Poker For Dummies

by Richard D. Harroch, Lou Krieger

Poker is America's national card game, and its popularity continues to grow. Nationwide, you can find a game in progress everywhere. If you want to play, you can find poker games on replicas of 19th century riverboats or on Native American tribal lands. You can play poker at home with the family or online with opponents from around the world. Like bowling and billiards before it, poker has moved out from under the seedier side of its roots and is flowering in the sunshine.Maybe you've never played poker before and you don't even know what a full house is. "Poker For Dummies" covers the basics. Or perhaps you've played for years, but you just don't know how to win. This handy guide will help you walk away from the poker table with winnings, not lint, in your pockets. If you're a poker expert, you still can benefit - some of the suggestions may surprise you, and you can certainly learn from the anecdotes from professional players like T.J. Cloutier and Stu Unger.

Know what it takes to start winning hand after hand by exploring strategy; getting to know antes and betting structure; knowing your opponents, and understanding the odds. "Poker For Dummies" also covers the following topics and more: Poker games such as Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'emSetting up a game at homePlaying in a casino: Do's and don'tsImproving your play with Internet and video pokerDeciphering poker sayings and slangTen ways to read your opponent's body languagePlaying in poker tournamentsMoney management and recordkeepingKnowing when and how to bluff

Poker looks like such a simple game. Anyone, it seems, can play it well - but that's far from the truth. Learning the rules can be quick work, but becoming a winning player takes considerably longer. Still, anyone willing to make the effort can become a good player. You can succeed in poker the way you succeed in life: by facing it squarely, getting up earlier than the next person, and working harder and smarter than the competition.

Foreword by Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Champion.

Genres: Nonfiction, Games, Reference

298 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2000

Reviews

[Ben De Bono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good information for beginners but a lot that’s also very dated. When buying a computer for your poker software the authors recommend splurging for an upgrade to Windows 95. A cd rom is also a nice add if you’re one of the lucky few who can afford one

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book at Value Village, and it was wonderful to read even though it was nearly a decade old. In fact, BECAUSE it is a decade old, the authors did things like gently lead readers through the process of calculating standard deviation in a simple way. This was also the only book that had a reasonable way for a player to record sessions other than implying that a HUD is the only way to go. That said, there were some irrelevant sections on software and the Internet as well, which is the only reason it lost a star. The organization was interesting. Instead of beginning (after explaining the games) with game theory optimization through probability like most books, odds and outs came later, after each street's strategy was discussed. In other words, the reader gets the "how" before the "why" when it came to odds and decisions based on those odds. Overall, a great book, and I'll be sure to credit the authors if I win the world series. ;-)

[Varsányi Bence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay place to start for absolute beginners who want to succeed at a home game (or maybe even in a casino against bad players?), otherwise this book does not help at all, fx you won’t win any money online, even at the microstakes.

Even for the very beginner I would recommend Sklansky’s Theory of Poker to understand the underlying mechanisms of the game. That knowledge can be applied to ANY poker game.

[Andrea Niznikova · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book and I have to say it was very useful to learn the game.

A complete beginner but after using this book I can say I am starting to understand something.

Some information about the video poker is not really interesting while online poker is not the main core.

I believe is quite well done.

Now, I need to keep studying because this game is very complicate

[Paco · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's usually as bad as others for dummies collection.

[Bob Schmitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book I read on poker and it is a good introduction to the game for someone like me who wanted to learn.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fulfils its cover promise: a primer on Poker, for dummies.

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Poker For Dummies by Lou Krieger et al which is a very good book which I bought from Amazon. There are quite a few variants of poker, some played with 5 cards per player some with 7. The most commonly played Texas Hold Em has its own Dummies book on it. Poker is a very old game certainly the Persians had a very similiar game & there was a game played in Germany in the 16th century called pouchon which was also similiar. The German game spread to France & then to the french part of the United States where it flourished. Of course in the 1970's they started a World Series of Poker. In 1979 an amateur player won it the only time that has happened. He had an almost unbelievable run of good luck. The difference between the world champion and the other players in the world series is only very slight. There is a lot of excellent players coming through all the time. Most newly turned professional players also run out of money within twelve months such is the standard of competition. You rarely see a professional player use a bluff because it would be difficult to fool the other players. An interesting fact is the odds of being dealt 3 of a kind are 474 to 1 in fact most games are won with a pair or even ace high. If you have a pair of aces you are in practice almost unbeatable. The very high hands are extremely unlikely to appear. Many people play poker with their friends and just bid a penny or a dime per hand. To get good at poker you need to play against the best and the best way to do that is play in a professional casino. Most people live within a few hours drive of a proper casino. The book I read to research this post was Poker For Dummies by Lou Krieger et al which is a very good book which I bought from Amazon. There are quite a few variants of poker, some played with 5 cards per player some with 7. The most commonly played Texas Hold Em has its own Dummies book on it. Poker is a very old game certainly the Persians had a very similiar game & there was a game played in Germany in the 16th century called pouchon which was also similiar. The German game spread to France & then to the french part of the United States where it flourished. Of course in the 1970's they started a World Series of Poker. In 1979 an amateur player won it the only time that has happened. He had an almost unbelievable run of good luck. The difference between the world champion and the other players in the world series is only very slight. There is a lot of excellent players coming through all the time. Most newly turned professional players also run out of money within twelve months such is the standard of competition. You rarely see a professional player use a bluff because it would be difficult to fool the other players. An interesting fact is the odds of being dealt 3 of a kind are 474 to 1 in fact most games are won with a pair or even ace high. If you have a pair of aces you are in practice almost unbeatable. The very high hands are extremely unlikely to appear. Many people play poker with their friends and just bid a penny or a dime per hand. To get good at poker you need to play against the best and the best way to do that is play in a professional casino. Most people live within a few hours drive of a proper casino.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, straightforward and useful (though admittedly one or two sections were of more use than others), this covers all you might want to know, and does what it says on the tin. My only complaint was that it felt pretty 'padded out' with a lot on the history of poker, detailed descriptions of poker variants that I had no interest in, and other bits and bobs of theoretical usefulness - but probably only practicably useful once in a blue moon. It could have been covered in 100 pages, but the required format of the '..for dummies' series didn't really allow for that.

[Weenie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gives you the basics on the game and had some useful tips. Starts getting a little complicated towards the end and as this is the mini edition, there seemed to be a lot of explanation missing to ease a complete beginner to that section.
Good booklet to start off with, though to learn the game properly, you'd probably need the full edition.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if it was my enthusiasm for poker or whether this book explained things really well, but this was a great starting book to launch my poker career. I took very detailed notes while reading this book and I soon started crushing the Kaos poker night. Tons of great info.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this from Bob as a follow up to my pricey (a carton of smokes and a six-pack of pepsi!) poker lessons.

[David Nusinow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book, but had far too strong an emphasis on pro-level play for my tastes.

[Stijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

goed boek, niet super, maar bevat veel goed advies en enkele toffe anekdotes

[Victor Lamm]

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