What was the Best poker Book published in 2007?

[terry0222]

Sit 'n Go Strategy (Collin Moshman) is the superior book on Sit-n-Go tournaments. Very focused. A different approach than Kill Everyone. I just liked the writing style a lot more.

[Traveller99]

My list of 2007 books that I liked, in order, covering more than half of the 2007 books I read. I skipped all Limit-specific and Omaha-specific books this year and focused on NL Hold'Em Tourney and Cash :

Kill Everyone
Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I
Sit 'n Go Strategy
The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide
How to Dominate $1 and $2 No Limit Hold 'Em
The Poker Mindset: Essential Attitudes for Poker Success

[1p0kerboy]

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Unless someone beats me to it, I am going to go on Amazon when I get home from work, put together a list of books supposedly coming out in 2008 (so yes, Daniel's book will be included) and make a post dealing with what people consider the most anticipated poker books of 2008.


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Hi Doc:

Just so you know, it's our policy at Two Plus Two not to list on Amazon until we have an acceptable manuscript in hand and are confident we can meet our announced publishing date. So even though we have books scheduled for 2008, none are as yet listed on Amazon.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Mason,

Have the titles or authors been announced yet for the books that 2+2 is planning on publishing in 2008?

'boy

[Doc T River]

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Unless someone beats me to it, I am going to go on Amazon when I get home from work, put together a list of books supposedly coming out in 2008 (so yes, Daniel's book will be included) and make a post dealing with what people consider the most anticipated poker books of 2008.


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Hi Doc:

Just so you know, it's our policy at Two Plus Two not to list on Amazon until we have an acceptable manuscript in hand and are confident we can meet our announced publishing date. So even though we have books scheduled for 2008, none are as yet listed on Amazon.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Mason (may I call you Mason?),

I thought about this before you posted and I had this thought. I am going to include Harrington On Cash because I anticipate that it is going to win and to leave it off would be a major omission. I am going to make a provision for other unknown 2plus2 books by including a category Any other 2plus 2 books. I am going to post a disclaimer that this is an unofficial list and inclusion on the list does not indicate a book will see the light of day in 2008.

Good idea?

[FoxInTheHenHouse]

What’s the best book? That’s an awfully broad question. Answers will depend on what people get most out of the books they’ve read and they’ll give their opinions without reading all the books on the list. So a lot of it will depend on which books they’ve selected to read and they could have missed the “best one”.

Then there is the fact that some people read to learn - good for them - and others read just to see if the author agrees with them. If the author doesn’t agree with them, then it’s a “bad book”.

The best part of the answers to this thread may be that we’ll get a demographic that shows just what the forum members are reading these days.

In one sense, the “best” book is Sam O’Connor’s “How to Dominate $1 and $2 No Limit Hold 'Em” because it contains unquestionably the best rhetoric of any poker book, ever, and it is both informative and entertaining. It’s an easy read. Also, at 416 pages it is the best volume buy ($22.50 at Professional Poker). The book stresses playing people and, while confusing at first, it’s like a good wine; it finishes nicely. Dominate holds the best value.

Some members will be looking for something else. Other books will be selected according to what games, and at what levels, forum members play.

We’ll have answers from those favoring books on small limit and those who read books on high limit (Tanenbaum?).

Then there are those who play no limit. They will choose a book that either fits their formulaic approach (PNL perhaps) or the psychological approach (maybe Your Worst Enemy).

Then there are the tournament players who will have a completely different group of selections (Harrington?).

Anyway, by finding out what people are reading and what it is they like, we’ll find out what members are playing these days. And at what level they read and play.

This is a good thread.

[Tim Peters]

Here are my nominees for 2007 books:

For tournament poker: the anthology Michael Craig edited, "The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide.
For cash games: "Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume I" by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller.

Here are links to my reviews (which appeared in Card Player magazine) for both:

Card Player review: The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide



Card Player review: Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume I

[Ruy Lopez]

Cash: "Professional No-Limit Hold 'em: Volume I" by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta, and Ed Miller

STT: Moshman

MTT: FullTilt Strat Guide

[Tim Peters]

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"The Picasso Flop" by Vince Van Patten and Robert J. Randisi


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I reviewed The Picasso Flop book for Publishers Weekly, to wit:

Van Patten, a host of TV's World Poker Tour, has teamed with veteran mystery writer Randisi to create what may be the first novel billed as a "Texas Hold'em Mystery" with so-so results. The action takes place during a major poker tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and Jimmy Spain—recently released from prison—is there both to play and to coach 22-year-old Kat Landrigan, the talented daughter of a man Spain did time with (part of a pointlessly complex backstory). But the tournament is interrupted by two murders, and, for reasons that strain credulity, Spain is asked to look into the matter. The title refers to the three playing cards discovered with each body: a jack, a queen and a king, which, when dealt together, are sometimes described as a "Picasso flop" in hold'em. Spain is an engaging, likable character, and some of the poker scenes are done with flair and knowledge, but the loose plot doesn't do justice to the fine concept.

There is a better poker mystery (but not much better) called Dead Money by Randy Stegemoeller, and then there is solid poker mystery by Pete Hautman titled The Prop.

The best poker-themed novel (at least from the perspective of an actual poker player) has to be Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May. It definitely captures the pre-Internet life of the grinder and contains dozens of quotable observations about poker like this one:

Poker is a combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill part is hard, but they’re wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck. That’s philosophy. Understanding luck is philosophy, and there are some people who aren’t ever gonna fade it. That’s what sets poker apart. And that’s what keeps everyone coming back for more....

I've posted a page about that book:
Shut Up and Deal

[Doc T River]

One series I like is the Tony Valentine series by Swain. There is a three book story set around a fictional stand-in for the WSOP. I sold off about twenty-some boxes of books so I cannot give you the exact titles of all the books off the top of my head, but I do remmeber one was Deadman's Bluff.

[Coy_Roy]

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The best poker-themed novel (at least from the perspective of an actual poker player) has to be Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May. It definitely captures the pre-Internet life of the grinder and contains dozens of quotable observations about poker like this one:

Poker is a combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill part is hard, but they’re wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck. That’s philosophy. Understanding luck is philosophy, and there are some people who aren’t ever gonna fade it. That’s what sets poker apart. And that’s what keeps everyone coming back for more....

I've posted a page about that book:
Shut Up and Deal

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Thanks for all that, I'm going to definitely procure a copy.