Play poker to win, [Hardcover]

Amarillo Slim Preston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1973

In this new and completely revised edition, the first reigning World Series of Poker Champion gets down and dirty about how to win big. It's not just about cards. It's about the people who hold them, so you'll need to be a master of human nature.

Who better to teach you than American folk hero and gambling legend Amarillo Slim? Get his first-hand secrets on everything from counting cards to judging opponents, the laws of probability, betting, bluffing, when to drop, and when to pick up your chips and head home.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston has won the World Series of Poker and is the author of Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People. Married, with three children and seven grandbabies, he lives in Amarillo, Texas, of course. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 175 pages
• Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap; 2 edition (1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044802134X
• ISBN-13: 978-0448021348
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,421,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book that got me excited about poker..., January 19, 1999

By 

Damian Grant - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play poker to win, (Hardcover)

Play Poker to Win is filled with many of Amarillo Slim's famous anecdotes, as well as some advice about the game itself. You can go into this book not understanding much about the game, and after 1 or 2 reads, play a decent hand.

Not great if you are looking for a book on playing poker really, but good if you want poker humour, and action.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the usual poker how-to, March 1, 2006

By 

F. Presson "Freeman" (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win: Million Dollar Strategies from the Legendary World Series of Poker Winner (Paperback)

_Play Poker to Win_ isn't the usual kind of poker strategy book. It's about 60% anecdotes (the anecdotes are the usual mix of hilarious Slimmagisms; two or three are repeated from _Amarillo Slim in a World of Fat People_, because they are worth repeating) and 40% poker advice. The poker advice is often over-specific. The reader has to pick through to find the useful advice, and then thoroughly analyze what Slim is saying, working out how to generalize it enough to actually use it. You definitely would not want to use this as your first or only poker reference.

This is offset by the occasional gem of insider thinking, and the exposure to the way Slim thinks about hands and games. If you just read this book with a lively and open mind, you may very well get infected with a winner's attitude, which is worth far more than the price of the book.

Besides, any book that casually calls Former World Champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr. "soft as butter at the poker table. ... only half kidding[ly] ..." (p. 154) has got to be worth a look.