Poker: A Guaranteed Income for Life by Using the Advanced Concepts

Rating:
Summary: amateurish
Review: Kind of fun to read (and not without one or two moments of genuine value), this book lays out a plan to win money at home poker games on a regular basis. The theme of this plan: Surround yourself with losers -- the bigger the losers they are, the more time you should spend playing with them. Wallace's "moral" is that it's a good thing to deceive and manipulate people who are of weak constitution, because they can be controlled and you can get in their wallets. This is rather pathetic, but it's the thrust of all Wallace's work: If you find yourself losing, bully the winners out of the game and fleece the losers yourself. You may win a few bucks, but your poker will suffer. And if you adopt a general "Wallacian" mindset, expect your non-poker life to suffer the same deterioration from avioding anything challenging.

Rating:
Summary: Must reading for self protection
Review: Many years ago, this book had a major impact on me as a poker player. While certainly not a "how to" book like (as in what do you do when dealt a pair of Aces) it revealed to me for the first time how much of a skill game poker is. Its written around story lines about a fictional character who is pretty ruthless. Critics who call the book "How to hustle your friends" aren't completely wrong. But it offers much more than that. It offers so many unique insights into the game of poker that you will never get from other traditional books that I must recommended it. The section on tracking your earnings and losses was worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Must reading for self protection
Review: Many years ago, this book had a major impact on me as a poker player. While certainly not a "how to" book like (as in what do you do when dealt a pair of Aces) it revealed to me for the first time how much of a skill game poker is. Its written around story lines about a fictional character who is pretty ruthless. Critics who call the book "How to hustle your friends" aren't completely wrong. But it offers much more than that. It offers so many unique insights into the game of poker that you will never get from other traditional books that I must recommended it. The section on tracking your earnings and losses was worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Must reading for self protection
Review: Many years ago, this book had a major impact on me as a poker player. While certainly not a "how to" book like (as in what do you do when dealt a pair of Aces) it revealed to me for the first time how much of a skill game poker is. Its written around story lines about a fictional character who is pretty ruthless. Critics who call the book "How to hustle your friends" aren't completely wrong. But it offers much more than that. It offers so many unique insights into the game of poker that you will never get from other traditional books that I must recommended it. The section on tracking your earnings and losses was worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: How to rip off your mates.
Review: This "how to win" book focuses on the host of home games. It sets out to explain how to exploit personal relationships and pretend friendship in order to win from less experienced players. There is little or no advice as to the play of the cards. Examples are based around some remarkably dumb cardboard characters. So much so that it is hard to relate the advice to real situations. Most of its advice is of the "get them drunk" nature, and has very little to do with poker as such. Even if you are as unpleasant a person as the book's protaganist, it would be hard to find the mugs to exploit. Basically the book's implicit moral position is highly questionable. Its redeeming feature is that you can read it as a cautionary tale, just to make sure that you are not slipping into some of the traps described.

Rating:
Summary: This amazing book is for advanced players as well as rookies
Review: This book has deep meanings and concepts that may not be understood by beginners but lots of these concepts will not be lost and will work for inexperienced as well. If you are moderate then this book is a must.