photo by flipchip/lasvegasvegas.com

I just received a copy of Poker: The Ultimate Book by author Francois Montmirel from Assouline Publishing, Paris. The book's look and feel is quality throughout. Excellent binding and a paper that has a familiar poker card feel. Print resolution is outstanding and the color photos and illustrations are 'suitable for framing' good. Two hundred eighty pages of poker stuff you want to know, you should know, really need to know and 'never play in a poker game without knowing' know.

Poker: The Ultimate Book begins at the very birth of the elements of poker - did you know the Gutenberg Press that printed the famous Bibles made affordable playing cards possible in 1450? If you enjoy poker then you'll certainly enjoy this poker book. Learn the basic poker knowledge you really need to know before heading off to any poker game, poker room or casino. The well presented history primer of poker's rich evolution is woth the price of the book. Charts, graphs, do's/dont's, hand odds, game overviews, pros, legends, myths...it's all in the Poker book in a well thought out order.

But, the main reason to buy this book? Flipchip Photos open the show. Pages number 1,2,3, and the top of 4 are dedicated to Flipchip's photos. I also have other pics including some of my favorite poker pro environmental portraits.

If you need a present for a poker player this is the buy. A well written, well illustrated guality poker book. Poker: The Ultimate Poker Book available now at Amazon.com.

Win a copy of Cutting the Wire for writing a review of Roll the Bones

As the Wall Street Journal puts it:

Schwartz seems almost destined to write this book...by the end of this expansive work, he leaves you utterly persuaded that the yearning to gamble is a near-universal human trait. He has written a fascinating book.

And I agree.

So, what you need to do, from David's Amazon Blog:

1. Buy a copy of Roll the Bones, or, if you really need the thirty bucks for something more important like medicine, food, or rent, borrow a copy.



2. Read the book, then post a review amazon.com.



3. Once the review is posted, send David an emailwith your name, where you bought the book, and where you heard about the contest, and I'll enter you into the drawing to win a free autographed copy of my previous book, Cutting the Wire.

The Illustrated Guide to No Limit Texas Hold'em: A cool format for learning strategy in Texas Hold'em.

The Illustrated Guide to No Limit Texas Hold'em is formatted to offer a series of hands (150) in real-game playing situations, then giving the reader an opportunity to make a decision. This is followed by the suthor's best strategy with the hand in the defined circumstances and why. The first example is the top hold'em hand, a pair of Aces, and the second offering is the worst hand, the hammer (7,2o). I respect the author paying homage to the hammer; but, I disagree with the presented reasoning and recommended action for this particular hand.

Most of example starting hands and their analysis are completely agreeable and just like in a real game a few are certainly debatable. A varity of situations are examined from the often confusing tricky hands like pocket Jacks to big slick, Ace/King, all in differing circumstances. The simple format allows the reader to quickly understand the presentation and one can go through the examples in rapid fashion without having to read the paragraph of description; but, the first time through it's advisable to read everything since some of the theoretical players may have been categorized.

A reader will pick up quite a few key skills to winning at poker after a couple of reads through the book, especially with regard to pot odds,tricky hands, the importance of position, all of the basic strategies for playing winning hold'em.

Someone whom has never played or hasn't been active for years and has not read many how-to poker books will find the Illustrated Guide to No Limit Texas Hold'em a good read, especally if you already have the some of the classic how-to poker books by Cloutier or Sklansky.

The Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'em by Dennis Purdy is another poker book you should consider adding to your playing library. One feature of the book's layout I found particularly valuable is using the illustrations like flash cards. Thumbing throught the text prior to a play session is a great way to prepare your game winning mind-set. If one of the examples results in a marginal hand becoming a winner or perhaps you muck a loser then the nominal cost of the book is repaid, even in a low-limit game setting. I rate the Illustrated Guide to Texas Hold'em as a good how-to poker book and a welcome addition to your game library.

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Then get all of your Poker news at the Poker Profs Blog.

I first met Charlie Shoten at Sam's Town casino in Las Vegas last December, at a breakfast "meet and greet" before the first WPBT live tournament. Charlie was scheduled to speak about his upcoming book No-Limit Life. He offered insight into his Ten Commitments along with suggestions on how to eliminate Thought Terrorists (TT) out of your life. Since that day, I had been waiting for his book to come out. I'm an avid reader and was eager to read about Charlie's thoughts on life and how it specifically applies to your poker game.

During the last two months while living in Las Vegas, I've had the opportunity to engage in several inspiring conversations with Charlie Shoten. I'd catch him in the hallways at the Rio during the World Series of Poker or I'd stop by his booth at the Poker Expo. Most recently, I've been running into him at the Bellagio where you can often find him playing in their daily tournaments. We chatted about many different things. He gave me tips on improving my tournament game. We discussed his book and the intricacies of getting it published. And most importantly we spoke about personal freedom, a subject that intrigues me the most as a writer.

Now that the WSOP is finally over, I can take the time to tell you about Charlie's Shoten book No-Limit Life. You need to add this book to your poker library. It's always refreshing to read a book that focuses on subjects that are not just about poker. Charlie wrote a series of articles for Poker Player Newspaper and the feedback from readers was so overwhelmingly positive that he expanded the concept of those articles into No-Limit Life.

Charlie Shoten shares with you some of his own personal philosophy and how if applied, you can improve both your life and your poker. No-Limit Life is a book that would be great for poker players of any skill level. I personally enjoyed his astute advice on being less of what we are not and discovering personal freedom to find a release of my inherent creativity.

