Table of Contents
Chapter 1 History 9
Chapter 2 How Poker Works 13
Combinations 15
Betting 18
Betting structure 22
From cash games to tournaments 24
Las Vegas
World Series of Poker
Benny Binion
Chapter 3 Texas Hold'em: The Basics 37
Playing a hand 38
Recognizing your hand 42
Who won? 43
Your opponents' hands 46
The best possible hand 49
How to improve your hand 50
The river issue: which cards do you want? 52
Solutions 54
Chapter 4 Requirements 57
Fitness 58
Bankroll 60
Rake 63
Discipline 66
Chapter 5 Procedure and Protocol 69
Dress code and behaviour 71
At the table 74
Cards 78
Chips 81
Betting 82
Chapter 6 Combinations and Calculations 89
Combinatorial analysis 91
Probability vs. odds 96
Pocket cards 97
Combinations in poker 116
Chapter 7 Mathematical Theory of Poker 123
Mathematical expectation 124
Outs 128
Pot odds 133
The Fundamental Theorem of Poker 136
David Sklansky analyzes a cash game action
Implied odds 141
Doyle Brunson vs. Stu Ungar
Game Theory 145
Chapter 8 Game Plays 149
Bluff 150
Oleksii Kovalchuk vs. Alberto Spingolon
Semi-bluff 154
Max Pescatori playing a semi-bluff
Raise 157
Continuation ber 159
Check-raise 161
Floating 162
Slowplay 163
Gus Hansen's self-criticism
Steal 165
Squeeze 166
Kicker 168
Hand planning 170
Mustapha Kanit vs. Cezar Chivulescu
Hole cards 172
The winning list
Chapter 9 The opponents 181
Style of play 182
Doyle Brunson vs. Tom Dwan
Paolo Luini and the misleading image
Tommaso Briotti vs. calling station
Gus Hansen dictates his style to the table
Reading the players 190
Dario Alioto vs. Michael
Jamie Staples vs. Eugene Katchalov
Body language 196
Chris Moneymaker vs. Sam Farha
Carla Solinas reads the opponent
Chapter 10 Playing a Tournament 207
How to make the correct decision 208
A player's goals 211
Inside the rake
The stack/big blind ratio 216
Expected ratio 221
Starting hands 228
The early stage 237
Erion Islamay vs. Jennifer Tilly
The middle stage 244
Gabriele Lepore makes the best out of his hand
The late stage 249
Joseph Cheong vs. Jonathan Duhamel
Cash game 254
Regular player vs. newcomer
Chapter 11 Poker and the Movies 261
The Cincinnati Kid 262
California Poker 264
Christmas Present 265
Christmas Rematch 267
Maverick 268
Havana 269
Rounders 270
High Roller 273
Casino Royale 274
No Limit 280
Lucky You 281
