Poker Tournament Strategy Books

The Best Poker Tournament Strategy Books:

Harrington on Hold ’em Volume 1 – 3 by Dan Harrington

   – Geared towards no-limit hold’em tournament

   – Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert advice 9/10

About the Author – Dan Harrington:

Dan Harrington is the reverant god father of poker tournament strategy. He has pioneered three of the most successful poker tournament strategy books of all time (volumes 1-3 of his Harrington on Holdem Series), and his influence has inspired some of the most well-known tournament concepts to date.

Dan Harrington has won 2 WSOP titles, and has scooped more than six and a half millon dollars in live tournament winnings.  He began playing professionally in 1982 and is known on the circuits as “Action Dan” for his solid yet successful style.

Harrington on Hold ’em Volume 1: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington

The first of its 3-part series, Harrington on Holdem volume 1 is well-recommended and ideal for beginner poker players, looking to learn and study how to apply optimal poker tournament strategy in No Limit Holdem Tournaments. The book is written alongside pro backgammon champion Bill Robertie, and it provides a wide range of tournament scenarios and sections to explain starting hand selection, advanced tournament concepts, equity calculations, and many other important things.

The chapters in Harrington on Holdem Volume 1 are divided up into different key concepts and areas of the game.  The best feature about Harrington on Holdem Volume 1 is that it provides such a comprehensive guide for new – advanced players learning to play tournaments.  It outlines how to effecively play different premium or marginal hands in a range of situations, as well as how to react to raises before you.  

In contrast to many other tournament poker books, it relies less on mathematical formulae and calculations and more on the descriptive elements of your table and the contextual factors to take into account.  This includes how to judge your opponent’s style and looseness of play. It really does provide a brilliant guide to playing tournaments profitably. 

Conclusion on Harrington on Holdem Volume 1:

 Dan Harrington’s “Harrington on Holdem” is the perfect starting book for new poker tournament players.  However, experienced tournament players can learn just as much from it too.  Harrington is a proven winner, and his book really is the scion of successful winning tournament strategy in my opinion.

Harrington on Hold ’em Volume 2: Endgame by Dan Harrington

More advanced than his first volume, Dan Harrington’s Endgame book focuses more on the end game of poker tournaments.  It provides more end-game advice and lays to groaundwork for short-handed play, heads up, and how to actually win the tournament in the later stages.  This is also where most tournament players fall short, so the advantages to be had from reading this particular book for regular players in large field tournaments is massive.  This book is also where Dan Harrington’s famous M-ratio was first introduced (a theory for explaining how aggressive to play in tournaments – taking into account your chip stack, the blinds, and your opponents stacks also).

Conclusion:

This book is extremely important for serious poker tournament players who regularly play online.  It identifies how to play profitably in the final stages of a tournament and make the correct money decisions.  Most importantly it corrects the mistakes that 95% of players make when entering the bubble zone of MTTs.  It’s also a very useful book for sit and go players, and those playing steps tournaments and other single-table-tournaments.

Harrington on Hold ’em Volume 1: The Work Book by Dan Harrington

The last in its trilogy, Dan Harrington’s Volume 3: The Work Book is more or less just endless chapters of quizzes and tournament reflections.  It is by no means essential to tournament poker strategy.  If you are interested in his insights involving into live tournament event situations and hands it is still worth reading (he analyses hands with Daniel Negreanu et al).

If you want to find a really good site for poker books I found this nifty Poker Ebooks site which has reviews and description of all the best pro ebooks.  Most of them are written by online high stakes pros such as CTS from CardRunners.  The advantage to ebooks over poker books is that they’re far cheaper, usually more up to date and you can download them straight away.