The design of the book is very cool. The quality of paper used is top notch. The pictures are outstanding. Several of them were taken by Flip Chip. And even pictures some of your favorite bloggers (G Rob, F Train, Daddy, Felicia, and the Poker Prof) are in Charlie's book, including yours truly on Page 191. On almost every page there are boxed quotes from both Charlie and a selection of great minds including William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, Alfred Tennyson, Winston Churchill, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. There are small illustrations sprinkled throughout the book where you get to see the cartoon version of Charlie Shoten. On the margin of every left page, he lists keywords for his Ten Commitments:

1. Attitude
2. Focus
3. Notice
4. Intentions
5. Trust
6. Appear
7. Outcome
8. Forgiveness
9. Notice
10. Gratitude

Charlie spends a lot of time discussing his "Sixth Commitment" which is: I am calm, confident, and clear, and I wait for my best choice to appear. This is advice that you can apply to your life whether you are seated at a poker table or in a business meeting. I've found myself repeating Charlie's Sixth Commitment to settle down while I was on the verge of tilt during my last bad poker session.

Plenty of pros have read and embraced Charlie's book as well. Included in No-Limit Life are commentaries from notable pros who enjoyed Charlie's book such as Vince Burgio, Scotty Nguyen, Men the Master, Carlos Mortensen, and Miami John Cernuto. Even WPT founder Lyle Berman purchased twelve books so he could give them to his friends. You can see a picture of Lyle Berman reading Charlie's Book here. It was taken during the WSOP by Flip Chip.

Since his book has been published, Charlie has shown me some of the glowing emails and letters he's gotten. Here's a sample of what readers have been saying about No-Limit Life:

"You are far more than a poker player and I commend you for your work. You are teaching people to guide themselves, and that's the greatest gift a leader can give."

"Not all can say what they mean and mean what they say! The real task is to of course practice what you have taught in No-Limit Life."

"Your book has altered my perceptions so drastically, that now I can better handle the stress of professional poker. Thanks for changing my life."

"Your book gave me the knowledge and map I needed to have the courage to deal with my negative outlook on life. I have turned my future into something positive. The pages of the book were filled with an abundance of wisdom from someone who has obviously 'been there.' I finally had the recipe to be myself and eliminate my Thought Terrorists. This has allowed me to be a better and happier person than I ever thought to be."

If you would like to order a copy of No-Limit Life, simply download and mail in the order form. (PDF Document)

NOTE: If you're having difficulty downloading the above order please download the latest copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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Read Charlie's Corner for more information about Charlie.

A first look at The New Players Series – No Limit Texas Hold’em


I got a copy of Tom McEvoy’s (co-authored with Brad Daugherty) brand new book, No-Limit Texas Hold’em: The New Player's Guide to Winning Poker's Biggest Game (The New Players Series) and devoured it in one sitting.

The Good:

It is 200 pages of solid, easy to understand content with the bulk of the text focusing on sample scenarios and extensive questions and answers based on player position, player style, current stack size and your down cards. It covers the ‘how-to’ of playing premium hands and trouble premium hands in some depth (hands like A-J or K-Q); but, the real focus is how to play the other players. The authors have described and use eight distinct personalities throughout the examples to cover most types of players encountered at a poker table. You have to decide what to do with your hand against the tight, loose, aggressive, solid, passive, novice, reckless and authoritative (commentator) players in well described game situations.

For the newbie or experienced player making the transition from Limit to No Limit Hold’em this is a good read. The text has a couple of easy to follow charts and lists of hands based on starting positions to help you make solid decisions for playing and betting your cards. For the intermediate player the extensive question and answer section offers considerable content on how to play particular hands in different situations. A section on bluffing and blind stealing is especially valuable to all players. Here is a sample of the text regarding what Tom and Brad have to say about playing pocket Jacks:

“A pair of Jacks is a hand that needs to be played with extreme caution both before the flop and after the flop. Jacks can run into a pair of aces, kings or queens before the flop and when an ace, king or queen comes on the flop, you will fear someone has hit an over card. In the early rounds of the tournament, try not to play a big pot with pocket jacks unless you flop a set (three of a kind).”

The real meat of the text (almost 100 pages) is the sample hands and situations. These are well thought out and give the reader a chance to decide how to play before finding out what the authors recommend and why they recommend a particular play.

The Bad:

On-line No Limit cash games are mentioned in passing with only nine pages and a couple of examples. This topic deserves an entire book; but, it’s good to see some on-line NL pointers included here.

There is little attention given to the necessity of changing gears during a tournament. While the book does an excellent job of providing a beginner the specifics of starting cards to play and amounts to bet, there is no hard information on how to 'loosen up' your game in the latter stage of tournament play.

The Verdict:

The book definitely gets a thumbs-up from me. I think the inexperienced and transitioning players should make this a must read. You will get your purchase price returned in short order if you read and follow the advice in “No-limit Texas Hold’em,” by Brad Daugherty & Tom McEvoy. In typical McEvoy style the text is well designed to build basic no limit tournament skills. I think it succeeds and the sample situation questions make it easy and enjoyable to know if you understand and retain the content.

In short, it’s a great book for the novice and the intermediate players will definitely pick up some new pointers. The experienced and advanced players may find the information too basic; although, the question and answer sections can provide a quick checkup of your "A" game.

First off, I ran across an old post on RGP that lead me to Home Poker Tourney a wonderful site with everything needed to start home poker games and tournaments. From building your own poker tables to ettiquite and rules, a must read, if (like me) you've overlooked this gem of a site. Next up something not poker related *gasp*, but well worth reading for a good solid belly laugh, the 6,000,000 hit wedding dress on eBay modeled by the ex-husband and being sold to buy beer. This is one the funniest items I've seen on the net in quite some time. Well, I'm off to see what is happening at event #6 of the WSOP and should have details posted tonight.