Poker boom sparks publishing flurry

The poker boom has fueled an explosion in the publishing world in recent months, with publishing houses reporting a record ten-fold increase in poker books and USA Today listing the total number of poker books due to hit shelves this year at 60.

Big names in the poker publishing business include New York City's Cardoza Publishing, Huntington Press, and the highly successful Two Plus Two Publishing, run by authors Mason Malmuth and David Sklansky.

The two poker writers have apparently penned more than half of the 43 books released by the company, which include Sklansky's "Hold'em Poker" and "Harrington on Hold'em", and are behind Two Plus Two Publishing's reputation for producing the top poker books in the industry. They are expecting to sell approximately 500,000 books this year.

Pro-based books slated to be released this year include Huntington Press' next release, "Kill Phil" by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson. The strategy book is aimed at beginning players, and is named for the apparent dominance of the poker circuit by the three Phil's; Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Phil Gordon. Phil Hellmuth has endorsed the strategies outlined in the book, is featured on the cover, and wrote the foreword.