Customer Reviews

Poker Night: Dealer's Choice A to Z

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I got this book hoping to add a little spice into our home game. Many of the people I play with (and me) stick to Texas Hold 'em for the most part, but fondly remember the days when "Chase the Queen" and "Iron Cross" built huge pots and made a home game really different from what you get in the Casino. I was really impressed with the coverage this book provides. Pretty much every aspect of the home game is there, and there are more varieties of poker outlined here than we'll ever get to in our game - there's just not enough time!

The first sections of "Poker Night" discuss many of the things that need to be considered before hosting a game. What kind of atmosphere are you going for? What sort of house rules should you establish? How do you handle the player who wins a huge hand and then wants to leave right away? "Poker Night" helps you prepare a sound set of house rules to make sure the game runs smoothly.

The real meat of the book covers every variation of poker I've ever heard of and many more. The publisher's outline above will give you an idea of what's there, and each is covered very well. Essentially the rules of each type of poker are covered in brief, and then they give a thorough breakdown of how each variety of them work. So, in the Stud section they cover the classic "Chase the Queen", and in the Community section they cover my favorite, "Iron Cross", but if you've wanted to know how to play "Baseball", "H-Bomb", or too many others to mention, chances are they're in here.

The section on Hold'em provides a good overview of the game, and provides some good information about the value of the various starting hands, and the strategy included would be very helpful for people just getting into the game or who are interested in taking control of their current home game. The final section includes some interesting notes about how casino poker games like Let It Ride and Caribbean Stud can be adjusted for home game play.

Overall, a really good overview of the wide variety of poker games played in living rooms around the world. "Poker Night" will definitely add something to anyone's game that's gotten a little too predictable.