Review: Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win

Amarillo Slim is an American Poker legend and among the most recognized names in gambling and poker in the world.  His new book (due on bookshelves November 1st, 2005) contains a unique mixture of story and strategy and is worth the price of admission on the strength of his storytelling alone.

Play Poker to Win is a fairly short book (as poker books go) at a modest 173 pages, and Amarillo Slim attempts to cover just about every poker game you'll play (and many you won't like 5 card lowball draw).  As such, the strategy portions of the book are a bit hit and miss and only lightly touch on some subjects and miss many important ones entirely.  Some of the advice in the book is dangerous to beginners--like calling decent raises with small suited one-gap cards in a no limit game.  While the professionals will make this move they are also able to get away from their hand in many situations a novice player won't.

If your goal is simply to "Play Poker to Win" and you can only afford one book, this probably isn't the right one.  However, if you have been playing poker for a while and also enjoy reading some memorable poker stories from one of the game's greats then it's worth taking a peek at this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Description of Games and General Strategy	1
Tells	12
Psychology of Smart Poker	18
Odds and Percentages--Figuring the Price of a Hand	29
High-Action Draw Poker in Venezuela	39
Draw Poker, Jacks or Better	52
Hold'em	62
Omaha	77
Five-Card Lowball Draw	87
Five-Card Stud	101
Seven-Card Stud	105
Razz (Seven-Card Lowball)	111
The Wild Ones	117
The World Series of Poker	124
Poker Etiquette--Some Dos and Don'ts	140
Online Poker	150
Tournaments	154
The Life of a Poker-Playing Man	158
Acknowledgements	175
Recommended Reading and Viewing	177
Appendix: Hand Rankings	179
Glossary of Gamblese	181
The Amarillo Slimtionary	187