But the home side had to play 87 minutes of the match with 10 men after Ibrahima Sonko was sent-off for a foul on Benjani Mwaruwari.
Goals from Sol Campbell and John Utaka sealed a victory that left Pompey, who haven't scored at their Fratton Park home since September's 7-4 win over Reading, sharing the best away record in the division with Chelsea.
The Royals, who scored four goals away from home and lost on Saturday, this time in a 6-4 reverse against Tottenham, were on the backfoot in the third minute when centre-back Sonko allowed striker Mwaruwari get goal-side of him and checked him in the box.
Referee Mike Dean produced the red card but from the resulting penalty, Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar missed the chance to give Pompey an early lead when his spot-kick hit the post.
Reading then almost made Pompey pay heavily for that miss when Bobby Convey shot wide from a good position.
But Convey's fellow United States international Marcus Hahnemann then made a major error to gift Pompey a ninth-minute goal.
Sulley Muntari's free-kick was dropped by the goalkeeper onto the head of Papa Bouba Diop and Campbell turned the ball in on the line.
Hahnemann tried to redeem himself with saves from Benjani, Muntari and Kranjcar in a match between the only two southern sides in the Premier League outside of London but the damage had been done.
At the other end, Portsmouth goalkeeper David James kept the visitors' lead intact when he blocked Kevin Doyle's shot with his legs.
Harry Redknapp's side finally put the match beyond Reading's reach in the 66th minute when Nigeria international Utaka outsprinted Nicky Shorey, after giving the defender a head start, to get on the end of a through-ball from Glen Johnson before rounding Hahnemann.
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