into the title of Top 59 rated books: Dan Harrington, Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot, Phil Gordon, Amarillo Slim, achieved that feat.
Wait, that’s only five?
How could I forget the one and only 14-time WSOP bracelet winner: Phil Hellmuth Jr. The man with white magic oozing out of his fingertips appeared at #14 in the charts. He authored Play Poker Like the Pros, and also hit #58 spot with the Dusty Schmidt & Paul Hoppe strategy guide Don’t Listen to Phil Hellmuth: Correcting the 50 Worst Pieces of Poker Advice.
Both books give you polarising views of Hellmuth as do these two quotes:
"I'm disappointed that 'Play Poker Like The Pros' is ranked 14th most influential poker book by my fellow pros,” wrote Hellmuth. “I believe I have written the only NYTimes Best Selling book on poker strategy, and we have sold well over 500,000 copies of it and its iterations ('Phil Hellmuth's Texas Hold'em'). I think that my book helped bring millions of people into poker! Lastly, my book is filled with truth, which is why it sold so many copies."
Adam ‘Roothlus’ Levy didn’t agree:
“This was the first book I ever read and the worst. There wasn't much helpful in it, and he broke player types down into animals, which was pretty hilarious. All I did was get worse at poker after reading this, hardly play poker like the pros.”
Here are the Top 59 most influential poker books of all time.
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 Schoonmacher |
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 Hold'em Poker |
Bob Ciaffone |
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