Poker for Dummies by Richard D. Harroch, Lou Krieger Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Poker for Dummies
Book Review: Don't buy it unless you already know you like it.
Summary: 2 Stars
I haven't really read that much of the book. I bought it at the same time I bought Phil Hellmuth's "Play Poker Like the Pros" and I haven't had much reason to refer to the Dummies book after I started readinng Hellmuth's. The book sets itself out to be like a general encyclopedia of poker. While it certainly purports to cover many different games and many aspects of the game, I found that it did not go into much detail at all about how to actually play the games.
For example, in the Texas Holdem chapter I was expecting the author to compare many different ways of playing the game and the approaches of different professionals and the pros and cons of different strategies. Instead he lists the table of opening hands he says you should play in different positions and makes pretty much no comment on why you should do this except to say that the standards are somewhat loose. Then he writes 1.5 pages about how to play on the flop, turn, and river. Wow, after a lesson like that I'm ready for vegas.
The title is "For Dummies" and I have no clue about even the first step in a poker game, I didn't even know hand rankings, and I found it hard to follow. The author will often use slang that I don't understand in an attempt to explain a key concept.
The home poker chapter was especially bad. He listed about 7 games you can play on one page. I'll leave it to you to infer what depth of coverage you can expect on those games. He made no mention whatsoever of what hands you should expect to win on in baseball, excpet that really good hands are quite common. Gee, thanks. I've played baseball before buying the book and I know there's no way you're going to understand how to play it at home after just reading the 5-sentence paragraph he wrote about it.
The author is a poor writer too. Sometimes it's hard to tell what he's talking about.
I'm not good at poker, so maybe this book has some wisdom to impart to a more skilled player, but I doubt it since it has very shallow coverage. Like I said before, I didn't read the whole thing so I didn't give it a fair chance, but I had seen such good reviews on the internet that I thought I'd go ahead and buy it. That should tell you not to trust net reviews- the author of the book is probably writing them.
Hellmuth's book costs the same and it was much easier to follow and had more in-depth information. Plus Hellmuth won the world series 7 times so it's just cooler to own a book written by him. I've never read any other poker books, so there could very well be better books than Hellmuth's, but I don't see much reason to buy Poker for Dummies.
The only part I've used so far are the chapters where he tells you what books and software you can buy to learn. I'd suggest that you pick this thing up in the book store, find those chapters and buy one of those other books instead.
Book Review: Excellent start
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is great for everyone who's new to poker, especially casino poker. It explains all kinds of poker in detal and gives general rules on how to win in poker. You certainly can learn all your basics from this book, but I don't think it's good for people who want to learn Hold'em in particular - for that I'd recommend "Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner" by Lou Krieger. It explains everything in detail. Krieger certainly knows what he's talking about and explains it in a simple, easy to read form.
Poker for Dummies doesn't deal very well with internet poker; it only gives some general advice and the info is somewhat outdated. If you're interested in online poker, it's definitely not for you.
Book Review: Good for beginners!
Summary: 4 Stars
Its good for beginners but its too broad.....it covers a little bit on every poker game and teaches you about bluffing, helped me win Id reccomend it!Book Review: Great book for beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
I had never played poker in a casino before, just some nickel games with some friends while I was drinking. This book showed me how to play and showed me that if I'm willing to practice and willing to be patient I can be a competent player and maybe win some money. I've bought several books since then and played quite a few hours at nearby casinos and this is the book that I review on the way. If you know how to play well this is a handy reference if you aren't able to play frequently.Book Review: Great for all skill levels!
Summary: 5 Stars
At first, I felt a little sheepish putting this title between my copies of David Sklansky's "Theory of Poker" and Mike Caro's "Fundamentals of Winning Poker," but this is a very serious and very excellent poker title.There are individual chapters on strategy for the most popular casino games (Texas Hold 'Em, Seven Stud, Seven Stud/8, Omaha/8), all of which were very clear and helpful. However, unlike any title I've seen before, this book is a COMPLETE reference, including chapters on poker tournaments, becoming a pro, Internet poker, and even video poker (which my mother found excessively useful).
Like all "Dummies" books, there are entertaining sidebars about great games, poker legends, etc. All in all, this is an entertaining book filled with invaulable information for all levels of play. Highly reccomended!