Poker Essays: Volumes 1 2 and 3. Worth it?

[phydaux]

Yeah, there's some Stud & Razz in there, too.

While you're at it, hunt down Improve Your Poker by Caiffone. Best poker book I ever read.

See, the Essays, IYP and other books like Cooke's The Play of Hands are all books that get you thinking. They present a situation, and then they cover the pros and cons of playing that situation a particular way.

The absolute best thing that can happen when you read a book like that is for you to disagree with the author.

See, the author will go into detail why his way is the "best" way. If you disagree, then you have to figure out in your own head why your way is "better." This makes you spend a lot of time thinking about poker on a very high level. You might even create a thread here in the strategy forums, present both options and get a lot of feedback both ways.

In the end, it really doesn't matter who was "right." You're thinking very critically about poker on a very high level, and THAT is what turns you into a good poker player.