With 2024 coming to an end, it’s time to take stock. That’s why we made a selection of the 12 poker books that were published in 2024 that we liked the most. In the compilation below you will see mostly strategy books, but there is also a biography, a book about the risks of betting and even a poker comic book.

Best Poker Books of 2024 📚

Poker Pioneer: The Autobiography of Tom McEvoy – Brad Smith & Tom McEvoy

It’s one of the best poker biographies I’ve read and you learn a lot about poker history. Tom McEvoy is best known for being the 1983 Main Event champion and being in the Poker Hall of Fame. He was also the first Main Event champion to earn his way in via a satellite, the first PokerStars ambassador, the first player to beat a computer and was instrumental in making the WSOP smoke-free. A true pioneer of the game.

Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Tournaments – Lexy Gavin-Mather

In her first poker book, Lexy provides valuable advice for players in small stakes live tournaments (buy-ins between $100 and $500) offered by almost all casinos in the world. The book has seven large parts: Understanding Small Stakes Poker Tournaments, OPERATES, The Stages, It All Starts Pre-Flop!, Continuation Betting, Advanced Strategies to take your game further and The Poker Lifestyle.

In case you missed it, we invite you to read our review of the book and an interview with Lexy Gavin-Mather.

GTO Poker Gems Vol. 2 – James Sweeney

The poker strategy book is divided into 12 short chapters on these topics: pre-flop patterns, flop textures & sizing, turn textures & sizing, playing as the defender, river bluffs, river bluff-catches, delayed trees as the aggressor, delayed trees as the defender, vulnerability, range protection, commitment ranges and randomization.

In case you missed it, we invite you to read our review of the book and an interview with James Sweeney.

Improve Your Poker Now! – Topher Goggin & Alex Fitzgerald

The book has 10 chapters. The first ones are about basic concepts of Hold’em and tournaments that are necessary to master for poker tournament success. Chapters 6 (pre-flop play) and 7 (post-flop play) are the longest and most comprehensive in the book. In both the authors add hands that they actually played in live and online tournaments that help a lot to understand the concepts. Towards the end there is a chapter where Alex analyzes in depth five hands where all the topics discussed above apply.

In case you missed it, we invite you to read our review of the book and an interview with Topher Goggin.

Essential Poker Math Workbook Edition – Alton Hardin

Writer and coach Alton Hardin published a new book focused on the mathematics of poker with clear and accessible explanations of poker theory with extensive hands-on practice and real-world application. The book contains six sections: introductory topics, fundamental poker math concepts, pre-flop concepts, post-flop concepts, EV calculations & combinatorics and conclusion & reference materials.

Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified – Dara O’Kearney & Barry Carter

The great duo of Dara and Barry published their sixth book together where they use solver technology to show how to exploit opponents’ weaknesses. The book has two main parts with pre-flop leaks (open shoving any two, bad range construction and not defending enough to name some of the subjects) and post-flop leaks (calling/folding/raising too much, slow play too much and river mistakes for example).

The Live Cash Game Poker Workbook – James Sweeney

This new book from “SplitSuit” is for players of $1/$2, $1/$3 and $2/$5 live cash games. Some of the topics the author discusses include: pre-flop ranges, pot odds, implied odds, auto-profit bluffing, EV, pot geometry, river play, stack size estimates, re-opened vs closed action and street-by-street hand analysis.

How To Beat Players Who Never Fold – Alex Fitzgerald

This new book by Alex and published by D&B Poker is aimed at low and mid buy-in live tournament players and low stakes home games. The eight chapters cover: players who never fold, live casino tournaments and low stakes cash games, multiway pots, heads-up pots, three-bet pots, huge pre-flop raises, home game considerations and key takeaways.

On The Edge – Nate Silver

In his new book, Nate Silver delves into the world of professional risk-takers to analyze some of their characteristics: high tolerance for risk, appreciation of uncertainty and affinity for numbers paired with an instinctive distrust of conventional wisdom and a competitive drive so intense it can border on irrational. In addition to poker players, you can read about hedge fund managers, crypto true believers and blue-chip art collectors.

A New Queen’s Guide to Poker – Sara O’Connor

The book contains five main parts. In the first part, the author introduces herself and talks about her experience in her first year as a player. In the second part, the rules, positions and types of games are explained. In part 3, the different bets and bluffs are described with advice on when to make them. In part 4, the casino workers are shown with interviews with dealers and tournament directors. The different types of players at the tables are also shown. And in the fifth and last part, the author talks about the bankroll, her experience as a woman, the mental game and closes the book with interviews with well-known professional players, men and women.

In case you missed it, we invite you to read our review of the book and an interview with Sara O’Connor.

Twenty-four NLH Tournaments Hands from 2024 – Matt Matros

Just like last year, Matt chose the 24 most notable hands he played live and online in 2024 and divided them into four categories: barreling, bluffcatching, big bluffs, and ICM adjustments. It is a short (only 76 pages), dynamic and entertaining poker book where you also learn valuable concepts.

Trapped – Joe Stapleton & Neil Gibson

We close this compilation of 2024’s best poker books with something unusual: a poker comic book. The main character of the story is Joe, a poker commentator who plays low- and medium-stakes cash games in casinos and private home games in Los Angeles. When he is fired, he must find a way to generate income again and he becomes involved with dangerous people. I don’t want spoil any more of the plot, so you can read it for yourself.

In case you missed it, we invite you to read our review of the comic and interview with Joe Stapleton.

You can find all the books in paperback and digital versions on Amazon. Have a great read! 📖

More Poker Books from 2024

Here a list of some other poker books that were also published this year:

• Poker Woman – Ellen Leikind
• The Beginner’s Guide to Seven Card Stud – Max G. Scott
• SCOOP! BIG O & PLO8 Volume IV – Greg Vail
• Poker: A Woman’s Game – Lafaya Mitchell
• How To Be a Nit (comedy) – Antonius Kingsley Stün
• All In On Mindset – Zoltan Incze
• The Professional Poker Study Plan (free ebook) – Dara O’Kearney & Barry Carter
• Butterfly9 (novel) – Barbara Gene Cardin
• Barreras y Prejuicios en el Poker (Spanish) – Sebastián Costa
• Poquer De Torneo (Spanish) – David Sklansky
• All In La Resiliente vida de Rosa Tous (Spanish) – Rosa Tous

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