| Title | The Best Hand I Ever Played |
| Author | Steve Rosenbloom |
| Year | 2005 |
| Skill Level | any |
| Pros | Wide variety of entertaining and educational stories from 52 poker pros. Excellent use of sidebar to define glossary terms. |
| Cons | Could have used a little better editing. |
| Rating | 4.0 |
| Page | Title |
|---|---|
| 11 | Introduction |
| 13 | Note to Readers |
| 16 | Josh Arieh |
| 20 | Joe Awada |
| 22 | Lyle Berman |
| 24 | Doyle Brunson |
| 26 | Miami John Cernuto |
| 28 | Johnny Chan |
| 30 | T.J. Cloutier |
| 32 | Hoyt Corkins |
| 34 | Kassem "Freddy" Deeb |
| 36 | Martin de Knijff |
| 40 | Annie Duke |
| 44 | Antonio Esfandiari |
| 46 | Scott Fischman |
| 50 | Layne Flack |
| 52 | Alan Goehring |
| 54 | Phil Gordon |
| 58 | Gavin Griffin |
| 62 | Hassan Habib |
| 66 | Gus Hansen |
| 68 | Jennifer Harman |
| 70 | Dan Harrington |
| 72 | Bobby Hoff |
| 76 | Chip Jett |
| 80 | Mel Judah |
| 82 | Thomas Keller |
| 86 | Phil Laak |
| 88 | Howard Lederer |
| 92 | Kathy Liebert |
| 94 | Erick Lindgren |
| 96 | Marcel Luske |
| 98 | Matt Matros |
| 102 | Tom McEvoy |
| 104 | Chris Moneymaker |
| 108 | Daniel Negreanu |
| 112 | Evelyn Ng |
| 116 | Men "The Master" Nguyen |
| 120 | Scotty Nguyen |
| 122 | Paul Phillips |
| 124 | Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston |
| 128 | Greg Raymer |
| 130 | David "Chip" Reese |
| 134 | Ron Rose |
| 136 | Erik Seidel |
| 138 | Mike Sexton |
| 142 | Charlie Shoten |
| 146 | Barry Shulman |
| 150 | Gabriel Thaler |
| 154 | Dewey Tomko |
| 158 | David "Devilfish" Ulliott |
| 162 | Amir Vahedi |
| 164 | David Williams |
| 166 | Robert Williamson III |
| 171 | The River |
| 173 | Poker Hand Rankings |
| 174 | Glossary |
| 182 | Acknowledgments |
Rose's book features 89 players, 37 more than here. Poker Aces has 51 players who aren't in Best Hand, while Best Hand has 14 that aren't in Poker Aces.
Each of the 52 sections runs two to three pages, with a brief biography, the pro's favorite poker hand he or she played, and a wrapup.2
The wrapup section is called "The Rake", which in poker is the fee that the house collects from the players, but here refers to the lesson you should have learned from the story.
A great indication of the quality of the book is the 52 players interviewed for it: Josh Arieh, Joe Awada, Lyle Berman, Doyle Brunson, John Cernuto "Miami John", Johnny Chan, T.J. Cloutier, Hoyt Corkins, Kassem "Freddy" Deeb, Martin de Knijff, Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, Scott Fischman, Layne Flack, Alan Goehring, Phil Gordon, Gavin Griffin, Hassan Habib, Gus Hansen, Jennifer Harman, Dan Harrington, Bobby Hoff, Chip Jett, Mel Judah, Thomas Keller, Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Kathy Liebert, Erick Lindgren, Marcel Luske, Matt Matros, Tom McEvoy, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, Men Nguyen, Scotty Nguyen, Paul Phillips, Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Greg Raymer, David "Chip" Reese, Ron Rose, Erik Seidel, Mike Sexton, Charlie Shoten, Barry Shulman, Gabriel Thaler, Dewey Tomko, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Amir Vahedi, David Williams, and Robert Williamson III.
This group, which now includes fourteen Poker Hall of Famers, has won ten WSOP Main Event championships and finished second eight times. The nine hands selected by Arieh, Deeb, Gordon, Habib, Lederer, Nguyen, Raymer, Seidel, and Williams each took place during a WSOP Main Event.
Perhaps the only real problem with the book is the inaccurate adjective in its title. The hands may be the pros' favorites or most memorable but many required little or no skill and so could hardly be described as "Best". But it's an excellent read that is as entertaining today as it was when it was published.