The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle

I read this book for the first time 10 years ago and started a small-stakes ($20-$50) apartment game with a bunch of friends that has lasted ever since. As most people know, nobody is normally betting enough money to make Texas Hold Em very interesting for very long, so home poker games quickly degrade into a mix of non-poker games like Indian and Between-The-Sheets. This book provides enough variations on basic poker games to still play small-stakes poker without just pushing the high-winner of the night into dealing blackjack. It's not comprehensive and it's not encyclopedic and it's definitely from this author's point-of-view, and it's an excellent book.

This is the single best book for learning crazy/wildcard poker variations. It's only competition is half of AD Livingston's book "Poker Strategy" and surfing the internet for "home poker". I recommend this book so you can have it handy while playing. The author describes dozens of variations and shows exactly how to deal each of them; most include a sample hand. There is also advice on hosting home games. Nearly no tactical or stategic advice is given. This is for people who like to play poker for nickels, dimes, and quarters with friends and family. If you want to learn how to win poker at a casino or online, this is not the right book. If you want to have a blast of fun at the beach house or kitchen table with a deck of cards, this book is a must. It is well written and fun to read.

This is a great book for recreational players who are more interested in comraderie and smoking cigars than winning money. It provides good advice for hosting and setting up games and it provides a lot of good games and variations to help spice up the weekly game. I've always had problems coming up with new games and learned a lot from this book. This is also a good book for new player who wants to get into a regular group and is intimidated by regular players who seem to know everything about the game . There's a lot to learn. If you regularly play with the likes of Teddy KGB or that dude in the blue eyeglasses in Vegas, then this book isn't for you. But if you're just starting out and want to learn, this is a good source of valuable information.

I bought this book as a resource and reference for some of my rule-challenging poker pals, but it turned out to be much more than that. The stories that Wolpin tells are laugh out loud funny, and he provides alot of basic information on the rules of Poker and variations on the game.

This is not a book for "serious" poker players who are in it for the money. This is a book for those who love to play low stakes poker with their buddies for fun. Fun, get it? This is a hilarious book with a lot of great games. It will always be remembered among my poker pals as the book that introduced us to the grin-inducing game of "Do Ya."