Feature
Poker in print: a guide to the best poker books.
It’s a question often asked but seldom answered definitively –
what’s the best book on poker ever written?
Ask a card room of players and several titles will crop up repeatedly, with
fans of each arguing with unnerving headstrong passion why the book they named
is the best.
So it was a subject of great interest when news of an online best poker book
ever poll arrived in the Big Slick inbox. Would the results settle the issue
once and for all we wondered?
Poker fans could vote for one of eight books, all of which are generally mentioned
in any best poker book debate. Here was the top 5, with their percentage of
votes:
1) 40% Super/System – Doyle Brunson
2) 25% Big Deal – Anthony Holden
3) 11% The Biggest Game in Town – Al Alvarez
4= 7% Shut Up and Deal – Jesse May
4= 7% Education of a poker player – Herbert Yardley
1) Super/System – Doyle Brunson
Given its nickname among poker players – “The Bible” –
perhaps it’s only right that this masterpiece of analysis was voted the
nuts when it comes to poker books.
Brunson’s Super/System is still the standard reference text on No Limit
Hold’em. His relentlessly aggressive style aims to dominate the table
and while it isn’t for the faint-hearted it sure works. Brunson published
the book in 1978, immediately after back to back World Series of Poker wins
– and the original title was How I made over $1,000,000 playing poker.
Brunson’s writing style is authoritative and analytical but is effortlessly
broken up by anecdotes drawn from his years of experience in the poker world.
The book is in fact split into several sections. Draw Poker, 7 Card Stud, Lowball,
High Low, Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em. Each section is written
up by an expert in the field – including other WSOP event winners and
players who have gone on to become renowned poker theorists and authors themselves
including David Sklansky and Mike Caro.
Though some of the book is now dated Brunson’s own No Limit section is
extensive and still very relevant. If you play no-limit hold’em you simply
can’t afford not to read it – the chances are someone on your table
has!
2) Big Deal – Anthony Holden
Simply the best poker narrative ever written. Where Brunson tops the poll
on how to play Holden walks it when it comes to writing about what it’s
like to play.
And it’s no surprise either really. Holden was already a world-class
author when he decided to take a year out to play high stakes poker and write
about it. The resulting book is a mesmerising journey round the poker circuit
as he travels the world playing cards in strange places with stranger people.
There are endless anecdotes about poker, worth buying the book for alone, readers
experience the tension of his big hands, both won and lost, and there are lots
of references to many pros that still play the circuit today.
The book provides a fascinating insight into the world of professional poker.
And while Holden suggests the stereotype of idiosyncratic characters, gaudy
jewellery, hats, sunglasses and nicknames is still alive and well the book also
reveals the camaraderie, ruthlessness and total respect these players have for
each other. A poker classic.
3) The Biggest Game in Town – Al Alvarez
The town, of course, is Las Vegas, and the book provides a revealing snapshot
of the place and its poker players during the 1981 World Series of Poker.
Alvarez got to speak to many of the game’s greats during the tournament,
including among many others, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, Johnny Moss, Amarillo
“Slim” Preston and Chip Reese.
The players happily recounted rambling gambling tales and the book is an entertaining
if loosely connected series of these life stories. The interviews also shine
a fascinating light on the psychology of the big game professionals.
The actual WSOP tournament is covered near the end but readers quickly realise
the book is more about the characters who play poker than the games themselves
or how to play it.
It does delve into the seedier side of Las Vegas with its tragic gambling losers
and vice trade. But the book is primarily an authentic reflection of what life
was like in the early eighties obsessive world of High Stakes poker where the
author discovers: “the next best thing to playing and winning is playing
and losing”.
4= Shut up and Deal – Jesse May
Yes, that Jesse May. The voice of Late Night Poker and general all round celebrity
poker pundit. This was May’s debut book and was dubbed the best gambling
novel since Mario Puzo’s cult classic Fools Die by one reviewer.
Mickey, a young pro poker player, narrates the book sharing with us through
the highs and lows of a professional poker player’s life as Texas Hold’em
breathed new life into casino card rooms in the early 1990s.
Readers are taken on a journey through countless poker rooms inhabited mostly
by an outlandish cast of shrewd low lifes and big game wannabes. Mickey travels
America and Europe to play, dressing in an ever-weirder collection of clothes
in an effort to convince other players he’s a sucker ready for the taking.
It’s a wild gambling lifestyle, there are some very funny moments and
great descriptions on how it feels to win and lose big. May has, of course,
experienced all this himself and the story benefits from a gritty realism. Anyone
that’s ever played in a real card room will feel like they’re back
in it. The book smells of poker!
4 = Education of a Poker Player – Herbert Yardley
What Anthony Holden did for early 90s poker Herbert Yardley did for the world
of 50s poker. This is an engrossing story of what it was like to be a poker
player who travelled the world looking for action.
And Yardley certainly found action! He recounts countless games against a never-ending
stream of unlikely characters across smoke hazy green baize tables.
Among the players he pitted his wits against with were railroad men, travelling
salesmen, speculators, drunks, no hopers – and even secret agents!
The book is a fascinating insight into the world and psyche of poker players
in the mid 50s along with some dated but still useful playing tips.
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