This might sound stupid but I was recently in a mall the other day and i saw a bookstore i decided to go in it. this was the first time in my life i was in one and i could not find any pokerbooks not even a poker magizine in the store so i was wondering do they sell poker books in book stores or was i just in the wrong bookstore futher more are all bookstores the same? also can you only by pokerbooks online?

yea almost all bookstores have like a puzzles and games section or something where you can find the poker books. or maybe look for the chess book section... it's usually around there.

You've never been into a bookstore? Jesus christ

Yeah, they are in libraries too.

lol... yeah, was thinking the same thing. Maybe this will be his first book purchase too.

I've haven't been in anything but a big box bookstore (mainly Barnes And Noble) in a long time and even there it's hard to find a wide selection of books and only one magazine, Bluff, is usually on the shelves.

Yes it does to some but it's a serious question that deserves a serious answer.

Yes. My experience in North America is limited as shopping is not high on my list of priorities when I'm there but I've been to Barnes and Noble big box stores and seen a small range of poker books for sale in all of them. Same here in the UK with Waterstones, which is our big chain bookseller. But they won't stock large mulitples of poker books. So, even though you can expect to find books by Harrington, Sklansky and Brunson and some "modern" strategy books, plus the odd bio by Hansen, Devilfish etc, you won't always find exactly what you are looking for. The "flagship" stores here usually have a pretty wide range and do stock multiples - I would guess that it's the same in the major urban centers on your side of the pond. But in general, aside from specialist poker, gambling or games book shops it's pot luck what you will find.

It can be worth the time to visit a book store though. Unexpextedly I found a good poker dictionary once. Haven't seen it since, and almost nothing else of interest. But would probably not have got the idea to search for it online.

In the absolute beginning of the poker "career" there were some books I actually bought at the store. After specializing on O8 I couldn't dream of finding anything at other places than the net.

Even within the same city, different stores in the same chain can have vastly different selections of poker books. Unfortunately, in NYC the B&N location (Lincoln Center) with the best selection of poker books closed.

I bought "The Intelligent Poker Player" the last time I was in Barnes and Noble, but I admit I was surprised to see it there. The selection of poker books in big bookstores I've been in is generally pretty weak. I wonder how they decide what to stock when they have a limited amount of shelf space.

I am in Canada and its the same deal here... the big box stores (Chapters) do carry a decent selection. It used to be worse.. a few years back, all they carried was Cardoza books and only in the last few years have they started carrying Two Plus Two books.

The purchasing managers at the big box stores know about books but are very unlikely to know much about poker so they probably just go with what's popular and appeal to the masses instead of the hardcore readers like ourselves.

I've bought every poker book out of the 15 or so I have, all at Barnes n Noble. In other words, you'll probably find the most helpful books there for your game. There isn't a concept you'll miss with all the books they have.

Typically any live store will not have a wide selection of poker books but they will have some in stock

Are you playing limit O8? Live or on-line?

Online. No live O8 exists around my place. To have a chance to get good, I specialize in only limit, and even further nowadays, 6-max cash. Then the instincts may come in place at some point. Remains to be seen

From what I've read limit O8 has less swings than limit hold'em and can be played with a smaller BR.

I'm not sure it's common to find a selection of poker books in general book stores. However, now that poker is becoming more popular and widespread, that may change. If you're in the U.S. I believe the Gamblers Book Shop in Las Vegas is the best place to go. I live in Australia.

A good way to save money is buy directly from the publisher but bear in mind shipping costs especially if the book comes from overseas.

If you know what book you want, most book stores can get it for you but may take a couple weeks.

You can get most online yourself - try amazon, ebay, alibris, abebooks ....
can get new or used in various conditions and prices

You can also try professionalpoker.com. I have heard the owner posts on here occassionally.

Was at the other bookstore chain in the area and their selection was pathetic. They moved to a new location in a shopping area and while they had a number of shelves filled with poker books in their old location, they had about twenty poker books at their new. They have a wide selection of magazines, but I could only find Bluff. Maybe Bluff is the only newsstand available poker mag, but this issue was the September '11 issue.

im not even reporting that post lol

During the online boom from 2004-2007 Barnes and Noble had a lots of poker books. Generally 5 or 6 selves of them. Now days I doubt if you can 5 or 6 poker books in one.

I got into tournaments in 2004 and, since I like my books in great condition I bought mine at bookstores, I remember those days. I was actually at a Barnes and Noble last night. Someone must be a poker fan because there were about three shelves with a number of different selections.

But still nothing like the peak.

Yes, the book selection has dwindled. I assume sales are slower, or the kind of people that play poker (online) are buying the books online instead.

Besides Bluff, I think B&N and Borders used to also carry PokerPro and maybe Cardplayer too.

Yes, try the games section.