Good Books on Tournament Play?

I'm definitely more of a cash game player but would like to be more well-rounded. I've struggled with tournaments in the past and would like to know if there are any good books on tournaments that you would recommend. It would help a lot. Thanks!

I'm currently reading "Harrington on Hold'em - Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments". I'm about 1/3 of the way into the first book (3 book series) and I like it a lot so far. It's a good guide on how to think about the whole hand - calculating odds, planning your future actions, observing your opponent's playing style and betting patterns and seeing what they might indicate about their hands. It's not a beginner's guide - nothing about hand selection, just a little on calculating outs.

"Winning poker tournaments one hand at a time" volume 1. Was the best tourney poker book ever written imo. I don't play tourneys anymore but here they came out with volume 2. It's written by 3 top online tourney winners and they breakdown actual hands they played in a tourney. You get in the mindset of the players and you can see 3 different syles at play.

^^ This, it doesn't really go over strategy in the same way HoH does, rather each author looks at ~50 hands of theirs and explains their thoughts for each move.

It may not be where you wanna start, HoH may be better for that, but you definitely wanna get both volumes at some point.

I've read Harrington on Hold'em, all 3 books a while a go, found it only works if you get hands. I liked killphil and killeveryone(agressive system) and doyles-super system even if it's a old book(trap system) and david sklansky(gets a bit heavy).
It's good to see how different people play different styles, and gus hanson book, but u can't realy use this on line without good reads.
only problem is you come again total donkeys who have not got a clue how to play and odds.
so a bit of luck is what you need in big tournaments and keep away from the donkeys.

The three Harrington on Holdem books are slightly outdated, but still good stuff for beginners. Try the very instructional and eye opening books "Kill Everyone" and "Kill Phil" by Lee Nelson. The best in my opinion are the "Winning Poker Tournaments" books by pearljammer/apestyles/rizen Vol. 1+2 !

Harrington and "Kill Everyone"* are good, as others have said. Also Snyder`s "Poker Tournament Formula".




*If buying this, be sure and get the 2009 revised and expanded edition.

Egon Towst said:

d. Also Snyder`s "Poker Tournament Formula".




*If buying this, be sure and get the 2009 revised and expanded edition.

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Ive got it, but not the revised edition. Worth buying it again? Whats been changed?

fletchdad said:

Ive got it, but not the revised edition. Worth buying it again? Whats been changed?

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I have the new one here on my shelf but not the old, so can only speak from memory. But yes, it`s a big revision. The original content is updated and there is a lot of entirely new comment and opinion from additional contributor Elky Grospellier.

hoh if youre going to play longball.
if your playing smallball, bring your cashgame skills.
and no matter what read kill everyone.

I was actually going through the same process earlier this year.
I narrowed it down to HoH and WPTOHAT to take on vacation with me.

I ended up buying HoH vol1, because it was so hard to find WPTOHAT anywhere in my local book stores.
I found HoH vol1 to be very simple, especially for someone who already has some poker knowledge.

I have yet to find WPTOHAT, but I am hoping to buy it online.

I think im going to give Winning Poker Tournaments books by pearljammer/apestyles/rizen a try. It couldn't hurt reading up on some different strategies. I appreciate all your help guys!!!

good choice. hope to hear your review/thoughts after your done!

dontshiveagit said:

I think im going to give Winning Poker Tournaments books by pearljammer/apestyles/rizen a try. It couldn't hurt reading up on some different strategies. I appreciate all your help guys!!!

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These are two excellent books... 'but'.. if you haven't read HOH I would for sure read them first!!! (you can likely get them thru your local library via an inter-library book loan... just get Vol.1 & 2.. 3 isn't worth bothering with imo).

The WinningPokerTournaments book isn't about some different strategies... it's a bunch of HH's.. considered 'trouble hands'.. or hands that illustrate different situations that come up in Tourneys.