Sites

The on-line poker sites I like the best are:

Home Poker Tourney - great information about home games and all things for them

Full Tilt - an on-line poker site with lots of tips and advice from some of the best professional players

Bluff Magazine - very good articles from the top poker magazine

Bluff Radio - Download previous radio shows about poker.  Excellent show, they even read an email sent in by me in one of them

Pokershop.com.au - I have bought most of my poker equipment here

PokerTube - great videos of WSOP and other top events, including the Aussie Millions.  I looked, but couldn't see myself in the crowd.


Books

I currently have 22 books on poker, these are the ones I think the best:

Dan Harrington's three books on Tournament Poker - these are the best books on how to play no limit Hold'em tournaments.  His concepts are succinct and explained with plenty of examples of actual play.

Doyle Brunson's Super System I and Super System II - the books cover many types of poker.  Super System I was published in the 70's and condensed what was then twenty years of hard won experience as a road gambler.  II was published in 2004 and updates the concepts to take into account on-line poker, as well as shifts in popularity of different games.  Both books are comprised of chapters on variations of poker, such as stud, Omaha, Texas Hold'em etc, written by the best practitioners of those games in the world at the time.

Why You Lose at Poker - while most books tell you how to improve your game to win, this book examines the common mistakes most people make that causes them to lose.  I can vouch for this, I have no problem taking down a large pot with the best hand.  But it is the chips I bet into the pot with second best hand that gives me most losses.

Mike Caro's book of Poker Tells - I have won more poker pots because of this book than any other

David Sklansky's Theory of Poker - This is the foundation book for the way poker is played today.  It is the bible of the best players in the world.  It wont make you the best player, or even a good player, but if you invest the mental effort to understand the concepts of poker theory, you will have laid the foundation to become a very good player.

Poker Nation - the highs and lows (mostly lows) of playing poker for a living by someone who almost made it.  An interesting read and a sobering contrast to the multi million dollar winner pro's always in the spotlight.

Poker Wisdom of a Champion by Doyle Brunson - very interesting read about Texas Dolly's early days in the 60's as a road gambler in Texas.


Movies and TV

Rounders is considered by many to be one of the main reasons for Pokers sudden rise in popularity.

Late Night Poker when it was shown (four years after it first aired in the UK and several seasons out of date) on Australian TV (but thank you SBS for at least showing it) is the first time I saw, or heard of, Texas Hold'em.  I think it was in fact this show that started the revival of Poker in the US, and is solely responsible for the huge popularity of Texas Hold'em that followed.

Lucky You follows in the footsteps of Rounders.  It has some great shots of the Las Vegas strip and the 'Big Game' at the Belagio.  Plus cameo appearances from many poker greats.  Some people criticize the movie as having too much focus on poker hands and not enough on the plot.  Bah I say.  It should have had more poker and much less 'kissy kissy'.  The prop bet where Eric Banna has to run five miles and shoot a round of golf under 72 within three hours is a classic.  More than enough drama for anyone.  Of course we all know it was Chris Moneymaker (real name, no kidding) who won the 2003 WSOP.

World Series of Poker on ESPN has just commenced showing the 2007 season.  You should be able to see them on PokerTube as they come out.  WSOP shows a whole tournament condensed to 40 minutes of highlights.  It gives the impression of a crazy wild game where outrageous raises, bluffs and all-ins are the norm.  What you don't see is the other 14 hours of play where players have been setting each other up for the dramatic plays that make it to the TV screen.  It's the same as if you watched highlights only of a test cricket match.

World Poker Tour season 5 is in progress.  I am not sure if this makes it to Australia, but it is shown on the Travel Channel in the US.  WPT developed the format most televised poker events now use.  The WPT coverage goes for 1 1/2 hours, so can show much more of the subtly of a tournament game.

Joker Poker on Network Ten is just a joke.  I mean really, comedians (most who don't know how to even spell poker) playing poker.  The're not funny, the game play is poor. and the format is boring.  Co-host and poker pro Lee Nelson. who is a great player, does his best to put a positive spin on the hands, but how insightful can you be with players who don't know and ace from their arse?  It is a total disservice to the game.  Imagine how interesting cricket or football would be if instead of being played by skilled players the teams were comprised of a bunch of comedians.  "Oh, I wonder why this isn't rating"  Says the TV channel.  "I guess football just isn't that popular"  they conclude.  What total geniuses.

Australia has some great, I mean really great, poker players (not just Joe Hachem who won the 2005 WSOP, he didn't get that good in Melbourne playing in a vacuum).  The Aussie Millions is the biggest prize event outside of the US, it draws the top players in the world.  Did we see that on TV?

The fact that Joker Poker gets any ratings at all shows just how incredably popular poker is in Australia, and how desperate the viewing audience is to see any poker at all, no matter how bad.