Product Description

Most people playing online poker think they are winning players when they're actually losing month after month. But, if you have basic knowledge of the game and follow Paul Mendelson's techniques, you can ensure that you win regularly and consistently. Find out how to: Select the best poker sites for your standard. Analyse your opponents and their games. Adapt your game to combat the styles of play you meet. Counter the costly dangers of 'tilt' and temperament. Manage your bankroll and build it into serious money. Play to benefit from being alert while others - in another time zone - are exhausted. Make the right decisions - and avoid costly mistakes. Read your opponents correctly - and keep them guessing about you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4710 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Paul Mendelson, was formerly Financial Times' bridge correspondent and is now a leading author on both bridge and poker. As an online poker player, Paul plays approximately 20-30 hours per week and regularly arranges poker events both privately and for clubs, including the Roehampton, Royal Mid-Surrey and Richmond clubs.

Customer Reviews

SO SIMPLE
Have been playing online for a couple of years now. Saw this - it is CHEAP - and thought I'd give one more poker book a try. It's great. Mendlesohn writes so simply and clearly that even quite tough stuff makes sense.
Bottom line: I was losing online; now I'm winning - consistently. Can't believe it. Simple tips, excellent strategys and everything clear and easy. GREAT! Book paid for itself in 2 minutes dead.
Buying his other poker books now and will report.
Cheers
Ralph - Jo'burg

A great book for a novice just starting.
As the title I put states, this book is a great read for a novice just starting the game or even someone that has been playing a while, thinks they know the game but are losing still. It isn't prehaps going to teach anyone that has spent time learning the game much, but clearly that wasn't the aim of the book.

It's quite a short read of about 120 pages or so, and easy to read through in and evening if you are a quick reader, but whats in those pages will turn a weak, clueless and losing player into one that stands a chance to actually make some money at the tables and certainly at lower stakes where the majority are fish that while may have rough ideas of the game do make lots of bad errors still and don't have much desire to learn any better. This book will put you above them straight away if you take the guides in and follow them.

I will agree with one other reviewer that it doesn't overly cover odds, and to a fully rounded good player you should understand pot odds and the odds your hand has of being made. While many players believe intution is enough it isn't to be consistantly a winner over the long run. The simple fact is the more you know the better you get and less you are liking to lose, and in the long run the odds just aren't wrong, so knowing them is a must for higher level play and this book doesn't cover it. However, being that it's a book about online play its easy to get round this by using 3rd party software odds calculators that attach to most game sites tables and give you pot odds and odds of your hand standing up. Useful for novices still unsure of how to do the math, and even for good players that can do it but don't want to waste the scant 15 seconds time you often get to do the math. Plenty of good ones about, but make sure its a good one obviously. The book also mentions poker tracker briefly, which is also a good tool, not only for your own stats, but can be helpful finding the fish at the cash tables too as it tracks the data on anyone you have sat and played with so you can find them fast. These tools do cost money, so prehaps only for the serious players, but I assume most buying books are aiming to be just that.

Anyway, in short, this book is going to be great for anyone losing currently and with only a basic understanding of the game. Follow the guides and you will improve lots, and its all simple to follow. For good players already you're not going to get anything extra out of it. Good players I class as those that already understand the value of postions, starting hand requirements, player profiling and suiting your style to them etc and finally tactical requirements for SnG's, MTT's and ring games. If you know most of that then this book isn't going to teach you any new tricks or plays to add to your game.

I should state finally that I'm a winning player, and play about 6 hours a day on ring games and played about 2000 odd tournaments too last year alone. So why did I read this book? Because it doesn't hurt to read or constantly try to learn and improve your game, but it does hurt generally when you stop trying to learn more. So the moral is even if you learn lots from this book, don't stop there if you want to really earn. See you on the tables maybe!

kris
A really good beginners book, you can win with this even without counting the odds. Straightforward and easy to read. But if you want move on from the lowesttables, then you need odds, which this book does not clarify. But still simply loved it.