Elements of Poker

Elements is a mandatory prerequisite for anyone looking to play. It is SO much different from other poker books and covers SO many areas of poker - not just no limit holdem. The lessons in the book are applicable to Stud, Omaha, Limit, and even games outside of poker. For me, EOP gave me the tools I needed to sharpen the blade both tactically and mentally. It's simply the last poker book you ever need to buy and anyone who tells you different is selling something. It will be the last poker book you need to buy for a long time :)

I remember my first poker book. It wasn't technically "mine." It was nestled among the others in my father's bookcase. "The Education of a Poker Player," by Herbert O. Yardley. That book was fascinating. I had never read anything like it. I was hooked!

Although I was only fifteen years old, and I had never played poker in a cardroom (yet), I knew following the advice in that book would guarantee a lifetime of losing, unless you were fortunate enough to have access to the perfect poker game for Yardley's playing style. But it made me think about the game.

In the years that followed, I read many more poker books. Some about the fundamentals, how to effectively play this game, or that. Some about the psychology of poker players. Some about the so-called "meta-game." Some about the mathematics of poker. Many of these contained good information, some did not. All were useful, in that they made me aware of what other players thought "the right way to play poker" is now.

Only a handful of books have altered my thinking about the nature of the game (oddly, only one of them is actually about how to play poker). As a poker player, I know I shouldn't help other players to become better, but when I find a great book, every fiber of my being wants to share this knowledge with everyone I know.

Tommy Angelo has written such a book. "The Elements of Poker" will fundamentally change the game for those who read it and actually apply the principles, in much the same way as the first "Power Poker" book, by Doyle Brunson, did. And when enough players have applied "The Elements of Poker" to their game, poker will become harder to beat.

Tommy Angelo is clever, he’s funny, he’s an original. He’s not going to teach you how to play poker, he teaches you how to think about poker, and that’s way more valuable.