Poker for Dummies by Richard D. Harroch, Lou Krieger Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Poker for Dummies
Book Review: Highly recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I read this great book, I had been playing poker a few times a week for about a year. I was pretty much gambling with little to no strategy. Like most beginners, I thought I knew what I was doing. After a few months of playing, poker quite honestly frustrated me. I would have some really lucky nights, and then a long streak of bad nights. I certainly lost more money than I put in. At this point, it was either give up, or get better.
I then found Poker for Dummies. Contrary to the opinions of others, I found this book to be the perfect beginners poker book. Much of the book shows how to play the most popular poker games, like stud, hold'em, Omaha, etc. There are also some sections for advanced strategies. I think any player can benefit from reading this. Was this book effective? Absolutely! After reading a few chapters, my game improved dramatically. Because of the easy reference format, I could find the specific areas I needed improving in. For example, if I needed some more info on starting hands, all I have to do is flip to the hold'em chapter and find the starting hands page. Since I have read this book, I have stopped gambling and started playing my odds. If you are tired of losing and want a good place to start improving your game, look no further.
Book Review: I can actually win poker now!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ah poker....America's favorite card game! I've played the game since I was a child but have only recently become interested in learning the many strategies involved. I never played enough to increase my skills so I was a casual player for years. I played only when the urge bit me or when I was invited to a game.
Lately, I have been spending more time in Casinos and my love for poker has been rekindled. I'm a little too intimidated to play at the tables, so for the mean time, I've stuck to video poker. I'm a decent player and usually break even on the game. (I can make $20 last for hours on the quarter machines.) I was pleasantly surprised to see that this book offers a small section on video poker! Specifically on Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild. Well, curious to see if this strategy worked, I practiced on the video game called High Rollers Casino for PlayStation 2(IMO best casino game for PS2). Low and behold, the strategy seemed to work. My hands seemed to be better. However, the mechanics of a PlayStation game and an actual Video Poker machine differ in many ways! So, within a couple of weeks, I took this new strategy to a local Casino and won over $200 on the quarter machines! I played for about 3 hours and nothing could wipe the grin off of my face!
Curious as to whether the rest of the book was just as good, I took the Texas Hold'em and basic poker strategies to the internet. Once again, the advice I received proved to be useful and once again, I came out ahead. Of course, I still lost a few hands BUT the winnings more than made up for it!
I will eventually step up to a table game and play for all I'm worth - but for now, I feel as if I've gone from a novice to a decent intermediate player in very little time! I've never played poker to win before. I simply played poker for the sake of playing poker and merely HOPED to win. Now, I can walk up to any (internet) table or video poker machine with confidence, knowing that I'll either walk away with extra cash, or at the very least - breaking even!
I won't recommend this book to anyone who's already intermediate or expert, as I'm sure there is nothing in this book they wouldn't already know. But for beginners or casual players who wish to increase their odds and brush up their skills - this is the perfect book to do just that.
My many thanks to the authors of this fabulous book! I never knew that playing to win could be so much fun and profitable!
Book Review: Lou Krieger knows poker
Summary: 5 Stars
it's great that this book assumes that you know nothing about poker, because i knew nothing.
this book is great in helping you think of all the considerations in poker, what the odds are, the groupings of hands, what other players are playing etc, but with a bit of practise, you can make these decisions in a matter of seconds. and practise i did. when i found that lou krieger was host of royal vegas poker, i practised there.
the only aspect that put me off a bit, but was my own shortcoming, not the book's, was the issue of calculating the standard deviations, outs etc. being mathematically challenged, puts me at a disadvantage.
but this is a great book, which is comprehensively basic - as it should be. i'd recommend it to anyone.
Book Review: My first book but a great one
Summary: 5 Stars
Besides teaching me the bare basics of winning poker, this book seriously jump-started my interest in Poker. I just picked up this book when I saw it and thought I might get an edge over the people in my poker group. Already I am cleaning out their pockets. Now I'm looking to get more advanced books so I can head up to the Taj for some Hold 'em action. I used to think all poker was bluffing like in the wild west... I never would have thought playing a computer could be valuable to my poker game. I couldn't have been more wrong. Get this book; it will improve your poker game if you've never read a poker book before.Book Review: Not really for dummies
Summary: 2 Stars
This book failed to meet the criteria it was written for. In other words the whole point of the "for Dummies" collection is that a complete layman can pick up a book on any subject he/she is not familiar with and get a good idea about the whole thing. This is not the case with this book. Although it cover the basics it does not cover all the basics before going on to the next subject. A person with no idea about Poker and Poker variations would get confused - the book would leave too many open questions for an intelligent reader who knows nothing or very little about Poker. I can not recommend it for beginners - which is who this book should be for.