10 Must-Read Books for Poker Enthusiasts

Poker has become the hottest game in America. It’s a universal pastime that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age or background.

Math and poker go hand in hand. This book teaches you how to master calculations like expected value (EV), pot odds and outs. Plus, it covers basic poker strategy.

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells

Caro’s Book of Poker Tells is a must-have guide to reading your opponents. It breaks down specific types of tells that more experienced players might exploit and the psychological reasons why they do so.

But you’ll also find general tells like shrugs and sighs, as well as physical responses to opponents’ cards—such as which ones are reliable and which aren’t—and even what to do when fake tells conflict with real ones.

The Mental Game of Poker

Here you’ll find all the strategies and tools you need to succeed in today’s cutthroat poker world. Building on Tendler’s earlier work on psychology, this book dives into everything from managing tilt, or emotional distraction, to plugging mental leaks.

If you want to take your game up a level, this one comes highly recommended. Advanced concepts covered include range balancing, game theory optimal strategies and more.

The Art of Bluffing

Bluffing requires skill and strategy—the Art of Bluffing shows you just how high the bar is set with comprehensive instructions on how to read the actions and emotions of your opponents.

Bluffs are the lifeblood of poker; they elevate your game by forcing others into making mistakes. For live poker players specifically, Zach offers this indispensable brick-and-mortar volume that shows them how to recognize common verbal and behavioral tells.

The Big Blind

Poker is an ever-changing dance between strategy and psychology—you have no choice but constant learning if you want any hope of adaptation—the Big Blind teaches you the fundamentals.

This poker book is laden with essential strategies and adjustments specifically tailored for small stakes tournament play, making it a must-read for any player who wants to improve their game in tournaments.

Grospellier’s Rules of the Game

While this book has been oft criticized for being too basic on certain subjects—such as position or exceptions—they should not be skipped over. As well as providing answers to one’s most basic questions about poker, Grospellier goes into extensive depth on important aspects of game theory, implied odds and blauffing in a way that is easily understood by beginners.

Ed Miller’s book on poker math provides an essential grounding in understanding how to adjust strategy according to different playing styles, making it indispensable reading for all tournament players.

Ed Miller’s Adjusting Your Strategy

You can’t have poker without the math aspect, so knowing how to calculate pot odds and implied odds is crucial knowledge in order to succeed in this game; Owen Gaines breaks these concepts down so they are easy for beginners to get their heads around.

This book covers tournament strategy at all levels of depth. Additionally, it includes numerous hand examples along with analyses that make even complex topics easier to understand.

Fitzgerald’s Live Poker Strategy

There are many types of players out there, but if your main focus lies only on tournaments then this unmissable volume details advanced strategies and techniques specifically geared toward them in such a way that you’ll be able to pick up what he’s putting down immediately.

Junior high school-level material? Sure—and that’s exactly why we recommend it! Math plays such an integral part in poker that this book often gets shunned by more advanced players… but don’t let its simplicity fool you; pot odds, implied odds and expected value (EV) are still extremely important knowledge for newbie players.

The Theory of Poker

Any poker player hoping to step up their game needs to read this book. The writer, Mike Caro, uses a mix of styles, from philosophy and truthiness to traditional storytelling, all in order to help readers figure out how they can better analyze the game.

Math is a key part of playing good poker, and that’s something that Gaines knows and wants you to know as well. So in his book he goes over everything there is to know about things like pot odds and expected value (EV) calculations and gives easy-to-understand explanations so you can make more informed decisions at the table.

The Millionaire Mind

This book is perfect for players who prefer hitting the live tables, as it helps you understand both verbal and behavioral tells when it comes to poker. And most importantly, applying them effectively in different situations.

If math is important to you while playing then this book may be your personal bible. It teaches you ideal guides on calculations like pot odds, implied odds, EV and poker outs. All written in very simple ways so even someone not so great at math can understand them.

The World Series of Poker Official Rules

Don’t flip past this book thinking you’ve got enough knowledge about poker or its history because everyone needs it as a part of their collection! This journey starts with the game’s wild west roots and takes us all the way through into modern day Las Vegas culture.

Tournament players who have eyes on taking down low stakes tournaments will really appreciate what this book has inside its pages. It goes into detail about satellite play and reading tells along with small adjustments made for small stakes tables.