Poker has seen incredible growth lately. The reason for this, is in part due to the rapid increase in the online poker rooms. The other key factor was the "hole card cam", which allows audiences watching on television to know the players hidden cards as the decisions are being made. This had a big influence on the viewing audiences enjoyment watching poker.
When Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event in 2003, the poker boom was in full swing. These days, the top poker pros carry a superstar status, and are very well known due to the TV exposure. Currently let's take a glimpse at a couple of the most highly regarded poker tactics books on the market today.
Barry Greenstein is an all around poker superstar. He has won three WSOP events, in three varieties of poker, and has also take home a WPT title. Add on top of that well over $6 million in career winnings, and a respected opponent in the "big game", considered the biggest cash games that are played, and you can see he is one great player. He wrote Ace On The River to present his approach to professional poker.
The style and approach of Barry's book is quite different from most basic strategy books. He makes an attempt to give us his vision into the intriguing world of being a pro poker player. He has examples of strategy too, but mostly deals with teaching you about the different people, their style of play, and the game conditions, that you will run into.
1995 WSOP Main Event champ Dan Harrington deseves a place on this select list of player/authors. With over $6 million in cashes over his career, 2 World Series Of Poker wins, and a WPT championship too, he certainly has the credentials of a great player. His stategy trilogy, Harrington on holdem, published only three years ago, has become viewed as an instant classic.
Harrington deals exclusively with the world of tournament poker, exploring the various aspects of playing tournaments. In the minds of the professionals, Dan gave out powerful insights to a large group of new players. These insights have removed a small sampling of the edge the professionals could count on having against many players. Worth a look for any serious tournament player.
David Sklansky doesn't have the playing reputation that the others listed are. Surprising to most people though, he has captured a total of three WSOP titles. David is well know as a writer than for his playing prowess. He has published quite a few books on poker, on a variety of poker games that are being played today.
Although he does deal with all aspects of poker thinking, he goes to great lengths to explain the mathmatical part of playing poker. He works through examples making it so that you will know that the value of your decisions. Hoping to catch on a draw can be expensive in some instances, and be the best play in slightly different situation. He makes it so that you will be able to to understand the odds in situations that are tricky. Which is critical to playing winning poker.
Legendary Doyle Brunson won the big one (WSOP Main Event) two times. His two wins were a back to back feat, in 1976 and 1977. It's widely viewed that Doyle is the best poker player ever. He has attained an amazing 10 WSOP championships, and also has been victorious in an WPT event. He also plays with the best as a regular in the big game, considered the toughest cash game that are played. Doyle wrote Super System back in the 1970's, and it has been called the bible of poker by many poker greats.
The two books super system 1, and super system 2, are his best. In these masterpieces he educates us on a variety of different poker games. In the super system books he lets other great players assist with the task, of teaching us how to play the different games. So basically, it must be considered a collaboration. Though the original book is considered somewhat outdated, Super system 2 has stepped in to support, and update the original classic.
All of these players have dedicated themselves to make sure that their readers get a chance to improve their games. Even some top pros will list these writings as major contributors in leading them to becoming professional level players If you can study these poker books they will help you become a better player.