How to Play Winning Poker

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, "How To Play Winning Poker" continues to establish itself as an invaluable instructional guide to successfully playing poker whether it's a kitchen table game or a world class tournament. This newest and thoroughly `user friendly' edition includes No-Limit Texas Hold'em, Pot Limit Hold'em, and the diverse aspects of tournament play. Players seeking to enhanced and refine their poker skills will be instructed in winning strategies for the main home and casino poker games that also include 7-Card Stud, Draw Poker, Omaha Cash Games; and playing poker online. Features include twenty-one of poker's essential winning concepts, fifteen critically important bluffing strategies in poker, advice on reading opponents, how to calculate and use `pot odds', the importance of player position, professional money management. There's even a poker glossary. If you only have time to read one `how to' book on playing poker for fun and profit, then you would be well advised to make it Avery Cardoza's "How To Play Winning Poker".

As you can tell from the other reviews, if you are an intermediate or advanced player, you will probably want to skip this one. If, however, you are jumping on to the band wagon or otherwise new to poker it is an excellent introduction. Cardoza introduces you to the history of the game (not essential, but mildly interesting) as well as the basic rules. He then takes you through Draw, 7 Card Stud, Hold 'Em and Omaha. He does a good job of introducing you to some of the differences between a casino and a home game. This can help the novice player feel a bit more comfortable when sitting down at a table. Then, he goes on to the 15 Winning Concepts of Poker as well as an introduction to bluffing and discusses money managment. His analysis of Draw and 7 Card Stud are very good. He skimps a bit on Hold 'Em and Omaha. His rather abbreviated discussion of these two popular forms is why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. If you follow the advice in the book, you will become a bit of an A-B-C player (a tight player who plays the same hands the same ways), but you can expand as you get more comfortable.

Avery Cardoza writes another winner. Not only is he a succesful gambler himself, I have used the techniques listed in this book to win real money! It explains the basics of poker, and gives you the rules for some of the most popular games. With this, it gives you several strategies, money management techniques, and advice on what to do against what kind of player. This was a very usefull book, a must-have for any beginning poker player.