Stepping Up: The Recreational Player's Guide to Beating Casino and Internet Poker [Paperback]

Randy Burgess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2003

This book is perfect for either the home game player moving up, or the intermediate player who’s struggling: it’s packed with the stuff beginning poker books don’t talk about enough (or at all), and that advanced books discuss only in terms of the higher limits -- reading hands and opponents, calculating odds and outs, adjusting to game type, and more. Also covers practicing and playing online. As Roy West says in his introduction, "This is a ‘thinking about poker’‚ book you’ll hope your opponents won’t read." Whether your game is hold’em or stud this is the book to set you on a winning track.

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Conjelco (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886070180
• ISBN-13: 978-1886070189
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,361,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Aside from a brief spell early in my 20s making and delivering pizza, I've always worked as a writer. For many years this was in newspapers, where I juggled suburban meeting coverage, investigative journalism, and front-page features. I've also been a contract technical writer and a magazine editor. For the past four years I've been doing non-fiction book doctoring, helping authors from proposal to finished manuscript.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars awesome - changed my game around, April 12, 2004

By 

Stinky (NY NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stepping Up: The Recreational Player's Guide to Beating Casino and Internet Poker (Paperback)

i hadn't heard of this guy before so was a little skeptical. he's not exaclty a famous author. but it has made a 100 percent difference in how i apporach my favorite game, hold'em.

differences between this and other poker books: first, the writing is ten times as good so everything is extremely clear, second, you learn not just what to do but why. the chapters on reading hands and players are sensational and i say this eveno though i own 4 or 5 hold'em books alone. also the odds chapters are very clear. the only reason i don't give it five stars is you
do need other poker books besides this one, for hold'em maybe the lee jones or kreiger books. like roy west says in the intro this is a thinking man's poker book to improve your overall game.

i would say try it out and see what you think but if you are like me, a low-limit player trying to get good and move up, it's well worth it. it's better than pokertracker for helping, and that's saying a lot!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Beginner Book, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Stepping Up: The Recreational Player's Guide to Beating Casino and Internet Poker (Paperback)

While there are excellent beginner books on playing tactics, this is the first I've seen that focuses on the other aspects of poker. Concepts like tailoring your play to specific types of opponents and types of games, reading hands, odds and outs, tells and tilt and even addiction to poker are generally dealt with in more advanced books and at a level that assumes you already know something about them. This book introduces these concepts, which are critical to winning and includes some excellent hand-reading examples. It also recommends the best basic strategy books, Web sites and other resources. I don't think a very advanced player would get much from this book, but for anyone who's played mostly in home games or who has played for fun in casinos a few times, it's a winner.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Accessory., December 11, 2005

By 

Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!" (CHICAGO! USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stepping Up: The Recreational Player's Guide to Beating Casino and Internet Poker (Paperback)

I noticed that this offering got savaged by a reviewer below. Let me address that criticism right away, Stepping Up is a worthy read but it is in no way a complete poker book. By itself, it cannot teach you the game. It's an accoutrement for intermediate rounders. Of course, the author admits this truth in the very beginning. He also recommends reading Small Stakes Hold Em and Theory of Poker before buying his contribution to the poker world. The thing I found most valuable about it is that Burgess is a regular guy who played the small limits before rising to the high stakes levels. He did this via effort and study, and he really does provide some inside-"been there, done that"-type of advice. You also learn quite a bit about the lower limits in a brick and mortar setting as so many of us play online exclusively. His references to stud were educational as well. I definitely got something out of Stepping Up, and I think that you will too if you view it with the right perspective. If you haven't studied the big important manuals already, pick them up first.