More Poker Books

I've read a few more since my post Good Poker Books.

I read The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King. This is a great story about billionaire Andy Beal and the contingent of professionals who played against him. I was impressed with how Beal could go home, greatly improve his game, then come back to Vegas months later and beat the pros. He constantly tried to raise the stakes so that the amount of money involved would make even these professionals nervous. In the end, he had trouble maintaining the discipline to follow his own rules, such as not playing long sessions, and lost. But that point is still under debate, according to Beal, who claims that overall, he was a winner.

The book Phil Gordon's Little Green Book : Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold'em contains a lot of useful observations about no-limit hold'em. It's really making me think about the game a lot more. Since they are so many short ideas, it's easy to pick up just for a few minutes. Then of course you'll be thinking about that one idea during your entire commute to work.

I'm currently reading The Book of Bluffs : How to Bluff and Win at Poker by Matt Lessinger. This is an excellent book about how, why, and when to bluff, including how frequently you should try certain bluffs and how often they work.

Finally, I'm really enjoying The Making Of A Poker Player: How An Ivy League Math Geek Learned To Play Championship Poker, by Matt Matros. This book details his rise to becoming a professional poker player. It's an interesting read and contains some useful strategic and mathematical information, but not a ton.